October is huge for Steelhead on many rivers.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

The fish on the Rogue are running bigger this year and the river should be at a perfect flow by October 1st. Pretty easy drive up Interstate 5 to Medford.

The Klamath River is best in October with more chances to find fish in the river by then. Should be good from Orleans to Happy Camp then.

Trinity River will be picking up in October with warmer water temps than mid-winter so we can fish swinging flies.

The Feather river rocks in October which is its top month too and so close.

The Lower Yuba River and Lower Sacramento have Steelhead and big Rainbow Trout in October so they are on the list as well.

The lower American is the closest for most with a good chance here too.

Again, we recommend booking a good fly fishing guide for some insurance of catching something and learning the river too.

[Adam Grace]

Today I fished with my friend and local Chico area guide Ryan Miller on the low flow of the Feather river. We started fishing about 7am and finished around 2pm. Shithouse riffle and Mathew's were both full of people. We didn't even bother fishing a couple other spots because of the crowds. Not a huge amount of people, 6-8 at Shithouse, 6-8 at Mathews and a couple other bunches around 4-5 people. We were in search of some early steelies. We eached landed one salmon and lot a couple more. Around 12:30 we found some steelies. I landed my first one of the season, 20" and about 3 lbs, nice and clean. It launched straight out of the water upon hook set and again halfway through the fight, both jumps at least 2 feet into the air.



Shortly after I released that fish Ryan hooked into this beautiful half pounder, chromed out and skinnier.



Ryan then proceeded to hook another HP slightly smaller than two other which barely deserve to be mentioned. The cool part of about those four fish of his was that he pulled the out of a small, fast moving channel covered with overhanging bushes.

Ryan knows the Feather well, he is also a member of the Winston Rod Co's Pro Staff. If any of you might want to book a trip with Ryan on the Feather you can call him at 530/913-8312. Ryan is a good guy who works veryy hard for his clients and friends.

[jbird]

Adam

Nice report and great looking fish. It is always interesting to see fish from different rivers. They are beautiful, very trouty looking. Our steelhead rarely sport spots below the lateral line.

J

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great post Adam

Those are beautiful fish.

I guess it will just get better by the week now.

[sculpin]

Boy I have got to agree with Jbird about the fish colors. The first thing I noticed is the spots are so distinct compared to our Rogue fish and they are below the lateral line. The old wives tale in our parts is steelhead don't have spots below the lateral line. Nice pictures and post.

Mark

[Adam Grace]

This is another Feather steelie from a couple of years ago. There are also some spots below the lateral lines, not as many as todays fish.



If the Feather river held resident trout you could call it a trout, although the Dept. of Fish and Game lists any rainbow trout 16" or large which is caught in an ocean feeding watershed as a steelhead.

Granted it is not a typical Oregon/Washington steelhead. The Feather steelies are usually smaller, shorter and more football shaped. They also enter the river in Fall instead of the normal winter type of steelhead.

What do you guys think about this fish, would you call it a steelhead?

[MSP]

Hey Adam you're supposed tobe studying! Glad you got out and looked to have a great day. Nice fish and pics. Keep em coming!

[jbird]

Adam

I quickly breezed thru a bunch of my pictures and did find a couple adult steelhead with a smattering of spots below the line. They were on fish that had developed a lot of color.

Maybe its a geograghic phenomenon. The further north you go the less spots the steelhead have. Washington and BC fish have hardly any spots. They are all beautiful in their own right.

We have a very small fly only stretch here on the rogue, its called the Holy Water. Its inaccessible to anadromous fish. Theirs just really big trout. They do look a lot like the fish in your first picture. Thats not to say the fish you got isnt a steelhead. I would certainly call those fish you caught steelhead.

J

[Hairstacker]

Nice fish Adam, good for you! Sounds like he put up an exciting fight -- I love it when fish go crazy and get airborne and start cartwheeling all over the place.

[Adam Grace]

Nice fish and picture, looks like you're fsihin a Scott A2 fly rod, how do you likeit? I'm a big fan of that rod series.

Yeah, the Feather fish seem to develope color faster than other steelies, I see more steelhead in pictures from the Feather with more trout like coloration and less chrome silver BC look, maybe the warmer water?

I know that people do catch nice chrome fish out of the Feather but I hardly see any pictures of fresh chromers.

If any of you guys have some nice Feather chromer pictures please post them.