Fall River Hosted Trip
Dry Fly Only — That’s the Plan
The Experience
For as long as anglers have fished it, the upper reaches of Fall River have been home to some of the finest dry-fly fishing in the world.
Rick’s Lodge was once the meeting place—and arguably one of the epicenters of fly-pattern design—for what would become the modern approach to fooling Fall River’s famously wary, selective spring-creek trout. Long gone, with it went a period in time when very few people had access to this magical stretch. Anglers like Bob Quigley helped define the game here: technical dry flies, long leaders, precise presentations, patience, and surgical drifts.
That tradition is what brings us back today.
This isn’t a numbers game. It’s about seeing the fish, choosing the right pattern, making the cast, getting the drift, watching the eat, and finally making that perfectly timed lift for the set.
You can’t skip a step, and you can’t do one before the other.
But once you understand the game, feeding these fish on the surface becomes something entirely different. The challenge, the anticipation, and the visual take all come together in a way few other kinds of fly fishing can match.
Simply put, when you have targets like these, you fish dry flies.
And when it all comes together, it can produce some of the most memorable sessions of your fly-fishing career.
This is a two-night, two-day hosted trip for just four anglers, giving us the opportunity to experience one of the most exclusive pieces of water we get to fish. We may not be alone on the river at all times, but when we do share it, we’ll be in good company—with fellow dry-fly anglers who understand this fishery and are here to play the game the right way.
For two days, we leave the normal fishing schedule behind.
The bugs make the schedule.
The trout follow the bugs.
And we follow the trout.
The Fishing
Patience Has a Purpose
We come here for a reason, and everything we do has a purpose.
There’s no confusion about why we’re on this river. We’re here to play the game the way it was played for generations.
And that game begins with patience.
On the boat ride out early in the morning, the river will be tranquil, with little activity other than a few mallards taking flight as we motor past. The air is brisk, and that cup of coffee you brought from the lodge suddenly doesn’t look nearly big enough.
When we reach our starting spot, we stop.
And we watch.
We check our leaders, but we don’t pick a fly quite yet. Our eyes bounce between the surface of the river and the tops of the trees.
As the morning chill begins to break, we might see a fish rise downstream.
Then another.
No, it’s not time to move.
It’s time to be patient—and keep looking up.
We’re here for the PMD spinner fall.
When conditions are right, you’ll begin to see the spinners dancing high above the treetops. Then they come lower.
And lower.
And lower.
Eventually, they reach the river, spent and helpless on the surface after depositing their eggs and laying the groundwork for the next generation.
That’s when the river we greeted at dawn begins to transform.
Those occasional single rises we watched earlier become something entirely different. Singles become groups, and groups become pods of rising trout, methodically sipping spent mayflies as they gather in greater numbers on the surface, falling from the air like snowflakes.
Now we choose the fly.
We move carefully into position, slipping the boat into place and dropping the anchor quietly without pushing a wake across the rising fish.
From here, it’s one angler at a time.
One cast at a time.
There’s a reason for that, too.
We don’t want unnecessary line hitting the water. We don’t want to disturb the pod. The goal isn’t to rush through it. It’s to feed as many of these fish from each pod as we can before moving on to the next.
And sometimes, watching your friend get the eat is every bit as good as getting one yourself.
In Fall River’s gin-clear water, you don’t just see your fly drifting toward a rising trout.
You see the entire event unfold beneath it.
A fish lifts from the bottom.
Its head angles toward the fly.
It continues to rise until its nose breaks the surface. For an instant, you see the white of its mouth as it opens and inhales the fly.
Then the fish slowly begins to turn back toward the bottom.
Wait.
Then lift.
The long 14-foot 6X leader comes tight, the rod bends, and you’ve just witnessed one of the greatest visual eats you can experience while holding a fly rod.
This is why we’re patient.
This is why we fish one angler at a time.
And this is why we come to Fall River.
The River Sets the Schedule
These fish are keyed into the spinner fall. When the spinners hit the water, the dinner bell rings, and the trout take advantage of the bounty for as long as it lasts.
So do we.
Some days, the spinner fall may give us four or five hours of concentrated dry-fly fishing. When conditions line up perfectly, we may get six or seven hours of targeted fishing to rising trout.
We stay with it as long as the bugs—and the fish—tell us to.
Once the main event begins to slow, the river settles down. Fish that spent the morning feeding heavily begin to disappear, seemingly content to wait until tomorrow when the dinner bell rings again.
As we work our way back toward the lodge, we keep looking.
An eddy might have collected a mat of spent spinners. Those insects slowly filter back into the current, creating one last feeding lane where a single gluttonous trout may still be willing to play.
Now we get to test our skills.
One random head can stop the boat.
One rising fish can give us one more target.
Eventually, though, we make our way home.
We don’t put the fish on our schedule.
We put ourselves on theirs.
The Lodging
A Front-Row Seat to Fall River
The entire river above Spring Creek Bridge is bordered by private property, making access extremely limited and creating one of the most exclusive fishing opportunities we have the privilege to offer.
For this trip, we’ve secured something special: lodging directly on the river with a private boat launch that puts us right into the action.
From the house, it’s just a short boat ride upstream or downstream in search of rising fish, subtle sippers, and those unmistakable pods of heads that make you stop the boat and start planning an approach.
The house itself is a four-bedroom, two-bath throwback to the Fall River of the 1970s.
And that’s part of its charm.
It isn’t trying to be something it’s not. It simply oozes Fall River tradition while providing the comforts we need and, most importantly, a front-row seat to a piece of river very few anglers ever get to experience.
Its large, elevated deck offers a panoramic view across the river and surrounding meadows.
Mornings start here with coffee, cool air, and a chance to watch the river come alive before we ever step into a boat.
In the afternoon, it’s the perfect place to settle in as the breeze moves through the valley and we regroup after fishing.
Weather permitting, that same deck becomes our dinner table.
As the evening calm settles over the river, we’ll eat, tell stories from the day, pour another drink, and keep one eye on the water as an occasional wary trout rises in the distance.
The Food
Good Food, Good Company & Plenty of It
During our two-night stay, we’ll enjoy great meals both on and off the river.
The food is part of the experience. Nothing overly complicated—just hearty, well-prepared meals, plenty to eat, and a chance to sit down together after a day on Fall River.
Arrival night begins with an assortment of snacks strategically placed around the house, followed by an appetizer, dinner, and dessert. It’s our opportunity to get everyone settled, meet the group, talk about the river, and go over what we expect to see the following morning.
Dinner might mean a real barbecue with tri-tip, salad, garlic bread, and all the sides, or custom 1/3-pound burgers coming hot off the grill with all the fixings.
Weather permitting, we’ll eat outside on the elevated deck overlooking the river and meadows. It’s a pretty special place to finish the day, particularly when the evening settles in. We often hear people say that it just doesn’t feel like we’re in California anymore.
But we are—and it’s that special.
Breakfast comes early because the river dictates our schedule.
Coffee will be ready, along with a selection ranging from breakfast burritos and pastries to yogurt and fresh fruit. The goal is to give everyone enough time to eat, wake up, get their gear together, and be ready when it’s time to head for the boats.
While everyone is eating, we’ll put together lunches for the day.
But even lunch is dictated by the hatch.
If the bugs keep coming and the fish keep rising, lunch will be enjoyed in the boats. If the morning spinner fall winds down early, we may head back to the lodge and enjoy lunch on the deck.
Deli sandwiches and wraps are our standards, with plenty of snacks available to throw in the boat.
We’ll also have two large ice chests stocked with water and soft drinks throughout the trip. There will be room for your favorite beverages as well, so feel free to bring what you enjoy. If you’d rather bring your own ice chest, we’ll make room for it on the deck where it’s easy to access.
Like everything else on this trip, meals are built around the reason we’re here.
The fishing comes first.
When the river says it’s time to fish, we fish.
When it gives us a break, we eat well.
Trip Details
2 Nights • 2 Days of Fishing • 4 Anglers
$1,550 per Angler
Dates & Availability
May 1–3 — 4 spots available
May 19–20 — Full
May 26–28 — 4 spots available
Upper & Lower River Trip — Not DFO
June 7–9 — 3 spots available
June 14–16 — Full
Upper & Lower River Trip — Not DFO
Your hosted Fall River experience includes lodging, meals, two days of fishing, and access to one of the most exclusive stretches of dry-fly water we have the opportunity to fish.
Come prepared to slow down, watch the river, trust the bugs, and play the game the way generations of Fall River anglers have played it before us.
One angler at a time. One cast at a time. One fish at a time.