Sacramento Area Fly Fishing Report

Brian Clemens reports on 8.20.2015

Yuba River

The Yuba is still the place to be right now, and is only get better. The flows are a bit down this week, around 720cfs, but the water temps are staying steady in the upper 50’s, and the fish are loving it. We have been seeing some bigger fish in the last two weeks, not only trout but the salmon are starting to show up too. Saw about a dozen podded up at the Sycamore Ranch hole today. Nymphing is still the main producer, and the fish are loving well drifted fly imitations of stones, caddis, mayflies and even the worm. The dry fly is still hit or miss, saw a few more caddis flying around today, but not a single splash all day, we did however manage to get a rise on a hopper. Once again, not a soul on the river, and that was ok with us, we had a great day, many fish hooked, and a few nice ones to the boat. The “egg bite” is just around the corner, but don’t wait till then to fish it, its on right now.

Feather River

Its starting to fish a bit better. We are finding some more steelhead in the upper section, and more importantly the salmon are in as well. Not a big number of them like last year, but they are there, and boy do they love an egg imitation. Steelhead are throughout the system, some in the tail outs, others in the fast deeper water and some in the slower deeper pools, one things for sure, they are hungry. They are not shying away from egg patterns, caddis, copper johns and mayflies patterns. A good drag free drift as well as setting on every twitch will get you some nice half pound summer run chrome. Swing the evening hatch with a tan soft hackle on a scandi, or a slow sink tip and be ready, they hit it hard. I will begin doing more trips on the Feather starting September, and it fishes good well into May and June. This is another great “egg bite” river, if you have never experienced it, mid October to mid November is prime time. Don’t wait to book your date/s.

Putah Creek

This place is fishing surprisingly well, considering the fire that just burned down to its banks. Was out just the other day with some clients, and other than the burning of the surrounding areas, the creek came out unscathed, for now, it will blow out more easily come the rainy season. The flows are great, right around 500cfs, the water temp is upper 50’s, and the fish are really grabby right now. Bring your A game as you are fishing 5 and 6x tippet with flies as small as sz24, but don’t forget your superman/woman vision and a fast twitch set, as these takes are super subtle and the fish are on and off in a blink of an eye. Getting good drifts and setting any anything will pay off, with this you will be landing Putah Creek Trout in no time, who knows, it could be a Putah Pig.

American River

American is fishing good for stripers, and there is some decent top water action in the morning if you can get on the water early enough. The slightly cooler evening/night temps are really helping out, not only on the American, but across all the river systems. If you have never fished for stripers on the fly, imagine this. Stand on a tall building and tie a brick to the end of your line. While you are not looking have your buddy toss that brick over the side of the building with X amount of line out and hold on. That’s what a grab feels like from a hungry striper, “breath taking”. So you say you have never striper fished, well now’s the time. Its a great opportunity to just wet a line, and the “cool” thing about it is, its a great half day fishing trip, on the water around just before sunrise and off well before noon, oh and did I mention its in the heart of Sacramento, so its super close. The striper fishing should stay good, well into late September.

My current available dates August: 23,24,25,26 September: 5,6,7,8,15,17,20,21,23,24 October: 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,15,17,19 (egg bite)November: 6,8-17,27-30 (egg bite) December: 1-7,9-15,26-31 January: 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,17,18,20 (20th Morning half day only), 25-31