Trinity River Fly Fishing Report

Dave Neal Reports on 11.2.2016

The reality for most anglers is the Trinity River has been fishing pretty scratchy these past few weeks. There’s simply not many fish around most days and the ones that are in the system won’t stop swimming! Perhaps there are more fish from Indian Creek upriver to Lewiston than in JC right now?

 We received a ton of rain in October (is there such a thing as too much of a good thing??) The month closed out as the wettest on record since 1962. As a result, the river has been on a daily up/down fluctuation with Canyon Creek blowing out several times the last few weeks. We are certainly off to a good start for another wet winter season.  

Anglers need to come prepared to fish hard and stay focused and in the game all day long - on every cast and drift or swing. You never know when or where you will get an opportunity for a real fish… Sounds like steelhead fishing to me!

If you are the type of angler who needs more “action” and more opportunities to hook fish - then I’d recommend fishing over on the Lower Sacramento, at least for a while longer. The L Sac has been great and still produces a fine day with lots of hard charging wild trout and the occasional steelhead is always a possibility, especially the lower river sections.

Despite the tougher fishing report, there are steelhead being caught most days on the Trinity and as far as “early season” steelhead fishing goes – this river remains one of the best options in CA on any given day.

I’ve seen a mix of wild (at least adipose wearing) and hatchery fish this past week and we have seen some pretty big fish as well, around 30”. Most of the other guide buddies I work with and talk to daily have also reported a few bigger than average sized fish landed this past week.

 My November is all booked up and I only have a couple December dates open… January shows plenty of availability so plan ahead. for more info please visit my website and check out my Blog for more reports and pics.