Well things are looking up! It is the First Day of spring and the weather even during a few rain showers truly feels like spring. With conditions changing each day I would encourage everyone to check on reports daily as the began to make plans for trips but here is a bit of a forecast as I see it…

Lower Sacramento Trout Fishing – Flows coming out of Keswick are 8410cfs and steady. This is a GREAT flow and more then fishable. If anything a bit on the lower side. That said the clarity is the issue. Lake Shasta is muddy and therefore the river is muddy coming out of the dam. I know there are people getting out and catching a few fish but nothing that I have heard resembling good or even fair. I have heard ambitious thoughts that the river may become fishable by the end of march and more conservative ideas of the end of April…either way it is a ways off. There is clearer water coming into the lake via the branches but it is going to take a while for the sediment to settle and/or the clean water to push out the dirty. Either way I think the fishing will slowly improve as the clarity slowly improves. I also think some of the middle floats will be the first to fish as clean water coming in from tributaries will “dilute” the flow and have a positive affect on the clarity.

Lower Sacramento River Striper/Shad/Bass/Carp Fishing…

River Conditions: River is muddy period though flows  atOrd Ferry are 18,329cfs and steady. As the tributaries clean up so should the clarity. That said there is cleaner water back in various sloughs and back waters, just have to search it out. The river itself supprisingly hasn’t changed very much. It just got cleaned out BIG TIME, snags and weed beds that had clogged up sloughs and coves for years are GONE. There will be access to flats, coves, and back waters like we haven’t seen in YEARS!

Stripers – Clarity is just bit off for confidence fishing for stripers, though I am sure there will be a steady clearing over the next month or so. I have confidence fishing for stripers on the river is pretty dirty water so in the next few weeks I am sure we should start being able to catch some resident and migratory stripers. There are a few reports of migratory fish down by Colusa and Boyds Pump but most guys that would be bait fishing for stripers are fishing for sturgeon so reports are hard to come by.

Shad – I wouldn’t count on a good shad year. I don’t have a lot of confidence catching shad in off color water and high water years are traditionally not great shad years. That said May is the month and there is plenty of time between now and then for things to shape up.

Bass/Carp – The back water bass fishing should start sooner then anything as I found clean water in the back sloughs and flats. Flats that have been weeded up for years are now open and I noticed this last week while out one my FAVORITE FLATs is open and clear for the first time in nearly ten years! There should be some great flats fishing this summer for carp and stripers like we haven’t seen in years. May have to kill the spider colony that has taken up residence on my poling platform in the back of my storage shed.

Lower Yuba River – Flows are down to around 4000cfs,   Clarity is decent, and the boat ramp at Sycamore is open! So, that means the river is “fishable” I personally am not a fan of floating the river until it gets around 3000-3500cfs but with the changes who knows how 4k fishes. I plan on getting out on the Yuba here in the next week to check it out and see what things are looking like. With these flows to get a full day it would be a double float as the “Club Water” at Daguerre as many know has closed. That said I did secure a private put in up river from the bridge a bit so I gained a bit of water there. The Yuba should be an option here as long as flows stay stable and clarity remains good. I am sure with the run off flows will fluctuate but right now and option is an option.

Still Water Bass – I have been spending most of my personal fishing time exploring various lakes for Spotted and Largemouth bass. Fishing has been good at times and tough at others. Learning and exploring lakes I have not been on in years has proved a bit of a re-learning curve as I am competing for fish with seasoned conventional bass anglers. That said it is fun and has proved pretty rewarding as there is some really unique and cool fisheries around that don’t fished with flies very much or at all.

OPEN DATES:

March 25

April 1

June 3, 13, 14, 27, 28, 30,

July 6, 8, 11, 13-15, 17-19, 22, 24, 27-29,

Aug 2, 19, 26

Sept 2, 4, 16, 23

Music Report – A few new albums I have been listening to… Dave Hause “Bury me in Philly” so far so good on this one. I can’t say I hear any classics like his previous two albums but those two hit me at pretty transitional periods in my life and the theme lined up pretty in line with what I was going through at the time. Bury Me is rocking and straight forward up beat rock record in the line of Bruce Springsteen, Gas Light Anthem, and Lucero…… Arliss Nancy “Wild American Runners” I came by this band in an odd way but I can’t believe I have missed out on them. From Colorado they are straight punk, Americana, rock. Very similar to Lucero in that degree even with the raspy, whiskey soaked, cigarette smoking voice/vocals. There is some great and really sublte yet creative song writing as well. They have a few albums out and ounce I digest this one I will get get the others.

Sports Report – Lots to talk about…March Madnees is in full affect and My dad and I went to the first and second round games at the new Arena in Sacramento. First Round games were fun but not close, pretty clear by half time who was going to win. That said the second round games were great, and it was really cool to see the new arena and get out with my dad and boys. Notre Dame flamed out in the second round against West Virginia and their relentless press defense so I don’t really have a horse in the race anymore…I saw UCLA play twice in person and they are a freak of a team with Welsh at 7’ Leaf at 6’10” and the phenom Ball.

Baseball season is fast approaching. I have really been enjoying the WBC and it has taken away from my following of the Giants in the Cactus league. I really enjoy watching the European and Asian/Pacific teams play as they play a very different style of baseball compared with the American and Latin teams.

Hogan Vs. The Goliath – On the Umpqua front, and my quest to get them to stop tying my flies not much has changed (see previous post for info on this). They pulled down a few of my patterns from their website but not my most popular. I have never heard from them either, even after mass support and pressure via social media as well as letters written to them on my behalf. In the end I want to thank everyone for their support as it was pretty overwhelming the amount of people that shared and supported my “cause”. That said I doubt they will ever stop tying my flies, as long as dealers across the country continue to buy them they will tie and sell them. I will continue to do what I can to put pressure on them, make customers, dealers, and the public aware of what they are doing and remain on the high ground to the best of my ability. If you reader are so inclined please share my tale and explain to anglers, dealers, and the public what is happening. I imagine I could get a lawyer, get dirty on line, and more militant, but at what cost of energy, time, and money. I in no way will back down but in the end I want people in our industry to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. I don't think that is to much to ask or to much to hope for in our small industry.