Trinity River Fly Fishing Report 11/16/2017

My annual Trinity River vacation/trip was pretty damn good this year for many different reasons. First off, it was some quality "Jonny B" time, and even more special my 52nd birthday. After grinding out a full season of guiding, living out of a truck, and being away from home, this trip was all about enjoying myself and having fun. Secondly, the river was in pretty good shape with some decent reports coming from both the upper and lower parts of the river. The stage was set, and the best part was my buddy Jimmie Marchio coming along for the trip who had never been to the Trinity River, or hooked into a steelhead. We stayed at the Red Hill Motel and Cabins, a step back in time with perfect accommodations for the no frills steelhead bum.

Heavy rain was in the forecast for our trip on the 15th, and the flows were right around 400 cubes. We dressed for conditions with our best rain gear and met up with our guide Brian Clemens of Nor Cal Fly Guides, who I would highly recommend. We floated the lower river under a steady rain all day, basically fishing for 8 hours straight. We did not eat, we did not drink, and only focused on strict drifts with the Jaydicator rig. Jimmy Leg stones, Golden Stones, Psycho Prince nymphs, and Red Copper Johns were all effective. Though we were soaked to the bone and a bit cold, it was a fantastic day.

The most satisfying part of the day for Brian and I was watching Jimmie fight and land his first steelhead of his life, he was stoked! He hooked into another beast of a fish that was estimated at 15 pounds, it cartwheeled and flipped out of the water providing a stunning aerial display, and then just as fast, it broke off, and headed for the pacific ocean at full speed. It was unreal. We hooked a few more adults, half pounders, and a few dinks during the rest of the day.

We were surprised that the river did not blow out, and that Canyon Creek remained clear. There was a ton of boat traffic, and we had many inexperienced oarsman drift right over our fish, or in our lanes. All the experienced guides were extremely polite and showed good etiquette towards us. We worked slow and methodically down the river and let most of the boats chase each other downstream to the take out, which gave us the opportunity to clean up their mess and reap the rewards. 

That evening I was treated to a birthday dinner and was joined by Mike Brugh and Trevor Fagerskog of the Tahoe Truckee Fly Fishers, Jimmie, while Brian and another top Trinity guide, Peter Santley sat adjacent to us. It was quite the celebration from the Indian Creek Lodge Cafe filled with fishing stories, smiles, and lots of laughs. Plans are already made to be there again next year for November 15th. Special thanks to Brian for giving me a few dozen of his deadly patterns! See you next time Trinity River. What a beautiful place to be.