Fishing Report
TIME FOR STURGEON!!
Well, as soon as I had a pattern going on the steelhead, the rains are coming again and the rivers will rise. So, it's officially all sturgeon, all the time from now until the end of February (at least). Fishing is solid already and is only going to get better!
Valley Steelies Perking Up, Sturgeon good too
With the water finally dropping in the Sac Valley rivers, we've seen a nice uptick in steelhead action. The fish are your typical Valley fish in the 2 to 5 pound class with a few larger ones mixed in. They are scrappy little guys full of fight!
Also, the sturgeon fishing is heating up and should just get better as the month wears on!
High Water Everywhere...Time for Sturgeon!!
STEELHEAD FISHING IN THE SAC VALLEY IS WASHED OUT INDEFINITELY SO WE'RE MOVING ON TO STURGEON. WE'LL CHASE STURGEON ALL OF FEBRUARY AND THEN TRANSITION INTO STRIPERS IN MARCH-APRIL. IT SHOULD BE A GREAT SEASON FOR BOTH WITH ALL THIS WATER!
American River off the Watt Ave Bridge...60,000 cfs!
American Steelhead Opener Report
The much anticipated American River steelhead opener on Jan. 1 was largely a bust. We hooked one good fish early in the morning and then had a couple of other bites but only landed one halfpounder. I talked to a dozen or so other boats who didn't catch a fish either.
The water was high (4,500 cfs) which makes it kinda like a needle in a hay field (notice I didn't say haystack). With the big rains coming in Jan. 7-8, flows are headed for 15,000 cfs and likely more. We are on standby at this point...
On a positive note, I saw plenty of salmon still spawning which was cool. I just hope the redds don't get all scoured out by the rain.
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS! AMERICAN STEELHEAD OPENER COMING JAN. 1!
Hope you and yours have a great Holiday Season!! I'm going to hang out with the family the next several days but will be back out striper fishing just before new years and then will be on the American for the steelhead opener on January 1.
Flows on the American went to 35,000 cfs last week...and that should have brought some fish in!! Flows are dropping now and will be 6,000 cfs by New Years Day. The color is still off at the moment but we have a week for it to clear up. Could be a pretty cool opener!
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE!
Two big storms hit Nor Cal this week and they have effectively shut down fishing for the short-term. All this water is awesome in the big picture but we won't be fishing much until after Christmas at the earliest. Flows on the Sac and American rivers are raging and brown and that's pushing a lot of mud down into the Delta as well.
So, fingers crossed that flows come down by the Jan. 1 opening of steelhead season on the American.
Striper Bite Solid
We had a bunch of North wind late last week and that kept us off the water. It took a couple days for the fish to settle back in but we got back after it again on Saturday. Fishing from Sat-Tuesday has been solid, though yesterday we had to really look around until we found the Mother Lode. Once we got on em, it was red hot. Still plenty of smaller fish around but some nice ones mixed in too.
Kings done but stripers going strong!
The king salmon action finally has petered out and now it's time for Delta stripers! We did the first official run of the season the day before Thanksgiving and found action all day long, including a very nice extended topwater session! The fish weren't giants tho we did get one that was probably 13-14 pounds. The water temps are perfect and the river has a nice slight brownish color to it. In short...IT'S GO TIME!!!
Still nice kings around on the Sac!
The Fat Lady hasn't sung yet...in fact, there have been some days of limit-style salmon fishing lately on the Sacramento River. And the fish are nice and fresh! I'll be heading for the Delta starting next week for stripers and that's going to be the main game for the next couple months.
Chrome kings on tap on the Sac!
There aren't big numbers around, but we're managing some nice fish every outing...look how beautiful these fish from today's mission looked!
Still Catching Chome!
I just finished a couple weeks on the American River in the drift boat, where king fishing was, in a word, kinda weird. We had action every day, but the only thing consistent about it was it was inconsistent. Good one day, off the next etc. There were plenty of fish around, but they were just kinda moody.
I have since moved to the Sac near downtown and every day we are finding some beautiful chrome kings with sea lice on them. There aren't tons of fish around but they are of a very good grade. Last season, the kings continued into early December so we should still have plenty of good days to come...
Time for Sacramento & American River Salmon!!
I just got done with my annual month on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, and now it's time for Sacramento and American river salmon!
The action local has been solid and...and it's just going to keep on getting better! Check out this report from the Lovely Martha that fished outside the Golden Gate on Oct 18 and caught limits of big in-bound spawner kings! Those fish are headed for the Sac River!!!
I'll be running trips starting this week and going until at least Thanksgiving (last year we had fresh kings into December!). I'll also be doing some drift boat runs on the American and some night salmon trips as well.
On the Klamath and Trinity, the salmon fishing was as tough as we have ever seen it but we still managed some good fish. And, luckily, we had some nice steelhead around too! See pix below...
Salmon Finally Turning On
We have been waiting on the Kings to show...and they are finally making their first big push right now. About a month late, we were starting to think they weren't coming at all but fishing suddenly turned on the past several days!
Salmon fishing is Tough! But there may be light at the end of the tunnel!
The salmon bite in the Sacramento and Feather rivers has been dismal this week...with mostly skunks for all boats. There's an occasional fish or two caught but that's about it.
Now, there is some hope! Talking the ocean guys yesterday, the party boats have been getting near limits or limits on big, in-bound kings just outside the Golden Gate Bridge for the last several days. The fishing is good all the way up to Bodega Bay, too, so there's a wide swath of salmon out there that have to come home soon.
When exactly they will enter the river is anybody's guess...they are a few weeks late as it is, so my guess is they will come sooner than later...
TRINITY/KLAMATH
I have some room towards the end of September and the first week of October for our cool Trinity/Klamath salmon and steelhead adventure trips. You can check the video below to see what those are all about!
Still Waiting on the Salmon...
The kings are a bit behind schedule at the moment but should show up any day now...the ocean fleet crushed them a day or so ago just outside the Golden Gate Bridge and those are fish in-bound for the Sacramento River.
I will start fishing later this week and will have up-to-date reports coming daily. I have very limited availability in August and then jump to the Trinity and Klamath rivers for salmon/steelhead at the beginning of September.
Due to the popularity of the Trinity/Klamath trips, I added dates to that program this year, so we still have some room in September and October. To see what that's all about, check out the video below...