TOP PICKS
• AMERICAN RIVER – Flows have continued to drop, now to 2,000 cubic feet per second, just about perfect, especially for fly fishermen. Shad are throughout the river, and spin and fly fishermen were doing well. Fly fishermen were swinging shad flies and spin fishermen were drifting mini-jigs with a 1.5-inch curly tail grub in champagne or chartreuse colors. Most of the shad that were being caught were small males weighing a couple of pounds, but some larger females to 5 pounds are also were caught. A few striped bass were caught as well, but striper fishing will take off as the water warms.
• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento – A few striped bass were still being caught, but fishing for them has slowed. However, there were loads of shad in the river – and loads of anglers trying for them. Two of the best spots were Miller Park and Discovery Park. Catfish in the 2- to 3-pound range were being caught in Lisbon Slough and Sutter Bypass.
• EMERYVILLE – With a load of live anchovies late in the week, fish counts jumped. Salmon bit near Point Reyes, and both halibut and striped bass bit inside the bay.
• LAKE OROVILLE – The lake was at 99 percent capacity. Bass fishing was excellent this past week. Guide Ron Gandolfi reported having a 200-fish day with 15 fish over the slot guiding two good anglers. With less- experienced fishermen, Gandolfi's trips were producing 75 fish days on Senkos, tubes and spinnerbaits. The fish were holding on secondary points on walls, in the debris pockets and on flooded trees at 5 to 10 feet deep in the West Branch and North Fork. Fishing in the upper slot was slower than expected. Salmon were being caught occasionally by bass fishermen, though salmon can be caught trolling dodger/hoochie combos or mooching anchovy tails at the Green Bridge – find the bait first before fishing for salmon.
GENERAL
• SACRAMENTO VALLEY
FEATHER RIVER – Striper fishing was very slow, but a few were being caught on swimbaits at Shanghai Rapids. The real action was on shad, and fishing was best at the same place. Swing mini-jigs with a 1.5- or 2-inch curly tail grub in champagne or chartreuse.
• FOLSOM LAKE – The lake was full, and smallmouth and spotted bass were off the beds and back in deeper water. There were still some largemouth bass spawning, though. Points on the main body, brush or fishing up the forks have all been producing, and fish might be caught using a number of methods. Casting into flooded brush and trees with Senkos can do very well; so can moving offshore and dartheading or drop-shotting in deeper water. Bass were also taking crankbaits and swimbaits, even topwater fished early and late. Give it up after 9:30 a.m. or so, because that's when recreational boaters pretty much take over the lake. Anglers have all but given up trying for trout and landlocked king salmon.
• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Colusa – Striper fishing success fell off a cliff last week as water temperatures approached 70 degrees. A few schoolie-sized fish were caught by anglers putting in lots of time, but most anglers were either going over to the Feather River to fish for shad, or farther upstream to fish for rainbow trout. Shad fishing should take off any time on the Sacramento River, too.
• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Redding – Trout fishing was excellent again last week, and getting better all the time. The release from Keswick Dam was 10,000 cfs over the weekend. Fishing was good all the way from Redding to Red Bluff for anglers side-drifting nightcrawlers or Glo-Bugs, nightcrawlers, or crickets. Fly fishers were dead-drifting small brown and gray nymphs under floats.
– Western Outdoor News
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