Fishing Report Sacramento River Shasta Lake Rogue River Salmon Trout Shad IGFA Certified Captain Fly Fishing

If you want to catch big salmon again on the Sacramento, you need to TAKE ACTION NOW!
Stop PFMC from opening a 2010 ocean commercial season targeting Sacramento Fall Kings
And...Fly Fishermen, you are not off of the hook - healthy salmon runs provided TONS of nutrients to the Redding and Red Bluff Areas feeding the bottom of the food chain. No salmon means less and smaller trout.
Click Here to take Action Now!

Sacramento River Steelhead & Wild Trout Fly and Conventional Gear Fishing - The Sac is finally clearing and while not yet optimal clarity, the trout are starting to turn on. Earlier this week we fish in an absolute blizzard of caddis north of Anderson and brought some nice wild rainbows to the boat. Absent any significant rain events, the Sac should be fishing really well by the end of the week. Copper Johns, caddis pupa, and egg imitations are the best producers for our fly fishing guests. Trout fishing has also been productive with conventional gear. Backtrolled hot shots have been doing best in the sub-optimal clarity water.

Shasta Lake Landlocked Salmon and Trout - While not the numbers we expect in the spring and summer, Shasta is producing landlocked kings and trout. Both trout and salmon are being caught 20 - 35 ft. on bait behind Seps Watermelon and Fruit Salad dodgers. The lake is filling nicely. At 40 ft. below full pool today, we expect to have a full lake this spring. Trees and debris that have been above the water line for the last 2 years are being washed into the lake. Be very careful running the lake especially if you are running a prop.

Rogue River Estuary - We enjoyed some great fishing for ocean bright kings on the Rogue Estuary last year. We will back on the Rogue August 15 - Oct 3. Dates are starting to book up, so if you want to fish the Rogue with us this year please let us know as soon as possible. All indications are that this fall's king salmon run will be even better than last year's.

Sacramento River Salmon - Salmon season is closed on the Sacramento. The pre-Christmas rains brought a push of salmon into the Red Bluff area providing our guests with some nice fresh king salmon. Early fall run escapement for 2009 was 39,000 salmon which is just horrible but not unexpected. With continued overpumping of the Delta for San Joaquin agribusiness, we will continue to see abysmal fall salmon runs until the Delta is properly managed. There are hopeful signs, but action is needed. Go to water4fish.org, sign the petition and find out what you can do to bring back our fall salmon. The late fall run was within normal limits, so we expect the same Nov 16 - Dec 31 season that we had last year.

Clearly, we do not expect to have an early fall run season in 2010. That doesn't mean that we won't be fishing for salmon. We will just be changing our location. We will spend August & September targeting ocean fresh king salmon on the Rogue Estuary.

We are pleased to announce that Bill Divens recently became the first IGFA Certified Captain on the northern Sacramento River. In addition to keeping records, the IGFA drives conservation, research and legislative efforts relating to both fresh and salt water fisheries. We are proud to be associated with this fine organization. Click here to learn more about IGFA.

On December 1, 2004, I was fishing with retired guide Herb Wilson below the Bend Bridge in Red Bluff. It was a beautiful cool sunny day and with most of the guides in this area fishing the Barge Hole and environs we had this section of river pretty much to ourselves. We were backtrolling T-60 Flatfish with the autopilot on and had just seen a bald eagle dive into to the River and fly away with a 14” squaw fish.

We were commenting on the gorgeous scenery, no other boats in sight and how salmon fishing is so much more than just catching when my rod tip dove into the water. I hooked the fish and handed it off to Herb. After multiple runs at the boat where we were sure that the fish got off and after a good 5 minutes of lying on the bottom and refusing to move, I looked down into the clear water and saw the T-60 Flatfish looking like a small shiny speck of silver and chartreuse at the front of a huge silvery ghost. After a few hard runs away from the net, we finally landed this 55 lb. chrome beauty. What makes this story really cool is that Herb was the guide that taught me the River in the early 90’s and has since become one of my best friends. A decade ago, I was catching salmon from Herb’s boat. It was really fun to have him catch this monster from mine!

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