JUSTIN WHITE
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA STEELHEAD
Steelhead have rightly earned the nickname “fish of a thousand casts,” and when you pursue them by swinging flies on two-handed Spey rods, even that number can seem conservative.
So why do we travel long distances and wade icy rivers for the chance at a single grab—or, on a good day, two—from these anadromous rainbow trout? The answer is simple: the sudden, startling take, followed by the leaps and runs of a wild native steelhead, makes every effort worthwhile. It’s the Dodger Stadium of fly fishing, minus the great weather.
Steelhead are rainbow trout that leave their home rivers to spend a year or more in the nearby ocean, where they grow larger and stronger before returning to their spawning grounds.
They inhabit the coastal rivers of California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, Canada. They can be fished by swinging classic fly patterns or more commonly by two fly nymphing techniques. There are distinct winter and summer runs which are fairly predictable.
Although British Columbia is considered the mecca for trophy steelhead, Northern California’s rivers have recently delivered excellent returns in both numbers and size. Our November presenter, JUSTIN WHITE of AC FLY FISHING with stunning images, will take us on a tour of the Trinity, Eel and other NorCal steelhead hot spots.
JUSTIN’S STORY
I was born and raised in the small rural town of Hopland, California a few hours north of San Francisco. I was a very fortunate kid, as we lived a stone’s throw away from the banks of the Russian River.
I started fishing when I was five years old with the help of my dad, and was trusted to go out alone on the river when I turned eight. A neighbor friend and I would fish most days after school together for small trout and bass, and one day he showed up with a new fly rod he received as a gift.
We taught ourselves how to cast it through much trial and error, and the rest was history. When I was 17, I landed my dream job, grounds maintenance and washing dishes for the summer at a lodge in Bristol Bay, Alaska on the Naknek River.
That summer, I discovered my love for the fishing industry and had the chance to take folks out fishing after dinner in the endless sunlight. I applied for my guide’s license on my 18th birthday and soon thereafter began my guiding career.
After returning from Alaska, I moved to Redding, California to be in the epicenter of Nor Cal fly fishing and attend Shasta College. It was there that the love of my life became my wife, and we married at the young age of 19.
To this day I feel like the luckiest man on earth. Within months of moving to Redding, I had bought my first drift boat with the money saved from Alaska and began guiding independently on the Lower Sacramento and surrounding rivers to put myself through college.
Through this experience on the river, I met many of the local guides including Anthony Carruesco, the owner of AC Fly Fishing. He was kind enough to let me join his team of guides, and ever since then I have felt like part of the family.
Eventually in 2019, I decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources and Fisheries Science from Oregon State University. Over the next two years before receiving the degree I would split my schedule between classes in Corvallis, Oregon and driving to Redding, CA so that I could continue guiding while going to school.
After completion, I had fallen in love with Oregon and decided it would be our permanent home. I worked briefly for a season as a field biologist, but soon decided my heart still wanted to be a part of the fly fishing industry.
Since the commute to Nor Cal from Northern Oregon was becoming a little much, I thankfully began to expand my career in the fishing industry into more of the business side of things, by working remotely and assisting with local bookings in Northern California as well as coordination for our hosted travel trips with the great help of Anthony and Matt at AC Fly Fishing.
Since then, I feel very fortunate to have continued expanding into this role by working on a daily basis to help out with both local bookings in Northern California and hosted travel bookings on our several destination fly fishing trips.
I also do a small amount of guiding on my new home waters in Oregon, but my main focus is assisting AC Fly Fishing with client communication and coordination of our guides and travel programs.