well, I didn't get skunked...

[Jgoding]

Hit some new water on the lower river for two fish. Landed this one on the swing with a caddis emerger/pupa (sorry about the pic, best my phone could do)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/jgoding/hpound.jpg

It was getting dark but after landing and releasing that wild fish about 20" another bigger fish started rising. It was a bright fish too as all i saw was white....I worked the fish for a few casts for nothing... maybe one refusal. I think I put him down a little bit but some smolts were rising like 5 feet in front of me still. I made a short cast and bounced my caddis dropper on the surface and sure enough he slurped it up. He swirled as he turned around in the shallow water (about 8" deep) and then sat like a rock. I finally got him to move and he took off peeling line and then jumped about 3' out of the water and broke me off as he rotated his nose down into the drink. Not sure how big he was but I would say around 25" or so and dime bright...

Didn't see any other fish working but a lot of caddis were out. I did miss one smolt before hooking the first fish as well and some real dinks were rising. Luckily I had my new protoype flies with me as well as both my fly boxes were MIA when I got to the river about 6:30pm.

[Blueracer]

Sweet outing Jeff! Thanks for the report.

[Jgoding]

Thanks Blue... I was pretty stoked after hooking up those fish tonight... haven't really hooked up with a nice fish in a couple years and most of the time it turns ugly quick just like with the second fish tonight.... After checking my leader when I got home that second fish broke my 3X tippet right at the blood knot (dropper fly). Still had the point fly luckily but the leader did fall apart after a slight pull and I lost the point fly anyways after I clipped it and placed it on my wool when I was leaving (guess it fell off..doh) Luckily I remember kind of how I tied that one....lol

[Mike Stroud]

Nice work J. Thanks for the report

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Very cool........thanks J.

Every so often someone will hook an adult Steelhead (4-6#) while fishing caddis imitations in the surface.

You have to just keep going out there.

[Charlie Gonzales]

Good for you Jeff! I could definately hear the excitment in your voice when we talked. Get back out there ASAP so we can get another great report. I am on my way to Bodega Bay.

[Scott V]

Good job Jeff, and I agree about the amount of caddis they were all over the place Wednesday night. Hopefully things will start to improve, I might try and get out early Sunday morning, let me know if you are going and maybe we can meet up.

[Jgoding]

I like seeing a lot of caddis too. I think all the caddis swarming around you when fishing keeps some of the mosquitoes at bay (just my opinion).
I'll try to post some pics of the flies as well when I get a chance. When that second fish started working I did get really excited because I could tell it was a really nice fish and he was really working the caddis swarm. I wasn't even disapointed when I lost that fish... I just thought to myself man, that was amazing... Never seen fish run and jump like these AR fish.
Past few years I've seen fish rising but nothing really working like I used to see when I started fishing the American 4-5 years ago. I remember my favorite run at the time would have 15-20 fish rising non-stop the last 30 mins of light...then again I think the flows were at 900cfs too which helps concentrate the fish....

[Jeff C.]

Good on ya mate (as my Kiwi friend would say)! Maybe things will start to pick up. Jeff C.