Cameron and Trevor

Early September rainbows 9/5/13,

Trevor and Cameron have been friends since childhood. They played little league, city basketball and  soccer together and of course they are on to fly fishing. They have graduated to fly fishing and both are doing quite well as evidenced by these nice raibow pictured below.

These guys hit a bunch of fish in a short afternoon drift and you can tell by their smiles that they had a blast. The weather was warm and sunny, the water was a bit high but they boys casted and mended well and boated about 8 nice ones and a few smaller fish too in the 4 hrs they fished.

It is always rewarding to see the younger generation learning to flyfish. They were a joy to guide!

Bill and the evening drift

Bill and I have drifted the lower Sac together several times and he certainly knows what he is doing. This evening was no different. This was a hot August evening and not exactly what you would call 'prime time' but two 19 inchers will make anyones day. We did catch several small fish which is unusual.... Bill landed a half dozen fish between 2 and 12 inches. The 2 inchers appeared to be salmon smolts on their way to the pacific.

 

 

Bill fought these 2 big fish and they fought back! They ran hard, jumped and buried themselves in the weeds but Bill prevailed for the two photo ops above.

The pic below is of the healthy release.....

 

Bert and Casey, Spring Fishing

The water was high, clear and cool which is normal for May on the lower Sac. Roberta and Casey decided on and afternoon/evening float and the fishing Gods rewarded them. There were a few tense moments however. We were drifting a long flat spot just above the Cypress St. bridge. We got into the lane and made good casts and bingo Bert hooked up with a nice one which she played right up to the boat only to have it come unbuttoned....:-(.

So we rowed up again only to have Bert hook up again so Casey reeled in and we fought her fish which was a bit bigger and took awhile to net. Casey again assisted in the netting of Roberta's nice 18 inch rainbow.

 

We rowed up and drifted the slot again tis time they both got hits and lost them and when Roberta recast she hooked up again. Casey, although he would never admit it, was beginning to feel short changed by 'Lady' luck.... Oh well! Casey was rewarded for his patience with a big fish of his own.

We landed 5 fish over 18" and a few smaller fish too so it was a good afternoon by any standards. The fish below was caught and released just below the Sundial bridge. Note the beautiful spawning colors and extended jaw of this spendidly proportioned buck.

 

David and Tony and their trout and the swimming guide.........

.....10/28.... Another beautiful fall day on the river. David and Tony drove in from the bay area and showed up ready to fish. The fish cooperated today and the action was consistant until dark. We made two drifts; the morning drift was from the posse grounds to Bonny View and the evenintg drift was from the posse grounds to the Aqua Golf ramp. The weather and the fishing conditions were perfect and we were in shorts all day landing big fat rainbows.

David hooked into the first big one at about 11am at the top of a big riffle below Cypress St. The big 'bow took a bead after David dropped it in just above a few spawning kings. The big fish shot up from the tail of the pool to inhale the bead and the fight was on. The fast water didn't allow us to hold our position and we had to fight the 22 incher all the way down about 150 yards and into the net.

Not long after that he hooked another hard fighting rainbow in the shallows on the left and even though it was only 17 or 18 inches it was really tough to get into the net. Next it was Tony's turn and after turning the corner by Riverbend golf course Tony hooked into this 19 inch beauty.

Tony is fairly new to fly fishing and I think this was his first time in a drift boat. He got the hang of it with no problem and by the evening he had landed four nice fish. David and Tony did really well and the last fish of the day was caught by Tony. He hooked it just below the 44 bridge and we played it all the way to the bottom of that long riffle. We were amazed that he stayed on that long. We did net the fish but did not get a picture due to a snafu with one of the oars. As it happened one of the oars popped out of the oar lock as we dropped anchor to land Tony's fish. Luckily it was in slow water. It was one on those moments and when I saw the oar floating I new I was going for a swim........Yeeeeehaw! That water is cold. It was certainly a memorable day. Thanks!

Lawnie and Steve

10/27..... Lawnie and Steve made the trek from the bay area for a day of fishing on the lower Sac. It was a bit of a tough day but some nice fish were hooked. The weather was perfect and the river conditions were perfect too. There was the usual weekend boat traffic which didn't help us either. We did two drifts and Steve got on the board early with the beauty picture below.

Steve and this 18 inch rainbow fought long and hard until we finally got the net under him and convinced him to pose with us. We played and lost a few more and had a few 'swing and a miss' moments too. On the evening float we found some really nice fish rising to #14 PMD's and unfortunaly we broke off two big 'bows on the strike.....Oooops! Better luck next time.

Gotta love that waterproof camera. I love releasing fish. Lawnie and Steve are true gentlemen and respected the integrity of the catch and release philosophy.