Mid August is the height of summer in most places but what is interesting is that most years we already start to see the first signs of fall. The days are noticeably getting shorter and the angle of the sun is changing…if you are on the water the sun is much lower in the sky at 3-4pm then it was a few weeks ago. I don’t think it is any secret that fish pick up on these subtle changes much more then we do. I even saw on the river the other day the first large flocks of migratory Canadian geese or “honkers” on the river. I have seen very few salmon in the Lower Sac and the salmon boat traffic is minimal meaning not many people are catching fish. I have not been trout fishing on the Sac, Yuba, or Feather at all so I am not sure if the salmon have just shot up into the upper reaches but I have not seen then in the lower.

Striper fishing remains fair to good. For a few weeks now we have been getting good numbers of small fish but it has been tougher to find the bigger fish. Over the last week though changing some things up has put us back on some good fish. I could take the credit for changing fly patterns, presentations, and lines or it could be as simple as that the bigger fish just started eating again. That is beauty of it though is I will never know. Fishing for the resident stripers will last through October until we get our first big storms and cold weather. I am hoping to get some decent sight fishing as salmon move into the river and push the bigger fish to the banks and these bigger fish hang out in some of the back waters even.

Keep them Wet...

well behaved striper holding for pictures

Nice fish caught on the type 5 right on the surface

I have not been up on the Lower Sac or down on the Lower Yuba for trout but fall and winter are approaching quickly and those will be my winter haunts. I usually fish the Lower Sac from Red Bluff to Los Molinos in Late October and November for steelhead before the tributaries have enough water in them for the fish to move up them. Depending on water management and flows I may do some days on the feather out of the jet boat in late October and early November as well to chase some fall steelhead but I will see. The feather can get pretty damn crowded and the older I get the less I have the patience to deal with the crowds. My real hope is that the Lower Yuba starts fishing and that I can spend Nov-February over there nymphing, swinging streamers, and running into the occasional Baetis/BWO hatch…One can hope right.

Music Report…been listening to a ton of new music. The new BJ Barham (lead singer of American Aquarium) is really good. You can check it out here http://noisey.vice.com/blog/bj-barham-american-aquarium-solo-rockingham Great Americana music about life in the south and just life in general. I have also been listening to Joey Kneiser (lead singer of Glossary) my favorite album is the “The Wildness”... “The All Night Bedroom Revival” is a close second. I also took a trip down the Berkley to speak to the Grizzly Peak Fly Fishers and spent the obligatory $100 at Amoeba Records...Finished up my Bruce Springsteen Vinyl collection of major releases prior to Tunnel of Love, picked up Spoon "Gimmie Fiction" on vinyl, as well as a few used CD's...best used CD's I got so far have been The Hold Steady "Teeth Dreams" which is their newest album...I am not always a fan of Craigs vocals but the music on this album is really really good and of all the albums I own I think I like the vocals the best on this one. They seem to work with the music instead of fight the music like I have always felt they do on other albums...Also picked up the classic Granddaddy album "the software slump" ...so good. 

Baseball…Giants are hard to watch I’ll be honest…I hang on every inning it seems like as there is always enough positive to keep watching and hoping they are going to pull out of this tail spin but evidence is suggesting not. Blown leads, lack of run support, and just aweful hitting at times is hard to watch.

Irish…19 days away from the opener against Texas. No idea who the QB will be but our season tickets are in our hands and we are pumped!

Cool New Products…My good friend Matt Callies who is a product developer and hosts the bi- monthly Loon Live fly tying broadcast developed a new set of hemostats for Loon that he hooked me up with this last week while we were striper fishing. It is one of those products that you see and think wow that is a no brainer why didn’t I think of that…then I go well I am not Matt Callies the man of many ideas. The carabineer handle is about as slick and easy to clamp on to anything as it gets. I have clamped it onto my lanyard for my hatch nippers, the handle of my boat bag, and even put it on the suspenders of my waders the other day. The hemostats de-bard everything up to a 4/0 striper hook so they are heavy duty to say the least!

From the mind of Matt Callies...really good idea

BIG NIGHT OUT!!!!  it is that time of year again where we throw a big party in chico! Cast Hope has up our gamed this year and our holding our annual Big Night Out at the Big Room at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA. This year we will be having live music from Chuck Ragan and members of the Camaraderie