The Lower Sacramento River is fishing well. The flows have been moving around a bit which has made for some inconsistant fishing at times. With that being said, you will have some great windows throughout the day to hammer fish. For me, the window has been mid-morning through early afternoon, followed by a big afternoon lull. Gabe Duran has been hanging around a little later than most and been getting them to eat pretty good in the late evening in certain spots of the river. Expect the fishing to only get better as the flows stabilize and the Hydropsyche Caddis hatch hits it’s stride. Small mayflies have been getting most of the love in my boat recently.. along with various summer caddis and the good old Jimmy legs.

The Klamath River is in the midst of it’s annual Salmonfly hatch and the dry fly fishing has been pretty spectacular. Don’t expect a lot of big fish up there right now.. the fish average 10-12 inches with a few good 16-18 inch fish mixed there. It’s a great change of pace to be floating down the Klamath throwing big sofa pillows at the banks to eager Juvenile steelhead.

The Lower Sacramento River reports remain stellar. It seems that most of the fish are coming off the spawn and are looking to pack some weight back on. The summer Caddis have been getting the fish going in the afternoon along with a decent number of PMDs. Don’t overlook the midges in the morning either.. The best bite has been between 10:00 and 2:00. After about 3:00 thing can really tighten up. Take advantage of that grabby window. You’ve gotta love when the rainbows are on those Hydropsyche Caddis – there isn’t anything subtle about that grab.

The Lower Sac Fished very well the past few days. The best window has been from mid-morning through early afternoon when the PMDs and Caddis start moving around. The flows are up over 12k cfs now which has spread the fish out a bit. The early morning and late afternoon has been a bit tight so it is important to take advantage of that “mid-day” bite. During those non-hatch periods early and late in the day, i’ve been getting them to eat stoneflies, various eggs, and attractor nymphs. If you can handle the warmer weather, head up to our area and get in on some AWESOME early summer fishing. I’ll be over on the Upper Sac the next few days and am expecting some great fishing. Stay tuned in the next few days for some U-Sac photos and reports. 

The Pit River is in good shape this spring and has been kickin’ out some quality fish recently. If you’ve got a hankering to dance with some STRONG freestone rainbows, the Pit is probably your best bet right now. Getting to the”fishy” water and wading around on the snot covered bowling balls can be treacherous.. but the fish are usually worth it.

To check out some more juicy photos, check out Matt’s page, HERE

Photo by Matt Formento

The Sac continued to fish very well this past week. The bite has been consistant, mid morning through early afternoon. The warm weather combined with a little cloud cover has got the mayflies coming off pretty good. There haven’t been wads of bugs out, but there are definitely enough for the fish to be “grabby” during those hatch periods. There are plenty of spots on the river right now where you expect the “double” hookup when the PMDs are coming off. The flows are steadily climbing up near 7k cubes now.. as long as they don’t jump off the charts in a short amount of time – the fishing should remain excellent.

Fishing on the Lower Sac has been EXCELLENT this spring. Thomas, of Gotta Stay Fly rolled up to Redding a few days ago to get in on some of the goodness the Sac has been kickin’ down. Thomas does a great job behind the lens and captured some sweet images from our float.

Well boys and girls, not too much has changed on the Lower Sac in the past week. The fish seem to have spread out a bit more. I’ve been finding them in the skinny riffles, deep runs and slow flats. No specific type of water is fishing better than the other as of right now. The Flows have come up to 5,800 cubes which I like a lot better than the 3,800 they were at last week. As long as the flows continue to slowly rise they should not negatively impact the fishing at all.

The main bugs for me continue to be Mayflies and Jimmy legs. The hatches have been pretty thin the past couple of days, but with this overcast, rainy weather thats heading in right now – we should see some BWOs pop pretty good. With that being said the lack of bugs coming off has not kept the fish from eating. There has been no shortage of indicators goin’ down on the Sac.

Check out some of the happy anglers that have been on the Sac recently.

Head up to Redding and GET SOME!!

The Sac has continued to fish well since my last report. The Spring Caddis hatches have dwindled in the past week and the fish have turned on to the smorgasbord of mayflies that have been coming off. PMDs, March Browns, and Baetis have become the main source of grub for these chunky spring ‘bows. There have been some impressive fish boated in the past week. Check out this goliath that a Shasta Trout client boated last week, HERE. There have been a heck of a lot of high fives being exchanged out on the river recently.. don’t miss these awesome spring conditions and your chance to tango with the scrappiest trout around.

Lots of DOUBLES!

The smile says it all.

Two-Footer

The Lower Sacramento River in Northern California is one of the top wild trout fisheries in the country. Some of the best water the Sac has to offer is found right in the middle of downtown Redding. This short video highlights some of the goodness the Sac has to offer.

We have had some perfect weather here in the Redding area recently. Blue skies and 75 degree days have been the norm. I have been spending most of my days on the Sac from downtown Redding to Anderson. On the warmer days the caddis hatches have been THICK and the rainbows have been chowing. If you haven’t been on the Sac yet this year – YOU ARE MISSING OUT! The river has been kicking out a lot of quality fish recently. As we move further into spring, the PMD hatches should start to kick off, keeping these big ‘bows on the feed. For more reports on rivers in the area, check out Shasta Trout’s blog.

Here a few of the happy anglers that have been out on the Sac recently.