Winter rainbow trout fishing on the Sacramento River!
Flows on the Sacramento River have been dropped to 4,000 cfs from Keswick Dam. This is the minimum flow for our power boat trips. There are still salmon spawning in the Sacramento River in the Redding area and this really helps locate the trout in this system. Because the trout are feeding heavily on salmon eggs dropped by spawning salmon, using single egg patterns is a great choice when fishing for Sacramento River trout. We will side drift these single egg patterns over areas salmon are known to spawn. This technique is very effective and we can cover a lot of ground quickly.
When the egg bite just isn’t happening, its often times a good choice to pull plugs or bait divers on the Sacramento River. Slowing things down and getting these presentations down in the areas trout will tend to hold often times will result in a territorial bite or an impulse to eat bait presented in this fashion. Letting plugs dive 60-70’ feet behind the boat is one of the techniques that entices some of the biggest Sacramento River trout of the season. Its a slower paced style of fishing, but the strikes these trout display are often times savage! Our biggest trout to date on the Sacramento River is 6.13 pounds and was caught on a small diving plug.
This past week has seen some productive fishing, but the best is yet to come. When the spring releases from Shasta Lake begin, we will see a much better bite from the rainbow trout in the Redding area. Some of the best fishing for the biggest trout happen in the spring. Your Sacramento River trout fishing trip is just an easy phone call away from becoming a reality. Be sure to get your date scheduled to take total advantage of the excellent Sacramento River rainbow trout fishing here in Redding, Ca.
- Capt. Jeff
