Guide Reports: Klamath & Trinity Steelhead, Lower Sac Trophy Trout
After a long period of drought, rain has returned to the Northstate and has sparked the bite for trophy trout on the Lower Sacramento River and steelhead on the Klamath and Trinity Rivers. Ducks, Geese, and Osprey are returning to begin their annual mating rituals and blooming Redbud is marking the beginning of spring. Consider this your invitation to get here now, it doesn't get much better.
Despite the long period of dry weather we have experienced and angler's misunderstanding that this offered only poor fishing, the Lower Sacramento River and Klamath in particular have been fishing quite well. With the recent precipitation, the Trinity has joined the parade of rivers that are currently outstanding. The weather forecast is calling for a few more days of rain or showers followed by sunny days into the weekend with temps into the 70's in Redding. It appears this pattern of showers followed by sunny days will continue on and off through next week.
This is the time of year when some of the Lower Sac's trophy trout come out to play. The bite has been good to excellent with caddis on clear sunny days (a few blizzard bug days have popped already) and small mayflies hatching on the drippy days. Flows on the Lower Sacramento River have been low at 3340 cfs, clear and steady on upstream beats but blown out and dirty on occasion during the heaviest storms downstream of Anderson. Egg patterns and rubberlegs have found fish during non hatch periods as well. The peak of the famous spring Brachycentrus caddis hatches (our favorite hatch on the LSac) and March Browns are just days away. Crowds have been non-existent.
Now is also the time to fit in your last steelhead fix of the season. The Klamath River has been consistently great with some epic days mixed in. Several guests have recently enjoyed their best day fishing ever! We have been finding most steelhead while nymphing but now that water temps have increased to the mid forties more fish are coming on the swing as well. The majority of steelhead are adults in the 2-5lb range, with a couple trout sized half pounders each day and a trophy 5-12 pound fish on occasion. We rarely see another angler. Flows have been low, clear (2-4' visibility) and steady. If solitude and multiple steelhead per day fit your style, drop us a line, there maybe no better place than the Klamath!
Storms have brought some much needed rain, moving some fish and sparking the bite on the Trinity River and our great local guides have treated our guests to some of the best fishing they've enjoyed all season. March Browns are popping and some Brown Trout as well as a few steelhead have found them. As a result, some lucky folks have enjoyed the rare experience of hot spring run steelhead on a dead drifted dry fly. There are steelhead beginning to spawn as the season concludes and we suggest being aware to avoid fishing over their shallow spawning gravel beds this time of year.
For great pics of our recent trips with guests, check out the Shasta Trout web & Flickr sites. Please do drop us a line if you are headed our way, we are always happy to share all we can whether you are seeking our guide service or not.
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