It was late Saturday morning when I lazily rolled out of bed, poured a hot cup of coffee, and hopped online to check the weekend weather forecast for The Delta. The water temperatures had been down into the 40’s and the reports I’d been hearing weren’t good. I had half a dozen new flies I’d been anxious to put in the water and Accuweather was calling for perfect conditions (from a weather perspective) so despite the chilly water and the poor reports, I said what the heck, hooked up the boat, and headed over. …continue reading Delta, Cold Water Stripers I

The fact that Jose was still waiting for us at the dock, more than an hour after sunset, was surprising. When I saw the digital camera in his hand I knew why. “How big”? I asked. He ignored me and asked how we’d done. “Terrible”, I responded, “Now let’s see it Jose”. With a sly smirk he coyly responded, “See what? Why are you getting in so late? We were …continue reading Delta, Jose & Gabriel

My brother made it down from Seattle to spend a few days on the Delta with me. On the way back in from a windy first day I justified the days slow fishing to him on the water’s drastic drop in temperature last week and the windy conditions. Brandon & I have fished together long enough not to let a slow day get to us. When we pulled up to the dock and Jose & his buddy were anxiously waiting for us (digital camera in hand) …continue reading Delta with Brandon

I’d returned from up north in full blown steelhead mode. When I’d heard how well Jeff & Jose had done on the Delta earlier in the week I thought “good for them”. When asked if I was going out the coming weekend I responded, “probably not, too many things to do”. A few days later, Dave called. He was out with Jose and they’d been “into them”. OK, “good for them”, I’ve got things to do and steelhead flies to tie. That evening Dave called again …continue reading Delta with Jose Silva

It is a long and sometimes painful search, and sometimes it goes on in vain until there is no chance in finding a fish in the river. It is a succession of long and fruitless hours spent in the rhythmic motions of cast and retrieve…

The reward for all this effort sometimes never comes, because steelhead fishing with a fly is difficult indeed. But when and if it comes, it is dramatic and sudden…continue reading Steelhead, November 2007

October, November, and December have got to be my favorite and busiest months here in the Bay Area, at least from a fishing perspective. My favorite fishing happens this time of year on my favorite waters and when the local conditions continue to be as good as they’ve been this year, I once again find the Delta taking front stage. This past Saturday was Dan Blanton’s annual fund raiser on the delta, Striperfest 2007. …continue reading Delta, Striperfest Weekend

Saturday morning was slow to say the least. The only fish I was able to find were most likely the same school of dinks that Al & I had found 2 weeks prior in the West Delta but unlike that day these guys were all sitting on the bottom and it took a lot of coaxing (fly changes & variations in retrieve) to even get a few of them to grab. They weren’t hungry, and they weren’t big, so I moved on. …continue reading Delta, Solo

After last weekend’s incredible fishing I invited my friend Erica out for the weekend. With her busy schedule lately I was pleasantly surprised when she accepted. We’d tentatively planned to fish both days but the place I typically stay was booked and unlike last weekend, there was wind forecast, so a day trip it was. …continue reading Delta with Erica

My Oregon buddy Al was scheduled to be in the Bay Area for a few days on business and after hearing last weekend’s fishing report he decided to pack a few fly rods and extend his trip through the weekend to join me on the Delta. The early morning’s drive over is still a bit of a haze as is the actual launching of the boat in the dark. I think the moment I actually awoke for the day came as I returned from parking the truck & trailer to hear one of my favorite sounds coming from out in the slough, SMACK! As I approached the launch, …continue reading Delta with Al

Once again some last minute changes in plans paid off with another memorable day on the water. The weather was forecast for a cold morning followed by afternoon temperatures in the high 70’s. Most importantly was the wind prediction, at a steady < 5 mph all day. When I told Dave the conditions were ideal for our “first day of the season” on the Delta he jumped on it and the following morning, early morning, we headed East. …continue reading Delta with Dave

After too long of a break the opportunity finally presented itself to take my smallest spey rod out to search for some early return summer/fall run steelhead on my ‘Tamanawis’. I had one day and 2 halves to revisit some runs from the past, search out a few new ones, and with some luck, hopefully find a steelhead. Much to my suprise, I found two! …continue reading Steelhead, October 2007

The alarm clock read 1:25 AM. It wasn’t set to go off for another 3 hours but I was wide awake and there was no chance of falling back asleep. I’d spent the previous week literally on the other side of the world and apparently hadn’t fully recovered from the +15 hour time change. As I sprung out of bed I thought to myself “I told them I’d be on time”. …continue reading San Luis Reservoir, Sep 2nd 2007

Two weeks ago Dave and I made a run up the Central Valley to check in on the King Salmon run. They were there, but showed absolutely no interest in anything in our fly boxes.

My next trip (last night) started out the same. A few fish were rolling here and there but appeared to have absolutely no interest in my flies, the very same flies that have not let me down there in 7 years. Even the gear guys were complaining of the poor fishing.

…continue reading California Kings, 2007

Saturday afternoon I was at the airport in Phoenix surfing fishporn on the laptop while waiting for a flight home when I got a text message canceling the plans I had for Sunday. Hmmm… I thought… then quickly pulled up the weather forecast, checked the hourly wind prediction, and fired off a text message to Jeff which was responded to within a matter of seconds, “I’m in!” …continue reading San Luis Reservoir, Aug 12th, 2007

Our Baja hosts shared these pictures with us of an Oar Fish that had washed ashore in front of the house a few weeks prior to our arrival this year. Apparently they’re plankton eaters… hmm… shad flies maybe?

…continue reading Oar Fish

Baja 2007, our 6th trip south of the border, and despite the fact that the days of having a reasonable stretch of beach to ourselves to stalk big unmolested roosters is most likely a thing of the past (RDTM no doubt), and the increase in barb wire and “propiedad privada” signs that keep popping up in new places, we managed to make a few minor adjustments, deprived our selves of plenty of sleep as usual, fished like animals day after day, and had just as an amazingly great time as ever! …continue reading Baja 2007

Dave made a long weekend out of the 4th of July holiday and took a sight seeing trip up to my home state to see some country he’d never been to. Though fishing was not the purpose of the trip, he did manage to get in a day and a half with a guide to swing a fly through some beautiful water, and guess what? He nailed one!

…continue reading Steelhead, July 2007

I needed some fly tying material for an upcoming Baja trip that I couldn’t find locally so after confirming that one of the Sacramento fly shops had what I needed in stock I called Dave, Jeff, and Jose to see if they wanted to head up and fish the American River for the evening. After some lunch, an unexpected traffic back-up, and an overheating Nissan Xterra, we made it to the fly shop and then on to the river. …continue reading Shad Run with Jose, Jeff, and Dave

While telling Jeff that there was no reason to kill ourselves getting to the American River early because the shad bite doesn’t usually get going till the late afternoon, he suggested stopping by Putah Creek on the way.
…continue reading Putah / American Combo, June 10, 2007

I did a little more carp pond exploring with Jeff and found a slough with a few nice fish that would consistently swim past and completely ignore any and every fly we’d put in front of them. After Jeff had successfully remained unsuccessful on a few of his own after-work trips I joined him for an evening and together we chalked up another day of defeat. …continue reading Goldens, update, June 1, 2007