Upper Sac is in perfect shape now.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Do yourself a favor and head for Dunsmuir on the Upper Sacramento River.

Be sure to stop by the "Ted Fay Fly Shop" for some good info and flies.

http://www.tedfay.com/shop.html

Lots of good places to stay. Call the "Cave Springs Motel" for a place to stay. They have modern motel rooms and old rustic cabins too.

http://www.cavesprings.com/

Plenty of good restaurant in town now.

http://dunsmuir.com/visitor/dining.php

Lots of top veteran fly fishing guides there like Fred Gordon, Bill Carnazzo and Charlie Costner.

http://www.fredgordon.net/guide.html - Fred Gordon

http://www.billcarnazzo.com/ - Bill Carnazzo

http://www.tedfay.com/shop.html - Charlie Costner

It will be great through the 4th of July and then it will slow some till fall.

June on the Upper Sac is the best trout stream experience I know of in Nor Cal. We had a cabin there for over 10 years. Don't ask me why we sold it.

http://dunsmuir.com/visitor/fishing.php

[Ffdoc]

Just back from a 4 day trip to the Upper Sac with 3 good friends and long time fishing buddies. None of us has fished that river much so it was as much a trip to explore a new stream as anything. We did not go with a guide and just got info from the Ted Fay shop (they were teriffic) and a river access map. Evening hatches were pretty prolific. What a smorgasbord! Caddis, including the biggest dark caddis I have ever seen, little Sallys, big stones, Drakes and some pinkish mayflies around dusk. Most fish came on dries. Lots of fish. Most Smallish but I did get one pig on a pink comparadun style fly I tied in size 14. He came up and inhaled it. He was about 20 inches and had the biggest girth I have seen on a rainbow in a river. It is not often I have to tail a fish in that kind of stream. Sorry, no pictures. It was another great trip with some friends and a chance to check out some new areas. We will definitely return. I think the water looks in great shape now but will be easier to fish when the flows drop a little more. Some areas are tough wading right now and look like they will be dynamite later. If you go soon take some big slate gray or green mayfly patterns even as big as 10s or 12s. Some of the biggest fish rising in the pools seemed to be keying on the drakes .


FFdoc

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

That's great....................it should be good for about another month.

[JayDubP]

Bill, your post inspired my son to get me an early Father's Day gift, so he & I spent Thus 6/12 pm, Fri 6/13 and Sat 6/14. Caught lots of fish.

First time I had fished the Upper Sac in 15 years. My son and I are dead tired because we worked the river and fished harder than necessary. Although the Upper Sac has a lot of access points, it is not a river that offers long stretches of easy walking. Wading in the river or climbing up and down banks is the norm. Save yourself a lot of wasted walking and wading by using one of the guides Bill recommends. I wish I had.

Night hatches were incredible while day time nymphing was hard work. Nymphing we did well, but we fished long and hard and had to cover lots of water. Temps 91- 92. Did not measure water temp but my hand froze after 10 secs in the river. Wet wading was not practical.

Thus night we drove up so we fished Gibsons access downriver under the I5 bridge. Orange stones took all the fish- 11 in 1 hr, none over 12".

Fri am hiked up to Mossbrae Falls, just to see it. I have to recommend the hike to anyone who has never seen the Falls. Ted Fay's set us up with the right nymphs for that stretch of the river.

Fri night hit an incredible large (1-1/2- 2" long) golden/orange stone hatch. When I looked up at the sky it looked like pictures of locust horde. Fish were rising steadily but not boiling the water. We cast only to the larger risers and ended up with 14 fish, 6 in 17-22" range. Hatch started jsut before 800p and stopped abrubtly at around 845p.

Sat day nymphed Pollard Flat area from 7am -1230p with so-so success. One at about 16", 9 fish were dinks, from 4- 10". Had to get back to Bay Area fro dinner so no Sat night fishing. # 14 beaded flavs and beaded princes took all the fish.

If you have never fished the Upper Sac I recommend a guide, moreso than any other river. Local knowledge is the key on this river. River is hidden from view and you can waste a lot of time climbing down to a pool and back up. Not many places where you can easily wade for long distances in the river Plus not many spots you can easily walk from one good pool to another along the riverbank.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We are getting lots of great reports from the Upper Sac now so I would get up there as soon as possible.

It could really slow down by mid-July.