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
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