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Thread: Upper Sac: When will it become fishable?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Granite Bay, CA
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    505

    Default Upper Sac: When will it become fishable?

    …as flows drop.

    Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.
    TroutSource.com
    we deliver the river

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Dunsmuir,CA
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    177

    Default Upper Sac: When will it become fishable?

    Well the smart-a** answer is "when the snow melt ends", but I expect you are looking for a bit more detail than that.

    Unfortunately, we have no way to tell cause it all depends on the weather, esp how hot it gets which controls how fast the snow melts.
    We will be doing good if it is down to normal flows by the 4th of July.

    Here in Dunsmuir we can tell when the end of snow melt is close by looking at Mount Bradley, once there is no more snow on the north-east-ish side of the mountain the snow-melt is mostly done.

    Looked at it this morning and we are not there yet.

    There are still patches of snow along Highway 89 at 4,500 ish FT of elevation in the shady areas.

    In a normal year end of snow-melt is usually end of May or early June.

    Worse year I have seen in the last 25+ years on the water was the Middle of July and that year we did not have as
    much snow as we have this year, but we had a very cold spring so the start of the snow-melt was delayed.

    I do not remember what year that was. Maybe the late 90's.

    Was talking to a buddy recently who kept a rough count of the snow fall this last winter,
    In a normal year Dunsmuir will get about 2-4 FT over the course of the winter.
    This year we got closer to 12-14 FT


    Hey TroutSource:

    Was above an answer to the question you asked? I thought about your question and realized you could have been
    asking a different question that what I answered.
    Were you asking at what flow (even though high) it was reasonable to try to fish the river?
    If so, the answer is below 2,000. 2,000 to 2,500 is sorta doable, but 1,500 to 1,800 is much better.
    500 is great.
    Last edited by StevenB; 05-26-2023 at 05:31 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sebastian, FL, USA, Earth
    Posts
    23,837

    Default

    Thanks Steve

    Nice to have your feedback.







    _________________________________________

    In 1990 we bought a small cabin across the street from local guide Fred Gordon.

    Fred grew up right next door to my grandmother's home in south Sacramento.

    Fred's mom and my mom worked together at the Sacramento Bee Paper.

    Fred's dad was a serious outdoorsman and fly fisher so Fred started out very young.

    We have been friends and around each other for our entire lives.


    In July 1991 we had a chemical spill into the river that kill everything from Cantera Loop to Shasta Lake.

    Ron Rabin and friends were serious veteran anglers who thought the largest Rainbows were about 24" and 5#.

    He said after the spill they found wild Rainbow trout to about 32" floating dead.

    The river recovered faster than expected but who knows if it is really the river it once was?


    They were some great years for us with many friends having cabins up there, many renting cabins and many camping too.


    On Friday and Saturday nights, we would go to Madelana's Italian restaurant for amazing food and wonderful socializing.

    Fred, Nicole, Marilyn and I would walk into the restaurant and it took us 15 minutes just to say Hi and shake hands with all our

    customers/friends.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Granite Bay, CA
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    Default

    Steve, Yes, you did answer my question in two useful ways -- timing (July 4 would be "doing good"), and flows (< 2000 CFS). This helps a lot. Going stir crazy being unable to fish. Reminds me of my teenage years before I got my first girlfriend...
    TroutSource.com
    we deliver the river

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Sacramento, Driggs
    Posts
    1,204

    Default

    There are fishable rivers in CA right now for wading trout anglers...not many, but there are some...

  6. #6
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    Sep 2010
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    Granite Bay, CA
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    Default

    PV, I’m sure there are. Unfortunately the ones I frequent and know well aren’t on that list, or they don’t have enough such water right now to justify the trip.

    Steve, how’s Mount Bradley looking… ? If you set up a live streaming cam I will watch it.
    TroutSource.com
    we deliver the river

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Dunsmuir,CA
    Posts
    177

    Default checked this morning

    Alas no web cam pointing at Mt Bradley
    maybe, here is a cam that is on Mt Bradley:
    https://alertca.live/cam-console/1686.

    There are several cams in the area but right now I did not see one that was pointing in the right direction.

    Looked at it this morning from the north end of town and looks like it is snow free.

    I think we have hit the start of the end.

    Unfortunately the Delta gauge has been having problems since about May 26.

    It started reporting wild swings in the flows, which were not real
    (at one point it showed the river going from 3,000 to 6,000 in the space of an hour.
    I suppose that is possible with a really heavy rain but I have never seen it jump that much, that fast.

    So the gauge is unreliable right now, but it was reporting 1,800 CFS this morning, If that is the real flow then I suspect the end of snowmelt flow drop has started, couple more weeks will really tell the tale.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Sacramento, Driggs
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Troutsource View Post
    PV, I’m sure there are. Unfortunately the ones I frequent and know well aren’t on that list, or they don’t have enough such water right now to justify the trip.

    Steve, how’s Mount Bradley looking… ? If you set up a live streaming cam I will watch it.
    I would say Putah Creek and the LT are two “gimmes”. Many don’t like Putah at higher flows but for me the more water the better.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Granite Bay, CA
    Posts
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by StevenB View Post
    So the gauge is unreliable right now, but it was reporting 1,800 CFS this morning, If that is the real flow then I suspect the end of snowmelt flow drop has started, couple more weeks will really tell the tale.
    I've been using this. Either it's a different gauge, or it's "lying"

    https://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/graphicalRVF.php?id=DLTC1
    TroutSource.com
    we deliver the river

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Dunsmuir,CA
    Posts
    177

    Default Gauges, we don't need no stinking gauges

    Hey TS:

    Ya, it is wrong. if you look towards the bottom of the page you linked to
    you will see a line that says
    Raw stream flow data is provided by the US Geological Survey (USGS).
    View USGS Data for this station location.

    if you click on the link that is the View USGS Data line it takes you to this
    page:

    https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...065&period=P7D

    which has shown "equipment malfunction" for a while now.

    All the flows site I have seen use the Delta gauge for their data and that is the gauge that is not reporting real flow numbers.

    A friend of mine who has spent a lot of time on the river looked at it today and he thought it was well over 2,000 CFS.

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