Guide Mark Speer, an airline pilot in his "real life," couldn't say enough about the quality fishing he and his clients had in 2006 and '07. Speer has fished the Trinity on his own for a long time, but just started guiding there last fall.

"It was good timing," he says. "We had a lot of action because there were so many fish."

Speer uses a drift boat and covers as much as 10 miles a day. Mostly he fly-fishes, but he'll use whatever tackle his anglers want.

"I can't remember a year when the fishing was any better than last season," he says.

A 500-STEELHEAD SEASON
Steve Huber has been guiding on the Trinity for seven years. He goes to other rivers once in awhile, but prefers to fish the Trinity, which is literally in his backyard.

"I like to be with my family, so I stay close to home whenever possible," Huber says. "I run some trips on the Sacramento during salmon season. But when it's steelhead time, I'm back on the Trinity."

When asked about the 2006-07 season, Huber was to the point. "Last year was a banner year," he says.

"My clients brought around 500 steelhead to the boat. I had only three trips when the fishing was far better than the catching, if you know what I mean."

Huber went on to say that he estimates that on average, the steelhead were 10 percent bigger than normal on the Trinity.

"We caught and released a wild 17-pound male last year," he says. "Fish of that size are rare on the Trinity, but I'll take them whenever I can."

When asked about the potential for this season, Huber says it's mostly up to the weather.

"We had very good conditions most of last season, so we were out on the water a lot," he says. "Major storms could turn the fishing off for a while. But if they don't hit us too hard, we should have another great year.

"It seems to me that the steelhead run is just getting stronger as we go," Huber adds.

HOW TO FISH THE TRINITY
There are many ways to catch steelhead on the Trinity. While fishing from the bank, Mike Bogue likes an 8-foot spinning rod with a sensitive tip, 15-pound-test line and 10-pound-test fluorocarbon leader.

His bait of choice is roe cured with Pautzke's Egg Cure. It's attached to the hook with a roe loop.

Other anglers swear by night crawlers and Glo Bugs. The idea is to get any offering down near the bottom where the fish are holding. Pencil lead cut to size is often employed along with other types of weights.

Flies
When guide Mark Speer fly-fishes, he uses a 5- or 6-weight rod and a weight-forward floating line with a Boles Float Rite strike indicator. He'll often use a two-fly setup, like a size 8 or 10 Rubberlegs with a Mercer's Poxyback or Copper John.

"I cast the flies slightly upstream and let them drift deep with the current," says the guide. "At the end of the drift, I usually let the flow bring the flies up and just flip them back upstream without any need to backcast. That approach really works well on the steelies."

Steve Huber likes egg patterns, and his favorite flies are October Caddis, Copper John, red and regular, as well as golden or black stonefly nymphs -- and when the water is clear, a plain Hare's Ear.

Lures
But Huber's favorite method of steelhead fishing is pulling plugs such as the old favorite Hot Shots and Little Wigglers. Fished across the bow of his drift boat, these lures can be worked into any potential steelhead lair with a few strokes of the oars.