Trinity River – Page 2 – Keep Calm and Fly Fish

Crazy High Flow Below NF Trinity

The rivers are dropping but still too murky to be in optimal fishing conditions. The Trinity trip was turned into a day trip after seeing that the flows were way too high and murky to fish. It hasn’t been the greatest time for fishing rivers and streams for me.

Trinity River
My brother and I set out in the morning and got to Steel Bridge before there were any other anglers out. The water was pretty off colored. I was using my switch rod swinging some big bright winter steelhead flies that I had bought. I hooked and fought what felt like a nice fish for about two seconds and lost it. I wasn’t too happy about that.

Steel Bridge Access

We covered all the water we could but the tributaries were just blowing out like rapids. We stopped by Douglas City, Junction City, North Fork of the Trinity, and near the dam before calling it quits. I know they are there I just need it to be at the right place at the right time. The weather, time, water color, and flows have to be ideal before even considering another trip. So you’re telling me there’s a chance…

Salmander

Yuba River & Goldfield
After a not so great trip on the Trinity I had to drop my brother off back in Marysville. I fished the Yuba before heading back to Chico and it wasn’t in that great of condition either. The flows looked right but the water was still murky. There were about 5-6 cars on Parks Bar fishing above the bridge. I opted out on trying to fish with all those people so I fished below the bridge. I managed to to hook and fight a decent feeling fish but lost it. After all the bad luck, I needed to beat the skunk. I decided to try and go for some winter largemouth before I left.

Winter Bass Skunk Beater

I arrived at the pond that I wanted to fish in the goldfields after navigating through the road full of plot holes that were filled with water. A pain in the ass if you don’t have a 4×4. Once I actually got to the pond I had realized I forgotten my fly box with my streamers in the car. Screw that I’m not walking all the way back. I fished a few flies until hooking a small bass on a San Juan worm. Yes! The curse had been lifted. I continued to fish and saw a big splash across the pond. Cool, there’s a big bass rising, probably just the only one. I kept fishing the area I was at until I saw a second big splash. The sun is just under the horizon I had to fish that spot before I left. I got there as quickly as I could and saw some nice size bass hanging around a school of fish that looked like small bluegills. Cast after cast I tried to get one interested in my fly but they were saying nope I don’t really feel like it. After about ten minutes it became too dark to fish and I left for home. Damn it. I’ll get them next time.

The rivers should clear up soon… hopefully. The Feather is still chocolate and I’m looking at the NF Feather River and Butte Creek as my next targets. If murky then I’ll be trying to get better at winter bass fishing. One of the great things about bass fishing in the winter is that no one else is out. I’ll take it.

Happy Holidays!

Beautiful North Coast

This past weekend Amanda and I went on a camping trip for our 5th year anniversary. We left Friday afternoon and stayed the night in the car at Big Flat campground. We woke up the next morning to drive and camp at Patrick’s Point State Park near Trinidad. After a day of adventuring, hiking, and driving we left Sunday morning to fish the Trinity River on the way home.

Patrick’s Point
Its been a long time since I’ve been to the northern coast and it was exciting for both of us. We hiked the trails in the park to tidepools and watched some gnarly waves crash against the huge rocks. We saw a huge variety of wildlife I had ever seen in one trip including rabbits, bears, seals, ocean critters, salmon, elk, and deer.

The Scenic Northern Coast

We were able to drive through the redwoods and take a few pictures of the huge trees. The weather was damp but not freezing cold. In all, it was an awesome trip that we will definitely do again in the future.

Climbing a Giant Redwood

Trinity River
On the way home we stopped at several spots for me to fish. We drove and worked our way upstream from the lower part of the river near Willow Creek close to the top of Douglas City. I learned several things about this river:

1. You cannot make it a day trip.
This river requires that you fish it at least two days in order to be successful. There is a lot of water to cover. The big fish are there but they are aren’t going to be easy to find.

2. You need to have a planned strategy.
The geography of the river changes from the lower, middle, and upper reaches. This means different bugs and techniques need to be planned ahead of time to minimize time spend figuring out where the fish are and what they are eating.

3. It is a big river.
Although it is very accessible, the river is long, deep, and wide in various areas. You need to think safety first because no fish is worth your life.

4. You need a switch or spey rod.
Again, there is a lot of water on this river. Unless your fishing from a drift boat, its going to be difficult getting to areas and covering water where the fish are holding with just a single hand rod. Its still do-able but your doing to do much better if you can cast and present your flies further.

I caught my first around Big Rock. It was a nice skinny half-pounder that put a nice bend in my rod. We stopped around several places but I wouldn’t see my next fish until we fished around the North Fork of the Trinity. It was just a 12” native that decided it was hungry.

Trinity River Half Pounder

Around Douglas City my rod was caught on a snag and 2” of the male ferrule broke. I’ve had tips broken before but this was entirely new to me. I had to end the fishing prematurely but seeing how it just wasn’t my day I decided to give into the river. Next time bitches…

Thank god for fly rod lifetime warranties.
Guess its time to finish setting up and using that switch rod I bought until my rod is repaired.