Trinity and Lower Sac Report

Dave Neal Reports on 2.23.2017

Well, not much to report this week other than the last few days the sun finally came out and it has been a welcome sight. It’s incredible how much rain we have endured these past 6-8 weeks in Northern California. I read in the paper today that Redding received 37.5" of rainfall since October 1st and recorded 7" in February alone.

Desperate times for a fishing guide in Nor-Cal… With all the weather and flooding issues all over the state it has placed fly fishing on the back burner for a lot of folks. Anglers who usually jump at the chance to hit their favorite steelhead river while it’s on the drop have been challenged to even leave their own neighborhoods with all the flooding and downed trees, etc. We will get through this! This winter is exactly what we needed and will benefit many fisheries for the future… I keep repeating to myself.

Hopefully, the worst is behind us and we have a sunny spring/summer season to look forward to?

As far as fishing options around Nor Cal - there simply are not many options right now.

The upper Trinity remains fishable from Old Bridge in Lewiston downriver. DC area is still on the high side for drift fishing but there may be a poke or two here and there from the bank. The concern we have now is when does Trinity Lake reach the capacity where they need to start increasing releases from the dams into the river? That will put the final nail in this river until the summer…

Not much to report on the Lower Sac. Flows today are back up to 70,000cfs and it’s as dirty as a hog wallow, still. When does it clear up or drop to fishable? It’s all conjecture at this point. Hopefully, the higher flow releases will assist in the lake clearing up. A lot of this depends on how much more rain we receive going forward through March… and there’s runoff to consider after that. Fingers crossed, many of us are really counting the days right now.

Maybe next week I’ll have some better news. I plan on being on the water for two days coming up and we’ll see what there is say.