Jim Stimson Reports on 8.13.20

Fishing is solid for the most part, depending on where you visit. The smaller creeks are low and boney but if you fish on the Owens River system, Hot Creek, or the high country lakes, you can have an enjoyable experience. Be advised, both Mono and Inyo Counties are requiring the use of face masks. In the past two weeks the number of positive COVID cases have tripled in Mono County. Beware! Please respect one another in these tenuous days. And, no fires allowed if you are outside a developed campground. Thank you.

East Walker

The East Walker in particular is vulnerable to warm water conditions. I am giving the river a break until the summer cools down……If you fish up there, again, watch the river temps. Fish in the morning with heavier tippet so you can land fish quickly, then once it gets too warm, reel in, hop in your car, and head around the Sweetwater Range to try the West Walker. The flows on the East Walker are at 95 cfs.. 

West Walker

The flows are 44 cfs and are perfect. The West Walker has gin clear water so use some stealth when approaching the water and fishing. A dry-dropper setup or Euro style nymphing is deadly on this pocket water. 

San Joaquin

The road to the Postpile and the San Joaquin River are open. Because of the pandemic, the shuttle busses will not operate this season. There will be some kind of quota system for driving your own vehicle down into the canyon. It is a zoo down there……. The flows are at 34 cfs

Hot Creek

The creek is flowing through the canyon at roughly 36 cfs. Target your casts to the feeding lanes between the weeds and rocks, plus the overhanging grasses along the margins. You may not see fish, but they are there. Try a dry-dropper setup with a caddis above and a midge or small mayfly below. Hot Creek is always a fun place to fish. The canyon is home to not only some nice trout, but deer, osprey, and the occasional bald eagle. Enjoy!

Upper Owens River

The flows sit at about 62 cfs high in the river system. Once Hot Creek dumps into the mid-section the flows are closer to 100 cfs. Most of the trophy trout have moved back into Crowley Lake but there are still some stragglers hanging around; nice browns and rainbows. When the afternoon breezes kick in, throw on a small hopper with a “drowned” hopper below. Money!

Lower Owens River

The river is cruising steady at roughly 500 cfs and is fishing well with all of the traditional patterns; PT’s, Hare’s Ears, midges, Frenchies…. The LADWP has been sending flushing flows through the Owens River Gorge and the Lower O, beware of the high water levels. If you enjoy hucking dry flies, this is the place. Around lunchtime, watch for BWO’s to start coming off the water. Be ready. The first thing you will notice is the bird activity along the river. You will see swallows, fly catchers, and sparrows flitting around the surrounding brush and diving at the river surface. Look for rises along the foam lines as fish snouts start poking up through the surface film. This BWO carnage only lasts about an hour. If you get finicky trout snubbing your dry flies, change your bug. Usually a sized 16-18 adams will get grabs, but often the trout are looking for a mayfly that is sitting lower in the surface film. An adams rides high so try a comparadun or a hackle stacker, they sit more within the film. Sometimes that is all you need to get back into the game.

Mark Pinto Reports on 7.12.20

Top-Water Largemouth time!  I never thought I'd utter those words.... When I first started guiding the Delta in 1992, Stripers were all I really targeted, I must admit to saying," Oh, it's just a Largemouth" , how shortsighted I was being in retrospect...About 10 yrs. ago, I really came to love the whole top-water Bass game for many of the same reasons most anglers love dry fly fishing. 

AC Fly Fishing Reports on 7.12.20

Lower Sac - 

We're in full summer mode on the big river. Caddis hatches have been the main jam along with a few PMDs still lingering. The best windows out here are early and late. We've had good fishing from Reding down through Cottonwood recently. Don't let the warm temps shy you away.. evenings can produce some awesome fishing during those Caddis hatches. Typically, the warmer the day - the better the bugs come off. Summer can produce some of the most underrated fishing of the year on the Sac. A reminder that the upper portion of the river reopens on August 1.. This can be a very good time to get after some fish that have had a long break from angling pressure.

Fall River - 

Has been exceptionally good this summer. Quantity and quality of fish has been as good as we've seen in a long time. The Hex hatch is still rolling in the evenings making for a very fun, short window of dry fly fishing. Expect the fishing here to stay strong through September. 

McCloud River - 

The McCloud has been a very good walk and wade option as well. The big stoneflies have tapered off and it's more of a Mayfly and Caddis game out there. Again, early and late in the day can produce the best fishing. Expect to have rising fish that last hour or two of light.. Big Brown trout start to make their migration up from Lake Shasta this time of year.. this can be a really fun bonus to plug into one of these brutes. 

Upper Sac - 

The Upper has been solid this summer as well. Expect smaller fish on average this time of year.. The mornings and evenings are the timeframes to target during these "Dog Days" of summer.. Wet wading here is a very good way to escape the heat..

Pit River - 

The trusty Pit has been a great option all summer. No real surprise here.. primarily a nymph game but you can still expect great numbers of opportunities during these hot Summer days. This is a great river to wet wade and cool off this time of year.

Captain Bryce Tedford Reports on 7.10.2020

This week I turned my focus to Largemouth rather than Smallmouth & was pleasantly surprised! Found some eager Topwater fish & some larger fish on subsurface Streamers as well. Although Largemouth are more challenging than smallmouth they are very rewarding when success is found!

Largemouth 1/2 day trips offer Topwater fishing with heavy rods such as 8 or 9wt. We cast large poppers such as frog patterns to ideal holes in the weeds until a largemouth explodes on the fly! Later in the morning I go to type 3 lines & large Streamers.

Smallmouth 1/2 day trips offer Topwater fishing with light rods such as 4 or 5wts. We cast small poppers towards rock banks & eagerly awaiting Smallmouth. This fishery is a great way to introduce beginners to the sport & fun for seasoned anglers who like Topwater poppers on light rods.

If you are into Largemouth/Smallmouth Topwater or just trying to get someone into Fly Fishing please give me a call for a summer date. Also, if you want to get a jump on a Fall Striper date just let me know as well.

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. 

Garrett Smith Reports on 7.10.2020

Striped bass have made their way up the American River and fishing is getting better each week. We are starting to see good numbers on both half day and full day floats, and it will only get better from here! 

We are in the beginning of the best fishing of the summer. There are lots of schools of stripers up and and down the river at the moment, and they have shifted in to their summer holding and feeding patterns, mostly hunting down squawfish, crayfish and bluegill. We cover a lot of water on these floats and you can expect to see very consistent action throughout the day. 

The American is only an hour and a half from the Bay Area, making it a great option for a single day trip from the bay. 

Flows are up to 4,000 cfs on the American which is a prime summer level. I expect fishing to stay solid until Mid September this season with these flows.