A Sacramento River Double Shot   By: Cal Kellogg July 17, 2007 More Articles by Cal

The Sacramento is California's most prolific river fishery. Up above Lake Shasta the river is relatively small at least when compared to the bulk and power it boasts below Shasta. The upper section of the river in the vicinity of Dunsmuir is noted for the excellent dry fly and nymph action it provides for bank anglers and waders seeking hard fighting trout.

Just to the north of Shasta Dam the Sacramento is joined by the McCloud and Pit Rivers. As a result, when the Sacramento emerges from Shasta and proceeds down the valley past the city of Anderson it is wide, deep and in most areas fast flowing.

Of course, this section of the Sacramento is best know for the outstanding fall and winter salmon fishing it provides, but many anglers fail to realize that this cold nutrient rich section of the river also plays host to some of the best wild rainbow fishing in the entire west, including the fabled waters of Montana and Wyoming.

As the river flows south beyond Anderson, Red Bluff and Chico it gradually becomes slower and deeper, taking on the wide and serene, yet deceivingly powerful persona that it displays in the delta.

In the delta, say once the Sacramento passes through the City of Sacramento, the river becomes a potpourri of sportfishing excitement featuring some of the best gamefish the Golden State has to offer, such as striped bass, sturgeon, Florida strain largemouths, smallmouth bass, channel catfish and of course the much sought after king salmon.

Over the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to sample the mighty Sacramento's superb action on a couple of different occasions. On May 26 I teamed up with Jason Thatcher of Executive Guide Service and Justin Wolff of Angler West Television to make a 15 mile drift in pursuit of wild rainbows on a stretch of river between Anderson and Red Bluff.

As Fish Sniffer readers known, I've been on Angler West Television a number of different times, but this experience shaped up to be a little different. Months before, I'd mentioned to Justin that I'd be happy to try running the camera if he would like to put together a segment in which he does the fishing. Well, he finally took me up on the offer and on the drift I was slated to be behind the camera rather than in front of it.

After Jason rigged Justin's Powell fly rod with a pair of small nymphs, several split shot and a big fluffy indicator; we shoved the drift boat into the current and started down stream. Jason was on the oars, Justin was in the front making casts and I was in the rear trying to hold the camera steady enough to record the action.

We'd been on the move for about 15 minutes when Justin hooked the first fish. I caught the action, but unfortunately the fish turned out to be a sucker rather than a rainbow. A short distance further on Justin successfully boated a rainbow. And so it went, mile after mile, the fishing or rather the catching wasn't none stop, but Justin was hooking enough fish to keep things interesting.

The high point came in the stretch just above the mouth of Battle Creek. The stretch looked really good so I focused the camera on the indicator as I had done dozens of times throughout the morning. Luck was with us this time and I captured the indicator being tugged below the surface on tape. I then slowly panned upward and filmed Justin as he fought the hard charging thick bodied rainbow.

By the time we reached the area where Justin had left his pickup he'd boated several fish, I shot over an hour of tape and Jason had been oaring for hours. I can tell all the aspiring camera operators out there that it's not as easy as it looks. You've got to keep the camera still, watch the light level and stay on top of the action.

After the first hour or so the camera that once felt light seems to weigh about a hundred pounds and your shoulder feels like it is going to fall off. I thought the tough part about doing a fishing show was finding willing fish, but I now know that the real work goes on behind the camera.

After dropping Justin off, Jason and I continued down river at quick clip trying to reach his truck and trailer before darkness overtook us. On the way downstream I got three bites and hooked two 'bows. One was a little guy of about 10 inches, but the second fish was a handsome 2.5 pounder that used the current to put up a spectacular and prolonged fight. Landing and releasing that great rainbow put an exclamation point on an exciting and productive day!

My most recent foray on the Sacramento was much different. The spring striper run between Walnut Grove and Pittsburg has been phenomenal this year. Despite being the Sniffers resident striper junky I hadn't had the time to get out on the river.

Well, with the run likely to end any day now I touched base with some folks at the office and we decided to make an exploratory trip on June 14. Our publisher Allen Bonslett would be fishing from his Proline with his son Derek, while our office manager Nan Hart and I would be fishing from my Jetcraft 1825.

After stocking up on fresh shad at Rio Vista Bait, we dropped our boats into the water at Brannon Island. I led the way out of Three Mile Slough and headed down to Light 18 near the southern tip of Decker Island. As soon as I slowed the boat over the edge of the ship channel the screen of my Lowrance unit came alive with stripers. Allen was a few hundred yards below me and confirmed over the radio that he was over big numbers of fish too.

After dropping our anchors we wasted no time getting our baits into the water. Nan quickly whacked the first keeper, a handsome 21 incher. Derek followed up with a keeper of his own and then another. Around that time, my anchor broke loose and for the next hour I struggled to reposition the boat. As we reset the anchor time after time, steady reports of fish being hooked by Allen came over the radio. By 9 o'clock Allen and Derek had full limits of bass to 7 pounds and headed for home.

At long last Nan and I once again got the anchor to hold and immediately started hooking stripers. By 10:15, I filled out our limit with a hard fighting 23 incher. Just about the time we were going to head in the Sniffer's Managing Editor Dan Bacher called us on my cell phone. When he heard how hot the bite was he decided to meet us at the boat ramp in hopes of boating a limit of his own.

After picking Dan up I took motored out to the area were Allen had been anchored and got set up. Immediately, Dan boated a nice catfish and followed up with an 18.5 inch keeper striper. After that Dan got strike after. By the time the outgoing tide died, Dan had gotten at least a dozen strikes, but as luck would have it the only ones that got hooked were shakers.

As we motored to the ramp I told Dan what Bobby Barrack had told me several months before. "Dan I can put you fish, but it's up to you to execute," I laughed. "Whatever," Dan sarcastically grumbled as we zipped back into Three Mile Slough.