Fishing Report

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frlocalsurf, Local Surf

Local Surf Fly Fishing Report

Dec 16, 2024

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Evan Praskin Reports on December 15th, 2024

Happy Holidays, Suds Club Members!

Quick local surf and area report coming your way! We hope everyone is enjoying a safe and joyful holiday season. As we close out an incredible year on the water, we’re grateful for the exciting opportunities this December brings.

The tributaries of our local waterways are offering some thrilling action, if you know when and where to look. Steelhead season is in full swing, thanks to the much-needed rainfall we've been waiting for. These elusive, magical fish are a highlight of the season. Additionally, the tributary striped bass are providing fantastic opportunities. Many of the drainages feeding into the SF Bay and Monterey Bay hold strong numbers of bass, offering great action in rivers and lagoons.

If the rains keep coming, these fish may be washed into the ocean, becoming “washout” fish that we can intercept near the surf at the blown-out tributaries. It’s another reminder of the incredible waters we’re fortunate to enjoy here in Central and Northern California.

Don’t forget about the winter perch! This is the time of year when the bigger barred perch are out and willing to bite. Just keep an eye on conditions and always play it safe.

Let’s continue to respect our water and fellow anglers. Be kind, be courteous, check your back casts, and enjoy the season responsibly.

Get out there and make the most of it, we’ll see you on the beach!

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FRTRINITY, Trinity River

Trinity River Fly Fishing Report

Dec 16, 2024

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Rob George Reports on December 15th, 2024

With all the much needed wet weather we received recently, last Friday 12/13, the river blew out from Rush Creek down. Within a day or so of no rain, the river should be back into shape. With all the water pushing down, fresh pods of fish should be showing up. Prior to the river blowing out the fishing was fishing good, but we definitely needed this rain.

When the river was low and clear, smaller bugs seemed to be the ticket. But, as it rained and the river was on the rise and getting some color, bigger, more traditional steelhead nymphs and beads were working great.

Recommend nymphs:

Rubber legs

Golden Stones

Red Copper John

Duracell

Perdigon variations

Recommend Spey flies:

Green butt skunk

Orange/Purple Hoh Bo Spey

Purple/Black Intruder

Beadhead Assassin

Thank You

Robert George

The Bend Company Fly Fishing

707-812-4671

thebendcoflyfishing.com

Instagram: @thebendco

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Coastal Steelhead, frklamathriver, Klamath River

Winter Steelhead & Klamath Update

Dec 16, 2024

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Riley Rennick of Wild Waters Fly Fishing Reports on December 13th, 2024

Winter Steelhead Tips and Klamath Update

Wild Water’s founder and guide John Rickard always says, you want to be the one writing the fishing report, not reading it. This advice rings the truest in the wintertime, when conditions change quickly. If you spend too much time waiting for a good report, you’ll find yourself out on the river on a lot of “should have been here yesterday”, kind of days. Keep an eye on weather trends and flow predictions – but most of all just get out there and have a look. A big storm is shaping up for this weekend, once the rivers start to drop its game on for the winter steelhead season.

Klamath Update

On the last report, I said I was hopeful that I would catch a 2024 Klamath fish, unfortunately that is looking unlikely at the moment. After seeing the clarity improve significantly, we decided to go try to catch one up by the former Iron Gate dam site. Chuck Volckhausen reports: We fished at the site formerly known as Iron Gate, yesterday. We did not get a single bite. Water color looked much better, which prompted our mission. The side of the river is still very muddy, difficult to get in and out of the boat almost everywhere, up to your knees in mud and hard to take 3 steps. From my perspective, the first storm did help the river in overall turbidity, but it didn’t grab much sediment from the side or the river or eddies. I don’t think the fishing will improve and it was obvious that part of the river still needs to do some serious healing. Reports say conditions look great down river. 6’ of vis in Orleans. That’s a good sign for our early season down river fishing next year.

Riley Renick

Wild Waters Fly Fishing

info@wildwatersflyfishing.com

877-934-7466

www.wildwatersflyfishing.com

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frYuba, fryubariver, Lower Yuba River, Yuba River

Lower Yuba Fly Fishing Report

Dec 14, 2024

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Captain Ben Thompson Reports on December 12th, 2024

Lower Yuba River:
The egg bite peaked a few weeks back, but there are currently still plenty of fish eating eggs. Salmon are still on redds in certain areas and a lot of the trout are concentrated around them. Indicator fishing with eggs and an assortment of caddis/mayflies is still very productive. What also has been awesome is, for the last month, including after the big storm, we have been able to raise fish on dry flies consistently each day. Mid-morning to midday and sometimes into the afternoon, we have caught fish on dry flies, including size 16-18 PMD's, Mercer's Missing Link Caddis, Elk Hair Caddis, and small Parachute Adams. It is great to see the fish looking up to eat and I hope it continues throughout winter. We hope for a good skwala season starting in February and reasonable flows throughout spring.

Capt. Ben Thompson

Coast Guard MMC #8565216

CA DFW Guide ID #1001102

Northern CA Fly Fishing Guide

(916)743-8290

benthompsonoutdoors.com

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Delta, frdelta

California Delta Fly Fishing Report

Dec 14, 2024

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Captain Bryce Tedford Reports on December 14th, 2024

Fall fishing is wrapping up on the California Delta. We had some solid fishing this Fall; it’s fishing of course with some great days, many good days & a few really challenging days. Overall, the Fall was a bit of a grind, but guests with good attitudes made the the grind a season solid. We have been averaging around 10-15 fish a day, with a good number of 3-6lb fish & the chance of 6-20lb+ fish many of the days. All in all, it’s been a good season with great guests, good weather & decent fishing.

Come latter December, I will wrap up my 2024 season, recharge the batteries & my 2025 Spring, Summer & Fall season calendar will be out come Jan! Hoping to close out the 2024 season strong.

My very best to you & yours, Merry Christmas & Happy holidays! Look forward to seeing you for a Delta adventure come 2025.

Cheers!

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Delta, frdelta, Striper

Fishing the CA Delta with Steve Adachi and Bryce Tedford

Nov 26, 2024

Written by LCO Staff

Owen's November 25th Trip with Steve Adachi and Bryce Tedford

Sometime last week, I received a phone call from Steve Adachi. He wanted to know whether I could join him and his guide buddy Bryce Tedford for a day of fall striper fishing on the California Delta. I was scheduled to work in the shop on the day he mentioned, but I knew the invitation was one I could not pass up. Thanks to an understanding shop owner and coworkers I am now indebted to, I had the opportunity to get out and chase stripers with a legendary California angler.

Conditions were incredibly unfavorable. Just a few days before our trip, Northern California had been slammed by a "bomb cyclone" that blew out most rivers and caused serious flooding. Despite the adversity, Steve still wanted to get out.

We launched at a quiet boat ramp just as more rain began falling. The river looked like chocolate milk, so we knew the day was going to be tough. Luckily, Bryce pulled some rabbits out of hats to find relatively clean water. Bryce and Steve's program was stripping Adachi Rattle Clousers in Joker and Black on aggressive sinking lines. I fished Bryce's 8wt Sage Igniter with a I/5/7 Rio Outbound Short that got the fly down fast.

Fishing clousers always seemed straightforward to me. Growing up in Marin, I fished the bay a lot and seemed to have success on various retrieval speeds. So long as I moved the fly relatively fast, I ended up running into schoolie-sized fish.

Watching the legend Steve target large fish on the delta completely changed my perspective. His stripping was intentional — with each strip, he violently popped the fly and engaged the rattle. He took long pauses and changed his retrieve to try new movements that could force a fish to bite. An hour or so in to the trip, Steve hooked up shortly after I felt a grab. He landed a fish just shy of 10 lbs that was already a daymaker.

Shortly thereafter, we ran into a small school of fish we could see on Bryce's graph. We fished to them for about an hour and a half, which consisted of a few five minute windows in which the fish would bite. Steve produced eats. These fish were not aggressively blitzing bait or hammering any fly in sight like they sometimes do in the bay. Instead, they were grabbing the fly when it moved just well enough to produce a reaction bite. Steve's magic claimed another great fish that came in around 10.5 lbs. I studied his tactics and produced a decent fish for myself too.

Seeing Steve overcome tough conditions to produce two large fish proved to be the highlight of the day. I've been friends with Steve for a while, but picking his brain on the water, where I could see him apply his knowledge, helped me grow as an angler. Listening to him and Bryce discuss striper at large also provided insight as to how West Coast striper fishing has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. My main takeaways from fishing with Bryce and Steve are as follows:

Takeaways from Fishing with Bryce and Steve

Don't be a fair weather angler — tough conditions like rain and brown water still produced some great fish for us. Steve's grit reminded me that you can't catch them from the couch.
Depth matters more than distance in the delta. Casting far is great, but Bryce emphasized the importance of depth. Cast only the amount of line you need to, and then "flake" excess line out of your guides to sink the fly down to the fish quickly.
Change your retrieve if you aren't getting bit. We slowed the fly down with long pauses for much of the day. We followed the pauses with violent and abrupt strips that seemed to force fish to react on the fly.
Big fish act like a wolf pack together. Bryce explained that they maraud around looking for a meal. Big stripers in rivers are not wasting their energy chasing fast and limited baitfish around. Instead, they are looking to capitalize on a crawfish or sunfish.
Fish different depths, pieces of structure, and areas during different times of the year. Stripers in the spring tend to stage in shallower water, whereas the fall fish we found were sitting on depth changes and humps in 10-16ft of water.
Try new things that others haven't considered. Steve explained that his legendary Surf Brown Adachi Clouser was more or less an experiment initially, and that he didn't realize its efficacy until one specific trip. He casted it at group of large fish trailing a tired striper that his friend was bringing in and watched the fly get engulfed immediately. He continued to fish it with results.

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Eastern Sierra, frhot creek, frupperowens, Hot Creek, Lower Owens, Upper Owens River

Eastern Sierra Fly Fishing Report

Nov 23, 2024

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J. Coons reports on November 16th, 2024

Eastern Sierra Fishing Report

The regular fishing season has closed and we are at my favorite
time of year… the off season!! The crowds are gone, the air temps
are dropping and we have some great fishing on the horizon.
Make sure to check regulations as they have changed for the
fall/winter season.

Hot Creek- 50cfs
The crowds are gone and pressure will continue to ease as it gets
colder. Nymphing is most productive early until the BWO's get
going. Remember, matching body size, shape and color is key
here. Try nymphing little mayflies or grey scud patterns.
Casting streamers upstream and ripping them down through the
lanes can produce savage takes! Yes, the streamer works in Hot
Creek!

E/C Caddis #18-22, Black Cripple #20-22, Jarett’s CDC Emerger
#20-24

Sexy Waltz #14-18, Crosscut Scud #14-18, Biot Baetis #18-22,
Barr Emerger #18-22

Olive Bugger Variations #4-6, Jig Sculpin, #4-6, Cone Head
Muddler #4-6

Upper Owens- 57cfs (east portal)
113cfs (below east portal).

The section below Benton Crossing Bridge to Crowley Lake has
closed. Make you are fishing above it and check double check
regs as they have removed the monument boundary.
Like always, be sneaky and cover water. Nymphing small
attractors and midge larva is the go to way to produce fish until
you see risers. But, if you want to break the monotony, try dead
drifting streamers. Stripping works well too, but dead drifting them
can be lots of fun!

Midge Larva Variations #-18-24, Grey/Olive Hares Ear #18-20,
Waltz Worm #14-16, Black Perdigons #16-18, Prince Nymph #14-
18

E/C Caddis #18-20, Jarett’s CDC Emerger #18-22, Parachute
Adam’s #18-24, Trico Cripple #20-24

Olive and Black Bugger Variations #4-8, Zoo Cougar #4-6, Ice
Dub Baitfish #10-8

Lower Owens- 148cfs
The flows here have just dropped down to 148cfs, kicking off our
winter wade/drift season. Wading should be nice and easy. Lots
of little stuff this time of year. Baetis and midge patterns in size
#18-24 are a good place to start. A nice BWO hatch starts
midday. Try something different, nymph scud patterns or strip
streamers. There are lots of baitfish that provide a big meal and
these trout love to chomp on them. Remember, sculpin don’t have
air bladders so keep that streamer on the bottom if imitating them.

Parachute BWO/Adam’s #18-22, Parachute Midge Emerger #20-
24, Jarett’s CDC Emerger #18-22, Barr Emerger #18-20

Biot Beatis #18-22, Grey Soft Hackle #18-22, Midge Larva #18-
24, Sexy Waltz #16-18, P.T. Variations #18-22

Zoo Cougar #4-6, Olive Bugger Variations #4-6, Baby Fat Minnow
#4, Conehead Zonker Muddler #4- 6

J. Coons
Sierra Mountain trout Guide Service
Big Pine, CA
760-920-0659

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San Francisco Bay, Striper

San Francisco Bay Fly Fishing Report

Nov 15, 2024

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Captain Gregg Holland reports on Nov. 15th, 2024

Short and sweet this week, from Capt. Gregg.

Fish shallow on the beaches and if you have a boat, fish the islands like Red Rocks and Angel Island. It's still happening out there. Fall fishing is game on!

SF Bay tide table and wind forecast

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Delta, frdelta

California Delta Fly Fishing Report

Nov 15, 2024

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Bryce Tedford reports on Nov. 15th, 2024

Fall is finally beginning on the Sacramento & San Joaquin California Delta! It’s been a slow start to the fall as water temperatures have been hovering above 70 degrees. With 100 degree days it was a mix of topwater largemouth & a slow transition to the Striper game.

That said, fall has arrived & the cooler weather will turn my attention towards Stripers in the coming weeks. Fall should be a great time on the Delta with fish moving into the system to heavily forage on baitfish, crawfish, bluegill, pike minnow, baby bass, etc.

We will be using 8-9wt rods, heavy sinking lines, 20-25lb leaders & large Clousers to weed out quality fish. Fall season is a wonderful time on the Delta & should not be missed by the Striper enthusiasts or anyone interested in the adventure of chasing Stripers on the Fly.

Weather forecast for Frank's Tract

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Local Surf

Bay Area Surf Fly Fishing Report

Nov 15, 2024

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Evan Praskin of Stoke Ventures reports on Nov. 15th, 2024

Greetings, fellow beach chargers! Here’s your updated surf report for the fall season! Welcome to the chilly mornings where you can’t feel your fingers, making it the perfect time to invest in a quality pair of fingerless gloves. I recommend the Simms Gore-Tex or Filson half-finger gloves, which you can easily order from or find in the shop. Monterey Bay was fantastic for bass this summer; however, most fish have migrated up the coast, starting their journey back into SF Bay and the Sacramento River system.

But, don’t worry, the surf perch are always around and eager to take your fly! If you're still keen on chasing those salty bass, consider heading to the northern beaches outside the Golden Gate, like Ocean Beach. Just remember to exercise extra caution in these areas and always check your conditions.

This time of year, we start seeing the big winter Barred perch that can make you feel like you've hooked a rogue striper. With winter swells on the rise, it's best to use heavier lines like T-11 or T-14. But anything that is sink 6 or greater will do. Make sure to work your fly as slowly as you can while maintaining contact at all times. Pause during the outgoing waves and strip during the flood. The must-have surf gear for this season includes the Loon Ergo comb, Loon Apex HD pliers, and our all-time favorite surf rods, the LCO Golden Gate and Ocean Beach! Don’t forget to check your back casts, be kind and courteous, and always strip to the tip.

Stay safe out there, and we’ll see you on the beach!