I have been fishing on the Sacramento River a lot lately due to the last FPT event being held there and have some tips to share. I have been launching at Discovery Park and have mainly been fishing on the main river.

The first bait you are going to want to throw is a crank bait. You want two of these tied on. One that dives 5-8 foot and one that dives 8-11 foot, both in a red craw fish color. I throw the 5-8 foot diver on rip rap banks or anything that makes a break in the current such as sharp turns in the river bank or big docks. The 8-11 foot diver is really good for the deep wing dams and for cranking the bridge pilings on the I-5 and highway 80 bridges. I have been choosing to throw the Strike King Pro Model Series 3 Crankbaits because they are cheap and have some good colors.

There is tons of visible cover up and down the river that is good to flip. You need something that has some water under it though as some cover is very shallow. My best bait for this has been a tube with a ¼ ounce weight. If the cover is in faster moving current make sure you flip up past it so you can get your bait down.

The last bait I keyed on was a shaky head. My favorite is the VMC Ike approved shaky head. I usually rig it with a strike king finesse worm or the Strike King Elaztech worm. I think the regular finesse worm works better for the river though. Throw this bait where ever the current is really slow or up on the rip rap banks. If you aren’t getting bit on the crank bait or the tube you will surely catch a couple on the shaky head.

The only other place that I fished besides the main river was Sacramento slough. Most of the fish I caught there were tiny with the exception of one 3lb large mouth. For the slough my best bait was an Ikes mini flipping jig and a spinner bait. Hope these tips help!