Sacramento River fly fishing Summer’s over, folks
Shhh, can you hear that? It’s Mother Nature exhaling. The last of the summer holiday’s is over! Labor Day 2020 is now in the history books. Yeepee! The anglers have their lakes back! Who is itching for some river salmon fishing?
Sacramento River salmon
Salmon fishing on the Sacramento River was very good this week with many new fish moving into the upper stretch. The best fishing was from Bend Bridge downriver through Hamilton City. Private boaters and guides were hooking many kings at 16 to 24 pounds; a very large salmon weighed in Tuesday at 40 pounds. Back-bouncing roe or sardine-wrapped lures like the Brad’s Killerfish were working along with drifting roe.
Fishing on the Lower Sacramento was good this week. The bite seems to be good throughout the day with the upper sections of the river kicking out some really big rainbows, and the lower sections producing good numbers of 14- to 18-inch fish. Slower times seem to be between 2-5 p.m. Good flies have been Rubber Leggs, small mayfly nymphs S&M’s, Micro mays, caddis patterns (birds nests, poopahs) and egg patterns.
Trinity River salmon
The fall run on the Trinity River was starting to build with new king salmon moving into the upper Trinity River near Lewiston. A mix of adult salmon and jack salmon were coming in this week with most fish averaging 12 to 15 pounds. Backbouncing both roe and sardine-wrapped lures were working from Lewiston down to Junction City. Some guides reported four to six kings hooked a day this past week.
Rogue River salmon
Salmon fishing in the mouth of the Rogue River at Gold Beach has been fair at best this past week. Not everyone is hooking kings but some days private boaters and guides are bringing three to four salmon to the net. The run traditionally builds through August and into September. The upper Rogue River near Shady Cove was still fishing good with a couple of kings a day coming in for guide Randy Nelson. The steelhead fishing has remained fair with one to two steelhead per outing side-drifting roe.
Thanks for reading and remember to keep it reel!
— Don = 4REEL Fishin’