Surfs Up on the Trinity River January 7-13, 2025
My neck hurts. My back hurts. It's cold. The river is high(1500cfs) and clear. There are a shit ton of boats and my shower was broken yesterday. This job sucks. So you want to guide huh?
Haha, just kidding but not really. Like a dumb ass. I scheduled too many days this next 6 weeks and it's going to be a grind. If the damn river wasn't running at 1500cfs because of the f&%k face BOR agency, it'd be more manageable. But I get it, they need to save the dam from exploding and killing us all in Lewiston? That's a good reason unless it's as true as the moon landing. So, I am playing SURFS UP with my drift boat on the river. It's moving waaaaaaaay too fast and my anchor sucks. (I'm working on it.) There are fish out there to be had and stoke to be made. I promise, I really like this job...most of the time.
Do I sound disgruntled? Maybe I am a bit and I shouldn't be writing this report right now. But you know what, I am going to write it because my clients make me happy and this past week was actually pretty sick.
It all started with my good friend Julie and her buddy Jeremy. Super fun day to start off the 1500 cfs hay ride. Really not knowing how to fish the river this high, I had a bit of confidence because of my experience on the Lower Suck when it's high and fishing assorted coastal waters. We hooked up right away and the battle was on. Fast water battle down a sweet ass baby Trinity rapid and the fish was right where it should have been. Shallow run off the fast water in a small bucket. Sick! But shit, where the hell do we land it?! The water is moving too fast and like I said before, my anchor sucks....ha! Then we hammered out another big fish almost immediately after and it popped off. A BIG ONE. Pretty rad and I was thinking holy shit it's gonna be on! Nah, it was a little slow with halfies here and there and then a smaller adult at the end. Like real steelheading! Not fall steelhead season. If you've ever heard to me talk about the Trinity, I always say this is my favorite time of the year, less numbers, bigger fish, less boats...well there used to be less boats. Those days are long gone now.
It was a very special day though and I am so glad Julie decided to spend it with me. Thanks Julie. Mad love friend.
Check out Jeremy with this beauty. He's such a rad dude and I am glad I had him on the boat for the day.
And to my good friend Julie. Great fish and thank you again. Mad love homie. NO TODO!
Well guess what...The Trinity Stuperflies showed up. Yep! Andrew, Iggy, and Adam. If you don't know who those fools are, then watch the Trinity StuperFlies Videos. It's basically the group of my brothers who helped me come up with the Taco Fly Co. brand and Andrew, the man who taught me how to guide this river. MY BROS! I still had work but they were going to be around low holing me and passing me beers on the river for a few days. I was hyped sun!
Then Vinny showed up! Dude, Vinny is sick. He always gets a good fish on the river and fishes really good. My man! The water clarity was getting clearer each day and was trying to fish different lines. My approach was to again, fish it like high water looking to hit the banks and find good runs with the water that steelhead like. There is a lot of dead water right now, so there aren't as many spots. But dude, did Vinny get em' where they were supposed to be.
This baby was in a side channel underneath a tree near a branch on the side of the run. Only Vinny could have made that cast bro. THE MAN! And then he banged out a nice brown in another sweet run that we had passed by the day before. But I was trying to try new water each day on the river, figuring out how to fish this place at 1500.
Look at Charlie's eyes. I can only take Charlie when the water is high on the Trinity as he hates it when the drift boat scrapes rocks. I hate it too. It's been nice using the Clacka. Way easier on the body than the raft.
Anyways, the water was 1500...did I say that already? Thing is, it's still damn pretty out here.
Then Rich and Chip showed up on the weekend. We did 2 days and guess what...we had fun. We didn't get the big dog I was looking for but we got a lot of halfies, sub adults, and had some great irish coffees on the river. Even had party float on Sunday with the Stuper Flies so that was sick. Conditions were foggy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, cold, clear water, and moving at 1500 cfs. lol
Got to love it when your client brings the coffee and Baliey, cooks it up and shares it with the boat. MY MAN! Thanks Rich.
There have been a lot of browns around eating on the river. Been kind of sick. I love browns. They are eating everything too. Here's Rich's pretty little golden nugget. I once had a guy say I can't post pictures of Browns on the river. Ugh man...I hate rules.
Foos on the river though.
So then there was today. I have another day tomorrow with some rad dudes but they will be in the next report. And so will the pictures. Fishing is sort of the same where today we landed far more halfies, again, more sub adults...I'll find the biggies. Promise guys!
Oh Charlie.
Loves these fools.
SPECIAL BEERS DUDE!
Well...I hope you liked this weeks report. I am happy, I miss home, I hate fishing the river at 1500 cfs, it's still pretty here, fish the seams, find softer water, be careful, all fish are good fish, big browns are around, throw beads, I like squirmy wormies, I suck at fly fishing but guess what. I did get to catch my first fish of 2025. And it was little.
Love,
Mario