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The arrival of the New Year marks the closing of some fisheries and the opening of others. There are many valley rivers that have closed seasons for fall salmon spawning at their upper reaches. A number of these such as the Consumnes, Mokelumne, Stanislaus and Merced are in the San Joaquin Valley.
Closer to home the Feather River and the American River reopen some of their more productive waters. The American reopens from Ancil Hoffman Park up to the Hazel Avenue Bridge. The Feather reopens from the Hwy. 70 bridge up to the hatchery area below the Table Mountain bicycle bridge. Always check the fine print on the regulations for specifics.
These river reaches are where many steelhead end their migration and settle in unmolested by anglers. If you are going to get some good angling action these opening day opportunities are your best bet. Based on fishing results down river, the prospects for the Feather and American do not look as good as years past. Both of these rivers have had disappointing fall runs of salmon and steelhead.
Saturday, I received the most promising report from the Feather this fall. Ed Everhart was duck hunting in the Oroville Wildlife. He spent some time at “Charlie's Hole” and saw good numbers of steelhead ranging from 14 to 20 inches coming to the surface. Charlie's Hole is about a mile below the Afterbay Dam in the high flow area. My sources have been reporting poor fishing results on the Feather. Ed's report might signal the arrival of some fresh fish.
The limited salmon season on the Sacramento River closes on Thursday night. The most recent report from Brett Brady (www.fishbarebones.com) was his best for the season. The rains of a week ago blew the river out on Monday the 21st. The higher water flows and turbid water can reshuffle the deck for migrating fish. By Christmas day the water had come back down and the color had returned to perfect “steelhead green”. This is the color that is not clear enough to make the fish spooky but the silt has dropped out.
Brady has moved his guiding from the Knight's Landing – Colusa zone to the Colusa – Woodson Bridge area. In order to protect by sources I agree not to disclose their exact fishing locations. What I can say is that Brady was fishing the large canal style lower river by downstream trolling large spinners early on in the season with mediocre results. He has changed his plan to fish the pool/riffle style of water that is more common above Colusa.
On his most recent trip last weekend Brett had his best salmon day of 2009. He hooked 5 fish and landed 3. The three included 12, 14 and 34 pound salmon. The 12 pound fish was chrome bright while the other two were still in good condition. The formula for him was to back troll a flatfish with a sardine wrap. All of his hook ups came from the tail outs of large pools. This type of water precludes the use of prop boats. You need a jet drive to motor upriver through the riffles or a drift boat to float with the current. Shore access is very limited.
The salmon season has only a few more days to run, so this info has limited near term usefulness. The most intriguing comments from Brett were about the numbers of steelhead/trout he saw throughout the day. He noticed these fish not by seeing them in the water, rather he saw them going airborne apparently feeding at the surface. Not all of the fish came totally out of the water. The larger ones exhibited normal surface feeding behavior but it was the smaller 12 to 14 inch fish that were launching themselves.
Brady could not figure out what type of bug they were feeding on. They were in the runs from 2 to 6 feet deep, distinctly different from the salmon holding water. Based on his description I suspect that these are the same fish that regularly inhabit the Sacramento River from Redding down to Red Bluff. The water temp was 49 degrees, which would be comfortable for these trout. During the warm weather season trout are seldom this low on the Sacramento due to warm water temps.
Topaz Lake on the Nevada border south of Gardinerville will reopen to anglers this Friday. If we get a stretch of good weather it may be worth the trip.
Your fishing license will expire this Thursday evening. The price did not go up appreciably this year.
Denis Peirce writes a weekly fishing column for The Union and is host of “The KNCO Fishing & Outdoor Report,” which airs 6-7 p.m. Fridays and 5-6 a.m. Saturdays on 830-AM radio. Contact him via e-mail at dpeirce@theunion.com.
Closer to home the Feather River and the American River reopen some of their more productive waters. The American reopens from Ancil Hoffman Park up to the Hazel Avenue Bridge. The Feather reopens from the Hwy. 70 bridge up to the hatchery area below the Table Mountain bicycle bridge. Always check the fine print on the regulations for specifics.
These river reaches are where many steelhead end their migration and settle in unmolested by anglers. If you are going to get some good angling action these opening day opportunities are your best bet. Based on fishing results down river, the prospects for the Feather and American do not look as good as years past. Both of these rivers have had disappointing fall runs of salmon and steelhead.
Saturday, I received the most promising report from the Feather this fall. Ed Everhart was duck hunting in the Oroville Wildlife. He spent some time at “Charlie's Hole” and saw good numbers of steelhead ranging from 14 to 20 inches coming to the surface. Charlie's Hole is about a mile below the Afterbay Dam in the high flow area. My sources have been reporting poor fishing results on the Feather. Ed's report might signal the arrival of some fresh fish.
The limited salmon season on the Sacramento River closes on Thursday night. The most recent report from Brett Brady (www.fishbarebones.com) was his best for the season. The rains of a week ago blew the river out on Monday the 21st. The higher water flows and turbid water can reshuffle the deck for migrating fish. By Christmas day the water had come back down and the color had returned to perfect “steelhead green”. This is the color that is not clear enough to make the fish spooky but the silt has dropped out.
Brady has moved his guiding from the Knight's Landing – Colusa zone to the Colusa – Woodson Bridge area. In order to protect by sources I agree not to disclose their exact fishing locations. What I can say is that Brady was fishing the large canal style lower river by downstream trolling large spinners early on in the season with mediocre results. He has changed his plan to fish the pool/riffle style of water that is more common above Colusa.
On his most recent trip last weekend Brett had his best salmon day of 2009. He hooked 5 fish and landed 3. The three included 12, 14 and 34 pound salmon. The 12 pound fish was chrome bright while the other two were still in good condition. The formula for him was to back troll a flatfish with a sardine wrap. All of his hook ups came from the tail outs of large pools. This type of water precludes the use of prop boats. You need a jet drive to motor upriver through the riffles or a drift boat to float with the current. Shore access is very limited.
The salmon season has only a few more days to run, so this info has limited near term usefulness. The most intriguing comments from Brett were about the numbers of steelhead/trout he saw throughout the day. He noticed these fish not by seeing them in the water, rather he saw them going airborne apparently feeding at the surface. Not all of the fish came totally out of the water. The larger ones exhibited normal surface feeding behavior but it was the smaller 12 to 14 inch fish that were launching themselves.
Brady could not figure out what type of bug they were feeding on. They were in the runs from 2 to 6 feet deep, distinctly different from the salmon holding water. Based on his description I suspect that these are the same fish that regularly inhabit the Sacramento River from Redding down to Red Bluff. The water temp was 49 degrees, which would be comfortable for these trout. During the warm weather season trout are seldom this low on the Sacramento due to warm water temps.
Topaz Lake on the Nevada border south of Gardinerville will reopen to anglers this Friday. If we get a stretch of good weather it may be worth the trip.
Your fishing license will expire this Thursday evening. The price did not go up appreciably this year.
Denis Peirce writes a weekly fishing column for The Union and is host of “The KNCO Fishing & Outdoor Report,” which airs 6-7 p.m. Fridays and 5-6 a.m. Saturdays on 830-AM radio. Contact him via e-mail at dpeirce@theunion.com.
