North state fishing report
TOP PICKS
LAKE OROVILLE: The king fishing remains strong here for trollers working the main body points in 40to 70feet of water with Brad’s Cut Plugs or hoochies behind dodgers. The fish are running from fresh plants to 22 inches and most days a limit of fish will have at least a couple good ones in it. Bass fishing in all the main forks is good for anglers fishing small white tubes on 6-pound line down to 30feet. The spotted bass are running up to about 3 pounds.
BULLARDS BAR RESERVOIR: The good koke bite held on here again as trollers pulled fish to 13inches out of 40to 60feet of water near the dam, Long Point and Willow Creek. Pink and orange squids behind dodgers (and tipped with white corn) were the hot items. SMITH RIVER, Smith River: The Smith fished well most of last week, with drift boaters reporting two to four fish a trip. Heavy rain blew the river out for boats on Friday, but plunkers continued to catch steelhead on Spin-N-Glos. The entire river was unfishable Sunday, with flows of 50,000cfs at Jed Smith and 26feet at
Highway 101. Expect ideal conditions the second half of this week.
FEATHER RIVER: A few stripers are being caught near Yuba City, but few anglers are fishing. Expect better striper fishing when steelhead smolts are released next month. Salmon season is closed. Sturgeon fishing is slow at the mouth of the Bear River. Steelhead fishing has been good up high. SACRAMENTO RIVER,
Red Bluff to Colusa: A few trophy-size stripers are being caught on swimbaits and glide baits in the Chico area. Fishing pressure has been light. Salmon season is now closed.
SACRAMENTO RIVER, Colusa to Verona: Success for sturgeon at Knights Landing has been slow, but fish are being caught on ghost shrimp or eel. Salmon season is now closed. A few stripers are being caught on swimbaits, but overall action is slow. Fishing for catfish is slow.
OTHERS
SACRAMENTO RIVER, Redding to Red Bluff: Trout fishing remains good from Keswick Dam to Anderson, with beads, Glo Bugs and roe producing native rainbows. Guide Kirk Portocarrero of SacRiverGuide said beads have been working best, with 20-plus fish landed on most trips. The best action is 10a.m. to 2p.m. Salmon fishing is closed. Flows from Keswick are stable near 4,950cfs. RUSSIAN RIVER, Guerneville: The Russian is sliding into perfect shape right now, according to Scott Heemstra from Kings Sport & Tackle. “This past week our guides running trips were picking up fish every day as the water dropped and began clearing. A small system on Saturday brought in a small storm caused the river to rise slightly, but the long term is dry until the first of February, so things should be prime for fishing this week and into the weekend. If the forecast holds true by the weekend all methods of targeting steelhead should be good, including fly fishing.” EUREKA: Charter boat Sea Weasel II found big numbers of very large herring in the North Bay and scored all the boat needed for the seasons ahead. The skipper noted that these were the biggest herring he had ever caught. Jetty fishing was better than expected for kelp greenling, black rockfish, cabezon and a smattering of ling cod.
FORT BRAGG: Crabbing was easy for Fort Bragg boat Sea Hawk which made 3trips through the week, pulling quick limits each time. On one trip the boat was back to the dock in 2 hours, 10minutes. Noyo Jetty proved itself once again as a great spot for casting baited snares for crab, or for soaking baits for kelp greenling, perch, rockfish and cabezon. Steelhead fishing proved good in local rivers like the 10-Mile River. KLAMATH RIVER, Hornbrook: Steelhead fishing remains very good near Hornbrook. Few anglers are fishing because of winter storms and snow. MagLip plugs are working well in the colder water. Expect snow this week. Flows at Iron
Gate Dam are 980cfs.
The weekly fishing report, compiled by Western Outdoor News, highlights the best angling opportunities in the north state. A longer version, with many more lakes and rivers, can be seen online at chicoer.com/ sports.