Was up on the Sacramento river above and below Shasta reservoir Mon - Wed of this week.
Shasta frighteningly low when you actually see it. No snow on Mt Shasta.
Upper Sac: Fished Pollard Flats, two other turnouts/tracks that take you down to various parking places next to the Amtrak rail lines, and Sims. Scramble down the rocks to the river. Water - low. Riffs and pools are there but really need about 6"-1' higher to be good. Flies were hard to match to the feeding patterns. Ended up with nymphs, both singly and with floats added most of the time, altho did dry-fly fish for the dusk time frame. Fishing - fair to average. Took a lot of wading and hiking to get from decent riff to decent pool.
Redding: You can fish near that bridge in Redding and that was interesting as there are some very big trout hiding there.
Lower Sac: From town to the first pullout. Guide and boat. Fished small foam bobber and two very small nymphs. Towards end, three hooks. River is low but rowable/floatable all the way down. At junctions and slow moving areas where salmon normally congregate by this time of year, almost none. Late this year maybe because of water temps and/or water levels. I did hook into about a 15-20 lb and played it for a long time but once under the boat in about 4' water it broke off and that was it.
Maybe with a change in temps and cooler (rain?) weather, it will bring the salmon up quicker.
Generally good fishing altho I had a little trouble adapting to the boat cast from the plain fly casting we were doing the other days. Several "doubles" (two on and in the boat simultaneously), no "giants" unfortunately. All on barbless hooks and C&R.
Overall score: 7.5/10. Why so high? The weather, that we were fishing during the week, and the just delightful boat time. Deer in the flats, birdlife was outstanding with two Golden Eagles spotted along with Osprey, Egrets, Heron, etc, etc. We located good places for striped bass and WMB for later fishing opportunities. All to be on fly, altho spinners may be in order if they are coming in bigger. Just outstanding days on the river!
One other comment - it is always surprising to see how much there is in Redding and what a good town it is. The Fly Shop and the other fishing stores in Redding are 10/10 - excellent.
Fishinfoolyes wrote:
Was up on the Sacramento river above and below Shasta reservoir Mon - Wed of this week.
Shasta frighteningly low when you actually see it. No snow on Mt Shasta.
Upper Sac: Fished Pollard Flats, two other turnouts/tracks that take you down to various parking places next to the Amtrak rail lines, and Sims. Scramble down the rocks to the river. Water - low. Riffs and pools are there but really need about 6"-1' higher to be good. Flies were hard to match to the feeding patterns. Ended up with nymphs, both singly and with floats added most of the time, altho did dry-fly fish for the dusk time frame. Fishing - fair to average. Took a lot of wading and hiking to get from decent riff to decent pool.
Redding: You can fish near that bridge in Redding and that was interesting as there are some very big trout hiding there.
Lower Sac: From town to the first pullout. Guide and boat. Fished small foam bobber and two very small nymphs. Towards end, three hooks. River is low but rowable/floatable all the way down. At junctions and slow moving areas where salmon normally congregate by this time of year, almost none. Late this year maybe because of water temps and/or water levels. I did hook into about a 15-20 lb and played it for a long time but once under the boat in about 4' water it broke off and that was it.
Maybe with a change in temps and cooler (rain?) weather, it will bring the salmon up quicker.
Generally good fishing altho I had a little trouble adapting to the boat cast from the plain fly casting we were doing the other days. Several "doubles" (two on and in the boat simultaneously), no "giants" unfortunately. All on barbless hooks and C&R.
Overall score: 7.5/10. Why so high? The weather, that we were fishing during the week, and the just delightful boat time. Deer in the flats, birdlife was outstanding with two Golden Eagles spotted along with Osprey, Egrets, Heron, etc, etc. We located good places for striped bass and WMB for later fishing opportunities. All to be on fly, altho spinners may be in order if they are coming in bigger. Just outstanding days on the river!
One other comment - it is always surprising to see how much there is in Redding and what a good town it is. The Fly Shop and the other fishing stores in Redding are 10/10 - excellent.
Was up on the Sacramento river above and below Sha... (
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Great report , thanks. I fished the Sac in the Redding area last year at this time and we got into the trout ( 33 ) with the same set up you described. That " over the moon" cast was a challenge
The lake is about 90 feet higher than it was in 1976!!! It also filled up the very next spring with record rains. The stretch below Keswig lake is a real sleeper with record size trout. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
Fishing Fool wrote:
The lake is about 90 feet higher than it was in 1976!!! It also filled up the very next spring with record rains. The stretch below Keswig lake is a real sleeper with record size trout. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
Was living up there with my two sons back then in Redding, and I remember fishing Keswick quite a bit with a friend in a boat, we did really well and caught multiple species. I remember seeing the tower by the dam, the one they used to cable up the concrete. The cut and left it because they thought no one would ever see it... LOL!
Lived in Mt Shasta before that working on the Highway 5 Widening/Split and Mt Shasta Sewer System. Fished the Upper Sacramento, McCloud and Shasta Lake quite a bit. It was a great time to fish!
Good to know, will locate on the chart. Will be there week after next again weather depending, or maybe regardless!
Indeed, it’s a two part cast. One side and then the other, and then put the flies into the food stream. Just had trouble getting it out far enough from the boat when the target area was out a bit. But just great when that bobber went under with the lightest hit.
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