LGC's November 2023 Newsletter

It’s November already!! I would like to apologize about not doing the October Newsletter. The time just got away from me.

I would like to get the LGC’s Newsletter to the point where you our valued friends and guide guests have rock solid information for you to use in your daily fly-fishing life. I do have to admit it is hard to get everything rolling. I will start a fishing report every month. It will be sent around the middle of the month.

As for our website and store – the website is up and fully functioning. The online store is almost completed. It is on the last step for us (me) to take images of all the flies and products and add them to the new site. Once I get the images everything else is ready to turn on with a flick of the switch.

As many of you know California Fly Fisher has closed its doors. I would like to thank Richard Anderson and the entire crew at the magazine for letting me be a part of it. I truly enjoyed writing all the articles and doing my Foraging Angler column. It will be missed.

If you haven’t yet got out there to fish – you need to, this is the time to get on the water. So, get out there and fish!!

Rivers

The Feather River and the Lower Sac are fishing very well right now. I will be adding back the Feather River as a guide destination next year (depends on if my doctor gives me the thumbs up). I did a Feather River Steelhead Tour this last week and I realized that I missed fishing the river. Look for the new Feather River webpage, it will be added soon. The Feather River Low Flow Section is at 670cfs. It has tons of salmon in the system and plenty of steelhead behind them. It’s a great time to fish eggs with either a mayfly or caddis behind it. The Lower Sac has been okay to great, it just depends on the day. The salmon are just starting to get higher up in the river. Soon the fish will be keying on eggs. Right now, the fish have been eating whatever is hatching. In the last couple of weeks, I have run into great caddis and mayfly hatches. You need to have a large selection of flies to match the hatch. Top flies for the Feather River are Fox’s Caddis Poopah Olive Size 14-16, Lance’s X-May Jigged Olive Size 18, Lance’s Fireworm Earthworm Size 14 and Peaches & Cream Size 16. Top flies for the Lower Sac are Doug’s Green & Peaches Size 18, Lance’s X-May Jigged Hot Spot Brown Size 16-18, Rubberlegs Brown Size 4 and Fox’s Caddis Poopah Cinnamon Size 14-16. Spring dates that I have open currently Lower Sac or Feather River are March 12,13,14,19,28 and 30^th, for April 11,17,18,23 and 25^th.

(no Gift Certificates).

Lakes

Lake Almanor is still fishing well with the Pond Smelt. It has been cold up here. Currently this morning at 7:00am it was 21 degrees. Soon the snow will be flying, and the lake will be into winter mode. Fish will still be available to the fly-fisher. Fishing flies’ underneath indicators is the way to go. Manzanita Lake has been fishing great the last couple of weeks. The Brown Trout are heading to the creeks to spawn and soon the fishing and hatches will come to a crawl with the winter freeze. Lake Oroville will start to turn on with bass and the Float-N-Fly method, Ryan Williams has open dates. Contact us for the most current list of open dates for Ryan.

Tours

As I mentioned above on the Feather River, we just had a Feather River Steelhead Tour, and it was great. Everyone that attend learned the ends and outs of the river, rigging and some of the environmental issues the river is facing. We also had a Putah Creek Tour that I led. That group was a great group of folks that received a leg up on Putah Creek. The tours are a fantastic way of getting first-hand knowledge in a quick manner. Access areas, rigging, wading safety, where to park where not to park, and everything in-between. The tours will return again in the spring with both a Feather River tour on March 2, 2024, and a Putah Creek Tour on March 9, 2024, on the schedule.

Workshop

Our Workshops are on the water, not in some back room or via Zoom. On the water instructions, rigging and actual on the water fishing is a must for folks to learn and to retain the newfound knowledge. We have a Nymph Workshop on January 8, 2024, and a Dry Fly Workshop on February 10, 2024. We also scheduled a Pontoon Workshop for December, and it was sold out within a couple of days. Folks these workshops are knowledge packed. A great avenue to gain knowledge quickly. 

Lassen Meadows Ranch

The ranch is closed for the winter. This year was the first year back for Lassen Meadows Ranch since the Dixie Fire. I would like to thank Debbie and Russ and their staff for a wonderful job getting the facility back to working shape. The fish, the fly-fishers and everyone that went to the ranch enjoyed every minute of it. We are booking quickly for June and July 2024. We still have very limited dates available. If you are looking for something to do before the Hex Hatch or making the ranch your destination this is the time to get with us and reserve your dates.



Product of the Month

This months, “Product of the Month” is the Simms Challenger 7 Deck Boot". I have been wearing these guys all year long while I have been out on the boat on Almanor. They’re waterproof. great grip and they keep your feet warm. They also have a great insole, nice and cushioned. I love them so much I bought another pair just to have. 

Fly of the Month

The “Fly of the Month” is the standard hardworking always catching fish the Rubberlegs Stonefly. This is one of my favorite patterns, because it works. It’s also very easy to tie. You only need five different materials; a strong vise and you are turning these guys out. You can also tie them in different colors just by changing the Rubberlegs and chenille. I tie mine on the TMC 5262 rather than the TMC 5263 – so a size 4 5262 has the same length as the 5263 Size 6. You get a better hook gape by using the TMC 5262 rather than the 5263.

Hook – TMC 5262 Size 4 – 8

Thread – Danville Flymaster 6/0 color to match body.

Weight – 25 turns of .025 on Size 4, 20 turns on Size 6 and 15 turns on size 8

Rubberlegs – Super Floss color to match

Body – Chenille variegated or full color.