I'm not sure how it happens, but when you're packing for a trip, you always discover you never really have the right size duffel bag.

I realized it again today because I'm leaving soon for a one-day steelhead trip to the Trinity, and unlike the typical Underground trip (which is often long on fishless stretches and short on expenses like guides), this time I've been shoehorned into a group who are fishing with guides.

Oh, the unspeakable luxury.

I'll let you know how that goes.

This trip is doubly interesting because the Trinity is one of California's success stories (well, a semi-success story), yet I haven't fished it for a decade.

When the dams were built in the early 1960s, the agreement was that enough water would be left in the river for fish and recreational uses, but almost immediately, upwards of 90% of the flows were transferred south for agricultural use (much of it going to Underground fave whipping boys Westlands Irrigation District).

The river -- and the salmon and steelhead -- predictably suffered.

After decades of fighting, a restoration effort was recently launched, and while the effort is still underway, it's clear the simple act of leaving a little more water in the river has done wonders for the steelhead fishing.

People sometimes fished for the outgoing steelhead smolts (catching many of them in a day), but for adults, the Trinity had become a bit of a ghost town. A few years ago, reports of double-digit catches of adult steelhead in a single day meant on a good weekend, you often couldn't find a good place to park.

I'm not much of a steelhead fisherman (I had to buy my 2012 Steelhead card just this morning), but what the hell. We'll see how the other half lives for a change.

See you on the river (literally this time), Tom Chandler.