AR Flows

[Katz]

Walked the hatchery yesterday. Some beautiful fish in the holding pen at the top of the ladder. Very few fishermen at the bottom of the hatchery where there is usually a line of conventional guys. I would put visibility at 2ft. Nothing rolling or moving through while I was watching. K

[Troutsource]

Looks like flows are dropping again -- dipped below 3700 this morning.

Planning to hit it Friday AM, maybe again on the weekend.

So glad I moved to Sacramento and have a river this close, even if it's not blue ribbon caliber.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

In Nor Cal and in the Central East Coast of Florida the fisheries are not what they use to be, even 20 years ago.

Seems like you have to be a really knowledgeable angler who fishes a lot to catch fish now.



Here in Florida, the easiest way and most successful is with live native baits which are hugely popular.

Live shrimp, crabs, and dozens of different baitfish are in abundance when the game fish are around.



In the Steelhead river, the best way to catch fish is with bait, fresh or cured salmon or steelhead roe or night crawlers.


Hard and soft lures are the next most successful way to be successful anywhere with spinning or baitcasting tackle.


The hardest way to catch fish today is fly fishing.......but for many of us this is our preference.



If you can go out with a top local guide or a local veteran angler you can be more successful and learn good techniques.


50 years ago in Nor Cal and in Florida, the fishing was off the charts.




When I was still in the Sacramento area and wanted to catch fish on a fly I just went out with my old buddy, Captain Andy Guibord.

We would be in a boat, coving lots of water and he knew where the best bet would be that day.

I also learned a lot of good fly-fishing techniques from Andy every time we went out.

Today guides with a boat seem pretty expensive to me but if you want to improve your skills it is the fast track.

Andy works mostly on weekends so go in an chat with him.



One thing that keeps fly fishers from being successful is the wrong equipment, the wrong destination and poor casting skills.


Part of this is tying good knows and having the right flies with sharp hooks.


In the 1970s when I ran my little fly shop, mostly by myself, I would tell almost everyone to just go out fishing more.



In Sebastian, Florida I go fishing almost daily now because it is so close and free launching.

I am going out right now as soon as I get done typing. this.





**This information is not for the top 10% of fly anglers who come here, it is for the new and intermediate anglers to be more informed.

[cmcdhuibh]

American river sucker fish sure seem abundant and find my fly often.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Yes, and if you are getting those bottom dwellers you are doing something right.

__________________________________________

50 years ago I fished with young Vern Jeremica in the lower American river for Steelhead.

Vern was fishing a weighted wet fly with a sinking line.

About every other cast, he caught a sucker.

I knew he was getting down cause he was like a vacuum.

I figured that after Vern went down through a run and caught no Steelhead, they just were not there.

He was a great fly angler, even in his younger days.


We all belonged to the local fly club, the CFFU.

Vern's fishing partner was Sammy Matalonie, another good young fly fisher.

In the 1970s Sammy went to Texas instrument and Vern went to the USAF.


Vern joined the USAF and was a pilot.

After the Airforce he became a test pilot for Boeing Aircraft in Washington.

He said he had a hard time retiring from Boeing because it was such a wonderful job.

For decades he got to turn these new aircraft in every which way possible, even upside down.

He finally retired up in Washington and is a top Spey fly fisher, mostly chasing Steelhead.

[cmcdhuibh]

Out walking today between hazel to sunrise. The river below hazel hatchery is really moving and turbulent. The island below has some nice looking areas if you have a boat. The areas around upper sunrise look better. Of course the main attraction is the narrow shoot on the south side of the island. It’s stacked up with spawners and many guys trying to pick them off.
The holding area at the hatchery was amazing. Some very impressive size fish.
The only fish I saw caught where new small hatchery release.

[Troutsource]

Any word on whether flows will get bumped again with the heavy rain and snowmelt coming up?

[McFish]

Thee NOAA Calif N Ca prediction page for the American at the Sac River junction is running 17.9 feet currently. It is expected to be over 23 feet by sat morning. The flood stage is 42 feet, so a long way to go; but a 5 ft rise is huge. Plus, this is a warm storm, and the snowpack level is low, so there will be a large inflow over and above just rainfall. So I would expect very high flows to get as much room in the lake as possible.

[hwchubb]

The only reference I have (CDEC) shows it going to 8000 on Friday morning, but it looks like it will be much higher than that on Saturday. Was raised to 5K yesterday.

[Troutsource]

Crap, I missed the bump yesterday. Which CDEC sit shows this? And does it factor in a release schedule, or just sum up all the inflows?

Thanks.