Green Water Guide Service

I'm up in Alaska right now having having fun with big kings and starting to look ahead to my favorite time of year. September and October on the Klamath and Trinity are in my opinion, as good as salmon and steelhead fishing get. The scenery, abundance of fish, wildlife sightings and remote nature of the area combine to make for a great experience. And while I never completely believe fish and game predictions until they come true, this year is slated to be one for the history books with a huge run of three year old kings and steelhead. The other piece of positive news is the fact the the ocean seems to be full of salmon right now with boiling fish spotted up and down the coast. With the exception of a short 10 day season out of Eureka, none of these fish will be harvested until they hit the Klamath this fall. I'm starting to book prime dates in September and October so let me know early if you want to pin one down.

I apolagize for the lack of reports this season. All in all its been a strange one with the underlying theme being a poor run. While I did put together a fair number of 6 to 8 fish days there were way to many where we were working hard for 1 to 3 shots. For people who were on my call list, I wasn´t blowing you off, I just really never ran into fishing that waranted you investing your time and money. I´d rather bring you up when fishing is good. The one positive to the season was the relative number of 2 year old fish which points to things getting back on track next year. I´ve called it a season and am writing this report from a Hotel in Managua. Nicaragua. Tomorow morning I fly into the rio san Juan for 2 weeks of tarpon fishing and with a little luck will have some stories for you guys next year.

The great weather held for another week here on the North Coast and I've been chasing steelhead from the Rogue, down to the Eel and east to the Trinity with varied results. I went north on an exploratory trip to Oregon where I fished the Rogue below Agness and found great conditions with very few fish being caught. I saw one adult landed for about 15 boats that were trying everything from sidedrifting roe to backtrolling plugs to plunking. I guess you can't catch fish when they aren't there.

The Eel fished well early in the week with scores ranging from 2 to 6 per boat but has started to get a little lower than I like to see it. Most people drifting roe and a fish pill still have a shot to find some fish but it's getting tougher. The Trinity has been the highlight with solid action every day I was on it. Numbers ranged from 4 adults hooked on the slowest day to 7 on the best and 20 to 40 halfpounders thrown in. It looks like the weather is going to hold and the fishing should continue.

We've had another great weather week here on the North Coast and some good fishing to go with it. While numbers weren't huge we had solid fishing every day this week. I spent four of the past five days on the Eel and we landed between 2 and 6 fish each day topped by a gorgeous 18 lb buck that battled for almost 20 minutes. I also spent a day on the Trinity and found good fishing there as well ending up with nice adults between 6 and 10 lbs. It looks like the good weather is going to continue for at least another week and I'm looking forward to getting to spend it close to home on our Humboldt county rivers.

The rain has finally returned to the north coast and steelhead are flooding into the all our rivers. I fished the Smith on the 23rd with Al Francis of Jacksonville Oregon and within the first hour he landed a dime bright 10 lb wild hen that he opted to released to go spawn. In the afternoon we found a good pod of fish and ended up hooking 3 more landing 2 including a nice hatchery fish for the grill.

Well, it's been almost a month here on the north coast with no significant rainfall and the dry weather has put the skids on what looked to be a bright salmon season on the Smith. With the flows under a 1000 cfs fishing is tough to say the least and most of us have gone looking for fish in other places. The good news is the solid fishing on the Trinity and Klamath. With the rivers at fall flows a little water would help here as well but the halfpounder fishing has been the best anyone has seen in quite a few years and there have been some real nice adults mixed in. We've had some days with around 40 halfpounders running up to 3lbs and good numbers of adults from 6 to 12 lbs. I'm still in mourning over our lost salmon season but with the great weather and good fishing its hard to be too depressed.

The rain has returned to the north coast and with it the big bright fish that we love so much. I spent the past few days on the smith and fishing was excellent when conditions were right and not bad even when it was high and dirty. We mostly pulled plugs and had lots action on fish up to 30+ pounds. The next month should bring more of the same and this first shot at the Smith salmon season has me very excited.

Finally something good to report. The last few days things have been on a bit of an upswing. I spent a few days on the Trinity and we hooked good numbers of steelhead. Not the crazy stuff we saw last year but good solid action with 5 to 7 hookups a day. For the weekend I moved to a new area and found good numbers of salmon and a few steelhead mixed in. Saturday my guys hooked 15 fish with a 25 and 30 lb salmon. The other piece of good news is I don't think this batch of salmon I found are going anywhere until we get a lot of rain. My schedule has some openings for the next few weeks so if you want to go catch a few of these fish give me a call.

Although still not the fishing we're accustom to this time of year, things have improved a bit on the steelhead front.  We've been hooking between 4 and 8 fish the last few days and the quality is good.  A  nice addition is the huge influx of halfpounder steelhead that have come on the scene in the past few days.  Just fishing plugs for adults we hooked over 20 of the scrappy little guys so if you targeted them I'm sure you could catch quite a few.  It's been quite a few years since I've seen numbers like this, so if your into fly fishing now is a great time fish the Trinity.  The salmon seem to be winding down fast on the lower river but we are still hooking a few and the size is great.

So far it's been a strange season for us on the lower Trinity.  We're seeing good numbers of fish but for whatever reason they are as reluctant to bite as I have ever seen them.  The good news is it seems things may be starting to turn the corner as the last few days have shown better scores of both salmon and the steelhead that were so conspicuously absent.  On Thursday we hooked five steelhead some of which were exceptionally large.  The salmon continue to be a bit reluctant but we are hooking a few each day and the size is great with a lot of fish in the mid 20's and some pushing into the 30's.

I've been on the Klamath or the Trinity for the past week.  Fishing has continued at a steady pace, not wide open but were catching some each day.  Kathy gains of  Arizona landed a 35 lb Salmon with me on Tuesday and there were lots of other nice fish caught for the week.  The weather has been great and more fish are still entering the river.

I've been on the klamath for the past week and we've finally started seeing a good push of big fish.  Early in the week we saw hot fishing for small 4 to 10lb fish but by Saturday things had started to change.  More big fish were starting to move in but for some reason the bite got tougher.  I ended today with real nice limits of adult fish for my people topped by a 25lb chromer caught by Kerrie Walker, a local humboldt county fisher lady, but we had to work for each of our bites.  Its just a gut feeling but it seems like things are really primed to go off big in the next few days when all these fish decide to bite.

I've been on the Klamath and although not wide open, fishing has been good.  The nets down at the mouth have done a number on the bigger fish but lots of 20-26 inchers have slipped through and made it upriver.  I have been hiding from the record crowds on the lower river so I haven't seen first hand but the word is most of the nets are out now which should mean more big ones on the way.

Early reports are starting to trickle in from the Klamath and everything points towards a great season.  Steelhead fishing has been good with boats puting together some excellent early season numbers of both halfpounders and adults to 12 lbs.  I've heard of fall salmon pushing all the way up to the Trinity already and there are rumors spreading about some giant fish tuning up at the mouth.  I heard of one that went 52 lbs.  I'm finishing up the last two weeks of my Alaska season trying to beat suicidal silvers off jigs and spinners.  I'll be on the Klamath and Trinity starting September 8th and fishining there until the first heavy rains push us north to the Smith for giant kings, usually sometime in early November.  I've still got a handfull of days open so if your looking to get in on this spectacular fishery and put some salmon on the grill, give me a call.   

With the summer solstace behind us I'll be leaving Alaska soon and turning my thoughts to my favorite time of year.  As the days get shorter and the first fall colors touch the hardwoods of the northcoast, salmon and steelhead begin their ascent of the Trinity and Klamath.  Last year was one for the history books with some of the most epic steelhead fishing anyone can remember and although a bit behind schedule the salmon ended up coming on strong as well.  I'm still prone to waking in the middle of the night with a cold sweat running down my brow as visions of freight train plug bites run through my head. This year we're in the unique position of being one of the only spots on the coast you can keep salmon.  With warm sunny days, unspoiled wilderness and spectacular fishing September and October are a time to cherish on California's northcoast.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the old faces back in my boat, making new friends and of coarse big chrome fish.

Tight lines

Tony