Brian Clemens Reports 05/29/24: Northern California Fishing
Northern California Fishing:
We are finally seeing a huge drop down in flows as well as a flattened curve in flows across the board. This latest drop has brought with it even better fishing than what we were having just a few short weeks ago. Most Northern California rivers, lakes and streams are in prime shape right now and if you are looking to fish over the next few weeks to few months, you will not be disappointed. If you are looking to book a trip, we have plenty of days left to book shad trips, steelhead trips, striper trips and trout trips, or go big and try for the trifecta or qua-fecta. Its has happened more times than not over the past few weeks.
Here is your current up to date Nor Cal Fly Guides Fishing Report
Feather River
Low Flow Channel 700cfs
Clarity 10ft clear
Fishing is good to great
High Flow Channel 2100cfs (PRIME TIME)
Clarity 10ft with slight green tint
Fishing is good to great
With the huge drop in flows and the flows being steady now for about a week, the steelhead have settled into their new feeding lanes and are on the chow. Our clients and guides have been having good to great success with both indicators and swinging streamers. Don’t let the summer season fool you, the Feather River is a year-round steelhead fishery and one that’s well worth the trip. We finally had a good push of spring run steelhead show up, a well needed rotation of fish that are eager to take any fly you put in front of them. Look for this river to fish good to great for the next month or 2. Besides the awesome steelhead fishing, we are getting both shad and striper too. One of the few rivers where we are targeting 3-4 species in one day. Steelhead from 16-24” have been the norm and are full of piss n vinegar, what youd expect from a spring run steelhead. Shad are your typical 16-22” and plenty of them to go around. The stripers have been all over the board as well, from shakers to arm breakers. We have been putting in a ton of time on the river and there's no better time than now.
If you have never hooked into a Feather River Spring Run steelhead, do yourself a favor and give it a go.
We still have availability to fish this awesome year-round steelhead fishery.
Nymphing: Prince nymphs, sucker spawns, copper johns, caddis, mayflies, PTs, worms
Swinging: Sculpins, olive woolybuggers, small olive or rusty colored trout speys, euphorias, alevins, fry patters
Yuba River
Above Daguerre 4500cfs
Below Daguerre 3700cfs
Flows have been on the YOYO curve up till this past week, when we finally saw flows below 5k. 5k is still too high to wade fish from hwy20 bridge down, but there are fish to be had if you have a drift boat. We should see a slow drawdown flow over the next few weeks and this river is going to be on fire once it hits 2500cfs or less. DRY DROPPER ANYONE. We feel with the higher-than-normal flows this year, these fish will be more reluctant to look up at dries, so bust out those dry fly rods and let's get some epic dry fly eats. I have been doing a ton of Lower “Lower” Yuba trips for shad and striper and been hooking some decent stripers and the shad fishing is off the charts.
SHAD SEASON IS ON. More about this below.
Nymphs: rubberlegs, caddis, mayflies, worms, eggs, sucker spawns, pmds, March browns, skwalas and wingless stones.
Swinging: alevins, sculpins, small leech style patterns, woolybuggers in olive, brown, or fry colored
Drys: skwalas, stonefly patterns, stimulators, hoppers, phat alberts, mays, caddis
Stripers below Daguerre: Anything Adachi clousers, white/chartreuse, white/gray, rainbow/shad colors
Shad below Daguerre: shad crack, mini pinky, Chings bloody maria, Chings too sexy, Chings Ronald McDonald, Chings Red Lipstick, Chings firecracker, Orange comet, Red comet, Pearl comet, Big D's BeadHead Banger, Dave-Os wet pinky
More Shad Info Down Below
Eagle Lake: If you are interested please contact us
Lake Almanor:
Rating: ON FIRE
Lake Level: 4493 - 8" from full pool
Water Clarity: 8 - 10 ft.
Water Temperature: 58° F
Hot off the water report from our Lake Almanor guide. Now is the time to book your stillwater session! Fishing remains good up here at Lake Almanor. Healthy 20"+ rainbows were the main staple the last week and a half with a handful of 25"+ browns. The East shore, East and West sides of the Peninsula have been producing good numbers (8 - 16 fish per trip). Blood Midge, pond smelt and balanced leeches continue to be the main staple. We have had several opportunities to throw midge dries at some risers in goose bay here and there. There is still plenty of snow melt coming into the lake from the tributaries, as well as the super ditch and springs with a lot of snow still on the mountain tops. If the weather continues to stay warm look for the Hex Hatch to start earlier than the last 2 years. Fish are already starting to seek out our balanced Hex nymphs. The smallie bite has slowed significantly since post spawn and the pressure from all the bass tournaments.
Hot Flies: Balanced Leech and Blood Midge
Guide tip: When casting small midge dries to risers, use 4x/5x 12' tapered leader. Midge risers spook easily.
Open Dates: Booking Chironomid hatch in May and the Hex Hatch in June. We have a handful of Hex Hatch dates left. Call or email for availability
American River
Dropping to 2500cfs on 5/30
Clarity is perfect 10ft slight ting
Fishing is good to great
We are finally getting into those flows that really rock on the American River. With a good amount of tweener 18-22" steelhead throughout the system it makes for a great day on the water. But with stripers and shad in the river too, you can have a hoot of a time hooking into the trifecta. This river is a great place to play for a day from the Bay and it will fish good to great for the next few months.
Its definitely SHAD TIME on the American!!! More about that down below.
Nymphs: Prince nymphs, eggs, copper johns, PTs, poxyback hares ears, hares ears, worms, sucker spawn, caddis, mayflies
Swinging: hobo speys, euphorias, sculpins, alevins, fry patterns
Stripers: Anything Adachi clousers, white/chartreuse, white/gray, rainbow or shad colors
Shad Flies: shad crack, mini pinky, Chings bloody maria, Chings too sexy, Chings Ronald McDonald, Chings Red Lipstick, Chings firecracker, Orange comet, Red comet, Pearl comet, Big D's BeadHead Banger, Dave-Os wet pinky
Lower Sac
Flows: 8800cfs (PRIME TIME)
Clarity 8ft typical lower sac green
The fishing has been good to great one day fair to good the next. The extreme drop and rise in flows we have seen over April and May were definitely creating unhappy fish. With Shasta Lake being 200,000-acre feet of water from a full pool, I don’t think we will see anymore crazy spike in flows. Hatches have been pretty sporadic and after another big winter, a lot of guides have been saying that the hatches are so poor because of the 40k flows we saw in February, washing a lot of bug life downstream (Information and thoughts from a lot of guides in the area). Good days are finally here and if flows stay steadier, look for this river to heat up and be much more consistent. Warmer weather in the forecast will also turn on the caddis hatches too. and with warmer days in the forecast, look for the caddis hatches to really pop off. We will start seeing better hatches, more bugs means less selective fish and maybe even some dry fly fishing/hopper dropper action. Cant wait. If it keeps fluctuating up and down like a yoyo, fishing will stay tough till the snowmelt is almost done. Lets keep um crossed.
Nymphs: Coffee, black, brown rubber legs(beaded and non-beaded), light olive Weiss nymph, Chile Verde perdigon, PMD perdigon. Egg patterns have been working here and there, but still inconsistent.
Guide Tip: Patients pays off, we are fishing much harder to get our fish than usual, but put the work in and you will be rewarded. Remember August 1st is the upper river opener and for those that have never fished this crazy day, its pretty cool to fish. So if you want to fish that upper stretch on the opener, give us a jingle.
Stripers: Anything Adachi clousers, white/chartreuse, white/gray, rainbow or shad colors
Putah Creek
570cfs
Clarity 8ft Putah Creek Green River
Fishing is good to great
Putah Creek has been fishing extremely well and despite the bump from 300cfs to 570, it hasn’t slowed the fishing down. This is the perfect place to fish close to the Bay area and if you want to learn how to unlock the secrets of Putah Creek give us a ring. Its also a great place to hone your skills due to its technical fishing. When it comes to this fishery, with us, its all about teaching and showing you the ins and outs. We have been hitting this river a few times a week as some of our Sac Valley rivers have been a tad too high to wade fish.
Nymphs: small midges, small mayflies, small caddis, small hares ears. small small and small.
Fall River
Our NCFG Fall River Guide has been putting some days on the Fall lately and here is what he has to say. Fishing remains good. A lot of little fish are being caught in the upper stretches of the system right now with around 3-5 good fish(18”+) to the net a day on average. The main hatches still start around 11am and last anywhere from 1-3pm. Little trico’s earlier in the morning with larger BWO and PMD’s for the main hatch through the afternoon. Dry fly opportunities have been great as long as the wind doesn’t pick up too strong, with nymphing being the best chance for the most grabs. Leeches on a sink tip or intermediate sinking line has also been producing good numbers. The Hexagenia Mayfly hatch is almost here so fish are starting to migrate downstream in preparation for the big bugs. Normal timeframe for the HEX is June through the beginning of August.
Nymphs: olive nymphs in the morning(Chile Verde perdigon with a silver or copper bead), black, brown, and tan nymphs in the afternoon(Sweet Pea, 2-bit-hooker, PMD perdigon).
Guide Tips for the Fall: - Having a proper dead drift presentation feeding line from anchor is really what the fish want, and at the end of each drift make sure you let the flys swing through the column for 5-10 seconds before retrieving your drift for another round.
Shasta Lake:
The Lake is nearing full pool creating a lot of floating debris hazards for boats, but it is also in peak form with numbers exceeding 50 fish a day. "Float and fly” is the preferred method winter through spring, but with warm weather on the horizon, the fish have been eating streamers well and they have started to eat topwater flys more consistently as the weather gets warmer. Currently the lake is slipping out of "pre spawn" and into “spawn” with fish moving into shallow water and making beds. Current Water temps are mid 60’s, but with warm weather coming in, we expect to see the main body heating up quickly. The Pit arm is still very dingy with water clarity fluctuating between 3ft-6ft. All other arms and creek inlets are starting to clear up all the way to 20ft visibility. A lot of fish have been suspended in the 10-15ft range in 30-40ft of water, but still our best success is float and fly up against the bank in the first 10ft of water. Still haven’t seen the big groups of threadfin shad moving around or getting busted by fish, but its only a matter of time before we can hunt bait balls away from the bank chasing the groups of shad and bass around in deeper water. Here very soon the main body is going to heat up and the spots and smallmouth are going to move down into the depths for cooler conditions, or they will push up into the tributaries where the water is cooler. Come July, I'm targeting the tributary water for the remainder of the summer until water temps start to recede in the main body.
Flies: olive and brownish/red crawdads and threadfin shad patterns in the water with better clarity, low visibility, purple crawdads have been the best fly for the past 2 months with Float-and-Fly, or a black or purple leach.
Guide Tips for Shasta: - Using rattles in your flys, especially in dingy water, has proven to get more grabs throughout the day vs a fly without a rattle(mainly crawdads, but also works with baitfish).
Other Local Lakes
Lake Oroville, Rollins, and many others are fishing extremely well right now and are definitely worth the drive if you want to try something a bit different than what your Nor Cal Rivers offer.
SHAD
GOT SHAD!!!!
We offer shad trips on rivers throughout Northern California.
Nor Cal Fly Guides and Fly Fishing Specialties has a phenomenal guide crew that cover our Nor Cal Rivers for shad which include:
Yuba and American (main rivers)
Feather and Sacramento Rivers (back up rivers)
With that being said:
THE SHAD ARE IN!!!!
NCFG & FFS are offering a 2024 SHAD SEASON special
Details:
American River ONLY
Morning or Evening (evening is best)
$375 3hr SHAD Fishing Session
Full day and half day trips available on the Yuba, Feather, American and Sacramento
Details:
$600 full day
$475 half day
My 2024 Shad season full days are all booked up, but I am available for evenings trips on the Yuba River for the 2024 season. (reserve your 2025 dates NOW)
We have several guides that will have you covered for all your shad fishing needs. Book now while prime dates still remain.
Don’t forget about the Striper season. We are already seeing good numbers on the Sac with stripers slowly trickling on our colder rivers like the American and Yuba with a few on the Feather too.
There you have it folks, your Northern California fishing report hot off the press. We hope you are able to get out in the next few weeks and enjoy some of the best fishing we will see all season long. Time to get out and get bent.
Here's my personal calendar and availability
Only 29 days remaining in 2024
Local Waters - Yuba, Feather, American, Lower Sac
August 12, 21
Oct 18 28 30
Nov 26
Dec 21 28 29 30
Evenings: May June July for 2024 Shad season
Northern Waters Trinity & Lower Sac
Sept 3 4 10 11 26 27
Nov 22
Dec 1 2 3 4 10-17
If you’re looking to book with me in 2025, dates are available for Local/Northern Waters upon request.
I am also now booking Swing Only Coastal Trips. Some walk and wade and some float trips.
I'm highly recommending to everyone who would like to book with me, booking at a minimum of 6-8 months in advance for prime-time dates.
Please don't be discouraged that I am more booked up this year than ever before, we can get you booked up with me for future dates if needed. If you would like to book now or in the near future, I am proud to announce that I have hand selected some of the finest guides in Northern California to assist me in the higher demand of bookings for Nor Cal Fly Guides. These guides work "with me, not for me”, and I couldn't be happier with the team of guides that lend a helping hand to NCFG clients. From ex-teachers, to full time guides, ex-fly shop owners, shop workers/guides to part time guides that have been fly fishing all their lives, these guides are the best. The biggest asset these guides have is they all have the same "teaching" mentality as I do. We are teachers first and guides second.
Thank you for viewing.
Please follow us on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/NorCalFlyGuides
Please follow us on Instagram at
https://www.instagram.com/nor_cal_fly_guides?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Please follow Nor Cal Fly Guides blog at
https://norcalflyguides.blogspot.com/
Thank you for including me in on this fishing report emailer. Greatly appreciated
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER
KEEP THOSE LINES TIGHT
Captain Brian Clemens
NOR CAL FLY GUIDES
530-354-3740
WWW.NORCALFLYGUIDES.COM
Check us out on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/NorCalFlyGuides
Check us out on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/nor_cal_fly_guides?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Continue reading
Jay Clark Reports 05/29/24: Plumas County
Plumas County:
Fishing remains very good on the Middle Fork Feather River in Plumas County. Flows are starting to get a bit low on the upper reaches with the Portola gauge reading 75 cfs and falling. Below Frazier and Graeagle Creeks flows are around 150-200cfs and in Sloat it’s estimated at 525cfs. Water temps are ranging from 52-63 degrees with the colder water below Two Rivers.
Capt. Hogan Brown
Fly Fishing Guide
Co-Founder of the Cal Bass Union
Owner Alluvial Marketing Collective
River Stripers- Fish are spread throughout the rivers with the majority around Colusa. It can get crowded until the end of May when most of the conventional boats thin out. The pre-front bite last had some quality fish on the chew and we were fortunate to land some of them. Standard Adachi style rattle clousers have been the go to lately. I still have availability in June and July to chase linesiders.
Capt. Bryce Tedford
Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta is still challenging to fish, been managing around 5-10 fish each day or over the past few weeks. Finding cleaner water can be difficult as silt is floating around with the tides. Water temperatures are around 60 degrees but clarity is only around 2’ or so depending on the tide. The Steve Adachi Black with grizzly hackle Clouser has been doing the trick in the dirty water! On a positive note, each day this past week we’ve had shots at a 10+ lb fish, a few solid 3-5# fish & some shakers in the mix. Hopefully, the waters continue to clear up & more fish show up soon for the Spring Spawn!
Capt. Patrick MacKenzie
Napa & SF Bay have been slow for stripers due to turbid water conditions. Lake Berryessa & Lake Sonoma have been firing for all bass species, panfish& crappie. Hot bobber bite, streamers working as well. May is the month for topwater bass on Berryessa & Lake Sonoma.
Capt. Hogan Brown
The Valley River Striper fishing is picking up for migratory and resident fish. The migratory fish are up through the system of the Yuba, Feather, and Sacramento, and river conditions are starting to shape up that will allow fly anglers to really get after it.
Ryan Williams
Lake Oroville and Clear Lake are about as good as it gets right now with options for float n fly, stripped fly, and top water fishing. Water is warming and fishing should be good through mid-June.
John Fochetti
Lake Shasta is nearly full and fishing has been good. Water is warming and fish are chasing bait through the water columns. Float n Fly and stripping flies is catching good numbers of largemouth, spotted bass, and smallmouth bass.
Continue readingLost Coast Outfitters Fishing Report 4/15/23
Spring Fishing has begun! We are stoked to have the report back up and running. We are now working with additional independent guides throughout Northern California as well. Ready to provide a consistent source of up-to-date information for all of of our local waterways and beyond.
The Bay/Beach: The beaches are on the edge of turning on. The bulk of our beach adventures have had to occur further away from home.. areas such as Monterey and Santa Cruz have found schools of striped willing to take a fly. As the bay clears up and water temps begin to rise slightly, more fish will become readily available off of Ocean, Baker and Crissy!
Take a look at our Local Surf Clinics or Call the shop for more info!
Lower Feather River-
The Lower Feather River flows just dropped to around 1100 in the low flow but it still around 9k in the high flow. We have been catching fish in both. There are a lot of fresh spring steelhead in the system and April and May are some of my favorite months to be out there. I was out there three days ago and fishing was great, lots of suckerfish are stacked up and getting their black stripes on the sides in their normal haunts, putting the steelhead on the chow. Go to flies have been sucker spawn and alevins as well as red headed step childs and caddis. Similar to the Yuba's current big water state, soft seams and slower runs will often be the best producers. The spring is the best time of year out there to swing a fly out there and they eat it aggressively.
Call Ben Thompson to get out on the Lower Sacramento Or Feather River: 916-743-8290
Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta
Delta is still challenging to fish, been managing around 10 fish or so over the past week. Finding cleaner water can be difficult as silt is floating around with the tides. Water temperatures are around 60 degrees but clarity is only around 2’ or so. The Steve Adachi Black with grizzly hackle Clouser has been doing the trick in dirty water! On a positive note, each day this past week we’ve had shots at a 10+ lb fish, a few solid 3-5# fish & some shakers in the mix. Hopefully the waters continue to clear up & more fish show up for the Spring Spawn!
Call Bryce Tedford for trips on the Delta year-round: 206-696-2437
Call Patrick MacKenzie year-round for guided trips on the Napa River: 707-721-6700
The lake is nearly full, water falls are flowing, and timber is flooding. Fish are on the feed during the morning and afternoon with a bit of a slowdown from 11am-1pm. Fishing the float n' fly is catching the most fish but fish are shallow enough that a popper dropper or streamer rig is also getting fish. Fishing should remain good through April into June
Ryan Williams Reports Lake Oroville-
The prime spring season is slowly shaping up. Water temps are still cold at 52-56. Once the temps hit 60 the action will really turn on. When this happens the 50-100+ fish days will start on the main lake. Still waiting on the topwater & streamer bite to begin. Should begin around the 60 degree mark or even a bit less. For the time being it's all float n fly. Going anywhere from 6'-9' leaders. Currently we're getting about 20-40 fish per day between two anglers. Lots of really nice bass being caught lately, hard to find small ones. Big full bellies getting ready to spawn in the next month or so. The bite is going all day. Mornings and evenings have been best, but we are catching fish throughout the afternoons. Some afternoons have really shaped up to fish really well, producing bigger fish. As far as structures go, we have been fishing lately on points, tributaries, and shade in various canyons.
If you are itching to try Float and Fly Fishing with a fly rod The Cal Bass Union can get you Dialed in!
Matt Heron Reports on the Truckee River-
Although the Truckee River looked like it was going to blow out last week with the warmer temperatures, in the end, it didn’t. The water definitely came up on the CA side but has been receding by the day.
With all the snowpack this year, I’d still call current conditions pre runoff. The river is up, a bit off color (2-5ft of visibility) depending on day and location but is nowhere near what it’s going to be when we start to see consistent air temps in the 50-65 degree range…it’s coming.
Flows are hovering just under, and just over 1,000 cfs. in town and through the canyon.
As far as fishing goes, it’s exactly as we’d expect…size, not numbers (with exceptions!). Most fish our guides are running into are in the 13-20 inch rage with opportunities each day for a true Truckee River giant. These conditions are why we love the spring! Typically, the Truckee kicks out way more rainbows then browns but the tides are turning. Browns love the spring and big water and it’s starting to show with more browns in the net by the week.
Flies- Our crew is getting fish on a variety of nymphs: rubberlegs, skwalas, eggs, worms, march browns, and of course baetis and midges. If the water starts to get muddy, you can typically take baetis and midges off the menu and go bigger with more flash. 3-4x tippet will do the trick this week.
If you get lucky you may run into a few noses even with the water being up. Look for baetis, march browns, midges and skwalas. You never know when that 24in brown will let is guard down on a well presented dry. And yes, it does happen this time of year.
Not surprisingly most fish are being landed on bobber rigs, Euro set ups and streamers. If you’re a streamer angler, now’s the time.
This season’s bookings are in full swing, here’s a taste of what we have going on: full and half day guides trips, NV side float trips, our daily classes on the ponds will start around mid May, and our wildly popular 2 Day Truckee Trout School dates were just announced for this summer (101, 201 and Youth/Family).
Putah Creek
Slow start to our Putah Creek Fishing Season. The rains kept us at bay due to limited visibility. Current conditions are challenging as Hwy 128 is currently CLOSED. This is a note pulled off of The Cal Trans Website:
[IN THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AREA]
IS CLOSED FROM THE SOLANO/YOLO CO LINE TO 4.6 MI EAST OF THE SOLANO/YOLO CO LINE /AT PLEASANT VALLEY RD/ - DUE TO A SLIDE - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE
Join us Wednesday April 26th from 5:30pm and on at the Shop for our
Continue reading
Captain Hogan Brown Reports on 2.27.20
Lower Sacramento River - Striper fishing has been tough as the flows are as low as they get - 5000cfs coming out of Keswick and 5891cfs at Chico - With low and clear water stripers get pretty darn spooky but those with the game can still get bit. Like most places we need some rain and water to mix things up and make fishing a bit easier. We should start to see the migratory push of fish show up soon over the next month which will also mix things up.
Lake Oroville and Lake Shasta - are turning on with this early spring! Good numbers of pre spawn spotted bass are being caught on both lakes and with consistent weather fishing should be good on most days. Rain would help these fisheries as well to - getting some of the creeks and inflows moving would help congregate fish and move the bait around.
Lower Yuba River is fishing well with stable flows around 1000 - 900cfs. Flows are gin clear and while nymphing has been good dry fly fishing requires purposeful good presentations. Spring hatches are getting going with the warm weather and should continue to be good throughout the spring. We most likely will see little flow fluctuation due to run off and actually have a good fishable spring on the Lower Yuba.
Feather River Spring Steelhead Season is right around the corner as prime time is March through early May and with the light winter and early spring we are having we should actually have a good spring season out on the Feather. My prefered method for fishing the spring on the feather is swinging flies but nymphing catches plenty of fish as well.
Brian Clemens Reports on Happy New Years Everyone,
Flows: 800 Low Flow, 1900 High Flow
Clarity: Perfect 8-10ft viz hint of green
Fishing: Good to Great
The section above hwy70 is now open
My Available Dates for Feather, Yuba, Lower Sac, American
My Trinity Lower Sac Dates