Ohh soooo pretty. This is California. Not the State of Jefferson. Okay no politics but “LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT BRO.” Go on, get! Idaho wants you. I am just kidding really. I like to tease and if you know me, you know I am joking around almost 80% of the time in my life. But look at this pic below….GORGEOUS and I am proud to be a Californian especially when the leaves on the Trinity are turning. The fish are eating. The salmon are spawning. It’s fall in CA and there is really no other place I’d rather be. Anadromous fish in a golden part of our beautiful state. It’s still low and clear, we need rain and it’s raining outside in Quincy as I type this. More rain on the horizon…lets move these fish around.
An amazing week and another week of firsts. Reba is a friend of mine now. I’d say I’d consider her extended family from the 59 Pines Bucktail squad. She reached out to Matt, her husband, and said, “I want to learn to fly fish and I want to hire Mario.” See, Reba grew up in Bucktail and has fished her whole life. She just never went the way of the fly even though her hubby and brother love to fly fish. But for some reason, her heart said she was ready for it. I am SO HONORED that she chose me to be the guide to show her how it’s done. And we started with the bobber. This is how we make people fall in love with it. Learn the basic mechanics, and maybe land a fish. Oh and she did.
What an amazing first time adult on the beautiful Trinity River. Hook was bent when we put it in the net. Mistakes were made mid-fight but luckily she corrected them quick enough to keep this beauty pinned. The hook was dug deep in the bone…otherwise, it would have been a sad bye-bye when the fish made it’s first run and jumped 2 feet in the air. MEGA SPLASH. She was trippen and so was I. Congratulations Reba. You deserve this fish. I think she’s hooked on the fly. She hammered out nice sized halfies all day and lost a couple of other adults due to the mistakes that even an experienced fisher makes on these fish. It happens. All of the time.
So then I took out her husband and brother the next day. It was a day filled with stoke and laughter from the beginning to the end. Some fun fish down river and they were eating. We hooked fish of all sizes and freshness. I love this river. Did I say that already? Magic. Just Magic. Nice loops Matt.
It’s crazy how many people are on the Trinity now but it’s also good to see people enjoying the outdoors. We opted for two And then we ran into some of these dimes. I LOVE THESE ONES. I had a conversation with Darren from the Trinity Fly Shop one day while partying at the Lewiston Hotel for new years and we agreed that the 20″ chrome hens are our favorite fish on the river. They rip and they are so pretty. BIG SMALL. WE LOVE THEM ALL. Aaron had a great day and was sure to say “BOBBERS POR VIDA” in the group text. I agree.
Simply put. It’s gorgeous out. I like the gorgeous parts of the river. I hate bumper boats.
Then Will came out and introduced me to his white son Brandon. Will is the best Daddy to this kid. And this kid LOVES fly fishing. So stoked I was able to take him down the Trinity for the first time. Brandon was a victim of the wack foos out there telling him specific things about the Trinity that just aren’t true. Hopefully I was to convince him otherwise. Oh you know, the “Those aren’t steelhead.”, or, “You can’t swing the Trinity”…just a bunch of simple minded nonsense people spew out of their mouths because they are the type that believe that there is always something better because that’s the fly fishing way. There is always bigger fish over there, prettier water over there, and the right way to do it. And if you’ve been here long enough, you know we don’t like to do it right. We like to do it fun.
Brandon landed his first steelheads on lost some steelheads too. Even got slammed on the swing for the first time after 29 trips before. Yeah…they don’t call the spey the starvation stick for nothing. But there is one thing for certain, the Trinity can help speed up that first fish on the swing by quite a bit. “BRO! NO SALT, NO STEELHEAD!” There is salt dummy. 180mile plus away from here. Ugh…fly fishermen, I h&te them. Jk. You know i have love for everyone. A lot of it. Almost too much some times.
And look at my man Will. I love this dude so much. We talk shit. A lot of it . He loves fishing it for the float of it. Just the way I like it. I will get you into an adult my man. You’ll see. Thank you Will. Appreciate you a lot and you motivate me to be better to myself and be shitty to Brandon as much as possible. I’ll fish with you anywhere.
The kid had many chances and stoked he walked away with a different appreciation for this beautiful place NOT IN THE STATE OF JEFFERSON. THAT is fake, this state, California, is real, like these steelhead. Dummies.
Nice little break away from the river and home again to recharge. Back at it this week and it’s gonna be on. I have another nice group of people coming out and I am so excited for this season. I feel good mentally and I am ready for some stoke. Hit me up for a float. Check, the calendar and let’s get a float. No politics. Maybe some soup. Maybe a fish. Maybe not. But definitely not 14 boats. I just won’t do that.
-Mario
