Lower Sacramento Fly Fishing Report

Hogan Brown, Hogan Brown Fly Fishing

Weird Weather is the order of the day up here…

Lower Sac Striper fishing with the cooler weather has been fair to good. We had a good mount of rain Tuesday and fishing in the rain in August for stripers was a new experience but the fish didn’t seem to mind ounce we found the fly they wanted they seemed to eat pretty well. The last few days we have gotten shots at big fish and plenty of smaller and shaker fish. Stayed out late one night and fished some top water with limited results. Fishing should remain good through August and into September.

Dave Neal, Reel Adventures Guide Service

The Sac is back! Forget what I said last week about no 40 fish days… LOL… whenever a day or two gets you down, this river can turn right around and change your mood.

Fishing has been good to great on the L Sac throughout most of the late morning and afternoon this week. Conditions are pretty solid in the upper river (Redding) and the crowds have been, well… there have been no crowds. Even less people in the middle river through Cottonwood yesterday! We saw exactly 0 drift boats and had the river all to ourselves in the middle of the day…

Salmon season is now open below Deschutes Bridge so expect a few more people and boats buzzing around below Shasta/Tehema County line, especially very early a.m. (going out), middle of the day (coming in w/ limits), and in the evening time (locals off work). Balls Ferry and Jelly’s Ferry areas will be a bit busier with jet boats. Salmon sport fishing is sort of a big deal, and anglers have been anxiously waiting their time on the river and gravel bar.

Caddis patterns, rubber legs and small mayfly imitations are still the go-to bugs. All the usual patterns are working as well as they usually do. Lots of scrappy fish all over the size board have been active with the occasional toad jumping in net. #14-16 tan Bird’s Nest, Fox’s Poopah, Silvey’s Pupa, and similar patterns are staples right now.

Flows as of 8/7 are holding low 9,000 cfs and fishing should remain solid the rest of summer. Fall season will be here before we know it. It’s nice to hear of some salmon moving about the lower river, reports have been decent from a few of the folks I’ve talked with… steelhead and voracious rainbows will be getting their feast on soon!