Swinging for Steelhead this past week has ranged from good to Epic ! The Summer/Fall Steelhead of the Trinity have finally left the Frog Water that they have been occupying for week’s on end and are on there final push, this has put them back into prime Steelhead water and made them accessible to the Spey/Swing angler. This past week, Spey junkies John and Hossein have had Good to Great success swinging up a mix of hatchery and wild Steel ! Over the next several weeks our Summer/Fall Steelhead will be making there final push to there spawning grounds and will be leaving the door open for the much anticipated return of the Winter run, we generally see Winter fish start showing late December to early January. We have finally entered a wet weather pattern on the Trinity which has improved fishing greatly and it looks to continue for some time !

Fishing continues to be challenging on the Trinity with low water and considerable angling pressure. Those that fish thoroughly and with accuracy are getting their fish. One bright spot is there are a number of larger fish in the mix ! Large Steelhead always make my day ! Who know’s what next week will bring but one things for sure if you fail to book a trip and get out on the river you will never know.

The conditions over the last three weeks on the Trinity have changed little, We have had a number of fronts push through but none have delivered much rain, we need inches not tenths ! With the low water both the Steelhead and anglers continue to be stacked up in a few locations making for some tough angling. Having said that any given day can produce ! Spey casting and swinging flies may open up more of the river to you and can offer less crowded fishing, may not account for more hookups but can make for a more pleasurable day ! One big rain event will change everything !

I had a Great day yesterday with husband and wife Hayden and Sara from Woodland. Fishing started a little slow but quickly picked up when we encountered a fresh push of 6-8 lb hatchery steelhead, all bucks ! I think the little bit of rain we have had recently is getting fish to move and currently there are good numbers from Lewiston to Pigeon Point.

Despite extremely low water fresh steelhead continue to trickle in to the Trinity, seems to be about a 50/50 mix of hatchery and wild. The flows have been UNDER 300 cfs in the Junction City, the lowest I think in more then a decade or more ! We’ve been boating a fair amount of adults considering the conditions.

It’s that time of the year when thousands of Steelhead Smolt’s gather to work there way out to the ocean, at times it’s nearly impossible to swing or drift your flies through a run without them being attacked. This will pass soon, it is a great sign for the future and a sign of a healthy river. Steelhead are currently spread from Willow Creek to Lewiston but not in any great numbers yet, if you can find a piece of un-pressured water your chances of success improve greatly. My November / December schedule is starting to fill, prime dates are limited, hope to see you this season.

Started my Steelhead season off on the Trinity today…John swung up an Awesome Wild Buck on a small traditional fly mid-river today, Great way to start the season ! I’m sure many if not most all of you are doing or have done a rain dance, all I have to say is dance HARDER !