Computer crash

Back inthe Saddle

Hey there Dark Seamers.....

Been a while since i or anyone has posted. It has been a busy summer for us all.

Good news...Steelhead are in the rivers and i am back on the Blogggggggggggg.....!

Here is the scoop:

Fish have started to show up in the Trinity in good numbers...

I have been hearing lots of above average reports...I had the chance to guide Andy Stephens from Scotland last week. We hooked 12 in two days...the largest to hand was 28 inches of wild steel..we also hooked a very large chrome Salmon that kicked Andy's Scottish butt. No pictures...sorry Andy is camera shy...

I have also recently been out on the Lower Sac... The Egg bite has not kicked in yet but the fish are chowing eggs in anticipation....Lots of fish caught in the upper floats...Here is a picture of Lance Larsen of Moraga under the market street bridge..

Nice face Lance....Haha!!!

Day two we chose to float lower in search of Steel...

the fishing was quite a bit slower....but we still had lots of opportunities
...it was not till the very end of the day that we got this chromie Homie to your left..great job Lance...Way to stick it out to the bitter end...You were rewarded for your patience..!

It is good to be back folks...

Stay tuned for more Dark Seam Adventures.. and remember:

Every Day

is a

New Cast....! Joshua

Yuba report

Sorry for no post lately, just seems things have not been fishing great around here... until now. Last week on the Yuba the flows ranged from 4000 cfs to 8000 cfs. We floated twice and I did a walk in with a friend. The floats were really good catching many fish with big dry flies and pmd emergers. The second float we put in below Daguerra dam to see if we could see any shad. We did see a few but no big schools yet. We did spook a 6-7ft. green sturgeon, about mile from the put in. Rare site... looked like a mako shark swimming through the water ... cool. Dries worked well but nymphs caught more fish that day. Black rubber legs, pmd's, caddis all worked. The fish are just hungry.

The flows are going to going to be high for next 6 weeks or so always check the guage. The day I walked in was not bad, just watch your step, fish lot from the bank and further back, Fish small eddy breaks in the willows with big dry fly, keep your rod tip down and you well do fine.

The Feather has been fishing great for stripers, if you are drifting minnows, but flies have been fishing well too. There has been horriable boat traffic on the river, but with schools moving over to the sac and tisdale area, so are the boats. A nice time to be on the river is the evening, most of bait guys have caught there limits and are off the river by then.

Till next time...Keith

March on the Trinity

The Dark Seam....

I said we will see...So here you go folks.. Keith and I had the pleasure of floating the Canyon with my buddy Ernie.. You see he had been promising to row me through the canyon for my birthday for the last three years. This year I was gonna cash in... If you row the Trinity then you know there are a few tricky rapids on the canyon float. I am always stoked to learn a new float...My attention will be on the dangerous zones....Catching fish is a bonus today. Keith was the first to get a bend in his rod. As we slid into a sick looking zone his indicator dropped... On the other end was a very large brown. He ate a golden stone...Another camera shy fish avoided the lens and was released. The sun busted through the clouds and some bugs started hatching. We switched over to dries for a while. Missed one small steelie...Turns out we forgot our floatant so lots of false casts to dry the flies...We made our way out of the canyon switching back and forth from nymphs to dries. Missed a few more fish but nothing in the boat. As we got into some familiar water below Evans bar ...I took my focus off of learning the float and got on the front of the boat to get my fish on...The second run I managed to hook a feisty steelhead that gave me a few shakes and came off. The next one was not soo lucky. She was spunky too..out of the water a few times and went ballistic for a minute..but i got her in the net. Man o man she was dime bright...almost looked like a coastal fish. She ate a shrimp pink micro spawn. My turn on the oars...Not too long though cuz Ernie called a spot that had been holding fish. Sure enough right where he said ,,,we hooked up...Once again a chrome fish on the same bug. Off the oars and on another "Chromie Homie" It was not five minutes later that I hooked another hot fish. Same bug....what a great way to end the day.. Good times with great friends...some Bourbon and some Steelhead. March is a sleeper on the Trinity...and the best part is we only saw one other boat. I am sitting here at my house on the Russian and it is pouring...The river is rising by the minute as I am sure a lot of rivers are right now. We will see what happens over the next few days but I think it is time for another trip to Oregon. Keep tuned in to see...

Every

Day

Is

a

New

Cast...................................

Lower Sac

The Dark Seam......

Options for Steelhead have been limited with all the weather. Had a couple guys from the Orvis store in San Francisco on the the boat last week. I made the call to float the Lower Sac. This time of year there are typically some large bows hanging around the Sundial bridge. Jared and Heinz were psyched for a day on the water. The skies had cleared up and the sun was shining. What a beautiful day...We lucked out as the forecast called for overcast conditions with possible showers. First thing was to row these guys up river to fish right below the dam. We were fishing under indicators... stones, caddis and mayflies were on the menu. Within a few minutes of floating we had our first hook-up. Jared pulled in a nice fat 18" on a size 16 s&m. For the next hour or so we continued to fish this area with lots of action. There was an insane caddis hatch that blanketed the water with casings...it lasted about 30 minutes and slowed the bite considerably. We headed down river to hit the water by the bridge. The guys got out of the boat to fish the main riffle.. It wasn't a minute later that I looked up t o see Jared hook up on what looked to be a pig. Moments later the fish had Jared into his backing. We needed to get control of this fight if he was going to land this fish. I got Heinz back in the boat quick...pulled the anchor and carefully got Jared back in the boat. We chased the fish down and posted up in some slower deeper water. By this time a small crowd had formed on the bridge. We had an audience and the show was on. The is fish was feisty..Jared did a great job keeping the pressure on as he made a run every time he saw the net, Finally we got his head up and got him in the net. Nice Buck 24" and Fat, He ate a poopah. things slowed down for a while after that. We picked up a few more fish later in the day. The wind picked up quite a bit so I rowed us out. All in all an action packed day with many fish to hand and many more hooked. This week we had even more weather. The Coast is Toast... I have a friend who headed there anyway thinking he could find some water worth fishing...He fished three days..reported high water and only one hook up..with all the rivers blowing on him by the middle of the third day.... Word has it there are still a few late winter fish showing up on the Trinity....Guess we will see....

Every Day is a new cast..........

tons of rain

Sorry for not posting lately, the storms in Nevada County have been rough.

The last storm we had knocked out two of my power poles. We lost power for over a week and the internet even longer.

With all of this rain the Yuba has been muddy for almost three weeks. Had some friends float the upper section the other day and they did alright just fishing the edges of the slow water and finding the fish using something big.

As for the Feather for stripers, Jack's slough stopped pumping mud into the river a few days ago and cleared some of the river up to the mouth of Yuba. We fished yesterday and took one to the boat with a couple other bumps, but the river needs to clear more for fly fishing.

There are a few steelhead showing up in the low flow section of the Feather, which should start to fish in next couple of weeks. Here is a pic of Tom with his first striper on a fly rod, good job Tom! Till next time.....Keith

California Coast

As we get into March the local rivers and streams near me start to get numbers of winter fish. These drainages are close to the ocean and have limited access. This is when the Inflatable really shines. Put ins and take outs are often tough to find and involve portages. The extra work can pay off as these fish are full of piss and vinegar...I was able to get out on a few of these rivers right when I got back from Oregon. Sad to say that we did not find many fish...Lots of smolt but only a couple of adult sightings and hookups. There will still be some opportunities as we get deeper into March. Tom and I found a few adults laying in a deep pool. The only fish we were able to keep on was a very large Kelt Buck that gave Tom quite a tussle. 36" long 22" around....If this fish was fresh we most likely would not have got it on the bank.

Tom made it out again this week and managed a smaller chrome adult...So they are out there...not in huge numbers but you never know when a fresh pod might arrive.

Every

day

is

a

new

cast....................

Oregon's" Wintery Mix"

Hey there Dark seamers....

Back from Oregon.....What a blast!!! The weather was pretty awful but the fishing was up to par for sure. I was only up there for two days this trip...Pulled an all niter getting there and got right into my buddy's raft. We floated the first day...Greg told me the weatherman was calling for a "Wintery Mix"....Not sure what this was but, well, I found out.....Hail, Rain, Snow, Sleet, Frozen rain all at once and blowing sideways. Steelheading is for folk cut from a different cloth..Chasing fish..Long days on the water often times bearing the elements in hopes of hooking a fish of a lifetime. Well day one was one of those days that belongs to the true "Steelheader." We bundled up, cracked some hand warmers and stuck it out.....and it paid off...We hooked 8 and landed 6...the largest of the day was 34" Kelt...she ate a burnt orange creme brulee. Day two we planned on walking and wading a small creek about 10 miles from the salt. Our drive in was dicey with 12-18 inches of snow on the road...but we made it. Got to the water and it looked nice but a little too low. We decided to stay and hike upstream to some deeper holes. Another day for the serious steelhead angler...Hiking trough snow and ice traversing the water...ain't no trails here. Then the snow came...We got in about 2 miles before we found the first deep run. I threw in and wham!!!! Fish on...great fight, tough fish..about 32" kelt buck with a bright red stripe..unfortunately he was camera shy...managed to swim away as I was getting the camera ready...Back to hiking hole to hole- it was getting late. We got to a series of deep pools with falls between them. I made my way to the top pool and made a cast.....Indicator went down like a ton of bricks and then a large fish came out of the water. This fish was pissed off and I had him in a very small pool. Not a good recipe for landing it. I managed to keep this guy in the pool for 4out of 5 runs....The fifth run he went over the falls. Oh well, it was a great fight- the one that got away...always keeps you pumped to return. And that I will! Already planning the next trip up there. Hopefully it warms up cuz I am over the "Wintery Mix."

Every Day is a new Cast.......

Off to Oregon

Hello dark seamers...

Been a while since I posted a steelhead report....I have been hanging out with the Family...gaining points for my next hallpass. I did manage to get out for one day before the storm arrived. Kieth and i took a day trip to the Van Duzen. Man o man it was low and clear..We did manage to entice a bunch of bright half pounders the first part of the float..Then the wind picked up....And i mean picked up!!! The pontoon was getting blown up river as well as kieths indicator. We pushed hard to get off the river before dark. There was one point when the wind died down and we fished. Kieth threw a cast right in the bucket and proclaimed "we deserve a fish after all that." Well he was inmmediatly answered with a bright hen between 8 and 10 lb...she gave us an aerial display and was gone. Technical knot failure...she took the whole rig..But it sure was nice to see an adult after getting blown around like a kite...So moral of the story is always check the wind predictions cus rowing out of 40-50 mph gusts is just no fun...!!!!

Sooooo...This system has brought a lot of water to Norhern California. All the coastal rivers are blown. The Kalamath drainage is still fishable. I heard a recent report that there is a push of fresh fish that just started to arrive on the Trinity. If you are jonesing to feel a tug that is your best bet...

I on the other hand am out....headed to the Oregon Coast. I am going to be fishing with a great friend that i have not seen for quite some time. I got the call last week that things are cracking so it is time to check it out...Tune in for my report..

PS

i have not forgotten about the coastal glo-bug post. Just working on getting some great media to go along with it...it is still coming...

every cast is a new day................Joshua

Yuba is clear

Well dispite the wind and the rain and the flow increase, which is right around 3800cfs, the Yuba is clear as of today. Yesterday Deer creak toped off at 1800cfs and blow the Yuba out, but with snow levels below Grass Valley and Deer creek stable the Yuba is fishable. We will have to wait and see what tomorrow will bring. As far as the Feather goes the sloughs are still pumping out rice water and muddying up the river making it real hard for fly guys. The bait guys seem to be doing ok with the bite, but we will need some clearer water to start fishing stripers again.

There is also a new flow gauge now, that combines Deer creek and the Yuba together @

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?s=ypb. Cheek it out, until next time..... Keith

The week almost forgotten by Tom Page

Thursday 2-10-2011,

Well some times life just gets in the way, last week I spent two days guiding on the Lower Yuba. On Thursday I spent the day with two old friends Norm and Trent both locals of Grass Valley and Nevada City. Trent just purchased a Redington switch rod that we broke in nicely for him. We started our float around 10:00 and Trent hooked the first fish around 10:15 it was a good size fish around 16”. Norm soon followed with a fish a round the same size, we hooked fish all day long pretty consistently, I stop counting some were around 12. The hot flies were rubber leg stones, red copper johns, S&M nymphs, and fox pupas. All in all it was a great day of fishing.

On a side note we ran into a couple of locals that were floating the river and one of them landed a nice size brown that measured at 17”. This is now the 4^th brown landed that I know of. Some people have reported that the browns are coming from Lake Englebright, but what is being over looked is Dry creek that runs through Sycamore ranch. Dry creek is the drainage from Collins Lake, and Collins Lake has a bunch of brown trout I would say more than Lake Englebright. So who knows you can be the next to catch one of these rear brown trout, so get out and fish.

Friday 2-11-2011,

Awe crap, woke up at 5 am, checked the flows on the Yuba, they dropped again another 200 cfs. My first thought was that SUCKS. So now what? What is the new game plan, do I fish the same way I did yesterday? What runs do I fish differently? Man I need some coffee! Now that’s better. I tied up some more rubber legs and red copper johns, all though I only had enough brown chenille for three rubber legs, so I then tied up some rubber legs using variegated brown and green chenille. Good call the fish were all over them.

I met my clients Bruce and Jason for a half day trip at 10:30. Bruce has been a great client over the years, he all ways brings some one new. Jason is pretty green to fly fishing, so I spent a lot of time teaching Jason. Unfortunately Jason did not catch any fish but he learned a bunch. We fished nymphs all day. Bruce hooked up on nine fish, Jason had a couple of nice fish come up to some dries, but pulled the fly away both times. It was a great day the flows did not seem to affect the fishing to much. All though we caught smaller fish or just landed the smaller ones.

Saturday 2-12-2011,

I went to the Feather River with Keith Scott and Dave Barbieri; the reports are that the strippers are being caught. Let’s just say it was a fun day with two good buddies. Keith has a nice little bass tracker that sat all winter, the 40 horse Murc ran great for setting so long. The electric trolling motor did not fear so well. Keith has three batteries and only one worked for part of the day, we noticed that there is a bad splice in the wiring so we called it a day. Keith fixed the problem at home so hopefully we will be out soon. We did see one guy fishing plugs caught a nice stripper around 15 pounds.

Hey All,

I finally got it together to rally my first post to The Dark Seam and I'm stoked to have been asked to contribute to this endeavor. While I teach full time at an outdoor school fall/winter/spring, my summers are spent fly fishing moving water on the Western Slope of the Sierra's. I've been fly fishing the South Fork American River and its tributaries for almost two decades and I decided to jump into the guiding game this past season. I had a great run this past summer and I'm excited for this upcoming season. All day canyon trips as well as backcountry goodness will get things kick started in the coming months. In the meantime, I fish locally as much as possible and continue to study the aquatic insects of the South Fork and its tribs.

I was recently asked why I decided to hop into the world of guiding. I'll be straight up......it sure isn't for the money! I enjoy sharing my home waters with others, especially in the capacity of fly fishing. I teach approximately 1,000 kids a year at the outdoor school and the thing that I love about teaching is that I continue to learn. The same goes for guiding! The more I guide, the more it pushes me to be a better angler and teacher. You'll see a variety of posts from me in the coming months on many aspects of the sport with a focus on the waters in and around the Highway 50 corridor. If you have any questions regarding my home waters, feel free to contact me.

All the Best!

Todd Gillihan (owner/guide)

West Slope Outfitters

Well my internet has been down and I am way behind. My name is Tom Page I have been a guide for 6 years now. I specialize in drift boat trips on the lower Yuba and Feather river, I also guide the north Yuba and small creeks in the area. You will also find me chasing small mouths on a local lake in the spring time. Guiding has introduced me to some of the greatest people all over our great country and as far away as Japan.

When I was asked to be part of the dark seam with Keith, Dave and Josh I could not pass up the opportunity. I have fished with all of them, and I will say they are all quality guides and fisherman.

I can post what happened last week when my net was down or I can post some up to date info. So stay connected to see what this week brings.

If you would like to experience any of the water I guide on please contact me at:

tompage89@gmail.com or 530-913-3909

Look forward to hearing from you.

Coastal report...low water

Wednesday night and I had a decision to make.

Where was I going to take my clients tomorrow?

First thought was the Van duzen. It looked to be low but was in shape for sure. The SF Eel was out...... I had not heard of any fish being caught on the fly there in a few weeks... Main Eel was in shape...So I made a few calls and made an executive decision. It was time for River X. You see, when it comes to steelheading there is some info that you've got to keep close. I packed the drift boat and headed North to Humbolt county. I met Annie and Alastair and we headed to the river. Absolutely perfect!!!!...Steelhead green...three to four feet of vis and no crowds, gotta love it!!! We took our time getting ready, cuz you know Steelies dont bite before 11:30 am. They like to sleep in and i cant say I blame em'..... Our first fish was hooked about 10 minutes into our float. Alastair missed the set but Annie got her bugs in the slot right behind and Stuck her.....30" 7-8 # downer hen... She ate a salmon roe pink bug that I had tied the night before. We were off to a good start, it was a perfect day. Bluebird skies and in the 70's but we didn't touch a fish for quite sometime... The sun was setting and it started to get a little chilly when we came up on a small tributary- it looked like a good spot...Steelhead Habitat...Sure enough, Alastair's indicator dropped, "fish on!"- a small downer buck...... We were stoked that we finished the day with another in the net.

I had a few friends that fished the Van Duzen the same day. Pretty slow on the upper river...but got a report of 10 fish being hooked on the lower float. With flows dropping each day I would not expect it to fish as well. There has been some great action on the main Eel but lots of boat traffic to boot. Still nothing good to report from the SF. There has been a lot of anglers out on the Russian all the way up to Cloverdale. I have heard of a fish here and there...no big numbers. There are over 500 fish in the Hatchery, most arrived last week. To sum it up...WE NEED RAIN. If you know a rain dance...it is time to shake your tail feathers.....

Every day is a new cast............Joshua

PMD's, Crowds, and Brown Trout

The Yuba this week is in a flux. The flows dropped last Monday 1/31 by 400 CFS, and will drop again this Monday 2/7 by another 400 CFS, with the possibility of more flow drops later in the week. We've seen abundant hatches of PMDs, Skwalas, Grey Drakes, and Tricos.....with low flows and good hatches come the crowds as I counted over a dozen cars on the Park's Bar side of the river today. With pressure like that, a good fly and well executed presentation is the only way to fool these trout.

Here's a picture of Mark from Placerville with an unusual catch. I think the Browns are getting flushed down Deer Creek or over the top of Englebright, but that's a long fall. That's like getting thrown off a dam, wait that is getting thrown off a dam. But this is the third Brown I have seen or heard of getting caught this week, maybe it's the same one, who knows.

The hot bugs are still Rubberlegs, Copper Johns, PMD Emergers, and Skwalas.

Next week I will be fishing a new river. So stay tuned to see what next. Keith

Muddy Waters...Coastal Report

Hello everyone...Back from a couple days on the coast. Saturday evenings storm was not huge but it sure did reek some havoc. That didnt stop me from heading north. My good friend Ernie Dennison had the day off and we were planning on fishing along with Mr Dave Holt of Cloverdale. I got up at the crack and loaded my truck in the pouring rain ....It had been pounding the roof of my house all night. All I could think was this cant be good...... but I was fishing with Ernie and anyone that knows him would agree "He is one fishy dude!" I called Dave around 6 am..."man it was coming down last night...but the charts dont look tooooo bad.................yet" We agreed that we were going for it regardless. Sun was up by 7:15...just in time to catch a glance at the South Fork in Leggit....It was green......then in Benbow the EB was blowing mud...By the time i saw the river again in Sylvandale it was chocolate...When I got to the confluence the South Fork was Green again....The mud had not made it down yet but it was on the way....Drove down to a cutty little spot on the Main Eel...low and behold there were 5 gear boats with motors tearing up the run. Its a big river.."Lets Fish".........Not 20 minutes later Ernie was Hooting and Hollering...8# hen from the bank...oh yeah! ...its on..... We decided that we were going to float the Main.....but .....by the time we did our shuttle and got the boat in the water the mud had started to arrive. We powered our way towards green....Got to some great looking Frog water and my indicator twitched and dropped in a weird way...."Looks like you got a smolt hit" Ernie said...my indicator was slightly swiming after i gave a light set. Then i got tight.....my line started screaming.....That is no Smolt!!!!!!..High teens 36" chrome hen. by the time we were done with the excitement.....the mud was here to stay. We had a killer lunch provided by yours truely and finished our float probably passing a few hundred fish that could not see our flies.....Tomorrow was Dave Holts' day...

Dave and I grabbed a room in Fortuna....Lucky room 116...Score....had a bite and a few beers at the Eel River brewery and checked the charts. Spike-o-Rama...but there were still some options. Our plan was to check out the Duzen at first light...Morning came quick...and we headed up hwy 36. We spent some time driving around checking things out and i made the call....Lets go for it!!!! We dropped my pontoon in and started our float. the water looked good.. A little over a foot of Visability.... We had a few suspicious take downs in the first hour or two...One was very fishy.... but nothing solid till after noon. I slid the boat up to a nice slot with a drop-off and a large buck came out of the water and started trashing. Dave leaned back on his rod and the flies came flying back at us. Then he looked at me...What happened????....Dude...."You Farmed it!!!" was all i could say....but in Daves defense it was a weird few seconds with a pissed off Steelhead. We continued to change flies....picking apart all the good looking water we came upon...Pounding all the spots that have been good in the past....but no takers.....One confirmed hook up...still a good day for Coastal Steelheading on the fly....The River had spiked and the fish bolted upstream......any left behind were probably freaked out by the drastic rise and fall of the flows.....Soooo Dave Thank you for rowing the last part of the day so i could fish...FARMER.......haha!

As of today all coastal rivers and streams are dropping back in. But they are pretty low.....Lots of options this week...Get out there before any low flow closures take effect...Cuz if we dont get some serious rain it might happen. Make sure you call the DFG before heading out.....(707)822-3164 for North Coast Rivers.....(707)944-5533 for Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

Three boats floated past my house on the Russian this afternoon. No happy anglers....From what I hear boats are scratching for a fish or two lower down....there are fish out there...you just need to search em out.....I am headed North on Thursday on a Guide trip so stay tuned for some more realtime info...as well as a post on tying coastal Glo-bugs....

Every day is a new Cast......Joshua

Dave's first post

For my first post, I’ll tell you a little bit about myself (don’t worry, after this it’s all about the fish). I’m Dave Barbieri and I’ve been fly-fishing pretty much my whole life. Ever since the day 36 years ago when I lost that first big Feather River fish, I was hooked. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of fishing some of the greatest trout rivers west of the Rockies, like the Madison in Montana, the Green in Utah, and the Henry’s Fork of the Snake in Idaho... Lucky for me, my favorite river - the Yuba - is only about a 10 minute drive!

I started guiding about 7 years ago. I’ve always loved fishing, but in the last few years, I’ve really enjoyed fly casting and teaching. So 2 years ago, I was certified as an FFF (Federation of Fly Fishers) Casting Instructor.

It’s very rewarding getting people into fish and even more so teaching them the skills to go out and catch more on their own. It’s a great day when someone who has never fished before lands their first hefty rainbow, but even greater when that person is casting and presenting “like a pro” by the end of the day.

Check back soon for updates on the how what when where and whys of fly fishing on the Dark Seam.

This week on the Yuba

The last two weeks on the Yuba have been awesome. Although we have not seen abundant skwala hatch, the dry fly fishing as been insane. Last week I floated with Tom Page ( which also will be posting on this blog) and the nymphing was not that hot. We were trying everything that we could think of with not much luck. So we pulled the boat over and were sitting there thinking about what to throw when all of the sudden there was a splash right next to boat. We both looked at each other and without saying a word we pulled out our dry fly rods and with in minutes had three hook ups. The rest of the day was pretty much the same, every juicy dark seam that we saw, fish hooked, and we ended the day with a dozen fish. The rest of the week only got better as the fog cleared and temperature rose to the mid 60's.

This week is pretty much the same, except now the big dawg's started to look up. But then yesterday things took a turn and split pea fog rolled in and put the fish down. The fog was so thick you could not see the gun club gate from highway 20. We did not even get a rise or look. So as soon as this fog lifts and the flows drop it will really get things moving again with the skwalas. The best pattern I have seen this year is Tom Page' flush floater. Simply deadly. Hopefully he will post the pattern. That's it for the report, hopefully you'll stay tuned with us and get out and go fish.

KEITH'S FIRST POST

Keith here

I live in Nevada City, Ca so my home waters are all of the Yubas, the Feather (steelhead and stripers), Scott's Flat Lake, which is a great small mouth fishery, and the Sac.; although I fish for striper on the middle section of the river mostly, but do get up to the upper section occasionally. Grouse Ridge area also has lots of small lakes with excellent trout fishing. So stay tuned in as we will post as often as we can

Weekly coastal report

No rain for many days...Rivers are either dropping in or getting low and clear....Both of these scenarios are what a fly guy like me has been waiting for....I live on the Russian..it has been looking better everyday...Steelhead green Sunday morning but I noticed that they are messing with the flows at the dam...probably making room cus lake mendo is FULL. One of my buddies floated on Sunday and hooked one fish...Farmed it!!... I decided that i was headed north...one fish was not going to keep me home. I hooked up the boat..loaded the truck and set my alarm for o dark thirty...The plan was to meet my buddy Tim...he had been hanging in Arcata fishing with some friends up in that zone. They had been hooking 4-5 fish a day on the average...I am not usually an advocate for telling a friend to leave fish to find fish but we had a shot at the Duzen....Got to the river at 8 am and it looked good. Two to three feet of vis..Tim and i shuttled and portaged the boat..Had a line in the water by 9:30....We pounded every jucy bucket, glide and riffle...nothing but our spirits were still strong...The day was gorgeous...65 degrees and bluebird skies. It was about 3 pm as we came up on a spawning trib. I slid the boat right up to a sick slot and "WACK"....Tims bubble went down and the fight was on. This buck didnt really go ballistic...he just hunkered down. Tim did a top notch job bringing this guy to the net. 34" 13-14#....ate a red yarn glowbug. We fished this spot for the next minute...no more bites..Our day was running out as the sun started to drop. We had to power through some water..stopping at the HPZ's only. Getting dark..the take out must be around the next corner...we have all been there....Then we rolled up on a spot that was uber fishy. Tim was sitting at this point..."lets row out" he said..."Not yet bro...throw your bug in that seam right there. Lets get one more fish before we take out." I responded.... Needless to say...."Wack" then a chrome hen comes up and starts trashing...Great fight at dusk....30" 10# ate a salmon egg pink creme brulee. Way to finish the day 2 in the net......!! Next couple of days were spent on the Duzen. 8 more fish hooked....3 to hand...these chromers are fired up and will cartwheel down the river into your backing in seconds. I have some friends that are still up there so stay tuned to hear the progress.

So while i was up there i got the skinny on a couple other rivers. The Main Eel is just dropping in. There are some gear guys that are finding fish. The South Fork is low and clear. Most of the fish have moved up the tribs. Bait boats are getting 1-2 fish on a good day...Fly guys are getting goose egged...that spot needs some rain to stir the pot. The Mad is getting another great return of hatchery fish. The bait guys and liners are crushing it....I have a friend that is headed there tomorrow to hike way up so stay tuned for that report as well. That brings me back to my home river...The Russian has fish...my buddy stayed and fished three days....Hooked 5 and landed 2..one being the slab above. High teens and dime bright. Way to go Tom...!!!!!!

First Post for Joshua

Hello Dark Seam...Joshua here....

This is my first blog but not my first time to the"Dark Seam"... I live in Sonoma County and am addicted to fishing on the fly...

Follow me on Fishing adventures...Tune in for some realtime reports...I fish for just about anything that swims..Right now all my attention is on Steelhead.