Lower Sac in Full Swing

[RJSFLYTRIP]

The Lower Sac is blowing up. The caddis hatch is in full swing and the fish are chowing down on various prince nymphs and rubberlegs. The last week I have really been focusing on the Anderson to Balls Ferry section of the river. This is one of my favorite sections during the early spring. I am excited for this week coming up with all of the warm sunshine in the forecast. This week there should be great caddis and pmd hatches on the river. Get excited because I think the nice weather of April is finally here.

On Monday I had two newbies on the water on a half day trip. Both of these guys caught on to the techniques of indicator nymphing very quickly. These two newbies blew me away when in 5 hours of fishing they had landed 20 rainbows and only lost 1. I don't think I have every experienced this landing ratio even with the most veteran of anglers. Needless to say I was very impressed. I guess the hook setting techniques that I teach actually do work.

Another memorbale time I had on the boat this week is when I was able to take out Ted and his grandfather Stacey. I think it is so cool how generations can bond together through the sport of fly fishing. There was some major joy between these two guys when Ted landed a 23" rainbow. This is his biggest rainbow ever on a fly rod. Needless to say after this fish was landed there was a celebratory drink of whiskey between grandfather and grandson. One thing I love as a guide is the ability to bring people together in a memborable experience in the boat.

For those of you guys interested in doing some short notice fishing I will take $100 off March 31, April 1, and April 12-14. Hope you guys are getting some fishing in!

Tight Lines!

[STEELIES/26c3]

A rather handsome trio~

and that buck is most gorgeous!

That's the good stuff.
M

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

That is a great example why people love the Lower Sacramento River.

I use to go on my birthday (3/25) and it was usually good.

I guess April/May is red hot up there.

That's a beautiful wild big river Rainbow trout with an attitude.

[jburge]

How do you describe "epic"? That's what my day was on Lower Sac yesterday with RJ. First, I've not been much of a nymph fisherman, even beginning to think it was a myth that anybody could catch anything substantial on those little subsurface bugs. I'm now a total believer.

RJ set me up right, showed me a whole new way to cast and drift, and it was game on. First fish to the boat was a fat and sassy 20 in rainbow. It didn't stop the rest of the day. Normally, I'd figure a really good day would mean 9 or 10 fish, but when all was said and done, I had 32 fish to the boat with a half-dozen or so where I missed the hook set or were LDR'd. I'm still shaking my head a day later.

Yeah, it was a long day, heading out of Sacto at 4:45, in the water by 8:30-ish, back to the car by 5:30-ish, and on my way back to Sacto close to 6:00. I got home around 9:00 and was still pumped. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

For a guy who's relatively new to fly-fishing, with pretty much dry-fly in the Sierras kinds of experiences, this rocked my world. Wow. A big thanks to RJ, and boy am I glad we live so close to some of the best trout fishing ever.

John

[RJSFLYTRIP]

I have had quite a few half day trips this week. Four days this week I started at 8AM and was off the water before 2PM. I have come to the decision that I love doing half day trips. Get some great fishing in but still get home in time to have a nice dinner with the wife. There is something nice about getting home at a decent hour. For those of you interested on the latest news of the Lower Sac is that the river is still fishing good. Again this week I have been focusing on the river below Anderson. Most days I have been floating from Anderson to Balls Ferry. On Saturday I was able to get down on the Jellys to Bend drift. Right now it seems like the best fishing is between 8AM to about 1PM. The fishing in the morning has been really good. You can still catch fish in the afternoon but it takes a little more work. The best flies have been the rubberlegs (8), cdc princes (16), and tan birds nest (16). In the mornings they have been all over the rubberleg and the middle of the day the fish start turning on the caddis imitations.

I have a couple of really special stories from this week on the river. The first one is a great memory with my family. My parents flew up for the weekend and I was able to take my dad, mom, and wife fishing for the day. What really made this special is that this was the first time ever that my mom had been in my boat. I couldn't convince her to fish but she had a great time going for the boat ride. It was really special for me to have all of my close loved ones in the boat at the same time. In about 4 hours of fishing my dad and wife were able to land a dozen trout. My wife once again outfished my dad. Bonnie is starting to get some fly fishing game out there on the water.

The second story is that I donated a day to take out a pastor and his two sons (ages 9 & 11). Ben, one of the sons, for his birthday wanted to catch a fish. So I thought that this would be a great way to give back and for these two kids to have some fun. Well needless to say Ben and Dan both had a great first time fly fishing experience. We put the birthday boy in the front of the boat and he landed 5 rainbows and his brother Dan was able to land 2. They only got in one or two tangles all day long. I was so impressed with both of them. Hopefully this leads them to get hooked on fly fishing so that one day this sport can really bless their lives like it has mine.

For those of you looking to do some guided fishing I have several availabilities in the later part of April and middle of May. Expect the fishing on the Lower Sac, Yuba, and Feather to remain consistently good through the middle of May.

Tight Lines!

[Darrin.Deel]

thanks RJ. I will be drifting bonny to anderson tomorow. Take it easy