TOP PICKS
• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Colusa – Salmon fishing opened last weekend upstream of Knights Landing to the Red Bluff Dam. The weather was lousy and kept many anglers off the water, but many of those who stuck it out caught one-fish limits. Back-trolling Kwikfish produced most of the action.• DAVIS, LAKE – Jerry Dollard at Dollard's Sierra Market in Portola reported trollers having 40-plus fish per day working the north end of the lake, with fish hitting everything from J.Fair trolling flies to Fire-Tiger Needlefish. Fly-casters scored with olive Hares' Ears, Pheasant Tail Flashbacks and red Copper Johns at Jenkins, Freeman and Mosquito Slough. Bank fishers picked up fish most days at Mallard Cove and Fairview with worms and Power Bait.• AMERICAN RIVER – Last weekend's storm helped water temperatures drop below 60 degrees, considered suitable for salmon spawning, and the Nimbus Hatchery fish ladder was opened for the first time this season. However, only a tiny fraction of previous years' numbers were trying to enter the hatchery, and spawning riffles strangely showed few signs of life. Steelheaders caught some in Nimbus Basin and below the fishing closure at Ancil Hoffman Park. Hardware tossers drifted Mepps spinners, and Kastmasters. Other anglers drifted Glo-Bugs, nightcrawlers and roe.• EEL RIVER, Main Stem – The "Main" opened up from the South Fork on down and was still on the low side on Sunday. Typically, this time of year, there are kings (they must be released), good-size half-pounders and the occasional adult steelie.• SMITH RIVER – There were reports of fish moving in before the rain, suggesting there should be some good fishing here if the water keeps coming up a bit.
DELTA REGION
• SACRAMENTO RIVER side – Let the games begin! Both stripers and sturgeon started biting. Baits have taken over here, with bloodworms leading the way, though mudsuckers, minnows, shad and pile worms also are producing limits, according to Meeka Berring from the Rio Vista Bait and Tackle store. The largest striper reported weighed 31 pounds and was caught under the Rio Vista Bridge on shad. With temperatures down between 56 and 57 degrees, Lucky Strikes Charters said the larger sturgeon are aggressive. All baits are working from Pittsburg up to Rio Vista, but roe brought in the big ones.• SAN JOAQUIN RIVER side – The striper bite has really taken off in the Stockton Port, especially down in the Turning Basin, where baits are thick and boils are common. Anglers are finding better success with topwater tackle such as wake baits and catching them "left and right," with stripers running from 8 to 15 pounds being common.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
• FEATHER RIVER – A few stripers were caught, but most of those big fish hanging around Shanghai Bend have disappeared. They've been replaced by some pretty feisty steelhead, including a couple in the 6-pound class that attacked jigs being tossed by striper anglers below Shanghai Rapids. Steelhead also hit on spinners, nightcrawlers, roe and Glo-Bugs. Half-pounders and a few adults were spread out on riffles throughout both the main Feather and the Low Flow Section.• FOLSOM LAKE – Bass fishing was so-so, with many anglers getting only a few bites, while others scored around a half-dozen spotted bass to 3 pounds. There wasn't much of a reaction bite, and the most productive pattern was to use electronics to locate concentrations of baitfish over rocky humps next to dropoffs, then fish with lighter patterned bait-simulating plastics.• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento – A few striped bass were caught in the Port of Sacramento, at Discovery Park and Verona. Trolling with Hair Raiser jigs and deep-diving plugs like Yo-Zuris produced bites, jigging a few more. Drifting minnows and soaking pike minnows, sardines and pileworms were better bets.– Western Outdoor Newswww.wonews.com
http://www.sacbee.com/fishing_hunting/story/1373585.html
• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Colusa – Salmon fishing opened last weekend upstream of Knights Landing to the Red Bluff Dam. The weather was lousy and kept many anglers off the water, but many of those who stuck it out caught one-fish limits. Back-trolling Kwikfish produced most of the action.• DAVIS, LAKE – Jerry Dollard at Dollard's Sierra Market in Portola reported trollers having 40-plus fish per day working the north end of the lake, with fish hitting everything from J.Fair trolling flies to Fire-Tiger Needlefish. Fly-casters scored with olive Hares' Ears, Pheasant Tail Flashbacks and red Copper Johns at Jenkins, Freeman and Mosquito Slough. Bank fishers picked up fish most days at Mallard Cove and Fairview with worms and Power Bait.• AMERICAN RIVER – Last weekend's storm helped water temperatures drop below 60 degrees, considered suitable for salmon spawning, and the Nimbus Hatchery fish ladder was opened for the first time this season. However, only a tiny fraction of previous years' numbers were trying to enter the hatchery, and spawning riffles strangely showed few signs of life. Steelheaders caught some in Nimbus Basin and below the fishing closure at Ancil Hoffman Park. Hardware tossers drifted Mepps spinners, and Kastmasters. Other anglers drifted Glo-Bugs, nightcrawlers and roe.• EEL RIVER, Main Stem – The "Main" opened up from the South Fork on down and was still on the low side on Sunday. Typically, this time of year, there are kings (they must be released), good-size half-pounders and the occasional adult steelie.• SMITH RIVER – There were reports of fish moving in before the rain, suggesting there should be some good fishing here if the water keeps coming up a bit.
DELTA REGION
• SACRAMENTO RIVER side – Let the games begin! Both stripers and sturgeon started biting. Baits have taken over here, with bloodworms leading the way, though mudsuckers, minnows, shad and pile worms also are producing limits, according to Meeka Berring from the Rio Vista Bait and Tackle store. The largest striper reported weighed 31 pounds and was caught under the Rio Vista Bridge on shad. With temperatures down between 56 and 57 degrees, Lucky Strikes Charters said the larger sturgeon are aggressive. All baits are working from Pittsburg up to Rio Vista, but roe brought in the big ones.• SAN JOAQUIN RIVER side – The striper bite has really taken off in the Stockton Port, especially down in the Turning Basin, where baits are thick and boils are common. Anglers are finding better success with topwater tackle such as wake baits and catching them "left and right," with stripers running from 8 to 15 pounds being common.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
• FEATHER RIVER – A few stripers were caught, but most of those big fish hanging around Shanghai Bend have disappeared. They've been replaced by some pretty feisty steelhead, including a couple in the 6-pound class that attacked jigs being tossed by striper anglers below Shanghai Rapids. Steelhead also hit on spinners, nightcrawlers, roe and Glo-Bugs. Half-pounders and a few adults were spread out on riffles throughout both the main Feather and the Low Flow Section.• FOLSOM LAKE – Bass fishing was so-so, with many anglers getting only a few bites, while others scored around a half-dozen spotted bass to 3 pounds. There wasn't much of a reaction bite, and the most productive pattern was to use electronics to locate concentrations of baitfish over rocky humps next to dropoffs, then fish with lighter patterned bait-simulating plastics.• SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento – A few striped bass were caught in the Port of Sacramento, at Discovery Park and Verona. Trolling with Hair Raiser jigs and deep-diving plugs like Yo-Zuris produced bites, jigging a few more. Drifting minnows and soaking pike minnows, sardines and pileworms were better bets.– Western Outdoor Newswww.wonews.com
http://www.sacbee.com/fishing_hunting/story/1373585.html