Its been a while…sorry. Fall, hell winter seemed to be here this weekend! I was in flip flops and short striper fishing on Monday and Tuesday and waders, flannels, and jackets steelhead fishing on Saturday and Sunday. Gotta love northern California…when the seasons change the pendulum can swing as I will be back in flip flops striper fishing on Thursday with 83 degree weather forecasted….here are the reports as I hear them and and have experienced them.

Open Guide Dates:

Nov 25, 26,

Dec 17, 21-23, 27-31

Jan 5-7, 14, 16, 21, 28

Lower Sacramento Striper fishing has been good if you can really pick your day and time. With the weather swings of the last week I wouldn’t say I would take anyones money to go out as the weather changes really affect the fishing but if you can pick your day and hit right fishing can be down right ridiculous. Last week Monday and Tuesday were really good fishing…big fish, lots of fish, top water…all the good stuff one wants out of striper fishing! Then the weather changed…I am going to get back out mid to late week ounce the weather stabilizes again into that 75-85 degree fall weather.

Nice fall fish off the weed beds

Not all L. Sac species eat eggs in October

Lower Sac Trout Fishing – I spent Saturday in wind and rain guiding the Lower Sac. Fishing was good until the wind came up after lunch then it was tough to even fish but when we could find some shelter from the wind we managed a few fish. I floated from Anderson to Balls Ferry and we caught most our fish on nymphs in what I call “bug water” I didn’t see any spawning salmon so that was a big concerning but it has been a really late run for the most part but a late run can translate to a poor run if they don’t show up. That said I am sure the guys floating up through redding are finding fish on eggs and up on redds so who knows. I tend to avoid the egg bit madness and opt for solitude and maybe a few less fish…I had the Anderson float all to myself Saturday.

Wind and Rain but fish gotta eat

Lower Feather River – Sunday I guided the feather from Riverbend Park to Palm ave and there were spawning salmon thick from about hwy 162 to Mathews…with a few around Robinson and the Islands above. Salmon spanwing was pretty inconsistent…We would hit one riffle where they were thick and we would hook steelhead and then the next with none and no steelhead…kinda was like this all the way to Palm. So the good news is fish are spread out and not just concentrated up in the upper reaches of the Low Flow. We did see a lot of pre spawn salmon moving up riffles and around the river so there are plenty of fish that are yet to spawn so the egg bite and steelhead fishing should only improve. We actually caught most of our fish on bugs so most fish weren’t even keyed on eggs yet. All our fish were wild steelhead which is always a treat on a hatchery based river like the feather and were in the 18-22” bracket. Typical feather steelhead.

Lower Yuba River – Flows on the Lower Yuba are up over a 1000cfs which is GREAT for this time of year, giving both drift boat anglers and wader fishermen room to fish. Deer creek came up to over 500cfs on Sunday so I am not sure what the clarity fo the river is though. I talked to a buddy who guided it on Saturday and did well but he did say the river was coloring up. I am sure Deer Creek will drop fast and by mid week the river should be in great shape.

Sports Report – Overall pretty damn tough few months for me…The Irish are 2-5 and are just flat out a bad football team right now. They aren’t getting blown out by any means, the are loosing by a touchdown here a field goal there but they look bad…disheartening but I am a fan through thick and thin, not a band wagon guy. I support Brian Kelly and have a hard time bagging on the team and coach when I only watch the games on Saturday…no one outside of the coaching staff is at practice every day and knows their personal like they do. The bottom line is we are much younger then many people realized going into this season and hopefully we can get a few wins here and build for next season.

Win or Loose it is a special place...

Giants – tough way to exit the season but to be honest very fitting based on how the second half of the season went. I would be very concerned if we made it farther as I think post season success would have diminished the motivation of the management to address bull pen and hitting deficiencies. This way there will be a TON of pressure to get a legitimate closer and a left fielder that can swing the bat.