We would have caught more fish, but for the high flow of water coming from Tulloch Dam.

I caught 2 - 22", 1 - 21" and 1 - 20".
(7 total overall)

My partner caught 2 fish.

1/2 of the fish were caught on a Denny Rickards burnt orange woolly bugger and nymph indicator - pheasant tail flashback and hare's ear nymph; the rest were caught downstream by the tulles on the far side.

C. Miller, Scotts Valley

On Saturday, April 26th, I fished Goodwin from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and landed 5 rainbows toward Tulloch Dam, but the other 4 fishermen did not even have a strike.

When the water is this fast, 3500 CFS, technique is very important. Please feel free to give me a call at 831-809-0316 to discuss how to catch the rainbows in fast water.

Fished 5/14 thru 5/17. Weather was good and fishing fairly slow. We averaged 3 - 5 fish a day. All fish were good size between 18" - 23". The largest fish caught was 28" or 29". The mornings seemed better than the evenings.

We used different flies with about the same amount of success. There were no areas where the fish were stacked up. When a fish was caught, we would go back over the same spot with no further action. Our assessment was all the fish were just random cruisers. The main flies used were Copper Johns and Hare's ear, both on a size 12 standard hook.

All in all we had a great time and, as always, enjoyed our surroundings.

The water flow was reduced from 4,000 to 1,000 CFS on Friday and the fishing definitely dropped off for the final two days.

Thanks Roy and Daneen for the day on Goodwin. I always have fun.
 

At the end of another fantastic day at Goodwin, I released 2 - 19", 1 - 18", 2 - 17" and 2 - 16" trout.

Looking forward to the next fishing trip to Goodwin in July. Fish On.

D. Klepper, Livermore

Conditions this weekend could not have been much better all 3 days: full sun, 87̊ - 95̊ during the day, new moon, nice breeze from the west from 9:30 am - 3 pm, water temperature 56̊ - 60̊ and current running about 1900 CFS out of the bottom of Tulloch Dam.

Evening fishing has been red hot for the last couple of months and Friday from 7:30 - 9:00 pm was no exception.  I hooked 7 rainbows and landed 6 ranging from 14 in. -18 in. Hot fly was a black Hale Bopp leach #10 hook using a 50' Rio T-14 with 8 lb. 9 ft. fluorocarbon leader to first fly and a 4 ft. dropper to Hale Bopp 2nd fly with the dropper tied to eye of first fly. All of the fishing was between the lake house and Tulloch Dam with most of the fish caught within 400 ft. below Tulloch Dam in the moving water.

Saturday was the day for trying the new flies that I had ordered from Alekasports.com. I fished from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm and hooked 10 and landed 7 rainbows 14 in. -17 in. using a Rickards leech dark brown #10 hook and Rickards leech black #10 hook. They worked well in moving water fishing cross or down current out of Tulloch Dam with the Rio T-14 setup. Lots of weeds and algae required hook cleaning every 5-10 minutes. I was sure that night fall would yield another bonanza, but I only hooked 3 and landed a 14 in. and 16 in. on the black Hale Bopp leech with a Rio T-11 line fished within 800' west of the lake house.

Sunday I went hunting for larger fish at the west end of Goodwin and fished within 1,000 ft. of the white floating barrier from 10:00 am - 12:30 pm starting with a T-14 to a 9' leader to the Rickards brown leech, then a 4 ft. to a black #8 woolly bugger wrapped with green copper wire. I trolled and stripped up the north shore and maybe had 1 soft strike. Then I switched to the T-11, 9' leader to a Rickards grey Callibaetis Nymph #12 hook with a 4' dropper to the black Hale Bopp leech. Within 2 minutes I hooked and landed a 22 in. whopper which took the leech. As I trolled back toward the white floats, halfway I landed a 19 in. female on the Callibaetis. Then within 200 ft. of the floats, the action really picked up with a strike or hook up almost every 100 ft. of trolling or stripping. Back and forth over the same 200 ft. I fished, catching one trout after another from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm with both flies working like magic. Finally, I landed a 23 in. fat male rainbow on the black Hale Bopp leech. Now that's more like it!!! Hooked 10 and landed 8 between 14 in. and 23 in. before heading for home.

Owner Roy Gunter

Andy Burk is one of the most renowned fly tiers in California with most of his patterns manufactured by the Umpqua Feather Merchant Company. My favorite Burk fly is his bullet head streamer. (See picture in this newsletter.) Although my first rainbow caught at Goodwin 5 years ago was an 18 in. beauty on his silver pattern, I very much prefer his gold pattern which resembles a brown-nosed Dace minnow. About 2 years ago Umpqua stopped supplying retailers with this pattern. Nevertheless, I managed to score 50 of them from a retailer in Canada, but through snags and friends this supply has dwindled to a few kept for my special outings at Goodwin. The best way to fish them is with a Rio T-14 50' sinking line and a 9' fluorocarbon leader either cross current or in the seams of the fast water coming out of the bottom of Tulloch Dam. The big trout can hit them so hard they will sometimes break off 8 lb. P-line fluorocarbon.

With the flies no longer available anywhere, I asked our Santa Cruz Fly Fishermen's Club fly tying guru Elaine to try to replicate the pattern. In April she presented me with 5 gold streamers that were almost impossible to discern from the ones from Umpqua. The next Saturday I was trolling and stripping one at Goodwin, landing 5 beautiful rainbows in only about 2 hours.  

Although I do not tie flies, Elaine was good enough to provide our Club with her recipe which is in this Newsletter.

Thank you Elaine!!!  Owner Roy Gunter

RECIPE:

Overwing: Black crystal hair or EP fibers or spooled Antron
Head: Clear epoxy
Eyes: Small plastic yellow eyes w/black pupils, size 2.0

1. Crimp barb.

2. Attach thread 1/4 back on shank, wrap to rear of shank.

3. Using a dubbing loop, wrap a narrow body forward to one eye length behind the eye. Trim fibers that project from the body. Whip finish, cut thread. Turn hook upside down.

6. Gills: Select one strand and cut in half, center where thread hangs and tie in place. Bend forward fibers back and tie down while pulling 1/2 of the fibers to each side of body. Cut short 1/3 of the way back on the body. Whip finish and cut thread. Reattach thread behind hook eye.

8. Overwing: Select a 3 inch small bundle of fibers. Lay the center where the thread hangs, secure with two thread wraps. Bend forward fibers back and tie off, cut thread. Reattach thread 2 eye lengths behind eye while holding wings back. Whip finish, cut thread.

9. Color top thread wraps with black sharpie. Apply a drop of Super Glue. Taper wings so overall fly length is 2 inches.