I reeled in the first fish of the day within a half an hour of getting on the water. I couldn't believe the difference in the fight between a wild rainbow and a hatchery rainbow. With the hatchery fish, I could barely tell that the fish was even on, but with the wild trout, it felt like I was reeling in a salmon.

When we brought the trout out of the water, I was amazed by the vivid colors. Soon after reeling in the fish, we had another fish on. As I was reeling it in, we saw boats going up river along the banks. When they got closer, we discovered that they were from the Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff said that they were collecting and tagging the carcasses of the winter run chinook salmon. "When we collect them again later on in the season, we will be able to get an idea of the numbers of fish, their drift patterns, along with how many of the salmon are wild and how many are hatchery fish," said one of the crew.

After we talked with them, fishing began to slow down. The air temperature began to rise, which meant the surface water temperature was warming up, too. We started casting our plugs in the shady areas under the brush and managed to get a few hits, but hooked nothing.

Kirk decided that it was time to begin side drifting with nightcrawlers and crickets, which would allow Patrick and I to work on our casting technique. We began casting our bait near the banks, under the brush and shrubs. After the bait hit the bottom, we would bounce the bait until it got past the boat, and then cast out again. We did this for a while and found that we were getting nothing.

Kirk moved us up to the Cypress Street Bridge, where we hoped we would have more luck. "We should find fish behind the pillars, where they can hold in the fast current, as well as being shaded from the sun," said Portocarrero.

After working on our casting techniques and catching no fish, Kirk predicted that we would find success after returning to back trolling with plugs. We moved down the river, just below the boat launch, and began casting plugs again.

We began to grow discouraged. It was already after noon and the sun just continued to beat down on us, when all of a sudden we had two hits simultaneously. Patrick ended up reeling in the biggest trout of the trip, weighing around 3 pounds. I was so happy that he was finally able to bring one in; he was overflowing with joy. But just as soon as he cast his line out, Patrick landed another gorgeous rainbow.

We were dumbfounded. We thought for sure that with the heat and it being the middle of the day, that there would be no way that we could catch another fish. We tried for a while longer and came to the realization that we were beaten by the sun and heat and it was time to call it a day. Though it was a bit of a slow day, we had a great time.

Kirk explained that with the recent storm and the full moon, the bite had slowed, but it should be picking back up within a couple of days. Even a slow day on the Sacramento River in Redding can be a great day just because of the beauty and peace that that area brings.