Brian Clemens Reports 05/29/24: Northern California Fishing

Northern California Fishing:

We are finally seeing a huge drop down in flows as well as a flattened curve in flows across the board. This latest drop has brought with it even better fishing than what we were having just a few short weeks ago. Most Northern California rivers, lakes and streams are in prime shape right now and if you are looking to fish over the next few weeks to few months, you will not be disappointed. If you are looking to book a trip, we have plenty of days left to book shad trips, steelhead trips, striper trips and trout trips, or go big and try for the trifecta or qua-fecta. Its has happened more times than not over the past few weeks. 

Here is your current up to date Nor Cal Fly Guides Fishing Report

Feather River

Low Flow Channel 700cfs

Clarity 10ft clear

Fishing is good to great

High Flow Channel 2100cfs (PRIME TIME)

Clarity 10ft with slight green tint

Fishing is good to great

With the huge drop in flows and the flows being steady now for about a week, the steelhead have settled into their new feeding lanes and are on the chow. Our clients and guides have been having good to great success with both indicators and swinging streamers. Don’t let the summer season fool you, the Feather River is a year-round steelhead fishery and one that’s well worth the trip. We finally had a good push of spring run steelhead show up, a well needed rotation of fish that are eager to take any fly you put in front of them. Look for this river to fish good to great for the next month or 2. Besides the awesome steelhead fishing, we are getting both shad and striper too. One of the few rivers where we are targeting 3-4 species in one day. Steelhead from 16-24” have been the norm and are full of piss n vinegar, what youd expect from a spring run steelhead. Shad are your typical 16-22” and plenty of them to go around. The stripers have been all over the board as well, from shakers to arm breakers. We have been putting in a ton of time on the river and there's no better time than now.

If you have never hooked into a Feather River Spring Run steelhead, do yourself a favor and give it a go.

We still have availability to fish this awesome year-round steelhead fishery. 

Nymphing: Prince nymphs, sucker spawns, copper johns, caddis, mayflies, PTs, worms

Swinging: Sculpins, olive woolybuggers, small olive or rusty colored trout speys, euphorias, alevins, fry patters

Yuba River

Above Daguerre 4500cfs

Below Daguerre 3700cfs

Flows have been on the YOYO curve up till this past week, when we finally saw flows below 5k. 5k is still too high to wade fish from hwy20 bridge down, but there are fish to be had if you have a drift boat. We should see a slow drawdown flow over the next few weeks and this river is going to be on fire once it hits 2500cfs or less. DRY DROPPER ANYONE. We feel with the higher-than-normal flows this year, these fish will be more reluctant to look up at dries, so bust out those dry fly rods and let's get some epic dry fly eats. I have been doing a ton of Lower “Lower” Yuba trips for shad and striper and been hooking some decent stripers and the shad fishing is off the charts.

SHAD SEASON IS ON. More about this below.

Nymphs: rubberlegs, caddis, mayflies, worms, eggs, sucker spawns, pmds, March browns, skwalas and wingless stones.

Swinging: alevins, sculpins, small leech style patterns, woolybuggers in olive, brown, or fry colored 

Drys: skwalas, stonefly patterns, stimulators, hoppers, phat alberts, mays, caddis

Stripers below Daguerre: Anything Adachi clousers, white/chartreuse, white/gray, rainbow/shad colors

Shad below Daguerre: shad crack, mini pinky, Chings bloody maria, Chings too sexy, Chings Ronald McDonald, Chings Red Lipstick, Chings firecracker, Orange comet, Red comet, Pearl comet, Big D's BeadHead Banger, Dave-Os wet pinky
More Shad Info Down Below

Eagle Lake:  If you are interested please contact us

Lake Almanor:
Rating: ON FIRE
Lake Level: 4493 - 8" from full pool

Water Clarity: 8 - 10 ft.

Water Temperature: 58° F

Hot off the water report from our Lake Almanor guide. Now is the time to book your stillwater session! Fishing remains good up here at Lake Almanor. Healthy 20"+ rainbows were the main staple the last week and a half with a handful of 25"+ browns. The East shore, East and West sides of the Peninsula have been producing good numbers (8 - 16 fish per trip). Blood Midge, pond smelt and balanced leeches continue to be the main staple. We have had several opportunities to throw midge dries at some risers in goose bay here and there. There is still plenty of snow melt coming into the lake from the tributaries, as well as the super ditch and springs with a lot of snow still on the mountain tops. If the weather continues to stay warm look for the Hex Hatch to start earlier than the last 2 years. Fish are already starting to seek out our balanced Hex nymphs. The smallie bite has slowed significantly since post spawn and the pressure from all the bass tournaments. 

Hot Flies: Balanced Leech and Blood Midge

Guide tip: When casting small midge dries to risers, use 4x/5x 12' tapered leader. Midge risers spook easily.
Open Dates: Booking Chironomid hatch in May and the Hex Hatch in June. We have a handful of Hex Hatch dates left. Call or email for availability

American River

Dropping to 2500cfs on 5/30

Clarity is perfect 10ft slight ting
Fishing is good to great

We are finally getting into those flows that really rock on the American River. With a good amount of tweener 18-22" steelhead throughout the system it makes for a great day on the water. But with stripers and shad in the river too, you can have a hoot of a time hooking into the trifecta. This river is a great place to play for a day from the Bay and it will fish good to great for the next few months.

Its definitely SHAD TIME on the American!!! More about that down below.

Nymphs: Prince nymphs, eggs, copper johns, PTs, poxyback hares ears, hares ears, worms, sucker spawn, caddis, mayflies

Swinging: hobo speys, euphorias, sculpins, alevins, fry patterns

Stripers: Anything Adachi clousers, white/chartreuse, white/gray, rainbow or shad colors

Shad Flies: shad crack, mini pinky, Chings bloody maria, Chings too sexy, Chings Ronald McDonald, Chings Red Lipstick, Chings firecracker, Orange comet, Red comet, Pearl comet, Big D's BeadHead Banger, Dave-Os wet pinky


Lower Sac

Flows: 8800cfs (PRIME TIME)

Clarity 8ft typical lower sac green

The fishing has been good to great one day fair to good the next. The extreme drop and rise in flows we have seen over April and May were definitely creating unhappy fish. With Shasta Lake being 200,000-acre feet of water from a full pool, I don’t think we will see anymore crazy spike in flows. Hatches have been pretty sporadic and after another big winter, a lot of guides have been saying that the hatches are so poor because of the 40k flows we saw in February, washing a lot of bug life downstream (Information and thoughts from a lot of guides in the area). Good days are finally here and if flows stay steadier, look for this river to heat up and be much more consistent. Warmer weather in the forecast will also turn on the caddis hatches too.  and with warmer days in the forecast, look for the caddis hatches to really pop off. We will start seeing better hatches, more bugs means less selective fish and maybe even some dry fly fishing/hopper dropper action. Cant wait. If it keeps fluctuating up and down like a yoyo, fishing will stay tough till the snowmelt is almost done. Lets keep um crossed.

Nymphs: Coffee, black, brown rubber legs(beaded and non-beaded), light olive Weiss nymph, Chile Verde perdigon, PMD perdigon. Egg patterns have been working here and there, but still inconsistent.

Guide Tip: Patients pays off, we are fishing much harder to get our fish than usual, but put the work in and you will be rewarded. Remember August 1^st is the upper river opener and for those that have never fished this crazy day, its pretty cool to fish. So if you want to fish that upper stretch on the opener, give us a jingle.

Stripers: Anything Adachi clousers, white/chartreuse, white/gray, rainbow or shad colors

Putah Creek

570cfs

Clarity 8ft Putah Creek Green River

Fishing is good to great

Putah Creek has been fishing extremely well and despite the bump from 300cfs to 570, it hasn’t slowed the fishing down. This is the perfect place to fish close to the Bay area and if you want to learn how to unlock the secrets of Putah Creek give us a ring. Its also a great place to hone your skills due to its technical fishing. When it comes to this fishery, with us, its all about teaching and showing you the ins and outs. We have been hitting this river a few times a week as some of our Sac Valley rivers have been a tad too high to wade fish. 

Nymphs: small midges, small mayflies, small caddis, small hares ears. small small and small.

Fall River

               Our NCFG Fall River Guide has been putting some days on the Fall lately and here is what he has to say. Fishing remains good. A lot of little fish are being caught in the upper stretches of the system right now with around 3-5 good fish(18”+) to the net a day on average. The main hatches still start around 11am and last anywhere from 1-3pm. Little trico’s earlier in the morning with larger BWO and PMD’s for the main hatch through the afternoon. Dry fly opportunities have been great as long as the wind doesn’t pick up too strong, with nymphing being the best chance for the most grabs. Leeches on a sink tip or intermediate sinking line has also been producing good numbers. The Hexagenia Mayfly hatch is almost here so fish are starting to migrate downstream in preparation for the big bugs. Normal timeframe for the HEX is June through the beginning of August.             

Nymphs: olive nymphs in the morning(Chile Verde perdigon with a silver or copper bead), black, brown, and tan nymphs in the afternoon(Sweet Pea, 2-bit-hooker, PMD perdigon).

Guide Tips for the Fall: - Having a proper dead drift presentation feeding line from anchor is really what the fish want, and at the end of each drift make sure you let the flys swing through the column for 5-10 seconds before retrieving your drift for another round.

Shasta Lake:
              The Lake is nearing full pool creating a lot of floating debris hazards for boats, but it is also in peak form with numbers exceeding 50 fish a day. "Float and fly” is the preferred method winter through spring, but with warm weather on the horizon, the fish have been eating streamers well and they have started to eat topwater flys more consistently as the weather gets warmer. Currently the lake is slipping out of "pre spawn" and into “spawn” with fish moving into shallow water and making beds. Current Water temps are mid 60’s, but with warm weather coming in, we expect to see the main body heating up quickly. The Pit arm is still very dingy with water clarity fluctuating between 3ft-6ft. All other arms and creek inlets are starting to clear up all the way to 20ft visibility. A lot of fish have been suspended in the 10-15ft range in 30-40ft of water, but still our best success is float and fly up against the bank in the first 10ft of water. Still haven’t seen the big groups of threadfin shad moving around or getting busted by fish, but its only a matter of time before we can hunt bait balls away from the bank chasing the groups of shad and bass around in deeper water. Here very soon the main body is going to heat up and the spots and smallmouth are going to move down into the depths for cooler conditions, or they will push up into the tributaries where the water is cooler. Come July, I'm targeting the tributary water for the remainder of the summer until water temps start to recede in the main body.

Flies: olive and brownish/red crawdads and threadfin shad patterns in the water with better clarity, low visibility, purple crawdads have been the best fly for the past 2 months with Float-and-Fly, or a black or purple leach.

Guide Tips for Shasta: - Using rattles in your flys, especially in dingy water, has proven to get more grabs throughout the day vs a fly without a rattle(mainly crawdads, but also works with baitfish).

Other Local Lakes

Lake Oroville, Rollins, and many others are fishing extremely well right now and are definitely worth the drive if you want to try something a bit different than what your Nor Cal Rivers offer. 

SHAD

GOT SHAD!!!!

We offer shad trips on rivers throughout Northern California.

Nor Cal Fly Guides and Fly Fishing Specialties has a phenomenal guide crew that cover our Nor Cal Rivers for shad which include:

Yuba and American (main rivers)

Feather and Sacramento Rivers (back up rivers)

With that being said:
THE SHAD ARE IN!!!!

NCFG & FFS are offering a 2024 SHAD SEASON special

Details:

American River ONLY

Morning or Evening (evening is best)

$375 3hr SHAD Fishing Session

Full day and half day trips available on the Yuba, Feather, American and Sacramento

Details:

$600 full day

$475 half day

My 2024 Shad season full days are all booked up, but I am available for evenings trips on the Yuba River for the 2024 season. (reserve your 2025 dates NOW)

We have several guides that will have you covered for all your shad fishing needs. Book now while prime dates still remain.

Don’t forget about the Striper season. We are already seeing good numbers on the Sac with stripers slowly trickling on our colder rivers like the American and Yuba with a few on the Feather too.

There you have it folks, your Northern California fishing report hot off the press. We hope you are able to get out in the next few weeks and enjoy some of the best fishing we will see all season long. Time to get out and get bent. 

Here's my personal calendar and availability

Only 29 days remaining in 2024

Local Waters - Yuba, Feather, American, Lower Sac

August 12, 21

Oct 18 28 30

Nov 26

Dec 21 28 29 30

Evenings: May June July for 2024 Shad season

Northern Waters Trinity & Lower Sac

Sept 3 4 10 11 26 27

Nov 22

Dec 1 2 3 4 10-17

If you’re looking to book with me in 2025, dates are available for Local/Northern Waters upon request.

I am also now booking Swing Only Coastal Trips. Some walk and wade and some float trips.

I'm highly recommending to everyone who would like to book with me, booking at a minimum of 6-8 months in advance for prime-time dates.

Please don't be discouraged that I am more booked up this year than ever before, we can get you booked up with me for future dates if needed. If you would like to book now or in the near future, I am proud to announce that I have hand selected some of the finest guides in Northern California to assist me in the higher demand of bookings for Nor Cal Fly Guides. These guides work "with me, not for me”, and I couldn't be happier with the team of guides that lend a helping hand to NCFG clients. From ex-teachers, to full time guides, ex-fly shop owners, shop workers/guides to part time guides that have been fly fishing all their lives, these guides are the best. The biggest asset these guides have is they all have the same "teaching" mentality as I do. We are teachers first and guides second.

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AND ALWAYS REMEMBER

KEEP THOSE LINES TIGHT

Captain Brian Clemens

NOR CAL FLY GUIDES
530-354-3740
WWW.NORCALFLYGUIDES.COM
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Ben Thompson Reports on 5.9.2024

River Stripers- Fish are spread throughout the rivers with the majority around Colusa. It can get crowded until the end of May when most of the conventional boats thin out. The pre-front bite last had some quality fish on the chew and we were fortunate to land some of them. Standard Adachi style rattle clousers have been the go to lately. I still have availability in June and July to chase linesiders.

Lower Feather River- The low flow section is at 592cfs, with the high flow around 10,000cfs. Fish have been primarily eating caddis with some on worms and baetis. Good time of year to swing birds nest or leeches, high flow not recommended for bank anglers.

 

 

Lower Yuba River- 5,670 cfs as of today, not recommended for wade anglers and only seriously proficient rowers. At these higher flows, fish will sit in the soft edges. Big attention getters like rubberlegs and large caddis are a go to in big water. When the flows come down a bit we look forward to a good hopper season throughout this summer!

Lost Coast Outfitters Fishing Report 4/15/23

Spring Fishing has begun! We are stoked to have the report back up and running. We are now working with additional independent guides throughout Northern California as well. Ready to provide a consistent source of up-to-date information for all of of our local waterways and beyond.

The Bay/Beach: The beaches are on the edge of turning on. The bulk of our beach adventures have had to occur further away from home.. areas such as Monterey and Santa Cruz have found schools of striped willing to take a fly. As the bay clears up and water temps begin to rise slightly, more fish will become readily available off of Ocean, Baker and Crissy!

Take a look at our Local Surf Clinics or Call the shop for more info!

Lower Feather River-

The Lower Feather River flows just dropped to around 1100 in the low flow but it still around 9k in the high flow. We have been catching fish in both. There are a lot of fresh spring steelhead in the system and April and May are some of my favorite months to be out there. I was out there three days ago and fishing was great, lots of suckerfish are stacked up and getting their black stripes on the sides in their normal haunts, putting the steelhead on the chow. Go to flies have been sucker spawn and alevins as well as red headed step childs and caddis. Similar to the Yuba's current big water state, soft seams and slower runs will often be the best producers. The spring is the best time of year out there to swing a fly out there and they eat it aggressively. 

Call Ben Thompson to get out on the Lower Sacramento Or Feather River: 916-743-8290

Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta

Delta is still challenging to fish, been managing around 10 fish or so over the past week. Finding cleaner water can be difficult as silt is floating around with the tides. Water temperatures are around 60 degrees but clarity is only around 2’ or so. The Steve Adachi Black with grizzly hackle Clouser has been doing the trick in dirty water! On a positive note, each day this past week we’ve had shots at a 10+ lb fish, a few solid 3-5# fish & some shakers in the mix. Hopefully the waters continue to clear up & more fish show up for the Spring Spawn!

Call Bryce Tedford for trips on the Delta year-round: 206-696-2437

Call Patrick MacKenzie year-round for guided trips on the Napa River: 707-721-6700

The lake is nearly full, water falls are flowing, and timber is flooding. Fish are on the feed during the morning and afternoon with a bit of a slowdown from 11am-1pm. Fishing the float n' fly is catching the most fish but fish are shallow enough that a popper dropper or streamer rig is also getting fish. Fishing should remain good through April into June

Ryan Williams Reports Lake Oroville- 

The prime spring season is slowly shaping up. Water temps are still cold at 52-56. Once the temps hit 60 the action will really turn on. When this happens the 50-100+ fish days will start on the main lake. Still waiting on the topwater & streamer bite to begin. Should begin around the 60 degree mark or even a bit less. For the time being it's all float n fly. Going anywhere from 6'-9' leaders. Currently we're getting about 20-40 fish per day between two anglers. Lots of really nice bass being caught lately, hard to find small ones. Big full bellies getting ready to spawn in the next month or so. The bite is going all day. Mornings and evenings have been best, but we are catching fish throughout the afternoons. Some afternoons have really shaped up to fish really well, producing bigger fish. As far as structures go, we have been fishing lately on points, tributaries, and shade in various canyons.

If you are itching to try Float and Fly Fishing with a fly rod The Cal Bass Union can get you Dialed in! 

 

Putah Creek

Slow start to our Putah Creek Fishing Season. The rains kept us at bay due to limited visibility. Current conditions are challenging as Hwy 128 is currently CLOSED. This is a note pulled off of The Cal Trans Website:

[IN THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AREA]
IS CLOSED FROM THE SOLANO/YOLO CO LINE TO 4.6 MI EAST OF THE SOLANO/YOLO CO LINE /AT PLEASANT VALLEY RD/ - DUE TO A SLIDE - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

Join us Wednesday April 26th from 5:30pm and on at the Shop for our

Putah Creek *Shop Talk* 

Lost Coast Outfitters Fishing Report 12/14/22

Upper Sacramento: It’s winter, who knew?! Access is tough on upper river just due to snow. If you’re sniffing around the Upper Sac, stay below Conant for less snow and easier parking/walking. Anglers fishing the McCartle area have reported decent catching. Stick to small mayfly nymphs #16-18, Rubber Legs #8-10 and small yellow egg patterns to boot. Nothing unusual to report, fair fishing if you are willing to put in some time. The water is a little lower than normal, but that’s largely due to the cold temps and no snowmelt/rain.

Pop in or Call Ted Fay Fly Shop for up to the minute reports. 

Lower Sacramento: Fishing well, as it often does in winter. Strong BWO hatches and good nymphing, S&M, Psycho May. Small Pheasant Tails #16-18 mayflies, anything olive baetis looking. Attach a bobber, and just add water. While strong hatches don’t always translate to good dry fly fishing on the Lower Sac, it’s certainly possible and it pays to keep an eye out for heads sipping adult mayflies. Releases out of the dam are on the low side for this time of year hover around 3000cfs.

Call Dustin Revel for a day on the Lower Sac: 530-921-1563

Putah Creek: We are under a voluntary spawning closure right now. It runs December 1 st through March 1 st every year. Yes, the creek is technically open to fish, but please give these wild trout a break and venture elsewhere. If you want to watch some spawning activity, take a walk along the trails next to the creek and look for big fish in pairs or pods over clean gravel in moving water. Super cool and educational.

The Delta: Beautiful conditions post storm. Clean water through much of the Delta, but a fairly tough bite. It’s between season out there, and the fishing is marginal as expected. Water temperatures are below 50 degrees and fish are in their winter pattern. Look for flats where the water will warm a bit through the day. Sometimes it only takes a couple degrees to turn on the bite. 10-20 fish/day for the boat is a good day right now and you need work for them. This isn’t big fish time, but still some decent fish reported, in the 5 pound range. Nothing to get super excited about currently, but well worth fishing on decent weather days. Not much pressure out there either, so if you want to have a pleasant day without any competition winter is where it’s at!

Call Bryce Tedford for trips on the Delta year-round: 206-696-2437

The Bay/Beach: It’s perch time on the Bay Area beaches. In between storms, look for calm days without a big swell. Sinking lines with an array of small brown/tan/orange crab patterns will net you a few of our palm sized native beach dwellers. Stop by the shop and pick up a couple of our custom perch patterns and we’ll line you out on a good stretch of beach to check out.

Eastern Sierra:

The East Walker is closed for the season. Opens again on the last Saturday in April.

Upper Owens: Snow and more snow on the upper river. This is good, but makes access tough. The river is accessible by snowmobile, skis or walking in on snow machine tracks. The water and conditions are COLD. However, it’s worth the effort, because trophy trout swim up from Crowley Lake in winter and hang in the river. The drought has affected the river as it enters the lake and made it tough for fish to get up into the river, but the fish want to get out of the lake as it freezes over and they will make it up eventually. The big fish are parked in the deeper pools and cut banks. To find them you need to be systematic and fish each spot thoroughly. They won’t move far to eat a fly. They are lethargic due to cold temps, but just keep casting and you’ll find them. San Juan worm in pink and red is the number one pattern. Eggs, tiny Pheasant Tails and other small mayfly nymphs under a small indicator are the way to go. Be patient, fish hard.

Lower Owens: The lower river, near Bishop, is much warmer and fishing well. Bonus: no snow on the ground. Air temps are in the 50’s and water temps only a little lower. BWO’s are showing in the late morning and the window is short, but if you want to get fish on dry flies in December, this is one of your best opportunities. Fish a #18 parachute BWO, Quigley Cripple or Sparkle Flag on a long leader. Drift the foam lines, the fish are there. On the nymphing side, fish the deeper buckets with #16-20 Pheasant Tails, midges, Hares Ears and other standard nymphs under a bobber or tightline.

Report From Jim Stimson

Truckee:

As expected, the water is low and cold. Anywhere on the California side is hard to access right now just due to snow. Much-needed recent storms have dumped feet of powder on the Tahoe region and most of the locals are skiing. However, if you cruise on down to the NV side, east past Sparks, you’ll find no snow and some decent fishing (remember to buy a Nevada fishing license). The Nature Conservancy section is a good option, with more flow and access. Not much in the dry fly category right now, but streamers and nymphs will put you in the money. If you’re chucking streamers, concentrate on the slower water and pools and throw standard patterns, like black leeches and various Bugger patterns. Nymphing with Zebra Midges and egg patterns under a bobber is the ticket if you want to go that route. Or, do both, and fish all the water. Find yourself a two-footer for Christmas.

Call Matt “Gilligan” Koles to fish the Truckee, year-round: 775-351-6665

Lower Yuba: The last storm blew out Deer Creek, and therefore most of the lower river. Good news is it’s already clearing up and fishable. It will keep dropping and clearing as conditions dry out. Anytime you see a high water event, strap on a Rubberlegs and a worm and throw it under a bobber. That’s a foolproof recipe. You may still see a few salmon spawning and various egg patterns are still in the mix. Mostly the trout are keyed on small baetis and midges, as is standard for winter. Small Pheasant Tails, Zebra Midges, S&M BWO or anything small and olive/brown will take fish. Anglers are catching a few steelhead here and there so stay cool if you set the hook on something substantial that rips some line off your reel. Dry fly action is possible 365 days a year on the Lower Yuba. It’s a little inconsistent right now but if you’re patient and keep your eyes open you’ll find fish sipping BWO’s here and there. Tie on a #18 Parachute Adams on a long leader and make an accurate cast. Streamer fishing produces throughout the winter too. Buggers, Zonkers, soft hackles will all produce, stripped or swung.

Call Ben Thompson to get out on the Lower Yuba: 916-743-8290

Trinity River: Good days and tough days mixed in. When a good rain storm hits and freshens up the water, anglers are getting good numbers of fish, but when it’s cold and dry most folks are only getting a handful of hook-ups a day. Still, 2-4 fish a day doesn’t suck and if you play your calendar right with the water conditions, you can hook triple that number. Still a few spawning salmon around so a glo bug or bead will take fish. Most folks have been fishing smaller nymphs like Pheasant Tails, Copper Johns, Dark Lord and of course stoneflies like black/brown Rubber Legs. Flows out of the dam are spot on normal for this time of year at 297cfs.

Call Dustin Revel for year-round trips on the Trinity: 530-921-1563

Klamath River: Fishing is fair to good depending on the day and time of day. The upper 30 miles are sporting excellent water conditions, albeit a bit low compared to the long-term median flow. All the recent precipitation has come in the form of snow, so the water clarity is good and stable. Water temps are solid, in the high 40s to low 50s. The bite is kind of tough mid-day just because of cold weather. Both swinging and nymphing are producing fish. If you’re swinging think sink tip and smaller wet flies. If you’re nymphing stick to stoneflies and egg patterns. Fish the water appropriately, meaning, swing the riffles and runs and nymph the seams and pockets. Cover all the holding water you can find and you’ll find fish.

Call Chuck at Wild Waters Fly Fishing for Klamath River trips: 530-859-3474

Napa River: Clean water mid 50s temps with good fishing before the before the rain blew it out and muddied up the water. The Napa is often off-color, but if it’s too brown it can be unfishable. As soon as we get a few dry days in a row it will be game on. Watch the tides and don’t get stuck in the mud.

Call Patrick Mackinzie year-round for guided trips on the Napa River: 707-721-6700

Valley Striper Fishing -

With stable and hot normal summer weather the last two weeks fishing has really hit its stride. Fish are eating and up in the feeding zones most days. We are seeing trophy fish most days but if we get them to eat or a smaller fish beats them to the fly is a crap shoot. Bottom line is they are there and up in the feeding zones. Our shots at the trophy fish only increase as we move forward from here on out. We are catching fish on heavy sink to lighter intermediate lines just depends on the day. 

Lower Yuba River Trout Fishing -

I got a few days on the Yuba the last month and fishing has been decent. Flows came up July 1 to between 1800-1600cfs depending on the day. My clients have had the most luck throwing nymphs under an indicator but we have gotten a few fish each day to come up to a caddis, golden stone dry, or hopper pattern. With the good flows hopper fishing should be good this summer assuming last weeks heat did not bake them on the rocks. The bottom line is that as long as the water stays up summer fishing should be good on the Lower Yuba...if they cut the flows it can get tough. 

Capt. Hogan Brown Reports on 6.21.20