September is here!! That means dove hunting, cooler days and Fall will be officially here on September 22, 2022. Fall is my favorite time of the year. I can’t wait!!

Y’all are going to laugh – but Kirsten and I have started another house project. This time we will be having solar installed on our new roof. Our house is an older home built in the early 60’s. We are upgrading the electrical panel (hopefully I can add a plug for the new travel trailer) and adding on enough solar panels to get us a little extra juice. Hopefully it will go smoothly, fingers crossed.

Yes, we purchased a new travel trailer for our away from home adventures and fly-fishing guided trips away from our family’s cabin at Lake Almanor. It has already been on the road. I spent 4 nights at Likely Place RV Park outside the small Modoc community of Likely, CA. Everywhere I ventured up there the water was low and very warm. Hopefully we can get an above average winter with tons and tons of snow!!

We will be up at the family cabin this coming Labor Day – if you are around the area – stop by and say hi.

If you haven’t yet – get out there and fish!!!

On October 15 & 16, 2022, the NCCFFI is holding the “Yuba Fest” event. This is actually Jon Baiocchi’s and my Yuba Jubilee. The Gold Country Fly Fishers took over this event and now the NCCFFI has taken over the event. Kirsten and I will be there on for the two-day event. The event will have fly-fishing demonstrations, raffles, door prizes and much more. This two-day event will be loaded with tons of fun! For more information go to nccffi.org/yubafest

Lower Sac

The Lower Sac is fishing very well. Many big fish are coming to hand, and we have seen tons of smiles on our guests faces. The forecasted flows are coming down. Today the flows are 4300cfs. Standard winter flows are 3200cfs. We should see that in the middle of September. That will let the salmon spawn in water that will not disappear on them. Soon the famous “egg drop” will happen and trout will be eating them like crazy! For now, the top flies have been Thurman’s Jigged Bird’s Nest Natural in size 14-16, my X-May in Brown Size 18, and the Brown Rubberlegs in size 4 is still bringing fish to the net. LGC is all booked up now for the Fall 2022. We have limited dates for the Spring of 2023. They are March 23,28,29 and 30^th and April 5 and 6^th.

Lakes

Lake Almanor is still in “Summer Mode” with fish being caught around cold water and pond smelt bait balls. Soon – the low mountain night temperature will fall, and we will start chasing trout on the surface crashing through the pond smelt. Hopefully this will happen sooner than later. I can’t wait for cool temps. I am all booked up for 2022 pond smelt dates, but – I do have 2023 dates open. The dates for 2023 are October 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9 and 10^th. The first weeks of October are always a blast!! Our Hex dates for 2023 are completely booked. If we have a cancellation on any of them Kirsten and I will send out an email for folks that are on the waiting list first and then open it up to the general public. If your name is not on the waiting list – let us know and we will add you to it!

Tours

We are doing something a little bit different with some of the tours in 2023. As, many folks know the tours are one day event. We tour the water, go over rigging, have lunch and then go fishing. We had several folks ask us if we could do a multiple day tour with the second day set aside for fishing. Well, we listened, and I have made a two-day Putah Creek Tour slated for April 15 and 16, 2023. The two-day tour will be $400 a person. That will include lunch each day, terminal equipment and our new improved handout. It's new and as with all new ideas we always have questions, please feel free to contact us about this tour at any time. For 2022 we still have one tour open with only one spot left. That is the Feather River Steelhead Tour slated for November 19, 2022. 

Workshops

We have added a new workshop to our LGC line-up of workshops. That workshop is the “Midge Workshop”. This workshop is on the water workshop that the participants will learn both shallow-water and deep-water midge fishing tactics. Rigging, equipment needed, lake and bottom structure all will be taught in this workshop. The workshop will be held at Manzanita Lake on June 1, 2023. Tuition is $200.00 a person. Four spots are available for this 7-hour workshop. Lunch, terminal materials, handout and flies are all included. 

Product of the Month

This month’s “Product of the Month” is Dinsmore’s Split Shot. I know what you are thinking – Lance is talking about split shot! Folks’ that know me, know that I try to be a good steward of the outdoors. The Dinsmore line of split shot allows me to do just that. Their split shot is made from tungsten. It is expensive and frankly I don’t lose many split shots while fishing, but it is better for the environment than lead. I have been using Dinsmore for more than 20 years. Great product!

Fly of the Month

This month’s “Fly of the Month” is Milt Jensen’s Pond Smelt. Milt is a local Chico guide and master fly tyer. The Pond Smelt is a fly we use on Almanor, and Lake Oroville. It makes a great Salman Fry also.

Fish it on a floating fly line at Almanor!

Hook – TMC 300 Size 4-10

Thread – Gray Danville Flymaster 6/0 thread

Body – 2mm White Foam Glued and Trimmed to Shape with Pearl Mylar Tubing Place over it.

Color – Permanent markers Gray and Orange with a painted black and pearl eye. Coated with Salley Hansen’s Harder than Nails

Tail – Gray Marabou