Guide Profile: Tom Mahan

Owner/operator of Swingwater Fly Fishing
Years Guiding: 15

Tom is one of few California guides dedicated to swinging flies and skating dries, offering spey casting instruction and teaching the art of the swung fly through a situational angling discipline. Guiding exclusively on the Trinity, Klamath, and Smith Rivers for steelhead, salmon, and brown trout, Tom offers a uniquely honed approach to putting anglers in exceptional situations for an unforgettable experience. 

CAFF: How and why did you decide to become a guide?

TM: Being a guide allowed me to be on the water as much as I wanted and still support my family. I have guided in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California. Having grown up on the Trinity River, I feel strongly connected to the history of angling innovation on our rivers. I’m continuing to build and keep that tradition alive.

CAFF: How do you balance guiding with family/personal life?

TM: I look at the month and calculate how much money I need to make, and I don’t go beyond that. Time with my wife and kids carries much more value than chasing down big money at the cost of being absent from the most important thing to me.

CAFF: Are there specific conservation concerns in your area that you wish to draw attention to?

TM: Yes, the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP) would like to drop summer flows from 450 cfs to under 150 cfs in our lower to promote stratification in pools. I believe this will adversely affect the fish populations, river conditions, and, the entire culture surrounding the Trinity River drainage. 

CAFF: What changes, for better or worse, have you noticed since you started guiding?

TM: I have seen a decline in fish populations, both in resident and migratory fish, and an increase in new guides. But also an interest in people wanting to learn to swing flies and cast spey rods. 

CAFF: What is your most memorable catch and why?

TM: Oof, it’s 28- to 30-pound Smith River Steelhead that almost killed me. But probably the 18- to 20-pound Chinook on the Trinity with sea lice on it all the up in Lewiston, approximately 138 miles from salt. That’s the only fish I’ve ever seen with sea lice on the Trinity.

CAFF: Describe your ideal client.

TM: One humble enough to learn as much from me as I do from them and who appreciates the process and journey. 

CAFF: What is your favorite trick or tip you like to teach people? 

TM: First, you can fish a muddler 365 days a year, floating lines or sink tip. Winter fish on the Smith love them. Second, there is more to the Trinity River than bobbing from Lewiston to Junction City. My client’s favorite aspect of swinging flies is that they take part in their day on the water; they learn how to approach the run, read the water, and present in that given run. They love getting out of the boat and taking a role in hunting down that fish. The reward seems much more euphoric.  

CAFF: What is the biggest mistake you see trout anglers make when fishing for steelhead on the Trinity River?

TM: Most anglers have come to the Trinity via a Lower Sac fishing experience. The techniques employed on the Lower Sac are often too heavy and loud for the Trinity where less is more.  

CAFF: Are there sea-run browns on the Trinity?

TM: I don’t know, but I have a document that reports counts of brown trout at the hatching station in Hoopa, including fish from the Klamath, Klamath Estuary, or the salt.

CAFF: What’s the #1 thing you wish every client knew or would do?

TM:
Fish their fly from start to finish. Eagerness to get to the next cast kills fly presentation. 

CAFF: One piece of gear/equipment you can’t live without?

TM: Burkheimer 6139-4

CAFF: Favorite gear under $100?

TM: The Airflo Rage Compact Shooting Head is the most versatile head for fishing the Trinity River.  You can present a dry on a floating tip or dredge with a 10-foot sinktip of 7X or 8X. Rage Compact over 480g will even toss 10X or 11X efficiently.