Current Fishing Report

Jason and Anne made a quick trip up from the Bay Area to fish the Lower Sac.  They wanted to do a half day so we decided to fish from around 3 until dark.  We had pretty steady action throughout the drift thanks to some big caddis hatches.  We've been catching more smallish fish lately, maybe the big boys are waiting for the salmon to show up so they can gorge themselves on eggs.  Keep an eye on our reports so you'll know when the salmon (hopefully!) arrive.  

Project Healing Waters is a nationwide organization with many local chapters that focuses on exposing our veterans to the world of fly fishing.  We had the San Francisco chapter out on the Lower Sac for two days of fun.  We had seven boats and 14 anglers fishing the river on three different drifts, all the way from the Posse Grounds to Jellys Ferry.  Everyone caught some beautiful native Lower Sac rainbows while constantly needling each other and the guides. We have the capability to run large group trips, great for families, businesses, schools, whatever!  We'll make it happen.  And check out Project Healing Waters, they're a great bunch and worthy of a donation if you are so inclined.

This past evening on the lower sac was nothing short of amazing! Lots of large caddis hatching in the late afternoon resulted in great shallow water fishing at the top of riffles and into the skinniest of water in the tailouts. Size 14 nymphs produced some electric grabs and very quality fish. With the great caddis hatch we also observed quite a few mayflies coming off. If your looking for some great evening fishing or even looking to test your dry fly skills a late afternoon is the float for you! 

Jesse Flink with a stunning fish.

Ken and I rowed out of the posse grounds boat ramp at first light on a hazy morning in search of some big end of summer trout this morning. With a few fires north of us the river was Smokey but it didn't affect the fish from eating small mayflies and various Caddis patterns! With this being Kens third trip on the lower sac after fishing many other nor cal and Oregon rivers he was greatly surprised by the quality of these wild fish. I'm free for many lower sac and trinity steelhead trips the following months let's fish!

Get your 8wt and your gotchas ready!  Confluence Outfitters guide Randy Hamann is leading a hosted trip to Andros South this coming April 7-14 2024.  This will be Randy's third time to Andros South.  He loves this destination because the guides are very good at getting you shots at quality bonefish.  During our week in 2023, guests landed bonefish up to ten pounds.  We also had fun chasing (and landing) barracudas and sharks.  As of this writing we have five open spots.  Get in touch with Andrew Harris or Randy Hamann if you have any questions about this trip!  

Big bonefish live here!

Sharks eat flies too

A typical Andros bonefish

The sunsets are amazing

Andros South has the best boats

Barracudas are a blast on the fly!

Tyler brought his dad up to fish the Lower Sac and we had a banner of a day. We started later and were hoping to get the evening caddis hatch but the fishing AND catching started immediately. Fish after fish... which isn't how it always is, so when you have it happen, you just have to be grateful. The fish were eating caddis and mayflies and we even caught some on some really super tiny things too. I sometimes like to hang midges as my bottom fly and every once in awhile, they work. In fact, all of our big fish were on the tiniest of tiny flies. We had doubles and big fish and great times. Hard not to enjoy a day like that. I've fished with Tyler a fair amount now and he's just an all around great dude.... and now I know why... his dad! Ha ha! Now's a great time to get out there!

Well the infamous re-opening of the top section of the Lower Sac took place and, as expected, kicked out some MASSIVE trout. I had a chance to go out and fish with a buddy and we crushed 'em on caddis, caddis, and more caddis. Did I mention caddis? There was a lot of boat traffic but the fishing was so good it didn't seem to really matter. I also landed my personal best trout, which was pretty cool considering I'm normally netting people's fish and watching them get their PBs! Whether you're doing a full day or a half day, the top section boasts large fish and traffic. But there's also another 40 miles or so to fish, so it's not like you just have to pound the top... although that can be fun when they are eating!

Delta Smallmouth Report from Captain Bryce Tedford: Great day with Brian & his son Lucas today, they caught a ton of  fish, had fun & learned a bunch as well.

The afternoon and evening fishing on the Lower Sac has been absolutely FANTASTIC these past couple of weeks! The flows are stable around 10,500 cfs and we're seeing a LOT of caddis and PMDs popping off. The name of the game has been indicator nymphing, but there are also chances to throw dry flies here and there if you find some working fish. Last night I did a float with some buddies so I could capture some video and the fish were chowing right out the gate... and we hooked multiple doubles throughout the day. Majority of fish were on caddis, but we picked a few fish off on some mayflies here and there too. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/Fqk5lCQ_uasFishing during the day has been about average, with fish eating the caddis and PMD nymphs as well as rubber legs. Right now I'm recommending all of my clients come up for a half day and get in on the action. If the Sac fishes like it did last year, the afternoon / evening fishing should last well into October, so you have time to get a day on the books! So many options and so many variations on the floats we can do! Let's go! Hit me up and let's chase some trout! 

Summer hopper fishing on the Lower Yuba has started with a bang. This is a very unique summer as recently the fishing pressure on the river has changed significantly. Over the last few years there has been a lot of riff raff along the river driving quads and polaris razors around causing a ruckus. The landowners have grown tired of this and put up a heavy duty locked gate at the highway 20 entrance. This means that the public access to launch there has been cut off so anyone who is not in the private club that I am a part of essentially cannot launch a drift boat. Additionally, public bank anglers will only be able to hike in at highway 20 and sycamore ranch/hammon grove. Being that the water is up and the river cannot be crossed in most spot and they cannot drive down the 4wd road to access the middle sections of river, there is going to be very little bank angler pressure. The sign on the new gate says that the gate will be up for an undetermined amount of time but they are going to try and do some work in there so my guess is it will be a pretty long time. While this is unfortunate for the everyday bank angler, it just happens to be good for us.All of our days out so far have resulted in a lot of dry fly eats. Hopper fishing is generally much better when there is good flow versus low water conditions. There are a lot of sneaky spots with so much water that we can tuck into. Sometimes the fish will miss the hopper and many people will set too early, but if you want to get some awesome California hopper eats then July August and early September this year is the time. Have plenty of dates open this summer but coming up soon I have July 18,21,24,25,26 to fill. Hope you have a great summer. Ben

The Klamath Basin is heating up! Every year the Klamath Basin surprises with the sheer amount and size of these fish! The Upper Klamath Lake has been outstanding this spring. Those fish will be making their way up the Williamson and Wood Rivers soon. On Sunday we landed several nice fish with copepods attached to them, indicating that they are fresh from the lake. These fish are just the spearhead of the fish to come. I am expecting some great fishing in July and August this year. 

24 Williamson River Redband

25 Williamson River Redband

Had a two boat trip with Kevin Kay and the fishing started out a little slow but by the late morning and early afternoon, we got into 'em! Weather was a little weird for June, as we had some rain and clouds... but the fish didn't seem to mind! Caddis, PMDs, stoneflies... pretty much everything hooked fish! We had several doubles and other than two smaller fourteen inch fish, everything was over 18 inches! Quality fish were landed, quality fish were lost (all of them were over 30 inchers because no one can prove it, ha ha!). We ended the day with a double and just as we were getting off, BWO's started popping off. I wonder what would have happened if we were on a little longer :)

Spent a day with Ryan and his wife on the Lower Sac and we fished from Posse to Bonneyview... twice! The bugs were moving around pretty early on and we caught some nice fish throughout the day, mostly on caddis and a few random mayflies. Saw a lot of PMDs but the fished were definitely eating poopahs and other caddis imitations. The temp was pretty much perfect -- not too hot and not too cold. The quality of these lower Sac trout is amazing and it's hard not to get excited when you see 18+ inch fish consistently hooked! Let's go!

Eric brought his 19 year old son, Ayden, to fish the Lower Sac with me and we had a REALLY great time. The fishing started out pretty consistent and that lasted until the afternoon. The grabs were steady throughout the day and though the morning belonged to Ayden, the ending belonged to Eric! I guess dads have to teach their sons how to keep at it, right? Ha ha! The bugs didn't really ever get going like I was hoping but the fish were eating caddis right off the bat and we also picked up fish on PMDs, Red Headed Step Childs, and other various small nymphs. NOTHING on a rubber legs, shockingly. Toward the end of the day the wind picked up, but that's why it's nice to start early, right? Water clarity down to Anderson was great and in most of the usual spots, we hooked fish. What a great day for this father / son duo and it was great fishing with these great anglers! Casting is definitely important with fly fishing but what's also important on the Lower Sac is getting a good drift because if you can mend appropriately, you'll get eats! And these two got eats!

Spent a half day with David and one of his buddies and the caddis eats were on point. David had the hot stick and the first couple of hours were consistent with most of our fish eating caddis. I think we got one other fish on a PMD and one other on a rubber legs, but the fish were definitely focused on eating caddis. Didn't see many caddis popping off and it was surprising in that there were a consistent amount of PMDs coming off, but that's the Lower Sac for ya. Flows had dropped 2,000 cfs in the morning, but thankfully the fishing didn't seem much affected by that. Drops are always better than when they raise it!

Delta Report from Captain Bryce Tedford: I had a very enjoyable trip today with buddies John & Jerry from the Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club. We had good action in the morning and then struggled to find fish after lunch.  It's been tough to stay on fish consistently the last couple of weeks.  John & Jerry made the most of their opportunities and had a good time out there!

Had a really nice day on the Lower Sac with Doug and the fishing started off pretty great! Doug landed a number of really nice 18-20" fish in the first couple of hours and there was definitely a bite going on. The fish were eating rubber legs, caddis, and the spherical baetis pattern ??Flows have been fairly steady inbetween 12,700 to 13,400 cfs throughout the days. Fish may still be a little unsettled but for the most part the river feels more stable than the past couple of weeks.While we got fish to eat caddis, we didn't see but a few. Saw a lot of PMD's but they didn't seem to be really keying in on those bugs with just a few grabs on mayfly imitations.What I'm really enjoying about the Sac right now is just how different it is with the flow change. It's such a change with more than double the flows and finding the fish is both a challenge and part of the fun.Anyway, the afternoon got pretty warm and the high sun seemed to slow fishing down and the grabs were less often in the afternoon in comparison to the morning.On a side note, Brian Kohlman and I are hosting a trip to Ascension Bay this next year and we would LOVE for you to join us on this multi-species trip! Plus we will have legit shots at permit! Find more info here: https://confluenceoutfitters.com/hosted-travel.aspx

I just finished two really fun days with my guests John and Rob. John fishes with me quite a bit, but this was his longtime friend Rob’s first time. After the usual struggles, Rob got the hang of it and started hooking into some fish! The Sac has been pretty finicky lately with all the flow bumps and whacky spring weather, but the flows have remained consistent this week and the fishing is definitely improving. We’ve got some warm weather in the forecast, so now’s a great time to squeeze in your spring float on the Sac! 

Flows just dropped into great shape on the feather and we had a great day out there yesterday. Fish were chewing, clarity was excellent and there were plenty of fresh hot spring fish

With Shasta Lake full and snow pack at a massive level, flows on the Lower Sac have jumped up and as of this morning are 13,400cfs out of Keswick. The fishing has been up and down based on the flows and the fish are eating a variety of bugs and egg patterns, with PMD's more and more on the horizon due to the increased hatches happening around 11am every day. Should just get better and better! Now's a great time to book a float on the big river and we can cover a LOT of ground with these flows, making for a really fun day!