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The mantra this year is, “It ain’t like 2007…or even 2006”
I arrived at the river a few days before the rains began. Fish were few and far between, and the fishing was so tough that on my fourth day I left the river to fish the Sac for rainbows. It was windy, raining and the flows had just been lowered, and even though Shannon Engh (aka. Riverspiritfishing) graciously took me out in his drift boat, that fishing was no better than the steelheading.
I headed down to Willow Creek in search of metalheads, where I stayed in a hotel room that reminded me of the hotels in Morocco. I didn’t have to kill anything before going to sleep but I did look around first. The river was blown out, so I headed back to Weaverville the next day. That first week sucked!
I, and everyone else on the Trinity, had been expecting another hot year where we’d have to stop fishing every now and then to give our arms a rest. The wrist brace that I’d worn almost daily last year stayed in my vest pocket the entire trip.
I’m not saying that I didn’t catch, only that much of the time it was like true steelheading. Most of the fishermen on the river got 0-2 fish a day, including those in the guide boats. Unfortunately, this less-than-stellar fishing didn’t stop the hordes from hitting the T, although I don’t think it was as crazy as ’07.
At one point, late in my trip, I walked 20 minutes through the forest to a spot I’d found before the rains and fish arrived. There were three guide boats and five fishermen already there.
I told one of the guides that I wasn’t going to move-in on his clients and did not want to seem pushy, but asked how long he planned to stay at that spot.
“All day”, he said. “Yesterday I had to float 4 miles before I found a spot where we could fish. It’s so crowded that if you find fish, you park on them”, he added.
One positive is that there were some larger than average fish present, especially the first week of November after two rain systems blew through NorCal. Many of the fish that pushed up after the rains were really on the move. I think they were just plain horny and wanted to get laid.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the popular patterns. I saw a lot of salmon and egg patterns are back in vogue this year. From an egg, drop a #10 or #12 Red Copper John or Psycho Prince. Golden Stones work too…the usual patterns for the T.
I met and fished with some folks who used to post on the NCFFB, namely Doug Q who took some dynamite shots of me with fish and Hightrekker. HERE THAT GUYS! IF YOU’RE LURKING, TIME TO RE-JOIN THE COMMUNITY!!
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