Reel Adventures Guide Service

Back in Business...

It's time to go fishing again... CA is loosening restrictions and S@H Order and Shasta County is currently at the Stage 2B phase. 

Lower Sac has been fishing good to great most days. PMD's and caddis are hatching in solid numbers mid day. We are also beginning to see the little yellow stones and a few larger buzzers bombing around as well. There are a few opportunities to fish the dry fly if you find em with their noses up. 

(Image: Craig getting it done with a nice 20"+ recently...)

The rainy days we had earlier this week were a positive force with excellent conditions in between the deluges... the mayflies were blowing up on these cloudy/rainy days.

(Image:Will with a PB rainbow on the LSac!! This fish was a stud...)

(Image: Eric and 11 yr old Sam... she crushed it!!)

I'll have more later... please visit www.reeladventuresguideservice.com for more information on my guiding service. Lets go fishing!

 

Coming out from the Covid Cave...

I will soon be resuming guide trips... contact me if you want to get some dates for May and June. The heat of summer will be here before we know it; let's go fishing again!

Wildflowers and big, fat trout await you...

 

Family Time on the river...

 

(Images: You'd think that as a fishing guide I get to fish with my own family all the time... not true!... although, these last few weeks I have had the time to do just that. Silver linings I suppose.)

Spent a lazy Sunday floating the Lower Sacramento River with my wife and daughter. I'm happy to report that the river is in GREAT shape running cold and clear at 10k cfs. This is a great flow for the time of the year - lots of drift sections fish well at this flow and the higher water makes longer floats a lot more conducive. It's easy to spread out and fish in solitude right now, especially the further you go downriver.

Bug hatches are pretty solid with caddis, PMD's and stonefly nymphs making up the bulk of the menu. A lot of trout are coming off their beds and beginning to fatten back up on the smorgasbord of aquatic insects that thrive in this river system. We hooked a wide variety of wild trout from all different sizes with a good number in the 16" - 20" range. 

It's mostly a nymphing game right now, however, hit it right on a cloudy/overcast day and the dry fly fishing can be OUTSTANDING. You gotta commit to it and hunt for noses... I keep a dry fly rod already set up in my boat always.

Are you ready to do some fishing? Spring season is not over just yet... and it's my favorite time to be on this river.

I will be guiding a select few dates beginning in May... assuming things in CA continue to improve and the S@H Order gets relaxed. Contact me ASAP if you are in a position to come fishing and want to get outside. Here in Shasta County our "numbers" are in a very low category. Most of the surrounding Nor Cal counties have been fortunate thus far as well. Of course, this is dynamic situation and we are taking it serious. We also want to slowly begin to step outside and resume guiding 1 or 2 anglers at a time and feel that there are simple measures we can take to safely achieve this. Let me know your thoughts...

Visit www.reeladventuresguideservice.com for more info and contact me direct

Covid-19 Update...

(This may or may not resemble me right now after 4 weeks of Social Distancing due to Covid-19)

 

My thoughts have been with many of you who are living in areas greatly affected and have friends or family who have been sickened and lost to this terrible virus. Stay strong, stay healthy and stay safe. Good times on the water will be here for you soon...

At the Casa de Neal we are taking the Physical Distancing effort seriously - doing what we can to help mitigate the spread and flatten the curve! Getting the backyard garden ready and cleaning out the garage... I've even tied some flies!

I will escape 1-2 days a week to go bass fishing on Shasta Lake along w/ riding the mtn bike for some exercise, mental health and fresh air. Still need to get my spring turkey for the season....

Yesterday, I listened to Governor Newsom's press conference, 4/14/20, for any signal or sign of a date of CA relaxing the Stay-at-Home Order... Leaders are being non-comital while waiting for more data & information on where we stand with current numbers of infected and what direction we are headed.

From what I've been hearing it seems that by early May things may begin to ease up a bit - in at least a few Counties in CA? The State has done a remarkable job so far managing this mess. Honestly, there are a lot of people getting upset about this and that... growing more highly emotional and with that it's easy to begin politicizing the issue. There are no easy answers or solutions.  

I'm ready to get out on the water when you are. Of course, health & safety of my guests and clients will be the priority. Moving forward we will excerise care and take personal hygiene along with mitigating strategies to limit exposure very seriously. Face Buff's on! No sneezing or coughing in the boat! And, washing our hands often (release a fish=wash your hands!).

Keep in touch (well, stay 6' away but call me or text me) and let's plan ahead for some fishing soon... we'll use pencil on the calendar for now but at least have something to look forward to. Cheers! 

For more info on my guide service visit www.reeladventuresguideservice.com

Time to lay low for a while...

Had a fantastic time fishing the Lower Sacramento River with good client and friend, Ken Imantani, this week. We enjoyed beautiful spring weather, stellar bug hatches and connected with lots of strong pulling wild rainbow trout this river is famous for.

The conditions were so perfect it was easy to get completely absorbed in the moment and forget the reality of our circumstances and the uncertainty we face with this global pandemic, Covid-19.

It was very much like a good dream these past few days.

But in light of it all and under some reflection...
I’ve decided to garage the drift boat for a bit and suspend guide services to see how things play out over these next few weeks. Time to shelter in place to help mitigate the spread of this virus for the health and safety of our communities.

Look forward to all this working it's way out soon and hopefully an immunization in the near future. We shall be fishing soon and getting back outdoors where we all belong!

Ken with another nice one from the Lower Sac

Racing stripes...

Snow on mountains and cold, clean water in the valley... view upriver of Sundial Bridge. Blues skies and sunny weather - it was fantastic being on the river.

For many of my longtime clients I wish you and yours a healthy and safe time through all of this. Keep in touch with me and let me know how you are doing. We will be out on the water as soon as it's reasonable and safe. I look forward to it!