Stalking American River Linesides   By: Cal Kellogg August 13, 2007 More Articles by Cal

The American River between Nimbus Dam and the Sacramento River is one of the west's fantastic fisheries, boasting king salmon, steelhead, striped bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, American shad, bluegill and even catfish.

The American is a river of many faces and this, combined with the fact that is river supports a rich forage base, is one of the reasons it holds such a diverse array of gamefish. Below Nimbus the river is fast flowing, looking like a typical trout or steelhead river. In it's middle stretch rapids are separated by deep placid pools hundreds of yards long and side sloughs and channels lead off into warm still water ponds and oxbows. In it's lower reaches the river takes on a slough like appearance as it prepares to merge with the Sacramento just a few miles up river from the start of the California delta.

Now as most Fish Sniffer readers know, I love fishing for striped bass. When I picture striper water in my mind, I either visualize a delta slough, the churning currents of San Francisco Bay or the frothing surf outside the Golden Gate. The last thing I think of are the clear, cold waters of the American River, but stripers are there and some of them are massive.

My first experience with the American's monster stripers came during a steelhead fishing adventure with Randy Buffington of American River Guide Service back in September of 2005. Buffington and I were into the steelhead pretty good, when a huge 30 plus pound bass shot out of a run and grabbed the 6 pound steelhead we'd hooked crosswise in it's jaws. I couldn't believe my eyes as the largest striper I'd ever seen cruised aside of the drift boat trying to swallow that big steelhead!

Randy has been catching stripers with regularity over the past few weeks. When Randy called me and mention that he didn't have any clients on July 13, I wasted no time setting up a trip with visions of big brawling stripers in my mind! I met Randy at the Howe Avenue access at 5 o'clock in the morning on the 13th. After putting my gear in his boat we drove up to the Gristmill, launched the boat and floated downstream to an area that features a split in the current and abundant submerged trees.

In the milky dawn light we started working Pencil Poppers over seams in the current. Randy had only made a half dozen casts when a striper charged his popper, missing it. On the next cast the bass was back, this time it grabbed the bait and Randy had it hooked for a split second.

About 5 minutes later we saw a big boil about 40 feet from the boat in an area we'd already worked with our poppers. Grabbing another rod, Randy baited up a live squawfish and tossed it well above the boil. Seconds later his rod tip dipped and line started screaming off the reel against the light resistance of the clicker. When the bass shifted into high gear, Randy engaged the reel and set the hook.

The rod bent double and line started disappearing from the reel at a fast clip. "Here take the rod while I pull up the anchor," Randy said handing me the surging rod. As soon as the anchor came off the bottom the boat started drifting and I was able to recover a lot of line.

At that point the bass boiled to the surface about 75 feet away and I saw about 24 inches of the stripers back. When we reach some slower water Randy dropped the anchor and I traded him the rod for the landing net.

Randy kept the pressure on the fish as it swam back and forth below the boat. Before long the fish weakened and headed for the boat. Randy led it around the outboard and I readied the net, expecting the bass to surface at any moment. Instead of surfacing it made a final surge for the bottom and went under the limb of a waterlogged snag. Randy tried to prod the fish loose, but didn't have any luck. Once the bass regained some strength it took off with a burst of power and the game ended when the line snapped.

How big was the bass? We'll never know. Certainly it was in the teens, and probably over 20 pounds. Randy and I were pretty deflated when that big bass got away, but we were off to a good start and we had the whole morning ahead of us. We continued to plug until the sun hit the water without another hit and then turned our attention to catching and drifting with live squawfish.

As we drifted I asked Randy about the striper fishing the American provides. "The bass move into the river in March and April to feed on salmon smolts. The fishing is best in July and August when fish that spawned in the Colusa area follow the shad run into the American. Generally the stripers stick around until October when the salmon run really gets going."

Randy likes to fish with topwater baits during the twilight periods of dawn and dusk. During the midday hours he confided that drifting live baits such as squawfish and jumbo minnows in the best approach, but also said that diving lures and swimbaits will take bass too.

"What are the biggest stripers you've encountered?" I asked. "Last August a client of mine named Walt Hidalgo caught a 38 pounder on a dead squawfish. In 2005, I landed and released a 42 pounder on a Pencil Popper that had the tail of another striper sticking out of its throat," related Randy.

By the time noon rolled around and it started to get really hot in the drift boat, Randy and I opted to wrap it up for the day. In addition to losing the big boy, we landed and released 3 quality stripers up to 6 pounds. Not a bad score for a couple guys fishing a gin clear steelhead river in the middle of the Sacramento metropolitan area!