Fishing Line

Both sturgeon and striper fishing continue to be a good bet, although there was less pressure for the sturgeon as the spring striper run gets going.

Sturgeon and striper fishing continue to be a good bet in the Old Sacramento River and Bass fishing continues to improve as Folsom Lake warms.

Top picks for the week include, from the Delta region, Sacramento side, Snug Harbor: Anglers are catching sturgeon. The larger one was 54 inches and caught on Steamboat Slough at the confluence with Cache Slough.

DELTA REGION--SACRAMENTO RIVER side--Once again sturgeon fishing was the top priority, with anglers finding a great bite soaking grass and ghost shrimp as well as eel.

Top picks include the Delta region, Sacramento River side, where sturgeon fishing was the top priority and Cache Slough was the most crowded, but best producer.

The sturgeon bite continued to improve as flows warmed and cleared.

Sturgeon fishing was the best bet and a mixed batch of fish were being reported.

Steelheading was good on the American River last week, with brighter fish and lower fishing pressure being hooked farther downstream and more numerous, but somewhat darker fish and more pressure found from Sunrise Blvd. up into Nimbus Basin

Anglers found some of the best steelhead fishing in many years last week for bright winter steelhead weighing up to 15 pounds.

Steelheading was pretty good last week, not so much in numbers, except for halfpounders, but in size with some fish weighing over 10 pounds.

AMERICAN RIVER - Steelheading in the Salmon Closure Area, which opened Jan. 1 was very good last week, even with yo-yoing flows on, and after opening day.

The salmon closure area, the lower end marked by power lines crossing the river at Ancil Hoffman Park, opened on Tuesday, January 1.

Mickey Daniels at Big Mack Charters and Chuck Self at Chuck's Charter Fishing report excellent mack fishing this past week before the storm hit.

The Feather River continued to offer some of the best water conditions and chances for tangling with steelhead around Northern California.

"Lots of huge trout are being caught" said Debbie Grayson at Lake Amador Store.

Lee Lockhart said "A new lake record trout could be caught for the annual Lake Amador Trout Derby that will start on Nov. 23rd and run through the last Saturday in March.

AMERICAN RIVER-Though the river is now closed to fishing from the USGS Gauging cable below the hatchery to the power lines crossing the river at Ancil Hoffman Park, steelheading is improving downstream of there, and more adult steelhead are starting to show up.

AMERICAN RIVER--The river is now closed to fishing from the USGS Gauging cable below the hatchery to the power lines crossing the river at Ancil Hoffman Park, but there is some good fishing available for steelhead and salmon still ascending the river downstream of the lower end of the closure.

AMERICAN RIVER-The river was loaded with salmon, and fishing was good right up to the closure in the salmon closure area on Wed.

SACRAMENTO RIVER side--The Rio Vista area had a little better salmon action this past week, and the Rio Vista Derby winner weighed 23.3 pounds and the action was better up by Freeport. In the Rio Vista area there were more stripers caught.

The East and West Carson are both scheduled for DFG trout plants this week. The Alpine County plant was postponed from this past week to this week, so anglers should be able to walk across the river on the backs of all the trout that will be dumped in the river.

AMERICAN RIVER--Salmon fishing continued to improve on the American River, and fly fishers are also continuing to do well on halfpounder steelhead to a couple of pounds.

Sacramento--Salmon fishing broke wide open last week with both bankies and boater doing very well.

New runs of salmon continue their trek through the system but it's still hit and misses. If you are there the day they are pushing through, you may be in luck.

Salmon fishing was good from Garcia Bend to Verona, but anglers hooking salmon at the mouth of the American River were having trouble getting fish to the net because of marauding sea lions.

For the first time, California anglers and hunters can now file required harvest reports online rather than by mail.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento-Salmon fishing was good last week from Clarksburg to Verona. Trolling Kwikfish and Silvertron spinners were effective, while the Minnow Hole and Discovery Park were producing a few kings for bank fishermen.

Bright salmon were still being caught around Shanghai Bend by trollers and jiggers to the tune of a couple a day. More fish are concentrated just below the Outlet, and fishing continued to be very good, but the fish are darker. The few steelhead up to 4 pounds were being caught in the Low Flow Section on dead-drifted nymphs under indicators, drifted nightcrawlers, and Glo-Bugs.

AMERICAN RIVER--Fishing for halfpounder steelhead picked up last week, and salmon are starting to arrive in better numbers.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento-Salmon fishing slowed last week through Sacramento. The mouth of the Feather River at Verona was one bright spot. However, just because there might be a couple of slow days doesn't mean that the action won't pick up again.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento-Salmon fishing was pretty good around Garcia Bend, and bankies were even getting in on the action at places like Miller Park, Discovery Park, South River Road by throwing big Mepps and Blue Fox spinners.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento-Salmon fishing was pretty good between Miller Park and Discovery Park. At Discovery Park, anglers were anchored up with Kwikfish, trolling Silvertron spinners, or even scoring from shore throwing big spinners.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento-Salmon fishing was cycling between fair one day and slow the next around Sacramento. The key to success is to put in your time.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento- No reports on the salmon opener by deadline. Deep Water Channel was the scene of some pretty good fishing for striped bass from 3 to 5 pounds.

DELTA REGION: SACRAMENTO RIVER side-It's been all about the summertime species while anglers wait for the salmon opener on the 16th. Expect the usual areas such as Discovery Park to be crowded.

AMERICAN RIVER-Shad fishing continued to be good, especially in the stretch upstream of Sunrise Ave. Flows are up to 4,000 cfs, so more weight will be needed with mini-jigs fished under floats, and faster sinking shooting heads for fly fishermen.

AMERICAN RIVER-What had been some of the best shad fishing in many years, according to Al Bunch of American Fly Fishing, slowed somewhat with increased flows and cool air and water temperatures.

AMERICAN RIVER-Flows went up again, to 4,000 cfs, making for more challenging conditions for fly fishermen who need to use Hi Speed Hi D shooting heads now.

Flows have increased back up to around 3,000 cfs, but shad fishing has continued to be outstanding so long as anglers add a bit of weight or fly fishers go to faster sinking shooting heads.

Shad fishing is shaping up to be the best in years, according to anglers scoring as many as two dozen shad an evening.

TOP PICKS AMERICAN RIVER--Flows are now at 2,000 cfs, and shad have arrived all the way to Sailor Bar. The river is wadable, but it's still easy for waders to get into trouble if they don't use extreme caution. Wear a belt and shoes with good felt soles, use a wading staff, and better yet wear those non-intrusive safety suspenders. Champagne and chartreuse colors work best for spin fishermen as well as for fly tossers. A few more striped bass are showing up, as well. Throw swimbaits or soak crawdads and sardines.

TOP PICKS

Flows have now dropped to 3,500 cfs, and are in a sweet spot for both spin and fly fishermen.

AMERICAN RIVER-Flows started to drop back, to 6,000 cfs over the weekend, as Folsom reached the full mark, and flows are likely to drop more in the upcoming days and weeks.

AMERICAN RIVER-Flows continued to climb, to 7,000 cfs last week, as Folsom approached the full mark, and inflows exceeded 10,000 cfs as snowmelt peaked in the warm weather.

The lake is full, and bass fishing was the best of the year.

AMERICAN RIVER-As predicted last week, flows have gone up to 3,500 cfs in response to Folsom Lake approaching the "full" mark.

AMERICAN RIVER-There are still some steelhead smolts in the river, and a very few spring run steelhead being caught by the occasional angler.