TOP PICKS
• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento – Striped bass fishing picked up a bit more last week, with anglers finding some action mostly on bait at Bryte's Beach, Miller Park Garcia Bend, the Deep Water Channel, and Rio Vista. There's even been some trolling action along the West Bank around Rio Vista. Lots of sturgeon are being spotted rolling all the way to Colusa, but the bite has been slow, and it seems as if most of the fish that are being landed have been oversized (more than 66 inches long). Ongoing storms should attract lots more fish upriver and lots more bites.
• AMADOR LAKE – An 11-pound bass, 8-pounders and several 4- and 5-pounders have been caught on pig and jig, swim baits, dragging worms Texas style and crank baits, said Laurie Lockhart at the Tackle Box Cafe. Between 800 and 1,000 pounds of "cutbows" are still being released each week. Some crappie are starting to show. Trout fishing is still good on the usual offerings.
DELTA REGION:
• SACRAMENTO RIVER side – Everyone has sturgeon fever here, and with good reason – they're everywhere, and anglers are catching a lot of legal-sized fish, releasing a lot of oversized fish, but finding few shakers. As a few stripers begin to show in the Decker Island to Rio Vista area, smaller milking males have started to be reported but no big hens or concentrations of fish yet. Rain should get action going. • SAN JOAQUIN RIVER side – Sturgeon action was fair in the three bays, but the striper bite is still slow. The black bass action was heating up as they moved into shallows to spawn efforts.
• LAKE BERRYESSA – King salmon fishing has been good by the dam and the mouth of Markley Cove. The DFG is planting here this week. Meanwhile, the bass bite took a hit and backed off again.
GENERAL
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
• AMERICAN RIVER – Flows are very low at 800 cubic feet per second and steelies still spawning should be left in peace. A few half-pound, spring-run fish in the 2- to 4-pound range, as well as 8-inch smolts, were still coming upstream, but fishing success was sporadic. Fly fishers have an advantage in the low flows, and most success, such as it is, has been on dead-drifted caddis-imitating nymphs.
• FEATHER RIVER – The striper bite was slow once again, but a few were hooked around Star Bend and Shanghai Bend on jumbo minnows, big streamers and jigs. Steelhead fishing was slow, but a few were caught in the Low Flow Section and around Gridley on nymphs under indicators, drifting nightcrawlers and swinging spinners.
• FOLSOM LAKE – The wind blew for a few days last week, but the rough water, while tough on anglers, coincided with some good fishing for holdover trout and landlocked king salmon for Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide Service. Fishing at Brown's Ravine was good, but conditions tough, so a move to the North Fork produced some shelter and more fish to 17 inches on UV Hoochies fished in the top 20 feet of water. Bass fishing started showing some life, too, with drop-shotting and dart-heading still producing the most action, but anglers tossing rip baits and crank baits tossed toward structure starting to attract some bites.
• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Redding – The release from Keswick Dam continued to be very low for this time of year at just over 4,000 cfs, making for great fly fishing conditions and lots of action. Fly fishermen have been doing especially well dead-drifting nymphs such as Fox's Poopah and Prince nymphs, but there's been some nice dry fly fishing, too, when hatches are observed. Spin fishermen drifted Glo-Bugs and nightcrawlers.
– Western Outdoor News
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