I thought I was timing it right when there was a lot of rain in the previous week and past few days in mid November, but the fishing was slow. Sounds like from the reports and from other fishermen I talked to, this season's steelhead fish return has been below average. Felt lucky to have gotten two fish however and was pleased despite the many hours of flogging the water repeatedly. It was cold & damp.

The Trinity is a tributary of the Klamath river which runs to the Pacific Ocean. There is good steelhead fishing from the Klamath to the Lewistown Reservoir, but the prime steelhead fishing is from the dam at Lewistown Reservoir to roughly Helena, mainly because of the access and calmer waters for the fish to rest. Below here the Trinity starts to get rougher in the canyon. 

Came across a log in the middle of the river where it was possible to ford the river. I ended up sitting here and having lunch while a flotilla of drift boats went past me along the bank where it was just deep enough for them to get by. Fishing was very slow they all reported. The Trinity is on the smaller side for Salmon/Steelhead rivers and the fish on average are smaller (~4-5lbs). 

Came across a dead wild fish (had its adipose fin intact) which was a shame. Couldn't tell how it died but I am guessing a poor release maybe. 

Found a sweet run that just had to have a fish holding in it. Was rewarded later with an average sized wild steelhead at the head in the choppy water. I have a feeling if there was a large return of fish, I would probably have pulled out more from here as a school of fish would hold up nicely in this spot. 

You wouldn't bother to bring a net while fishing in Washington or BC for steelhead as they wouldn't fit, but these smaller California steelhead can get in there. The fish was caught with a Rubber Legs! Greatest nymph pattern ever and I would say beats the Wooly Bugger for fish catching prowess. I was fishing an indicator rig with a Wooly Bugger on the dropper and a Rubber Legs on point. 

I fished above Helena the first day, then on the second I tried the Steiner Flat Road section. The Steiner section had the best fly fishing water for a one-handed rod and felt more like a trout stream. I ended up catching my smallest steelhead ever the next day; again, on the Rubber Legs.

The Upper Owens is the stretch of river above Lake Crowley. The river here is a spring creek and flows through a treeless cattle ranch meadow. The Eastern Sierras are to the west and the White Mts to the east--this is one of the most scenic trout rivers in North America.

I was hoping to catch the lake run brown trout that run up from Lake Crowley, but instead got into some of the "Sierra Steelhead" lake run rainbows instead. Maybe the browns were further upstream or downstream from where I fished just above Benton Crossing? Below the bridge was closed at this time of year. I did see a dying brown trout in the shallows that was a lake run fish of about 20". Not sure what was wrong with it, whether it was spawned out, got a disease, or was handled poorly after a catch and release. I saw a dead fish in the water as well in the same spot. Just a reminder to hold a fish out of the water only briefly--I have seen studies where once a trout has been out of water for more than 10 seconds, the mortality rate skyrockets. 

I was fishing on a monday and there were a lot of people out fishing surprisingly, but there was plenty of room to fish in relative solitude. There is quite of bit of river to fish before the public section terminates upstream from the bridge. 

The lake run rainbows fought very good. It seemed you either catch lake run fish at this time of year, or small residents. The small fish seemed to be eating mainly small midges and the larger lake run fish liked something large that catches their attention--a #8 coffee-black Rubber Legs caught all the lake run fish. Fish were spooky and you had to approach the bank carefully. The lake runners like to hold in the deeper spots in the river, so it is best to skip the shallow water despite how good it looks.