“My clients hooked 39 steelhead, landing 24 of them, in my last three days of fishing on the Russian,” said Bob Sparre of Rocky River Guide Service. “The fish ranged between 6 and 14 pounds.”

The anglers hooked the steelhead while fishing roe and “firecrackers” – yarn flies – on drift boat adventures with Sparre.

High flows at press time confined the angling options on the Russian River to plunking from shore. “Anglers are catching steelhead on roe and yarn, Spin Glos and Corkies in sizes #6 to 8,” said Jim Whitlock at Outdoor Pro Shop in Rohnert Park. “The mouth of Dry Creek and Memorial Beach are the top areas.”

Black bass and landlocked steelhead fishing is “very flow” on Lake Sonoma, due to high and muddy water conditions.

Fishing for channel catfish in the creek channels is worth a try. Fish nightcrawlers, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, chicken livers and other baits for big, brawling catfish. 

“When it has been calm I haven’t had customers and when I’ve had customers it has been too rough to go out,” exclaimed Randy Thornton of Telstar Charters. “The crabbing is great - I’ve scored limits and near limits every time we’ve gone out. The crabs we’ve been getting have been big and healthy.”

“I’m really looking forward to the February 16 salmon opener. You can never tell how the fishing will be during the early season, but the last time I was out on the water the conditions looked great. There was a lot of bait and I even saw a small salmon jump, so I’m hoping we’ll get in on some decent action,” said Thornton. Since Thornton will be teaming salmon trolling with crabbing, opening day anglers won’t have to worry about walking off the Telstar empty handed if the salmon play hard to get. 

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According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on February 2, some nice steelhead are being caught in the mainstem of the Umpqua in areas such as River Forks and Cleveland Rapids. The recent snow and predicted rain could cause the river to rise and become muddy. If that happens the best angling approach will likely be plunking from the banks. Remember that as of Jan. 1, 2008, the mainstem Umpqua is closed to wild steelhead harvest; it remains open year-round for adipose fin-clipped steelhead.

The North Umpqua has remained fishable but the water temperature has dropped to 39 degrees. The fish will be more active as the water warms this week with warmer temperatures and some rain. The early run of steelhead crossing the dam has been strong.

Over 750 winter steelhead crossed Winchester Dam in December. This is the second best December run in the last decade. The count now is over 1,000 steelhead. Remember that only adipose fin-clipped steelhead can be harvested on the North Umpqua.

The South Umpqua is open for adipose fin-clipped steelhead only. The recent snow and rain are likely to cause the South Umpqua to become too high and muddy for boat angling. However, in addition to several good drift boat floats between Canyonville and Roseburg, there are good bank angling opportunities at Templeton Beach, the Myrtle Creek Bridge, Stanton Park, and behind Seven Feathers Casino.

Steelhead fishing on the Elk and Sixes will improve dramatically with the latest round of storms. Clear and cold water last week made for tough fishing conditions, but anglers will enjoy near perfect conditions late this week.

Elk River fishes best at 5.0 feet and dropping. Anglers can call Elk River Hatchery (541-332-7025) to get the latest gage heights.

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“Anglers are enjoying pretty good bass fishing at Lake Shasta,” disclosed George Mejorado at Phil’s Propellers. “We’ve had a couple of tournaments up here recently and the anglers involved boated a lot of fish. Based on the weights we saw, quite a few larger than average bass have been active.”

“Anglers are basically working two different patterns at this time. For numbers of fish and the occasional quality fish guys are work 6 inch plastic worms on darter heads and Senkos. The most popular worm colors have been blue ghost or peacock bass. For a shot at the largest fish some anglers are throwing 6 and 8 inch swimbaits in either the white pearl or rainbow trout colors. If you go with swimbaits, you’ve got to be patient. You won’t get many strikes, but those that you do get will come from quality bass,” said Mejorado.

At this time the lake’s bass are spread out all over the lake and are holding at a variety of depths from the surface to 40 plus feet deep.

According to the folks at the Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association, anglers interested in trout should troll in coves where the wind drives the bait. They should also consider plugging with Kastmasters, Cripplures or Rapalas that imitate the shad the trout feed on. Most of the trout being caught are rainbows that average 1 to 3 pounds.

For a shot at a brown trout anglers should focus their effort on working the McCloud River Arm. Slow rolling shad will result in some strikes, but speed trolling with minnow plugs such as Shasta Tackle’s Matrix Kazi Minnows or Yo-Zuri Hardcore Jerkbaits, allow anglers to cover more water and increases their chances of hooking up.

Shasta is currently 103.78 feet from maximum pool and is on the rise.

At Whiskeytown Reservoir anglers have been few and far between. As a result it has been virtually impossible to get a report. The trout are currently holding in the top 20 feet of the water column. Trolling minnow imitating spoons such as Needlefish, Hum Dingers, Sep’s Pro Secrets or Excels represent the top method for success.

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The Velocity made a trip on Saturday February 2 that yielded good sanddab and mackerel fishing for 7 anglers. They caught 200 sanddabs, 50 Spanish mackerel and 40 Pacific mackerel while fishing in 300 feet of water off Santa Cruz, according to Ken Stagnaro of Stagnaro’s Fishing Trips.

“The surfperch fishing has been hit and miss in between the swells and rain,” disclosed Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. “There are some stripers being caught in the river mouths over the last week.”

There has been some good rockcod fishing in the local reefs at the low tides for poke polers. The crab fishing is still hit and miss for commercial and sport anglers from Santa Cruz, noted Fraser.

The Sur Randy made a sanddab/mackerel trip on February 2, reported Pete Bruno of Randy’s Fishing Trips in Monterey. “There was a big swell, so the fishing was tough and the anglers came in early,” said Bruno. “They averaged about 8 to 10 sanddabs and 8 to 10 mackerel per rod.”

On the latest trip on the Checkmate, the 12 anglers caught lots of sanddabs and mackerel, according to Todd Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips.

“Some 6-10 pound steelhead are being caught at the local hot spots in the San Lorenzo River,” added Fraser.” This last storm should give us enough water in the river to fish for a few weeks.”

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Baum Lake is still a good place to catch some nice trout, with some browns being planted by the DFG this week. Wooly bugger fishermen are picking up fish. The best color seems to be olive currrently, but that can change.

“Bait fishermen are still doing best with crawlers,” said Vaughn, “while lure fishermen are using Kastmasters and Panther Martins for good results. Fly fishermen might also try small midge dries, BWO's, small bead-head nymphs such as a zebra midge in sizes 20-24.”

No current report on the trout fishing on the Pit River is available. The river is open to catch and release, artificials only with barbless hooks from Lake Britton dam downstream through April 25, 2008.

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“We are aggressively re-establishing the fishery so that anglers can pursue the excellent trout fishing they were accustomed to at Lake Davis,” said Randy Kelly, the acting manager of the Lake Davis project.

Last month, DFG planted more than 31,000 Eagle Lake trout from its American River Hatchery, ranging in size from one-half pound to more than three pounds, into Lake Davis. Additional plantings of nearly 1 million trout are planned later this year. The daily bag limit for trout on Lake Davis in Plumas County is five per day with 10 in possession.

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lifted the temporary public safety closure of Lake Davis prompted by the Lake Davis Northern Pike Eradication Project on Jan.18. Although currently frozen over, Lake Davis and the area surrounding the reservoir is open to the public. The Department of Public Health has confirmed no detectable levels of the chemicals used to treat the reservoir in the surface waters of Lake Davis.

After several years of control and containment efforts at Lake Davis, the state moved to eradicate the predatory, non-native northern pike last September. DFG officials treated the Plumas County reservoir, which is on USFS land, and its tributary streams with CFT Legumine, a new liquid formulation of rotenone, one of the only chemicals licensed to kill fish in California.

Keeping pike out of Lake Davis and other California waters benefits everyone. Pike devastated the Lake Davis fishery and have negatively impacted the local economy since 1999, when they reappeared in the reservoir after an eradication project in October 1997. Escaped pike could have caused irreversible ecological and economic harm to other areas of the state and region, including the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Meanwhile, everyone at Frenchman Lake is fishing at or near the dam where the ice continues to be about a foot thick, according to Shirley Wiggin at Wiggin’s Trading Post.

One angler reported catching a limit of rainbows off the rock island near the dam. The best bait continues to be nightcrawlers.

“The road around the dam is still impassable unless you have a snowmobile,” said Wiggins. “Several people with 4 wheel drive vehicles have become stuck trying to drive around the lake, so please use caution.”

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“The river is high and muddy right now,” reported Bill Divens of Salmon King Lodge on January 31. “As soon as the river clears, the trout will go back on the bite. The fishing had been pretty good before this most recent series of storms and it should only get better over the next several weeks.”

Jason Thatcher of All River Fishing reported that the river in the stretch immediately below Keswick Dam is currently fishable despite all the rain.

“The conditions below Keswick aren’t by any means prime, but the water is green and fishable,” Thatcher noted. “The water has to flow down below Redding before the inflowing tributaries have the opportunity to muddy it. I drove over a couple of the tributaries on my way home today and they were clearing up, but I think they will start blowing mud again soon, since the forecast calls for our area to get 2 inches of rain over the next 24 hours.”

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“Anglers in our area are still getting sturgeon,” reported Meeka Birring at Rio Vista Bait. “The bite is pretty good for patient anglers. The sturgeon are spread out and I’ve heard of keepers coming from a variety of locations including Cache Slough, Broad Slough, Chain Island and the Rio Vista Bridge”

“An angler named John from Sacramento cam in with a 60 inch 70 pounder that he caught in Montezuma Slough on ghost shrimp. A 53 inch keeper was brought in from Cache Slough the other day and we also weighed a 56 pounder that was caught down at Sherman Island. The best baits have been ghost shrimp, grass shrimp, roe and pile worms. There are a few stripers being caught on these baits too, but overall the striper action has been pretty slow,” added Birring.

Audie at Hap’s Bait reported that there are fish being caught, but added that with all the rain and cold there are few anglers out on the water fishing. “In the last several days there was one 57 pound sturgeon brought into the shop that was caught up in Cache Slough and one striper. If you are heading out now, you want to be using grass shrimp or ghost shrimp,” tipped Audie.

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Most anglers have been throwing jigs and plastic worms to catch bass. If you can find bait from 15 to 50 feet deep, there is also a good spooning bite. The main lake up to windy gap is where the best bite for bass is located.

Trout are being caught trolling 5 to 6 colors leadcore, with either a night crawler or needlefish behind a flasher. Some salmon have also been caught from 40 to 60 feet on the same lures of rolling shad.

“Millerton has been rising and the bite has really been off,” said Merritt Gilbert of Valley Rod and Gun.

The bass bite is on and off, some days you will catch a few fish and some other days it is dead. Most bass fisherman are throwing jigs and plastics from 25 to 60 feet deep. Around schools of bait, spoons are also producing.  

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“The mack bite is practically non-existent,” said Mathis. “Two days of fishing resulted in zero bites. The snow is three feet deep at Union Valley and getting there – much less launching will be very difficult. Loon Lake has even more snow and Ice House will be hit or miss for people getting there, too.”

Although snow is hitting Jenkinson Lake, anglers are able to access the lake and another mack tipping the scales at fourteen pounds came out last week.

“The macks are showing in decent numbers – with most in 2-3 pound range,” said Denise Cole of Sly Park Lake Resort. “A local angler pulled a fourteen pounder out on a spinner. Most are falling for a small minnow imitation lures similar to Rapalas.”

A few brown trout are coming out here and there, with most fish being taken in the island areas 30-40 feet deep, noted Cole.  

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“The fishing on the Lower Owens is pretty decent,” reported Gary Gunsolley at Brock’s Sporting Goods. “The river is flowing at about 100 cfs and that makes for pretty easy fishing. Small nymphs in the 18 to 20 size range are the way to go. Pheasant tails, WD 40’s and tiger midges are all working. Right now the actual pattern you use isn’t as important as the size and color. Using small flies that are either black or olive in color is the key to success.”

“If you are a decent fly angler, you can expect to get about 15 strikes per day. You should be able to catch more than one fish per hour with no trouble at all,” continued Gunsolley.

At Pleasant Valley Reservoir fly anglers fishing near the inlet from float tubes are hooking browns. “Fishing streamers like woolly bugger and matukas in the reservoir has been pretty productive, but you’ve got to be ready for the cold. The water out there is only running around 40 degrees,” added Gunsolley.

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“The fishing has been on the slow side, primarily due to the stormy cold weather we’ve been seeing recently,” related Carla Molino at the Pyramid Lake Store. “Today is a good example of what I’m talking about. My husband George went out this morning and started catching fish right away. The anglers with him got a 7 pounder, but right after they got that fish the wind came up and they had to head in. The fishing was pretty good while they were out there, they just didn’t have much time to fish.”

“All in all, I guess I’d say the fishing was fair right now. Angler success should be a lot better when the weather improves, but that doesn’t look like it is going to happen soon, not for the next few days at least,” added Molino.

At Crosby Lodge Diana Miller agreed with Molino’s assessment. “The fishing has been pretty slow and the weather is making it tough on our anglers,” said Miller. “A few anglers went out this morning, but only heard of one fish being caught before the wind came up and forced everyone to come back in.”  

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“I got out after crabs on Friday and we scored full limits,” reported Captain Tom Mattusch of Hulicat Sportfishing on February 4. “It hasn’t been easy to get out between storms, but we got lucky that day.”

“I’d like to report that if the ocean conditions calmed down that we could go out after jumbo Humboldt squid, but there is a lot of evidence that the squid are gone. A big mass of squid made a brief showing off Southern California and now they have appeared in Baja. It is likely that the squid showing off of Baja are the ones that were holding off California about a month ago,” disclosed Mattusch.

The folks at Queen of Hearts Sportfishing have not been out of the harbor recently due to rough weather. Weather permitting, they will be offering squid fishing expeditions on Saturdays and whale watching trips on Sundays through the end of March.

“It’s been rainy and quiet down here,” related Peggy Beckett of the Huck Finn Sportfishing Center. “We have not had any boats go out, but we hope to run some squid trips in the coming weeks.”