Report and Ramblings

Nor Cal Report –

With I-City back together we have all been spreading out and canvassing various rivers and puddles. Ryan Johnston, Darrin “the deeler” Deel (after a short stint in Reno for April, his girl friends, birthday), Kevin Price, and myself will all be spreading out over the valley tail waters over the next few months. Todd “Slim” Cancilla and Brandito Sanchez will be working the steelhead ditch known as the Trinity, dodging commercial pot farmers and Meth labs to catch some big steel. Good to have the boys back together.

Fall weather is here with cool evenings and mornings along with some warm afternoons. Rain is on the way next week and should mix up some things if it comes in any significant form. October is one of the best months to fish in Nor Cal and is shaping up to be nothing short of great.

Lower Yuba River – The egg bite is getting going on the Lower Yuba. Fish have moved into the shallow riffles and are eating egg patterns pretty aggressively. There is still not a ton of salmon around but the ones that are are getting active in the riffles cutting redds and getting ready to drop eggs. The bigger fish seem to be getting a bit more active as we did hook some bigger rainbows over the last week but no big adult steelhead yet. Maybe with the rain this coming week some bigger steelhead will move up the river. Hot bugs have been eggs patterns and big attractors. Fly selection is not very critical this time of year, it is more about knowing what water to fish.

Lower Sacramento River – Flows are down to 8800cfs and dropping down again to 8200cfs on Oct. 3. Good numbers of salmon are moving up into the Redding section of the river and more and more are moving up river everyday. A few fish are starting to anticipate the egg drop and fishing eggs has caught a few fish but caddis still are the main menu item for most trout. Look for the egg bite to kick into gear in the next week or two.

Lower Feather River – The low and high flow sections of the river are full of salmon. There have been a few reports of jumbo half pounders caught over the last week, but I have not heard of any big adults yet. The High Flow section is still high and wading access is limited, as flows have been fluctuating around 5000-7500cfs. Wading access will improve when the flows drop to around 2000cfs. The Low Flow provides the best wading access for most anglers. The next month is prime time on the feather and should see some nice adult fish move into the river.

The Steelhead Ditch aka The Trinity – Heard rumors of fish…Slim has been catching some nice fish over there and Brandito Sanchez has headed over a few days with out reporting back in to I-City. Slim got some fish a few days but I have not heard of any big numbers. The Deeler was over there as well and had his boat trailer vandalized…solid. October should be a good month over on the ditch for catching steelhead, guides getting angry at each other, and freezing your but off.

Sports Report – The Giants could not overcome all their injuries and score more than a run or two a game so they are headed home after the last week of the season. That said the last night of the season was AMAZING with all the drama surrounding the Red Sox, Rays, Braves, and the wild cards. The playoffs are going to be good. I am not sure whom I am picking but right now I am liking the Tigers and Philly.

In Notre Dame news we barely escaped the Pitt Panthers last week and are now heading over to Purdue. We are favored by double digit points but that doesn’t mean much this year when we are turning the ball over more then any other team in division 1 football. Next week I will be heading out to South Bend for the Air Force game and reporting live from the mecha of college football.