As I reported I had a short bout with the stomach flu which put a cramp in my fishing and recreational plans. This has been followed by my yearly allergy flare up followed by a sinus/ear/larynx infection...I take this in stride though as my yearly penance for living in the valley of northern california. I feel I am equally compinsated for my yearly bacterial infection/yellow snot fest by the year round fishing, true seasons, and small college town lifestyle of Chico, CA. That said I have not been fishing or guiding in the last week, not a problem though for fishing reporting as all my friends and I talk about is fishing, sports, and music...oh and our plan for Northern California to secede from the rest of the state and form the 51st state. Not so much the State of Jefferson as the Bear Flag Republic. Oregon can keep Southern Oregon and its meth labs and depressed logging towns.

Lower Sacramento Trout, Shad, Striper, Bass, Carp

Trout
Talking to a few of my buddies who have been guiding on the lower river (say Barge Hole to Red Bluff) fishing is starting to turn on down through there. Usually not the big fish that you get up river but some of the coolest scenery and fishing on the river and really good numbers of hook ups. There are usually far fewer crowds and many times of the year you can have a whole float to yourself. These stretches usually fish best during the summer months so fishing down through here is just starting to heat up.

Shad
There are reports of shad being caught outside of chico starting to role in and with the warm weather and lower flows lately fishing should be getting going. Traditionally, low water years are good shad years and this year should be a fairly low water year. I am going to get out next week and start swinging some flies and seeing what is around. The weather has cooled off today and is going to stay cool for a few days so I should be right on time for the warmer weather.

Stripers
I have heard of a few stripers being caught down around Rd 48 and "the Pumps" and good numbers of fish down around Colusa. Most of the migratory stripers are spread out now and with the salmon smolt thinning out stripers are spreading out. I have not had a chance to really go out and pound the water to see what is around and eating but I am sure there are some fish around and eating.

Bass and Carp
Most of the bass and carp are through spawning or just finishing up. Bass fishing should stabilize with some stable warm weather. On hot days top water fishing during the evening has been good and then on cooler days fishing subsurface in the afternoon has been best. I have hooked into some nice size bass so far this year but have yet to find any carp up on flats yet. I think most of my carp flashing is going to be on some of the local lakes this year instead of the river with the lower flows.

Lower Yuba River
The Yuba is hanging around 1500cfs and spring early summer is in full swing with Caddis, PMD, Little yellow sallies, and a few reports of early gold stones showing. The Yuba will fish well throughout the summer as long as flows stay up and stable. I like to nymph in the morning and then look for rising fish in the flats mid morning and then nymph again midday day until evening when fish start looking for caddis in the riffles. Hopper fishing should be good again this summer and as long flows stay up and the hoppers don't get baked on the rocks.

Sports Report
I am not going into detail on anyone event or team but Sharks 2nd round Playoffs, Warriors Western Conf. Semi final playoffs, Giants baseball....solid sporting events on nightly. Tonight all 3 teams play. Nights like this is why the "last" or "previous" button on the remote was invented as well as the ESPN app for IPhone.