For those whole don’t know I started fly fishing while going to school in Idaho. I was only 10 minutes away from Henry's Fork.  One of the best fisheries in the United States. Since I have moved back to California I have been trying to find places that I can go to catch trout close to home. I think I might be able to add a place to the list...

Its been a while since I have made an entry, but to be honest it has been a while since I have gotten out to do some fishing. I was really starting to get the itch. I found a place near Auburn called Halsey Forebay. It is just off the freeway and easy to get to. I went with my wife and friend and fished there for a couple hours. After about five minutes my friend had a fish on. It was a planter. Aside from being close to home this was something that drew here in the first place. I looked up on the plating schedule for California and found that Halsey Forebay had been planted multiple times in the last three months. I figured that our chances would be pretty good. I was right for someone.  My friend pulled out three or four more fish and I was simply a spectator. It was still fun to get out and I think it could be a good place to go to when I’m looking to just get some quick fishing in. The fish aren’t very big, but sometimes its nice to just get a fish on the end of your line. It’s small enough that I could do some float tubing, but there is a current that seems to be pulling through fairly quickly. I don’t know if it would be the best but I do want to give it a try next time I go. Next time I go I plan on using some only burgers and some images. We will see how it goes.

​Initially I was supposed to go to Lake Heenan with my brother in law Lonny.  I called my dentist Mike, big fly fisherman, to figure out what I needed for the lake.  He let me know that the lake was actually closed on Monday.  I had already taken the day off though so I talked to my dentist to figure somewhere else out to go.  We landed on the Little Truckee. 
Monday morning Lonny, Mike and I hit the river.  We all started with a hopper dropper set up.  Lonny was the first to catch, about 5 minutes in.   He caught a pretty nice size fish and I thought it was going to be a great day.  We continued fishing and for an hour or so no one caught anything.  I didn’t get to see Lonny pull his second fish in, but it was a really nice fish (the second picture below).  After that catch everything went dead.  No one caught anything.  We headed back to camp and I wanted to give it one more try for a little while.  I tied on a black bead head wholly bugger to switch things up from nymphing.  After about ten minutes I ran the wholly bugger threw a deep hole and got a huge strike, but nothing to show for it.  The fly broke off right at the knot.  It been a few days and I am still upset about that one.  I want to give the Little Truckee another shot soon.
Report: Both fish we caught with a prince nymph with about a 3 foot dropper.

​It feels like it has been a long time I’ve had a chance to go back to my favorite place to fly fish in California, Hamilton Branch.  This is the Branch that feeds into Lake Almanor.  Most people will fish down where the Branch meets the lake.  There are some really big trout that just sit in there.  Most people that fish their will use bait which I am really not into.  Baits they use are orange Power Bait worms, crickets and row.  There are some people that do really well with this.  I personally like to move up the branch a little bit and fly fish.
I drove, with my wife, up HWY 147 to go to my normal turn out, but the road was closed.  I was pretty disappointed when I saw this because I was not going to be able to get to my good spots.  We turned around and went back down the road to the parking lot that everyone goes to fish for the big trout at the bottom of the branch.  I was skeptical if I was going to catch any fish, but pressed on.  I got my trusty TFO 5 wt out and put on a size 10 Stimulator. 

This past Saturday morning I went with my brother in law Lonny to the Truckee River.  This is the first time that I had ever fished the Truckee and I was excited because I have heard before that the Truckee holds some monsters.
So we got up there and on the river around 8:00 am.  We setup up with a hopper and dropper.  The dropper was about a 3 foot dropper.  Any kind of midge should work just fine.  I got a strike on my first cast but missed the fish.  A few minutes past by and I got my first fish.  Nothing too big, but it was nice to get a fish.  I have been getting skunked pretty frequently this year so it was nice to catch a trout.  As the day went on I caught another fish.  I was a little upset that I had missed probably 5 fish two of which were a pretty decent size.  The fish were pretty fast so you had to be pretty quick on the set.
Lonny fished with the same set up and finished with about 5 fish.  One was a decent size, shown the in picture below.
Overall it was a good trip.  The river was beautiful and we got into some fish.

One of my favorite places to fish, Camp Far West.  I go to this lake multiple times a year and can only remember being skunked once.  The only thing I have every caught is Small Mouth, but the Small Mouth at Camp Far West get huge, which you will see in the below picture.

My dad and I set out for the lake at 7:30 and got there a little after 8.  We launched my dad’s new boat and set out for our money spot.  Neither of us really wanted to mess around with any other part of the lake and it’s a good thing we didn’t.  Within 5 casts I had the biggest fish of the day.  The picture is below.  I caught it on a Rapala.  After I caught that fish we continued to just fish off the boat but weren’t having much success.  This is going to sound weird for bass, but we started trolling, each of us with smaller Rapala lures.  This strategy works every time.  My dad finished with 4 fish and I finished with 6. Overall a pretty good day on the lake.
 
​
I have never tried fly fishing at Camp Far West because when I go here I usually just am looking to relax and catch some fish.  Next time I plan on giving it a try.  When I go the lures that work for me are sinking Rapalas, and gold or silver spinners.  You need to get down to the fish and they will bite.  They seem to like to sit between 6 and 12 feet.
Good Luck out there!

First thing I have to say is, man Hawaii is beautiful.  I would have no problem living there.  Every time I go it is hard to leave.  We went to the island of Kauai.  I was very excited to go.  Last time I went there I think I was ten and didn’t remember it very well.  I was also excited because this was the first time for my wife to visit Kauai ever.
On to the fishing.  I am sad to say I didn’t bring my fly rod to Hawaii. My plan was instead of bringing my fishing gear I would just go to Walmart and pick up a $25 rod and get the other tackle there as well. My dad and I had to try and figure out how to fish.  It didn’t help that we didn’t even know what we were fishing for. First, we tried to just fish at the beach outside of our condo using gulp worms. I felt like I got a few bites but I'm not really sure. I honestly think I was just getting caught up on all of the coral.  We tried the Gulp worms for a few days with no fish. The second time we went out my dad wound up being stung by a jellyfish called the Portuguese Man of War. It was a little scary. He had a lot of pain in his foot and said the pain was going up his leg. My wife and I ran to the store to get some vinegar to soak his foot in and his pain eased. He was able to continue on for the rest of the week with no pain.  Strange thing: he had pain in his foot exactly 2 weeks later which apparently is normal for that jellyfish.  I’m just glad that he wound up being ok.  I put a picture of the jellyfish bellow.  It is about the size of the end of your finger.
Later in the week we tried fishing off of a pier near the airport. There were some locals there, which it gave me a chance to talk to them about what they were fishing for and see how they were fishing for it. They were said that they were fishing for Papio which sounds like it is a Jack fish. They were extremely nice and gave us some of their bait which was shrimp and squid. The shrimp worked, but neither me nor my dad were able to get anything hooked up. 
The morning, before we left we tried fishing by the condo again. I changed up my tackle to these plastic flashy strips and tiny rubber squid imitations on a jig hook.  Changing the tackle to this finally worked. My dad and I both caught. This really made we wish I had just brought my fly rod and tackle. I had flies that resembled what we were using on our fantastic $25 spin rods that last day. In the end, it was fun and the fish I caught was really cool looking. 
Any who, if you are trying to fish from shore and are looking to bait fish I would suggest shrimp or squid. Use a size 2 hook. Use about a 1-2 oz. weight.
If fly fishing I would recommend a small white Clouser Minnow. A fly that imitates a small crab would work well too. They are all over the beaches.  ​