Where is the Osprey?

.

September 15 , 2007

We fished the Klamath River with two clients from San Fransisco today. The river was very crowded and fishing was fair. Corey Dunphy shows his first ever salmon caught at Blue Creek side drifting roe. Everyone is lookiong for fishing to pick up. We will fish the river on Monday and post an up to date report. Call now to get into the action on the Klamath because it looks like the fish have started to run the river. Tight Lines, Osprey

September 10 , 2007

Fishing at the mouth of the Klamath River has improved over the last several days and some of the guides did well a mile or so above the boat ramp. Looks like we are on the edge of it. I am booked Saturday and Monday so we will have a first hand report.

September 6 , 2007

We fished the Klamath River almost to Johnsons looking for fish today with a couple of folks from Brookings, Oregon. Water temperatures were warm and fishing was extremely slow. Out of 19 boats four fish were caught. The good news is we had two salmon. Both were about 10#. I am moving trips until the river gets it's run of salmon. The tribal gill netters are also slow, which tells me the runs has not pushed in. I will stay in touch with this river so call for up to date inforamtion. Thanks, Osprey

August 21, 2007

Last week we fished the Klamath River with Allen, Pete, and Ryan Henderson from Santa Rosa with Joey as the deckhand. We hooked and landced some nice steelhead for a two day effort. The salmon fishing was slow, but with the rain over the weekend and cooling water temps the Klamath is set for some ballistic action. I have several days available in early September so please call and get on the calendar.

February 21, 2007

Darren and Tom Wysham of Santa Rosa fished with us today and it was a wet one!! These two guys are tough as they fished hard in what amounted to be pounding rain and wind most of the day. Below Tom and Darren proudly display one of the six steelhead they hooked. I hope to see this father and son team agian in the near future.

The rivers are all rising with more rain in the forecast. Check back with us and we will be out there as soon as conditions allow. Thanks, Paul

February 20, 2007

We have been off the Russian River due to high water conditions... Today the river dropped into fishable levels, the clarity was good, and we were back on it. We fished with Dave Riker who is now our first three-peet customer. I was happy to have him on board. Dave went home with his limit while hooking 7 and landing, or releasing, five steelhead. We will be on the river one more day before the rain hits so call us after the storm on Thursday and see where we will be fishing. Thanks, Osprey

February 12, 2007

All rivers on the North Coast blew out over the weekend, with the Smith finally going yesterday morning. We were up north working on the new home of Osprey River Guide Service and found some fishing on the Chetco River friday. The weather took care of Saturday and Sunday.

Back on the Russian we are calling the clients booked for this week to see anyone is interested in going to the coast. I expect fishing over there to heat up in the next day or two. The Russian River is dropping remarkably fast as these storms are, apparently, being held behind the two dams. If this is the case then the Russian River will fish sooner than we think. Call and let's get the calendar going for next week. More storms like the ones we just had and the Russian River will be gone for the year! Thanks, Osprey

February 06 , 2007

Today was a remarkable day on the Russian River. If you look at the flows at Hacienda you will see that there was a big push of water as the inflatable dam was lowered in anticipation of the arrival of what appears to be three winter storms. http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryLonger?684

Local favorite Brian Billingmeier and I were on the drift for a relaxing day before the rain and we were greeted with our best day of the year. We hooked some 28-30 steelhead and landed over 20. We released all we caught. I think that many of the fish in lower sections of the river moved up and then stopped... realizing that there really was no water in front of them. I only have one booking for next week so please call and let's get into the fish as the river calms down after the rain. Thanks, Osprey

February 02 , 2007

We fished on the lower Russian River with clients from Minnesota and Seattle Washington. The water is critical low and fishing was incredibly slow. We managed to hook one fish and had one other take down for the entire day. The mouth of the river is closed and reports have it that eight fisherman were trying to dig the thing open yesterday. We don't know if they were successful. There were fish holding at several favorite "spots" near Guernville. These fish were being fished heavily and were not biting. Today there are 10 boats on the Healdsburg drift, it will be interesting to see how they do. At the time of this writing, 11am, I understand that one fish had been hooked and landed.

If anyone is interested in fishing the main fork of the Eel next week please give a call. I will keep track of the Russian and see if the fishing turns back on. Thanks, Osprey

January 27, 2007

Here is a quick report for the weekend. We will be fishing elsewhere for the next few days and will not be back on the Russian until Wednesday of next week. The water continues its drop and the fish are stopping and holding. There are fish throughout the system and new fish holding in the Guernville area.

Fish the deepest water you can find. Since the fish are in isolated spots and very spooky it is important to approach them without driving over the top of the fish with your boat. The more boats and fishing pressure the less chance you have to find an isolated, undisturbed group of steelhead. If there are 5 boats then you get every fifth hole and you need to hope you are the one to ring the cash register. A better approach is to know the spots and walk in and fish them undisturbed. Local favorite Bobby Jones was on the river on Friday and hooked 18 fish using the above strategies. Osprey

January 25, 2007

Tom and Doug Conway, a great father and son team, fished with us today on the Russian River. The flows have stabilized below 350cfs in the lower river, the river is critically low for drift boat fishing. Despite this Doug landed a nice 12# wild buck. We had a fantastic day learning about Doug and Tom. I look forward to our next fishing adventure.

It seems like there are a fish or two out there for those that work hard but it is getting tougher every day. Pray for rain !! Osprey

 

January 23, 2007

We were back on the water today fishing with Brian Billingmeier of Windsor and what started out as a good day fishing turned out to be a day without water. We did hook and land some nice steelhead early, but by afternoon it became apparent that the water being backed up at Wohler Bridge was having a pronounced effect on the lower river. In fact, this afternoon the flow dropped from 430cfs to 250 cfs at Hacienda. http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryLonger?684 We experienced no action in the second half of the drift. Allot of scraping however...

With the upper drift in ultra clear shape and the lower drift without water I decided to cancel my clients for tomorrow and hope that the conditions on the Russian stabilize later this week. I have heard that the guides are having excellent luck on the main Eel River so I may think about shifting up there next week. The problem is ... the Russian River has fish in it!!

January 17 & 18, 2007

Well fisher people...we have been fishing some new spots the last two days and fishing is variable in the low-clear water. On Jan 17 we had Chuck Smith of Windsor and Tom Nelson, General Manager of the Western Sportshop. We were zero for two on the day in the presence of 8-9 boats and reasonably heavy bank pressure. This was a completely different day than the 16th when we were one of three boats on the river.. the boat and bank pressure, together with low-clear water, shuts down the bite in my opinion. The fish are in fewer places and when there is pressure on every corner the fish are simply spooking. Find an untouched hole and there is your hook-up!

Fishing pressure was much lighter today, Jan 18th, during our scouting mission. Steve Rogers and I hooked 3 and landed 2 steelhead. We released a nice 10# plus native buck.

I have 2 days left next week and I plan to keep guiding if we can produce a fish or two in this low water. Give us a call and we are happy to take you fishing on the Russian River. I will have a report from the South Fork of the Eel over the weekend and may shift some activity up there if anyone is interested. Tight Lines..

January 16, 2007

Mike and Dave Riker were back with us today for a repeat trip on the Russian River. If you have been reading this website you know that on our last outing Dave landed all of the really nice fish and Mike lost the bruisers. Mike, although he has fished for steelhead and hooked fish, had actually never landed a steelhead. Today was different. Using everything he had learned so far, Mike landed two beauties. It was Dave that was one for seven in the hook and loose category. I think we were four for 10 today but I couldn't say for sure. I know Mike and Dave know. What a great day on the river with two fine brothers. I look forward to fishing with Mike and Dave again.

The river continues to drop slowly and is clearing fast. You can see the bottom in the deep tailouts, this calls for different tactics. I have Friday left this week and only one day booked so far for next week. Let's go before the Russian the rain comes!

January 15, 2007

Today we fished with a long time colleague and friend Dr. Joe Apfel. Joe is an accomplished fly fisherman and we just wanted to float the river, be on the water, and learn about potential fly spots for steelhead. Joe did allow me to fish some conventional methods and...we ran into the steelhead! Joe hooked 5 fish and landed three including a wild 10# hen. I am going to call Joe when the Russian gets low and clear for a fly fishing trip. I sure look forward to our next meeting.

I have Thursday and Friday of this week available if anyone wants to fish the Russian. Please call and let's go fishing. Thanks, Paul

 

January 12, 2007

Local favorite Bobby Jones and I went out to breakfast and then did a short drift before visiting Kings Tackle in Guernville to stock up on fishing gear. Yes I got to hook and land one of the fish on this trip. We hooked 4 fish and landed three. The wild hen probably stripped 75 yards before we got her under control! My fish was a large hatchery buck and Bobby landed one last 10# hatchery hen before the takeout. The local weather is now saying clear and cold through Friday of next week. I have two days open next week so call and lets go fishing. The report in the lower river says more fish were caught in the boats at Casini Ranch so we should look for continued good fishing. Thanks, Osprey

January 11, 2007

We were off yesterday and did boat maintenance and relaxing. The reports from the lower river are very good. Steve Jackson my good friend at Kings Bait and Tackle in Gernville said there were a few boats on the lower drifts and each did well. Mike Kelley of Tailout Fishing Guide Service had near limits for his clients in the lower river and will stay there for awhile. The upper drift is now moving through 600cfs which is getting too low for boating. I am going to do some fishing today, take the weekend off, and I have a fly fishing trip on Monday. We are going to do our best to do something for fly fishing as the there are many requests. I have Tuesday, Thursday and Friday available next week. Odds are we are going to enter a wet pattern soon so please call and let's get into some of this good fishing before she blows out. http://www.dryday.com/30dayWeather/US/California/Santa+Rosa.html Thanks, Osprey

January 10 , 2007

We fished today with Phil Greenlee and his close friend Rich. We had a great day learning about fly fishing from Phil who is both and expert and instructor. It turns out Phil is authoring a book on Northern California Salmon and Steelhead Streams and was fishing with us while gathering material and photographs for his book.

We also had a great time catching steelhead. We shift tactics a bit with the lower water condition and found fish in new spots with more cover. Below are two of the fish we landed. We had seven or eight fish on, I cant' recall the exact number. Phil released a nice wild hen of about 10-12 pounds and also released the 8# hatchery female on the right.

We will have a report on the lower Russian soon so please check in with us. I have a couple of days left next week. Let's go fishing...Thanks, Paul

January 9 , 2007

The Russian is dropping fast and will be at the low and clear stage in the upper drift. We had two clients from San Mateo today and manged to hook and loose one fish for the day. The combination of low water and 15 - 20 drift boats made the day difficult. Eighty percent of the driftboats were skunked.

We will be moving our drift trips elsewhere on the river after Wednesdays drift. I have Wednesday through Friday of next week open if you want to book a trip. There are plenty of fish in the system and conditions will be ideal in the lower river next week. Thanks, Paul

January 7 , 2007

The Russian River is dropping and clearing nicely through 800 cfs. The coastal streams are in grave need of rain, fly fishing the lower holes of the Garcia and Gualala are the only option over there.

The visibility in the Russian River had improved to about two feet from yesterday and water temperature had warmed a bit. It was interesting to note that the bite on bait shut down significantly when the water temperature dropped about 10 degrees after the last rain. Temperature information can be found on the USGS water resources site.

Today we ran two boats on the river. Mike and Dave Riker were in my boat and they hooked eight steelhead and landed three. While Dave landed two hatchery hens and released one native hen, Mike had the larger fish of the group on his line. Unfortunately the big ones have a tendency to take the lures with them and leap high in the air throwing the hook back toward us. Dave's wild hen smacked itself on my oar while almost jumping into the boat. By noon these guys had eyes like saucers and were having a bang up time. I sure hope to see these fine young men again in the future. Thanks, Osprey

 

January 6 , 2007

Jim Brookshier and Mat Burns of Santa Clara joined us on the Russian River today. The river was up and going near 900 cfs from recent rains and slightly off color. The bite had slowed down from what it was prior to the last rain storm, but there were still fish available. We landed two fish out of four opportunities while releasing a beautiful wild buck. I hope to see Mat and Jim again as we had a great time on the river. I have Jan 11 and 12 available if anyone wants to fish, please give us a call as conditions should improve over the next several days. Thanks, Paul

January 4 , 2007

Well fisher folks Wednesday was Joey's last possible day on the river before school and he talked me into going fishing instead of doing prep work for this weekends' bookings. I called local favorite Steve Rogers and we set off down the river and landed the first limits of the year. We hooked up 12 fish and landed only 6 hatchery fish while losing a double hookup. It is crowded out there as the fish are here. We are booked through Jan 10th but have Jan 8th available. This storm system does not seem to be carrying much moisture so cross your fingers. If it misses us the Russian will keep fishing well. Let's go fishing, give us a call. Thanks, Paul LeFebvre

January 3 , 2007

The Russian continues to fish well. Below are BJ Potter of Santa Rosa with a nice 8# hen and Frank Chelini of Santa Rosa who landed a nice wild hen in the middle of the bank anglers in his new Willie boat.

We are booked through Jan 10th but have Jan 8th available. If the storm due Thursday drops less than an inch I expect improving fishing and we will stay on the Russian. Call us and let's get you into some of this action. Thanks Paul

December 31, 2006

The Russian River came up to around 10,000 cfs the day after Xmas but was right back down near the 1000 cfs mark today. Amazing how fast it falls when the faucets are turned off. Joey and I were on the river and hooked 3 fish and landed one. Unfortunately, we did not get a good photo of the 10# wild hen we released. The river will be very fishable all week and we will be on it. We are booked through Jan 7th, but pretty much open after that. Call and book a date with us.

Mike Kelly of Tailout Fishing Guide Service was fishing the coastal streams and did fairly well on fresh steelhead DEC 30th. He commented that the Gualala river has changed radically and there are many obstructions. Another boat we work with was on the Garcia river and landed 3 fish all in one hole. It will be good to give these rivers one more storm system in my opinion. Thanks, Osprey

December 25, 2006

Merry Xmas to everyone!! Wow, Santa brought new fishing gear and NO RAIN!! Joey and I decided to try the river before dinner for a few hours in one of our favorite spots. Santa brought Joey our biggest Russian River steelhead of the year!! This fish is near 15#. I keep looking at the forecast and seeing a monsoon out there but I guess it just keeps stalling. We have several people on the on call list but please call and we can work out a trip. We will be on the coast when the Russian blows out. Merry Xmas, Osprey

December 24, 2006

The Russian had cleared to two feet visibility and Ryan Henderson called to request a quick drift trip on Xmas eve. I think Ryan's trip from the other day had injected him with steelhead fever. I put Joey in the boat and off we went. We landed some nice fish as you can see below but out of six hook ups we landed these two. There is a major storm brewing and we were lucky to hit this window. If the rain holds off, (it won't), we will be running everyday next week. We have several people on the on call list but please call and we can work out a trip. We will be on the coast when the Russian blows out. Merry Xmas, Paul

December 22, 2006

We had to postpone two trips next week because the Russian is back on the rise and muddy. It is hard to believe that a modest increase in flow can carry so much mud. There is another storm system due in on Xmas day and this may finish the Russian for as much as a week after Xmas. We will be scouting the coastal streams next week. The cell phone does work so call us and lets do some catch and release fishing over on the coast. I will try to update this site every other day or so, but it is difficult over on the coast. Thanks, Osprey

December 18 and 20, 2006

The Russian River is dropping and clearing rapidly as water from the last storm system is being held behind the two dams. We were out fishing with Jeanne Sternburg of Windsor on the 18th, and Ryan Henderson of San Diego on the 20th. We were successful both days. Ryan's native buck on the right below had to go 12#. He did an excellent job of handling this fish and keeping it short to the boat. An earlier steelhead in the hole before this one taught Ryan a big lesson about getting too much line out in a small snaggy stream like the Russian. There are good reports from the boats in the lower river and fish stretched throughout the area we fish. Let's see how things go after the rain today. If you want to go fishing I have 2 days open between Xmas and New Year. Thanks, Paul

December 15 , 2006

The Russian has received a couple of inches of rain this week. Although the height of the river could be considered ideal for this system, the clarity is very poor. I believe this is due to the fact that these storms are the first real runoff of the season and hence there is significant erosion from all the development and agriculture that takes place here. We are going to wait to fish until after the weekend and for better conditions. We may go over and check out the coastal streams. They will be too low to use the drift boat this weekend.

November 29, 2006

We have been catching 1-2 steelhead each outing on the Russian. The run seem early this year and there are fish stretched out in the system. Note the nice native I released today. Call and let's get in on some of this before the rain comes and changes things.

 

November 18, 2006

It is time to start thinking about the Russian River. Joey and I were out scouting and found early steelhead. We will be booking trips for this winter so call us and let's go fishing!

September 28, 2006

We fished the Klamath River for three days with local veteran angler Bobby Jones. We fished Tuesday with Hal, owner of Chinook RV park in Klamath. Since I used the word "wide open" in my last report I guess I will have to say the fishing was "ballistic". We landed over 30 fish on our last day to include 6-7 adults, with two fish over 25#. The fishing couldn't be better. We are going to move our base camp to the Sacramento River at Salmon King Lodge with reports of improving action there. There are open days in October for the Sac, and late October/early November on the Smith River. Give us a call and we will get you into this action which is shaping up to be a banner year for Salmon fishing.

September 14, 2006

We fished the Klamath river again from Tewer Riffle and 15 miles upstream from there. The word is wide open. There are larger fish in the system now and fewer steelhead as most of the larger steelhead have pushed on through the system. We fish September 11-14 this week and averaged about 15 hook ups per day with a 7:1 ratio of jacks to adults. The percentage of adults is picking up and bigger fish are entering the system as evidenced by the Indian catches. Look for the lower Klamath to pick up and fish very well for the next 2 weeks. We are keeping a close eye on the Sac and things are beginning to heat up over there.

August 30, 2006

Fantastic fishing on the Klamath River from Tewer Riffle and 5 miles upstream from there. We were booked for three days and averaged 17 fish per day. Jacks were everywhere with a few adult kings in the mix each day. We released several adult steelhead in the 5 pound class. Looks like the larger fish are beginning to be picked up in the nets. We will leave the river to the vacationers on labor day weekend and return for the following week. We are fishing out of Chinook RV Resort near Klamath.

August 15, 2006

We fished the Sacramento River at Red Bluff using Quick Fish. We had one pull down for two days of fishing and decided to "pull the plug" and head back to the coast. Fish counts over the diversion dam are near 30, or so, fish per day. Stopped by Woodson bridge and found about a one fish per seven boat average. We will wait for a solid report to return to the Sacramento.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Fishing at the Klamath River Estuary was slow on Monday 8/7/06 with only a handful of fish caught between many boats. Tuesday was a fast day with good action for Kings to 25#. Wednesday the fishing slowed to a crawl again.

We fished the Rogue estuary for fun and found good action with an excellent grade of Kings averaging near 25#. The bay seems to be full of fish with guides catching consistently and some days yielding up to 80 fish landed in the bay.

Friday, August 11, on the way home, we checked the upriver fishing, and estuary fishing on the Klamath and found that slow fishing continues to be the rule...look for this fishery to bust open any day.

Monday, July 31, 2006

Salmon season on the Sacramento River opened on July 16. We had a chance to fish with Bill Divens of Salmon King Lodge. We fished below the Red Bluff Diversion dam and landed two fish for our efforts, a 21# chrome bright female and a 12# male. Temperatures were in excess of 115 degrees so we only fished a few hours in the morning. In general, we only heard of a dozen fish caught from Red Bluff to Hamilton City as we stopped at all of the boat ramps on the way to Red Bluff.

While fishing was generally slow this week we expect some strong action as the season progresses. With the restrictions on the commercial salmon season this could be the best season ever on the Sacramento River if the forecasts are close to the mark. Book your trips early!

Next week we will be fishing the estuary on the Klamath River. There have been good reports from this fishery and fish can be kept through August 15th. We will have a good report next week so please check back with us.