Tackling Trout On California's Premier Stream   By: Cal Kellogg July 26, 2006 More Articles by Cal

It's no secret that I'm an avid trout angler. Indeed, over the years I've had the opportunity to pursue trout on most of the north state's notable lakes and streams. There was a time in my late teens and early 20's that I was interested in little else beyond fly fishing. I spent my winter evenings tying flies and my spring, summer and fall weekends plying a long list of streams from small to large with fly tackle.

Back in those days despite having great luck on big waters like Hat Creek and the Truckee River, I preferred fishing medium to small streams. Favoring them for the seclusion they offered as well as the enthusiasm their wild trout showed in rushing a well presented dry fly whether there was a hatch underway or not.

Up until recently, the one water I'd never wet a fly in was the lower Sacramento between Shasta Dam and Red Bluff. During my hardcore fly fishing phase I thought of the river as primarily a salmon fishery. As a result I never made it a point fish there. Once I began writing for the Sniffer I started seeing photos from Kirk Portocarrero, Mike Bogue, and Kevin Brock of the big colorful trout their clients were landing below Shasta and immediately realized I'd made a big mistake by not hitting the river sooner.

Kirk Portocarrero of Outdoor Adventures Sportfishing is one of the guides I speak with on a weekly basis when gathering information for my Red Bluff and Redding report. Portocarrero enthusiasm and his stories of battling 19, 20 and 21 inch wild rainbows weighing 2, 3 and more pounds left me wanting to fish with him very badly.

In addition to being a talented fishing guide, Portocarrero is one of the best hunting guides in the state for deer, turkey and waterfowl. Like me, the Sniffer's Advertising Director Paul Kneeland loves trout fishing and is an avid hunter. Well it didn't take us long to hatch a plan to meet Portocarrero for a morning of turkey hunting and an afternoon of trout fishing.

By the time the April turkey season rolled around, we had a date set to hook up with Portocarrero during the second week of the month. Well 48 hours before the much awaited day, flows on the Sacramento were raised several thousand cubic feet per second effectively blowing out any possibility of fishing the river for several days. With Portocarrero slated to depart on a spring grizzly hunt soon after, Paul and I were forced to postpone our "Rainbow and Rio Grande Expedition" until next spring.

Even though our combo trip didn't work out, Paul and I figured there was nothing wrong with getting a sneak preview of the trout action after Portocarrero returned from Alaska. Plus we'd get to hear the details of Portocarrero's hunt, assuming the bear didn't get him.

When Portocarrero emailed me a new fishing report in late May, I knew he hadn't ended up as bear chow and immediately gave him a call. We settled on June 6 as the date of our fly fishing adventure. The day's zipped by and before Paul and I knew it we were watching Portocarrero back his drift boat into the Sacramento near the town of Anderson.

On the day of our trip the river was flowing at 14,000 cfs, high but fishable from a boat. The area of the river we would be concentrating on consisted of long runs from 8 to 12 feet deep punctuated by riffles, islands, boulders and fallen trees.

Once we had all our gear in the boat Portocarrero motored us upstream to a backwater area and proceeded to give us a casting lesson. Sure we were both fly anglers but this was going to be "combat fishing", using a 12 untappered leader adorned with a large bushy indicator followed by three split shot, an attractor bead, a glo bug and a No. 10 bead head stonefly nymph at the end.

If your cast was not slow with a deliberate follow through ,you would end up with a tremendous tangle. This happened to me a few times later in the day when I got too excited and tried to rush a cast.

After we practiced casting, Portocarrero motored us out into the current and killed the kicker motor above a slick bank side run. As Portocarrero controlled the drift with the oars we made our casts and mended our lines as we side drifted along the bank. We hadn't covered much ground when my indicator surged under and I hooked my first Sac River rainbow. The brightly marked 16 incher put up a tremendous fight before surrendering to the net.

By the time we released my trout we were out of the run so we motored back up to do it again. This time I hooked a second fish of the same size while Paul swung and missed at his first strike. On the third drift Paul set the hook into his first trout of the day, a carbon copy of my pair.

As the day progressed, we learned why the Sacramento is considered the state's premier trout stream. As the three of us bounced from one stretch of the river to another, we never made a drift that didn't result in strikes and it seemed like one of us was almost always into a trout.

I nailed my largest trout of the trip around mid morning, a hot 4 plus pounder that streaked up stream at the hook set before power diving into the deepest water available. Paul had to wait until early afternoon for his top fish. He hooked the husky rainbow at the end of a run where the current squeezed between a submerged gravel bar and an island. At first the trout ran into slack water before panicking and diving back into the current.

Several minutes later Paul slid the 20 some incher into the rubber catch and release net. I don't now if I had the biggest trout or if Paul's prize beat mine out. It didn't matter they were both over 4 pounds and carefully released after photographs.

We landed more than a dozen beautifully marked hard fighting rainbows and probably hooked and lost twice that many. I can't get over the quality and beauty of the fish. The smallest trout we landed was about 14 inches and their coloration is so intense that they almost look like an exaggerated artist's rendition of a rainbow. When you see a Sacramento River rainbow it is hard to believe that they are related to the dull colored planters that are found in so many waters.

Paul and I hit the river early in the season and had to fight heavy flows. With decreased flows and hot weather the river's trout fishing is just now reaching it's prime. If you want to battle some of the biggest most awe inspiring trout of your life head on up to the Anderson area, I know it won't be long before I'm back on the river.

By the way, Kirk got his grizzly, but he'll have to tell you that story himself..