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Fishing Report

Trinity River/Lower Sacramento/Shasta Bass Fly Fishing Report

Trinity River/Lower Sacramento/Shasta Bass Fly Fishing Report

Dave Neal reports on February 12th, 2025

 

Trinity River Steelhead and Trout:

I wish I had a great report on steelhead fishing the Trinity River… but between incessant rainy weather and increased dam releases, there have not been many fishable windows so far in February. 

On a wet year like this - the fish are definitely winning. And good for them. 

I can only imagine how many wild steelhead are ripping up the tributaries this season and finding the right conditions to do their thing. And with all the Trinity River restoration projects, like off-channel flood plain habitat enhancements, (Oregon Gulch, etc) the young fish will have what they need to grow and prosper in the future. We shall see the fruits of the labor in a few seasons to come. 

Also in other cool news… the Trinity hatchery received a 35” steelhead that swam up the ladder recently. Give that fish a blue ribbon!

Fishing conditions continue to be tough with high flows from the dam. Releases were increased this week from 1500cfs to 3500cfs. According to the recent snowpack survey, the Trinity Alps are over 120%. The Trinity Lake is nearing full pool at 2,021,627 acre-ft and about 27’ from crest. The BOR has increased release flows down the river to draw down the reservoir in order to conserve capacity for future inflows.  Did I mention Carr Powerhouse tunnel is down for maintenance? So, the river itself is the only avenue for water to get to where it needs to get to. We got more winter still…

Lower Sacramento River:

Even less to report here… the river is unfishable and currently closed to recreational boating while she unleashes at 60k cfs. Same story, Lake Shasta is getting full and current capacity needs to be increased for future runoff and storm events. 

My last day on the Lower Sac was January 31st and we did have a decent time fishing in the rain. We were just beginning to see the spring caddis emerge and some BWO's...

When the flows drop a bit more (like half) I’ll float it asap when it’s under 30k. It can fish well in spots at 30k if you know where to focus your time. Bring the bright colored round things and maybe some rubberlegs.

Shasta Lake Bass:

The one bright spot right now is that our local reservoirs are fishing well for bass. Not wide open yet for the fly angler - but the fly fishing will only get better in the near future. 

This is where you will find me on my days off right now… and I've had a lot of days off lately! There are days/times when I’ve found spotted bass moving into shallower depths along the steep banks and it widens our ability to target them w/ various techniques. 

Reach out to me if you wanna do some springtime bassin’. We anticipate Shasta Lake to achieve full pool AGAIN for the 3rd summer in a row! It’s an awesome fishery for spotted bass and the occasional smallmouth. 

The lake is very healthy right now with an abundance of baitfish over the last few years leading to some fatter than average bass. A full reservoir provides lots of habitat and the fishery really shines. If you have not tried bass fishing w/ a fly rod or it’s been a few years… THIS SEASON would be a good time to go!

Another appreciable bonus to a full lake is the shade canopy provided by the dense conifer forest on those north slopes and rolling oak groves on the south exposures. Lots of shady pockets and driftwood piles provide epic topwater action later in the season and fantastic lunch spots to rest in between fishing sessions. Our Nor Cal lakes and reservoirs are stunningly beautiful in the spring green-up when at full pool and filled to the forest floor. Come see it close up! 

Thanks and happy fishing…


David Neal

Reel Adventures Guide Service
Social: @ReelAdventures
Mobile: 760-914-0465
 

 
 
 

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Lower Sac & Lake Oroville Fly Fishing Report

Lower Sac & Lake Oroville Fly Fishing Report
Lower Sac Striper Report
The river is stable and settled after a fair amount of rain in late December. Fishing has been fair and very typical for the winter. Clarity is about 1’ in most areas requiring BIG and LOUD flies - black and purple, all black and all with rattles. Fish will feed usually in low light conditions or during the warmest part of the day. When we have no cloud cover, I find midday during the heat of the day is best and when there is cloud cover and the low air temp for the day is not as bad, low light conditions during the early morning and evening are best. Winter is not a numbers game, but can provide some true trophy fish for the angler that wants to put in the time.

Lake Oroville
With the recent rains the lake has been coming up, but seems to have stabilized a bit, over the last week. There is less moving water coming into the lake than there was a few weeks ago with the big rains right after Christmas. That said, most creeks are running strong and there is plenty of moving water coming into the lake in the deeper coves. Water clarity is good and fish are concentrating on Japanese pond smelt that are schooling up and can be seen on most fish finders. Fish will also eat dark leech patterns early and late in the day and in the shade. Fishing should continue to improve over the spring and topwater options as well as stripped fly options will increase. 

Capt. Hogan Brown 

Fly Fishing Guide

Co-Founder of the Cal Bass Union

Owner Alluvial Marketing Collective


 
 
 
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Lower Sac & Lake Oroville Fly Fishing Report

Lower Sac & Lake Oroville Fly Fishing Report
Lower Sac Striper Fishing - We have officially entered winter striper season with the time change and the first rains of the year. Usually, this means water temperatures drop to what we consider "winter temps," slowing the fish's metabolism and shortening the feeding windows during the day. With the fish being more lethargic, the number of calories they need to consume changes, meaning they tend to favor larger, more infrequent meals, in our experience.
Winter can be tough for striper fishing on the river and we traditionally say that it can be very good or very tough, with most of that being out of our control—or our anglers' control. That said, you never know unless you go, and some of our biggest fish of the year come during the uncertain winter months.

Lake Oroville Report - Lake Oroville is fishing fair to good as our fall/winter season gets underway. Wakasagi minnows are schooling in the backs of the forks and spotted bass are beginning to congregate around these schools. The key to catching fish this time of year is locating the schools of bait, so electronics are crucial to success. Early mornings have been best on sunny days and as the sun rises, it's important to focus on shaded areas, where fish pull off the bait schools. Float and fly rigs, with the float set at about 10-12 feet, have been most effective and flies like Ragan’s Drop Dead Minnow are getting the job done.
Fishing should continue to improve over the next few months as rain starts moving water through the tributaries and creeks and baitfish move higher in the water column.

Capt. Hogan Brown 

Fly Fishing Guide

Co-Founder of the Cal Bass Union

Owner Alluvial Marketing Collective


530-514-2453
 
 
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Ben Thompson Outdoors Fishing Report 6/14: River Stripers and the Lower Yuba

Ben Thompson Outdoors

River Stripers

River striper season is coming into shape for my favorite time of the year to chase linesiders. Some of the resident fish are starting to hang in their regular haunts, while a lot of them in the upper stretches are hanging around the large schools of shad. We have been having encounters with/seeing 10+ pound fish more often than not lately, and were fortunate to land a true giant this week. It has not been a huge numbers game most days, but covering ground and stripping those flies really aggressively with good pauses to make the clouser look wounded has been bringing us success.

It is important to make your fly stand out when there are so many baitfish around for them to eat. Standard Adachi style clousers have been the go-to, in a wide variety of colors that hasn’t seemed to matter that much from olive/white to chartreuse/white to black/purple. When the bulk of the shad leave the system, July, August, and September are my favorite months to hunt for big fish out there so we are just getting warmed up.

Lower Yuba River

Hopper season is upon us! The Lower Yuba has roughly 3300 cfs coming out of Englebright Dam. I very much enjoy these higher flows for hopper fishing from the drift boat. There is more flow all the way across the river, allowing us to fish the hoppers right on the bank instead of having to fish the middle of the river (i.e. during drought flows).

The staple of the Fat Albert with pink legs is always the go-to out there, but there are large grasshopper infestations in the area this year. As such, mixing in more naturally colored hoppers throughout the day can prove effective. Hopper dropper can be effective throughout the coming months in the riffles, and in deeper water try using two tungsten nymphs below the hopper if you can manage not to tangle it.

Look for caddis hatches in the evening throughout summer, and don’t sleep on the X Caddis or Mercer’s Missing Link during these hatches as well as the standard Elk Hair Caddis.

For nymphing, match the hatch and watch for little yellow sallies. When they come off, fish can get very aggressive eating them. Fox’s Pupa and Bird's Nests are always effective nymphs for the caddis, and when there is not a lot hatching I like to use a lot of Hogan Brown’s flies that were designed for the Yuba. Examples include the red headed step child, Hogan’s S&M in olive and the military may.

Other attractors like frenchies and a multitude of perdigon variations have also been proving effective in between hatches. For those who like to use a two handed rod, swinging Bird's Nests during a caddis hatch, leeches, and soft hackles in the riffles can get you hooked up.

My current open dates are June 20 and 29, as well as July 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 20, 25, 30, and 31. I have more information on my website benthompsonoutdoors.com and feel free to give me a call 916-743-8290.

 

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Captain Hogan Brown 6/12 Fishing Report: Feather River and the Lower Sacramento

I have been spending most of my time on the Feather and Lower Sac chasing river stripers these last few weeks. We have seen good numbers of stripers to the boat as the fish spread out and settle into their summer haunts and work their daily migrations. Most fish are coming on fast to medium sink fly lines and standard striper flies. Finding the color, size and swim pattern the fish want each has been the key.
 
Clarity varies greatly up and down the river as do water temps. Flows remain very low for this time of year. Releases at Keswick are sitting at 9000cfs but flows lower in the river are highly dependent on how much irrigation water is taken out and how much snowmelt from the tributaries is dumping in. This makes the flows vary on a daily basis. Clarity can vary from mile to mile based on banks falling in and channel work being done around a few of the irrigation projects that dump sediment and dirt into the river. With the winter that we had, flows should come up eventually. That said, current flows are not consistent with the quality of winter that we had, and it is leaving a lot of people scratching their heads.
 
Despite the inconsistency, summer fishing is off to a great start with a few fish over 30lbs to the boat and plenty of good 5-10lb fish around. There are still some great days available in July and August to get out this summer so get on the books and come out and striper fish.
 
Dates available as of now:
July 2, 3, 5, 18, 25, 26, 29, 31
August 1, 2, 7, 8
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Brian Clemens Reports 05/29/24: Northern California Fishing

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.

 

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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

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Hogan Brown Reports 05/29/24: Lower Sacramento River Striper

Lower Sacramento River Striper Fishing – Fishing has been fair to good. Flows dropped this Sunday with the latest “pulse flow” and there was a bit of a weird cold front that moved through Saturday. Even with those issues fishing has been fair to good. There is a mix of fresh migratory fish, spawned-out migratory fish, and resident fish in the mix so lots of fish in the system.
 
Fish have been podded up a bit still, so it is not a steady bite as the fish move around, and finding fish is the key to stringing a day together. Most fish are in 2-8’ of water and type 7 or 5 shooting heads as clarity has improved drastically over the last 2 days are the ticket.
 
The long-term forecast shows weather in the low to high 90s and this should really stabilize fishing and conditions. That said the pulse flows can mess with the fish a bit as with this last one the river dropped between 1.5 -2’ in about 24 hours – pushing fish out of the water they were in and changing things overnight literally. The flow change does not mess with the stripers as much as it does the trout higher in the watershed but it does move them and that means finding them again.
 
June through July though should be great fishing with a phenomenal migratory run of fish and plenty of water to keep both the holdover migratory fish and resident fish happy.
June Open Dates 13, 14

Capt. Hogan Brown 

Fly Fishing Guide

Co-Founder of the Cal Bass Union

Owner Alluvial Marketing Collective

530-514-2453
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Northern California Fly Fishing Report, Yuba, Sac Stripers, Feather River

Ben Thompson Reports on 5.9.2024

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.

Northern California Striper Fishing
 
Lower Feather River- The low flow section is at 592cfs, with the high flow around 10,000cfs. Fish have been primarily eating caddis with some on worms and baetis. Good time of year to swing birds nest or leeches, high flow not recommended for bank anglers.
 
Northern California Trout Fishing
 
Lower Yuba River- 5,670 cfs as of today, not recommended for wade anglers and only seriously proficient rowers. At these higher flows, fish will sit in the soft edges. Big attention getters like rubberlegs and large caddis are a go to in big water. When the flows come down a bit we look forward to a good hopper season throughout this summer!

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Northern California Fishing Report, McCloud, Upper Sac, Lower Sac, Fall River

530 Outfitters Reports on 5.8.2024

McCloud River: The McCloud River has started off with a bang and the color of the river is looking like the normal McCloud we are accustomed to. Late April and early May was a little chilly in the McCloud river canyon but a couple extra layers and good fishing solved the chilly weather.

I think the cold weather is behind us and the weather forecast is looking great! I have been finding better fishing on the shallower rigs, dry dropper,  than the deeper indicator rigs. There haven't been many sightings of the big salmon and golden stoneflies yet, but there has been some--this warmer weather should help! I've mostly seen Yellow Sallies, PMDs, and Baetis.

Northern California Trout Fishing
 
Upper Sac: The Upper Sacramento continues to flow big. Not much to report on. But if you were to fish it, find the soft edges or pools and throw a big rubber leg! Current flows are 1500 cfs.
 
Lower Sac: May and June are known as prime months on the Lower Sacramento River. The warm spring weather that is on the forecast should spice things up with the hatches! With the whirlwind of weather and inconstant flows that April and early May brought, we are excited to see the PMD hatches start to get going in full force! Baetis and Caddis are also on the menu. 
 
Northern California Trout FishingNorthern California Trout Fishing
 
Fall River : Fall River season is here and it is already looking like a promising season with a strong bite already happening on the big spring creek. Mid morning hatches of PMDs and Baetis are getting the trout excited. May, June, and early July are some of our favorite months to be on the Fall River.
 
Northern California Trout Fishing
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Cal Bass Union Fishing Report

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.

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