Steelhead opener!

[Chukwithak]

Came across this little guy today. What are your thoughts when an otter is hanging out in the water you’re fishing.

Can’t get the photo to upload but it’s a shiner white 14” steelhead. Not what you expect for “winter” haha but fish in hand!

[STEELIES/26c3]

Came across this little guy today. What are your thoughts when an otter is hanging out in the water you’re fishing.

Can’t get the photo to upload but it’s a shiner white 14” steelhead. Not what you expect for “winter” haha but fish in hand!

My thoughts are something like,
"Get out a here you chatty sumbitch and leave 'MY' fish alone!" and "ahhhh look at tha' cute lil guy... Damn those lil F'ers sure have a lot of energy and character..."

In other words, I do believe they spook the fish and I might as well go elsewhere
BUT I don't blame the otter as he belongs there as much or more than I

I don't blame the sea lions for being in the river either BUT I do believe the big bull should be relocated during the salmon spawn and at the peak of steelhead season

[Desmo13]

Saw that big bull on Saturday. made my drift boat seem small.

[Mark Kranhold]

I had one chasing a fish into the shallows right in front of me on Sunday, It was quite a sight...big beast! I think the fish survived because he carried on upstream after the crashing and thrashing commotion. Pretty amazing ,, , live Marty Stouffer footage right in front of me

[winxp_man]

There are 4 on the American River that I know of. And yesterday evening my brother was trying his luck on the Feather for Spotted bass. About 5 pm he heard big noise on the water. After spotting my brother it took off underwater and down river. But not before a casualty fell dead. It was a nice bright 25” +- steelhead. But it did not take it being it being it spotted by brother maybe. (This is a guess as to why it might have left it behind).

[Tony Buzolich]

Aron,

How far up the Feather were you? I've seen sea lions at Mosquito Beach near the mouth of the Yuba but I thought they were after stripers.
Tony

[winxp_man]

Tony,

This was about 8 mi up river. The pin point area I can relate is Beer Can Beach. (its what I knew it was called back in the day).

[Mark Kranhold]

Wow!! Beer can beach brings back the high school days! We had some big rager's out there on weekend nights, also brings back some serious hangovers...

[STEELIES/26c3]

Those who grew up here should make a map of local names and how they came to be called that. Its surprising how things get past down through the years.

The Basin (the wall, the point, high wall, clay bank, lower clay bank, bridge, weir)
Hatchery (the sign the blackberries, the willows, the fig tree, the glory hole, the apron, the iris)
Sailor Bar (geriatric hole, the cliff/crack, the point, the cove, the side cut, the bowl, lower Sailor Bar Island)
The Beaver Lodge, the clay cliffs, the archipelago, Easy E's (Earle Sloan) Hole)
Dog Beach, Bobber Alley, Toyon, The Greens, Upper Sunrise, U.S. Side Channel, Toyon, Bill Lowe's Swing Run, Sunrise Boat Launch, Red Fair Oaks Bridge, The Deeps, Gold River Creek, Sunrise BLVD, Sunrise/Jim Jones Walk Bridge, Diagonal gravel bar, Alder root ball hole, Lower Sunrise Island, artificial spawning gravel project side channel #1, Dead Man's Curve, Sacramento Bar, Upper El Manto turn, The Pinch, Big Bertha (where kids jump into 25' hole in river), Last Chance Riffle (above San Juan Rapids), SJR, Rossmoor rope swing hole, Rossmoor boat launch, the pipe, house on the hill, beaver alley, Effie Yeaw bend, Ancil Hoffman, small island, Lone Cottonwood, the rockpile (cement chunks), dogleg, rafter run, Gilligan's Island, Ancil Hoffman Beach. Old Lighthouse, Hagan Park, Rock Piles 1,2 and 3, barbless/barbed hook boundary/power line towers, Three Rivers or The Forks, Sarah Court, Goethe salmon flosser hole, the clay minefield, no man's land, Goethe Bridge, Arden Braids, Arden Rapids in middle fork and both side channels (1 natural and 1 created on south side), Gibbs Minnow snaggin hole, Walnut Orchard, The Pink House (really it's cream colored...) the confluence, Harris Hole, The Grotto, Graffiti aqueduct, Arden Powerlines, The Kitchen (named by Mike Koe because when he fished it, he could see people making breakfast in their kitchen of their house overlooking the hill/hole...) Corner Pocket, Hilltop Manor, William B Pond outflow, Harrington Access, Gristmill Access, Bird Island, logs and stickups, Bass Alley, Rio Americano Ponds, Rio Americano Island, Rio Inlet, The Sewer, Sarah Park, Estate Street Access, Turtle Bay, The Clay Humps (where Bill and Andy and most fly guys have fished at least 1,000 times for half-pounders in the fall and spring), Watt Ave Bridge...

That's my quick and dirty list and some of the names mean shit to most but it's all the reference points I need from Watt up. I'll finish from Watt down later...

There's not an inch of that river I have not waded and fished at least a shitload of times and many shitloads of times I've fished most spots...

[BumpBailey]

The Basin (the wall, the point, high wall, clay bank, lower clay bank, bridge, weir)
Hatchery (the sign the blackberries, the willows, the fig tree, the glory hole, the apron, the iris)
Sailor Bar (geriatric hole, the cliff/crack, the point, the cove, the side cut, the bowl, lower Sailor Bar Island)
The Beaver Lodge, the clay cliffs, the archipelago, Easy E's (Earle Sloan) Hole)
Dog Beach, Bobber Alley, Toyon, The Greens, Upper Sunrise, U.S. Side Channel, Toyon, Bill Lowe's Swing Run, Sunrise Boat Launch, Red Fair Oaks Bridge, The Deeps, Gold River Creek, Sunrise BLVD, Sunrise/Jim Jones Walk Bridge, Diagonal gravel bar, Alder root ball hole, Lower Sunrise Island, artificial spawning gravel project side channel #1, Dead Man's Curve, Sacramento Bar, Upper El Manto turn, The Pinch, Big Bertha (where kids jump into 25' hole in river), Last Chance Riffle (above San Juan Rapids), SJR, Rossmoor rope swing hole, Rossmoor boat launch, the pipe, house on the hill, beaver alley, Effie Yeaw bend, Ancil Hoffman, small island, Lone Cottonwood, the rockpile (cement chunks), dogleg, rafter run, Gilligan's Island, Ancil Hoffman Beach. Old Lighthouse, Hagan Park, Rock Piles 1,2 and 3, barbless/barbed hook boundary/power line towers, Three Rivers or The Forks, Sarah Court, Goethe salmon flosser hole, the clay minefield, no man's land, Goethe Bridge, Arden Braids, Arden Rapids in middle fork and both side channels (1 natural and 1 created on south side), Gibbs Minnow snaggin hole, Walnut Orchard, The Pink House (really it's cream colored...) the confluence, Harris Hole, The Grotto, Graffiti aqueduct, Arden Powerlines, The Kitchen (named by Mike Koe because when he fished it, he could see people making breakfast in their kitchen of their house overlooking the hill/hole...) Corner Pocket, Hilltop Manor, William B Pond outflow, Harrington Access, Gristmill Access, Bird Island, logs and stickups, Bass Alley, Rio Americano Ponds, Rio Americano Island, Rio Inlet, The Sewer, Sarah Park, Estate Street Access, Turtle Bay, The Clay Humps (where Bill and Andy and most fly guys have fished at least 1,000 times for half-pounders in the fall and spring), Watt Ave Bridge...

That's my quick and dirty list and some of the names mean shit to most but it's all the reference points I need from Watt up. I'll finish from Watt down later...

There's not an inch of that river I have not waded and fished at least a shitload of times and many shitloads of times I've fished most spots...

It just kills me now... I moved to Sac in the late 80's to go to school at Sac State. Ended up staying after graduation all said for 10 years. Fished the river exactly once. Just below Campus Commons golf course. In the middle of the summer... With spinning gear...

Now, being a habitually early riser, I drive up there a few times a year for a few early morning hours of swinging on a Saturday or Sunday morn and back home around lunch. No luck as of yet. I'll gladly keep paying my dues though....

I wish I would have know more about these magnificent fish back then..... but then again maybe not.... I think i might have ended up on a completely different path!