Confluence Outfitters

Confluence Outfitters is based in Red Bluff and fields a roster of eleven named guides across northern California, with the Lower Sacramento River between Redding and Red Bluff as its core water. The company describes that stretch as a year round wild trout fishery holding rainbows and browns, and tells anglers to expect regular hookups with fish of eighteen inches and better. Guides run both drift boats and jet boats depending on the reach and the flow. Full days are posted at 600 dollars for one or two anglers, or 650 dollars with hotel pickup and shuttle included; half days are 450 dollars, or 500 dollars with pickup and shuttle. Trips usually launch between 7am and 9am. Confluence also guides the Trinity, Klamath, McCloud, Upper Sacramento, Pit, Fall River, Hat Creek, Yuba, Lower Feather and Rogue, so the Lower Sac program is one piece of a broader northern California and southern Oregon operation.

The company also fishes the Eel, the third largest drainage in California and, by its own account, some of the best and most abundant spey water on the west coast. Its low gradient and sedimentary bed mean the river muddies quickly during winter rain and holds colour for an extended period afterwards. Winter steelhead can show as early as late November after a good storm, with prime time running from late December through the end of March. Eel trips are spey-only at $650 for one or two anglers, fished by wading from a support raft or from drive-in access rather than from a boat.

On the Williamson the outfitter fishes the largest river in the Klamath Basin, which it treats as the headwaters of the Klamath itself. Lake-run redbands push up out of Agency Lake through the season looking for cooler water and frequently exceed five pounds. Sinking lines, nymphs, hopper patterns and swung leeches all get used depending on where the fish are holding. A day is 650 dollars for one or two anglers. Dylan Woodrum takes the June to August window, with Craig Schuhmann, who has been guiding since 2004, and Jordan Harris covering it through the close of the October trout season.

Confluence Outfitters also guides the Pit River below Lake Britton dam and Hat Creek, ten minutes from the town of Burney, on walk and wade days posted at $650 full day for one or two anglers and $500 half day, additional anglers $150 each. It rates the Pit an eleven on a scale of one to ten for wading difficulty, notes that flows bottom out around 300 cfs in the fall, and calls it an excellent place to learn indicator and indicatorless nymphing; thirty miles of river provide endless opportunities to get away from other anglers, and when the river is fishing at its best anglers hook multiple fish in each small pocket. It fishes best from April through mid-July and again from mid-September through December for wild rainbow trout. On Hat Creek the 3.5 miles between Powerhouse #2 and Lake Britton hold classic spring creek flatwater and long riffles, some of the most challenging water to fish anywhere in North America, where fish are spooky and feed very selectively; salmonflies and golden stones attract large fish in late May and early June, summer mornings feature a very consistent and thick Trico spinner fall, and the water brings up many good rainbows and browns. Brian Kohlman and Mike Wright do most of the outfit’s Pit River guide trips.