American River report

[EricO]

Floated the American River from Hoffman to Watt on Saturday with Jeff F.

Not one other boat seen, but plenty of bank fishermen, both gear and fly fishing.
Did see a guy standing in a riffle with a 10' spear...waiting for salmon to come
up the riffle. No idea if that is legal, but he certainly wasn't hiding it.

Curse of the first fish...Jeff got a nice 18" female in a side channel on an egg pattern.
That was it for the rest of the day. Not one bump.

Saw probably a half dozen salmon roll...one gear guy hooked a salmon below the
power lines at Hoffman...he ran downstream probably 100 yards. We could see
from across the river it was black and spent.

Float was hella peaceful and great chill time. Boy has the river changed a ton.
Places have filled up with gravel where there used to be good runs, but by the
same token, a few riffles filled in enough (below Goethe) that now have a nice
pace to them.

Around one bend there were literally several hundred seagulls just chilling on
the gravel bar. Not sure why they were just in that area. Pretty cool though.

A few pics from the day.

Eric O

[EricO]

Oh what the heck, here's a few more. Last one is approaching the Watt Ave bridge.

Eric O

[winxp_man]

That seagul Spot is crazy how many stack in there! Went to that area about a week and a half ago. And as the evening was upon the river they started a big flying mode. Boy where there a bunch!

Thanks for the report and soon winter fish will be up river

[STEELIES/26c3]

Oh what the heck, here's a few more. Last one is approaching the Watt Ave bridge.

Eric O

Pretty typical day this time of year...

I had the same curse Sunday (19" beauty and then nothing but smolts, sloshing around and soaking in the scenery...

I later ran in to Jeff (Smitty from this board) and his buddy and several hours and a mile or so later I put my gear down and got set to make a few casts and some guy dropped down in the river directly across from me and I gave him a piece of my mind...

And then I realized it was Jeff C and the reason he 'dropped down' was to say hello... BOY did I feel like a schmuck.... For some reason, I seem to run into Jeff on the river and not recognize him until he speaks....

The gulls come to eat the rotten salmon flesh and later in the year, their eggs. That photo looks like the tailout of the new riffle created at the end of Gristmill, on the Harrington side, which is a traditional spawning habitat for kings in high water years...

[STEELIES/26c3]

Was the guy with the spear just below the closed water boundary, across from Ancil Hoffman Park/Golf Course?
It is definitely not legal to capture fish that way...

[adrianflyfish]

Great report, how long did it take you to do that float?

[cyama]

Was the guy with the spear just below the closed water boundary, across from Ancil Hoffman Park/Golf Course?
It is definitely not legal to capture fish that way...

I was on the Feather a year or two ago and saw the same thing. I talked to the guys and they said that American Indians are given a few days a year to spear salmon. I was quite skeptical, but who knows. I guess it is better than stringing nets all the way across the river on the Trinity and Klamath. Nothing against the American Indians, they actually have their own fishery biologists and seem to know what they are doing. In Canada they are given more respect and some of you may know the fishing up there can be much better.

[Troutsource]

Can anyone report how the river has changed below the power lines at Hagan Community Park?

I feel so guilty, have not been on the river for over a year due to some tendon injuries in my hands and forearms. May finally force myself this week. Just being on the river is reward enough this time of year.

[EricO]

Steelies,
That's funny. We were hoping to run into Jeff C, since he lives on the American. Thought we saw him
below Goethe, but after watching we could tell the guy couldn't cast like the Shad Master.
Yes, that's exactly where he was spearing...across from Hoffman in a shallow riffle. Just standing there
waiting for salmon to come up.

Adrian,
It was way shorter than I thought. Put it at Hoffman at 8am, and were at Watt ave by 1:30pm, and
back up at Hoffman after the shuttle by 2:30. Even with lots of slow water areas where we had to
paddle a lot, it was a quick float.

Aron,
Ya there had to be 300-400 gulls. At first I thought they were nesting, but that makes no sense.
When I got close enough a hundred went airborne...pretty cool! Praying for a good winter fish
run!

EricO

[Jeff F]

Can anyone report how the river has changed below the power lines at Hagan Community Park?

I feel so guilty, have not been on the river for over a year due to some tendon injuries in my hands and forearms. May finally force myself this week. Just being on the river is reward enough this time of year.

The major changes I noticed were as follows:

Where the river splits into 3 channels below Ancil Hoffman, the main (middle) channel has been really scoured and is much wider now. Lots of trees gone. But the top of the middle channel now has a really nice riffle, and below that is a perfect long deep riffle. Ideal for swinging. The right channel hasn't changed much, but is a little deeper. Perfect for nymphing. That's where I got my fish.

The island at Sarah Court is smaller but still there. The main channel has filled in somewhat and the deep dropoff is a little further downstream now.

The Braids are still the same and have some great spots for nymphing.

Below the rapids a Goethe, before it turns towards the Pink House, has been filled in. Really swift water now, and the dropoff is gone. But the end of the drift, along the east bank is a great slower run.

Down further, along the cliffs past the Pink House, the entire side channel is just a trickle now.

At Gristmill/Harrington, that riffle/dropoff is gone. The Gristmill side shoreline has receded a lot towards the parking area.

Below Gristmill, there are some new interesting riffles that didn't exist before. This is where the seagulls were in Eric's pictures. These are tough to to fish though. You'd have to wade through deepish water to get to them.

Watt looks the same to me. The clay formations tend to hold their place.

Lots of other minor changes too. Some good, some not so good. But there's still tons of spots that would hold fish.