Upper Sac

[Scott V]

Took my first trip to the Upper Sac with my good friend James this last Saturday. We got on the lowere section around 7 and did some deep nymphing. James got into a couple good fish and 1 real nice one. I ldr'ed a real good fish that ran upstream on me and ldr'ed another one almost as nice. We left there around 10:30 then headed up to Dunsmuir, on the way we stopped at Ted Fay's shop to see what was happening. After that short stop James took me to where the waterfall is, that is a pretty place to be. We hiked up above the falls for a few hours getting a couple here and there. Alot of hard work to find a few fish, but the trip was worth it. We fished that area for a few more hours then headed further north for a lunch break and then one more spot. We got a couple up north and James alomst stepped on a rattler. His foot was a couple of inches above it before he saw it. Cute little guy, after we scared it under a rock James jumped over it, while I took the long way around it. All in all I had a great time on new water with a good friend, and that is all that counts. Next time he is taking me to the Pit.

Here is the nice one James got.


I love waterfalls so this was a sight to see.




My first Upper Sac rainbow to hand




Shasta is real low right now and smoky, I made James stick his head out the window to take a pic of the plane on the lake.

[jhaquett]

Hey Scott, would you mind sharing some tips? I was just at the Upper Sac yesterday and spent a good deal of time near Mossbrae Falls and at the Ney Springs access area and got completely skunked.

Flies, leader sizes, amount of weight used, type of water fished, etc would be great. Feel free to PM any info, thanks.

[Scott V]

Basically all we did was hit any pocket water, no matter how small. Any where there was pockets you had a good chance of finding a fish. As for flies I was using a size 16 bead head caddis larva with a 18 or 20 dropper, I'll post a pic of the dropper tomorrow I can not recall the name of it. As for leaders I always use a 4x. In the areas at Dunsmuir and above I used a single BB split shot, but in the lower scetion I used up to 4 BB's because of how deeper it was.

[jhaquett]

Great, thanks. I was using mayfly nymphs.

[MrBig]

Nice report! I've fished the Upper Sac twice in the last two weeks. First time was the stretch at Mossbrae Falls, we had a few small ones. Next was the lower section of the river where we saw some nice fish but could not catch anything. We tried about everything in the book but just were not having any luck.

[dtp916]

Thanks for posting all the pics here! I'm glad you had a good time, Scott. The falls are sure pretty! Lets do the Pit soon!

[sacrivertrout]

Great, thanks. I was using mayfly nymphs.

I fish several times a week, catch multiple fish, fish with a caddis pupa and a small pt flashback, and the majority of my fish are on the pt. Are you fishing the riffle and white water? Mostly stay away from the slower water except for the very beginning of the morning.

[jhaquett]

I fish slower, deeper water, but not the slowest and deepest holes on the Upper Sac, something in between.

Should I be fishing shallow and fast?

[dtp916]

A lot of fish are in faster water because the water is warmer below Simms. Colder water has a higher oxygen content level - I'm sure you know that.

Try hitting some pockets with small nymphs and a lot of weight

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Smoken good report Scott,

Besides around June, later in Oct/Nov is good too.

It's a great river............

Ted Fay Fly Shop is the best too.

We were just up visiting them last month too.