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My mini vacation/moving road trip has come to an end. Tomorrow I start my new job as a staff photojournalist at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle newspaper in Bozeman, Montana. As I was leaving California, I managed to squeeze in one last steelhead fly fishing trip with my buddies Kara, Allison and Ryan for a two day mission to the Eel River and Redwood Creek. As you can tell from the photos, we did a lot of walking this trip. It was slow on the fish catching front but overall we had a great time in the beautiful northern California scenery of giant redwood trees. Here are some of my favorites.

It’s never too cold to fish. Back in December I headed up north for another weekend steelhead mission with my friends Ryan and Rich. I am not a morning person but when there is an opportunity to float on the Rogue River, I somehow find the motivation. Coffee helps. We left Ryan’s house early in the morning for the long drive north into Oregon and met Rich stream side as he was putting the boat in the water. I love how different a river can look and feel in the middle of winter. The color palettes stream side take on pastel hues and there is this cold, beautiful stillness to the landscape. It was a nice change of scenery. In between swinging assassin flies on our spey rods, I took the time to photograph the guys fishing. Being out there in the cold was worth it. After years of steelhead fishing in northern California and Oregon, I finally ended up catching my first adult steelhead. Thanks for looking, -M

Last weekend I headed up north to the Klamath River with my buddy Ryan Peterson and his friend Scott Tucker in search of winter steelhead. I’ve been to this river a lot. With the lack of rain throughout northern California the last couple of weeks, the Klamath offered the best river conditions out of any nearby watershed. We took it upon ourselves to do some exploring of new hard to reach river access points. This meant a lot of bushwhacking through thick blackberry patches and steep hikes down into the river valley. It’s a beautiful place. Bright neon green moss covers the jagged sedimentary rocks along the river bank. We made camp stream side where Ryan cooked a tri-tip for sandwiches over our campfire while Scott supplied us with fine Napa Valley Pinot Noir. It was so nice to be back in the mountains again. Alas, no steelhead would be landed this trip. Here are a couple photos I made during the weekend.


After a pain-stakingly long hiatus from fishing due to my new job in the Bay Area, I was finally able to get out of town last weekend for a two day steelheading mission to the North Umpqua river in southern Oregon. I met up with my good buddy Ryan Peterson, of The Fly Shop and his long time friend Dan from Colorado late Friday evening in Redding. We made our final gear checks, loaded up Ryan’s old Land Crusier and and hit the road for the five hour journey into steelhead country.

After a pain-stakingly long hiatus from fishing due to my new job in the Bay Area, I was finally able to get out of town last weekend for a two day steelheading mission to the North Umpqua river in southern Oregon. I met up with my good buddy Ryan Peterson, of The Fly Shop and his long time friend Dan from Colorado late Friday evening in Redding. We made our final gear checks, loaded up Ryan’s old Land Crusier and and hit the road for the five hour journey into steelhead country.