We’re just two short weeks from November now and that means Sac River steelhead! We’ve already caught several fin clipped hatchery steelhead during our recent salmon fishing trips so we know we’re not too far off from our consistent steelhead fishing that lasts well into winter. Red Bluff to Anderson is where we concentrate our efforts during the late fall and winter salmon/steelhead seasons. There will also be late fall King salmon available through Dec 31st in the areas we fish for steelhead.

Beautiful wild steelhead caught December 2022 in the Anderson area.

We haven’t seen any big steelhead caught just yet but if our season is anything like last year, we’ll see some bigger specimens caught again this year. Coleman Hatchery has been recycling some of their returning adults after they spawn and we’ve seen some older steelhead coming back again in recent years. First year return spawners on the Sac are traditionally pretty small, but the second season spawn return groups are much bigger.

Coleman Hatchery returning steelhead caught last year during one of many high water periods we saw last season.

We spend a lot of time side drifting and bobber dogging for the steelhead in the shallows but we also have some days when back trolling Brad’s Wigglers in the long runs can pay off as well. Bait and beads are best early in the season and after we have some steelhead in the Anderson area for a few weeks they get pretty territorial and get aggressive towards intrusive plugs. We run ultra light rods for our winter steelhead so when you hook up, its a lot of fun to fight these hot fish!

Hatchery steelhead caught back trolling a 3.0 Mag Lip plug in a tail out on the Sacramento River

We’ll have 3 guides working the Sac for winter steelhead, fishing and guiding out of our power boats. We don’t have a lot of availability but give Jaynie a call at our reservation desk and she can work on getting a date that will work for you and one of our available guides. She can be reached at (530) 510-2925 every day but Sunday. Thank you!

Captain Jeff Goodwin