The news...

It has been a while sense I have posted something so here is what I have been up to and what the fishing forecast looks like.

As many know I coach Varsity baseball at Hamilton High School so I have been pretty busy through out the week coaching, taking long bus rides, yelling at kids (in a completely constructive way – though some are 18 years old so they are not really kids), kicking dirt at umpires (I have yet to get tossed this year – I average about 1-2 a season and have gotten pretty close a few times – I blame the umps, they couldn’t pull the trigger), throwing a golf tournament to raise money for our program, and trying to win a league title and get a number one seed in the playoffs with 2 weeks of games left….Busy would be a nice change of pace….baseball season borders on chaos

Fishing kinda takes a back seat during baseball, but I do spend most weekends guiding or fishing on my own. I have been guiding a few days on the Lower Sac for trout and fishing the Lower Sac outside of chico on my own. Lower Sac for trout up around Redding and Anderson has been fishing fair to good. PMD’s and Caddis hatches have been pretty decent on most days and fish have been pretty active around midday through the afternoon. The Lower Sac down through chico has been slowly coming to life. The backwaters are warming and clearing with small and largemouth getting active as well as carp starting to move into the shallows. I have hooked a few stripers up through chico and more and more will show up and get active over the next few weeks. Weather forecast starting this weekend is low to mid 80’s so fishing will jump into gear on this part of the river over the next few weeks. I haven’t heard of any shad being caught yet but I can’t imagine it is to far off with the warm weather next week.

The Lower Feather is still kicking out good numbers of spring steelhead and should remain consistent for another few weeks. I haven’t had a chance to get out there but most all my buddies have and are catching fish on a regular basis. The Lower Yuba is still a torrent of water bouncing between 7000-10,000cfs and I can’t imagine the warm weather coming doing anything to lower the flows.

While the trout opener is this weekend there is not much around chico that is fishable. The North Fork Feather and its tribs are raging and while I have my raft ready to go when the river becomes fishable I am not holding out hope for anything until the mid to end of June. Should be a great year for fishing the North Fork though and I can’t wait to take my raft down a few of the stretches once it becomes fishable.

Fall River and Hat creek I am sure will fish well on the opener, but will be packed with people, as those may be the only legitimate games in Nor Cal. I will most likely be on the Lower Sac for trout or stripers this weekend so no mountain stuff for me. It is starting to look like July will be the month for trout this year. Most streams are going to take a while to come down and become fishable and will not likely stabilize until the end of June or first part of July.

That is the scoop. More reports and photos to come in the following weeks….

Nice day but still a bit early

Spent a few hours out on the Lower Sac this last weekend. Main river was still high and pretty muddy. About 6-12" of visibility. Threw some flies around for stripers but with high water there was not a lot of water to fish. I did find a few fish deep back in a few sloughs and creeks but fishing was not on fire. Even the sloughs were off color and a bit cold. Flows have dropped substantially over the last few days and fishing should improve this weekend. I did have to cancel my trips out there this weekend as I wasn't really convinced fishing was going to turn on with some cooler weather forcasted this week.

Striper fishing on the feather outside of Boyd's Pump is turning on but crowded. Sac through redding has been fishing good but slowed down a bit sense last week. Feather up by Oroville has fair number of spring steelhead in it. Lower Yuba still is pretty high around 3900cfs but there is a few spots you can stick some fish.

Still have dates available if anyone is interested in upcoming shad, striper, or trout fishing shoot me an email or give me a call.

Rivers are Dropping

Sac is dropping to around 13,000cfs this weekend and is scheduled to be down to 9250cfs by April 12. Trout fishing up through Redding should be really good this weekend and only get better once the flows drop and stabilize.

I am going to head out to the lower river around chico and see how the smallies, Largemouth, carp, and Stripers are fairing. I will post a report following this weekends expedition(s). The flows through chico will still be high as all the run off from up river tributaries is still coming down. That said high water opens up many sloughs, creeks, and back waters along with moving migratory stripers up river.

The Lower Feather has also dropped through the low flow down to 750cfs (normal flow is 600cfs). The high flows should of moved some spring steelhead up river and changed up many of the riffles and runs. I am going to try to float the low flow as well this weekend and see what is going on. April is prime Spring steelhead time on the feather and this section of the river should be turning on any day now.

The Lower Yuba is still high. hovering around 5000cfs. I am holding out hope for a drop in flows shortly, but with all the snow melt I am not holding my breath. Once it gets down around 4000cfs there are opportunities to catch fish and the fish will be hungry. This may be a late spring on the L. Yuba, but this summer may be one of the best in recent years on the river with all the water and hungry fish.

Spring fishing should be getting going this next week as the Lower Sac and Lower Feather are going to be coming into prime shape

Available dates
April 23
May 7, 30
June 1, 2, 6-10, 12-16, 23-25
July1-3, 6, 11-22, 24-31.

Atleast the sun is out....

Beautiful weather this last week but still no where to really fish. The Yuba has threatened to drop to fishable levels but the Sac and feather remain torrents of water. I have talked to a few guys that have floated the yuba and found fish on the edges and a few spots but it is a short float. Good news regarding the L. Sac though as the river is scheduled to drop to 26,500. This is fishable but I don't get to pumped until the river gets around 20k. and both Cow Creek and Clear Creek drop and clear. That said this should bring the river in the lower stretches around chico down enough to make it safe to get the motor boat out. I am gonna get out late next week and see how far back in some creeks and sloughs I can get to hopefully find some clearer water for bass and carp. Might even be some stripers along the bank in the main river.

Also going to get out and check out the Oroville afterbay along with a few other valley empoundments to see what the clarity and water looks like as the spotted and large mouth bass should be turning on pretty soon with this warm weather. That said the wind has to cooperate with those ventures so we'll see how that pans out. Other then that GO GIANTS!!!!