Fly Fishing on the Lower Sac continues to be good to great

Sacramento River - CA


by The Fly Shop
8-30-2011
Website

Current River Conditions:
River flows are currently 11,250 cfs. Expect the conditions and the fishing to stay reliably "good", at the very least, through September! Water conditions are just right, green in color and about 10 feet of visibility. Everybody seems to be getting into rainbows. Better anglers will get better results. For now, the Lower Sacramento offers nothing less than a productive experience. Anglers with a good hook-set are doing best! Expect rainbow trout in the 16" range and a few smaller. Bigger rainbows going 20"-25" are in the mix for some anglers. You have to fish the Sac to have a chance at one or two! They fight hard! Dry fly fishing using Cutter's E/C Caddis can happen in the early evening! See the dry fly listed below for the hot top water patterns at sunset!

Click here for up to date Lower Sacramento flow

The Fly Shop's ? Tips:
As the weather warms up, rainbows will start keying on various caddis nymph patterns like Fox's Cinnamon Poopah #12. In the late afternoons and early evenings, anglers should find fish rising in the shallow glides and tail outs of the big riffles on the Sac. Look for midge and baetis hatches in the mornings. Have #16-18 Red Zebra Midges on your leader in the mornings, Fish #12-16 Birds Nests in the afternoon. The best way to fish the Lower Sacramento is out of a drift boat, especially at this time of year! Fish nymph patterns using a big indicator and 0.8 to 1.6 gram shot, using 3x - 4x tippet. Depth between indicator and shot can be from 5ft.-8ft. Start looking for rising rainbows along the edges of the river and in shallow tail outs. Try a yellow micro spawn!

Bridge News:
All of the construction projects have finished their in-river work, so there are no longer hazards in the river at any of the bridges, and there are no longer flow-related boating restrictions anywhere on the river. Yeah!

River Fact:
How did the Sacramento River get it's name? In 1808, Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga, on a journey to find suitable sites for the construction of missions, became the first foreigner to see the river clearly. Judging its huge breadth and power he named it Rio de good Sacramentos, or "River of the Blessed Sacrament".

Flies:

Dries:
• Mercer's Missing Link #14-16
• Cutter's E/C Caddis Tan #14-16
• Dean's Twilight Caddis #10-14
• Crowning Poopah Cinnamon

Nymphs/Wet Flies:
• Pat's Rubberlegs #4-8
• Eng Thing #16
• Black Zebra Midge #16-18
• GB Flashback Olive PT #16-18
• CB Birds Nest #12-16
• S&M #16-18 (Any Color)
• TB Pseudo May #16-18 Brown/Olive
• Zaddis Amber #12-14
• Red Micro Mayfly #16-18
• Cinnamon BH Poopah #12-14
• Skip Nymph #16

Streamers/Leeches:
• Muddler Minnow #10
• Freshwater Clouser Olive/White

Eggs:
• Micro Spawn Oregon Cheese
• Boles Bazookas (Any)




More Reports

The Fly Shop Reports
for Friday, August 26th, 2011

Lewiston Lake: Lewiston Lake should be on your August through September Fly Destinations
Klamath River - Upper - CA: The Klamath is beginning to warm up for the Fall Season

The Fly Shop Reports
for Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Manzanita Lake: Fishing on Manzanita Lake has been fair
McCumber Reservoir: At Lake McCumber a few fish being caught, No crowds
Keswick Reservoir: Reports out of Keswick have been slow, so our guess is it's fishing good