Hogan Brown Reports on May 25th, 2025

Lake season has wrapped up on Lake Oroville, as we saw our first jet ski and floating couch being towed around to the sounds of top 40 country--making it the official start of river striper season, that runs June-October. We have had a great run of migratory fish on all our valley rivers this spring, we have plenty of water in the reservoirs for the summer, and while pulse flows this spring can make fishing tough we should see some stabilization in flows soon. Fishing has been fair to good this last week and should be getting better over the next few weeks as flows stabilize and clarity improves. June-August, with stable weather and consistent flows on most valley rivers, should be great fishing for resident and hold migratory fish like usual. 

Capt. Hogan Brown 

Fly Fishing Guide

Co-Founder of the Cal Bass Union

Owner Alluvial Marketing Collective

530-514-2453

www.hgbflyfishing.com

www.calbassunion.com

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Aaron Grabiel reports on May 14th, 2025

Lower Sacramento River – Redding to Red Bluff

Target Species: Wild Rainbow Trout
Conditions: The flows are bouncing around a bit, but should stabilize going forward.
Hatches: PMD, golden stones, salmonflies, yellow sallies, caddis and March browns. 

Report: The Lower Sacramento River is fishing fair to great.  It's been inconsistent to say the least, but we are getting enough fish on the slow days to keep us entertained. When we get consistent flows and trout are actively feeding, it is really good. There are enough options to go check out other locations if the Lower Sac happens to be slow. It's that time of year where you can fish just about any stream or river and have a solid day. We are really looking forward to the temperatures heating up and more prolific hatches and extremely consistent fishing on the Lower Sac.

Upper Sacramento River – Dunsmuir to Shasta Lake

Target Species: Rainbow Trout
Flows: Moderate to high; approximately 1,450 CFS at Delta.
Hatches: Salmonflies, black caddis, baetis, March brown and green drakes.

Report: The Upper Sacramento is in fair shape. While flows remain elevated, water clarity is good. Anglers are finding better wading opportunities above Simms. Nymphing with rubber legs, springtime Koudous patterns, small mayfly and midge patterns is working well, and small streamers fished deep in the runs can trigger strikes. The old Chubby Chernobyl as a dry dropper rig with a Perdigón style fly to cover riffles can be very productive. Don't forget when nymphing, to focus some time on the softer edges, especially when there's not a substantial hatch.

Hat Creek – Powerhouse Riffles

Target Species: Rainbow and Brown Trout
Conditions: Clear water with consistent insect activity.
Hatches: Salmonflies, PMD's, black caddis, sculpins, golden stones, and yellow sallies.

Report: Very short nymph rigs, dry dropper, Czech nymphing and dry fly fishing will all produce fish. On Hat Creek, I would typically stick to whatever you know best, if you're out there on your own without a guide. The fish are very finicky so just fish your strengths and find the fish that will commit to those techniques. There's always fish eating something in that creek just a matter of presenting inside their little window that they want to feed in without spooking them.

Other Small Streams

Conditions:  Runoff is beginning to slow and many of the small streams around are beginning to fish very well.  It's time to go, book ASAP.

Report: The small streams are fishing very well it's time to get out there and do it before they get too low or a ton of people start showing up. If you're interested in doing some really cool walk and wade stuff on small streams with hungry trout, give us an email or text and we can discuss which fisheries might work best for your outing.

Bass'n – Shasta Lake / Trinity Lake / Lake Oroville

Target Species: Bass and Trout

Hot Techniques: Float and Fly, stripping small minnow imitations.

Report: Shasta Lake continues to produce both trout and bass. Bass are bedding so sight fishing to larger fish is in the mix.  There are also pre and post spawn fish chasing shad balls around and trout can show up to the party anytime. With the current water temperatures, the bass are feeding aggressively so you can go out there and catch a bunch of fish. Haven't seen a good topwater bite yet but it should happen anytime now.

Trinity lake has some spawning fish. Seems that the smallmouth are spawning pretty well. We did catch one post-spawn largemouth, but it seemed that most of them had not spawned yet as of last week - though they should be pushing shallow in big numbers. You can fish from the shore down to 10 feet at this point and never have to go any deeper and catch a bunch of fish.

Lake Oroville though we don't have the permitting to guide this lake, we were able to help out with the cast hope benefit tournament. It was a lot of fun, those Oroville bass sure are chunky. They were fighting super hard and average in the 2+ pound range. It is truly a cool fishery. Certainly message us if you'd like to participate in the tournament next year. It is fly fishing only and the food, lodging, company and fishing are great. 

Dave Neal of Reel Adventures Guide Service reports on April 22nd, 2025

Shasta Lake & Lower Sac Report

Shasta Lake summed up in one word… FIRE. 

Ask me to expand that to two words it would be… On fire. Or, in another language… En fuego.

Springtime is the Prime-Time on Shasta Lake w/ a fly rod and it has been red-hot for bass fishing this season. A full pool adds an extra element to the habitat and structure system.  

Water temps have come up through the prime zone this April and fish are very aggressive towards the swimming things now. 

We stripped flies for hours this week with just a floating line and variety of baitfish patterns. The chases, eats and commitment level we triggered from fish was spectacular. Really exciting stuff sight casting to fish and watching them follow it and then inhale, or come out of nowhere and absolutely wreck the fly. 

Tired of lobbing bobbers and side drifting for trout?  Wanna open up that double haul and cast the fly rod for a change? Do you have a saltwater trip coming up and need to ingrain that strip set instinct?! LOL… you KNOW what I’m talking about.

You should be hitting the local lakes and ponds of California for some bass and sunfish action right now. The rewards are worth it. The skillsets carry over. The upper valley lakes are beautiful right now. 

The Lower Sac is… well it’s here and there. Some days are decent and some days are just downright lousy. Hate to be a Debbie Downer but that is the honest truth from my perspective.

Bug hatches remain weak, (although we did see some solid #’s of March Browns hatching yesterday) water is a bit “thick” off color, (but green) flows have been anywhere from 4k to 10k this lately…. Seems like some pulse flows happening. I keep hoping for some consistency, but I have not found it. Maybe later in April or May it will turn around?

The good news is that if you are traveling to Redding area or passing through, there are many other options about to hit the radar screen… including Hat Creek, McCloud River, and some smaller less visited streams between those two places that we don’t talk much about. 

General Trout Season opens this next Saturday April 26^th. With a wet winter behind us and plenty of water… do a little “blue line” sleuthing and go on an adventure to some uncharted territory. It has been a wet winter and spring season is a great time to explore some new water! 

*Be cautious of rattlesnakes they are beginning to come out. We are seeing a few while out turkey hunting at the mid elevations – a few 80 degree days will wake em up. 

If anyone has any questions feel free to hit me up. I do have a day or two open next week in April along with May 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 28

Have fun, be safe…

David Neal

Reel Adventures Guide Service

Email: reeladventuresgs@charter.net

Web: ReelAdventuresGuideService.com

Social: @ReelAdventures

Mobile: 760-914-0465

530 Outfitters reports on March 28th, 2025

The Lower Sacramento River is shaping up beautifully for what promises to be an outstanding spring season! With only a few more showers in the forecast, we’re seeing prime conditions unfold right before our eyes. If this past week’s fishing is any indication, we are gearing up for some exceptional days on the water.

Current Conditions & Outlook

The river has been steadily dropping into perfect shape. The water clarity is great, and we can always count on consistently choice water temps. While the recent rains brought a slight bump in flows, the flush of clean water was a great thing. Prior to that, the water was coming out of the bottom of the lake with about 1.5’ of visibility. Now, the river is flowing the perfect shade of green, allowing us to fish many different techniques.

What’s Hot

Spring means the bugs are on the move! 

• BWO (Blue-Winged Olives)

• PMDs (Pale Morning Duns)

• Caddis

• Stoneflies

Best Techniques for Success

Nymphing is the standard technique for the Lower Sacramento River, and we know the game well. We are seeing more bugs this spring than we did last year, and that’s promising. We’ve already been playing around with other techniques and can't wait to do more as the hatches take off. If you want to know more, please give us a call.

Looking Ahead

March and April are the two months that launch us into our trout and bass seasons. It’s a great time to start thinking about your group trips with co-workers, family, and friends. We can accommodate large parties and enjoy taking care of all the details.

Bass fishing on Lake Oroville is in full swing, and we have the team to get you hooked up—a lot! This is a great trip for 2-3 anglers with plenty of action for all. The scenery and boat rides are worth the price of admission, but the fishing can be fun and fatiguing.

Lower Sacramento Campouts will be offered again at our private riverside campground with secured parking, camping equipment, and meals provided. There is no better way to enjoy the river and tune out than a two-day, one-night campout.

Fly Fishing Schools are our favorite way to help everyone get what they are looking for in this great sport. We offer beginner to advanced programs and can help everyone get better and fine-tune their skills. Please give us a call to talk about our school programs, and we will steer you in the right direction.

Dave Neal reports on February 12th, 2025

David Neal

Reel Adventures Guide Service

Email: reeladventuresgs@charter.net

Web: ReelAdventuresGuideService.com

Social: @ReelAdventures

Mobile: 760-914-0465

 

 

 

 

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.