Half a dozen years ago we were in a major multi year drought. The effect on our salmon fisheries was so severe that we closed salmon fishing statewide for two years and this year we only had a limited season. Three years ago the wet years returned and our salmon fishery has been slowly coming back.
Salmon are managed on a river by river basis. The Feather, American and Mokelumne rivers bounced back quickly but the main problem has been on the Sacramento River. The rules for the partial reopening this year were written specifically to preclude harvesting fish returning to the Sacramento River. The numbers of returning salmon this year have exploded. The number of fall run salmon returning to the Coleman Hatchery have reached 40,000, close to a ten fold increase from last year. The hatchery staff expects to harvest 28 to 30 million eggs. In recent years Coleman had to request eggs from other hatcheries in the state to meet its goals. This year there is more than enough to make its quota.
There is another component to the salmon population and that is the natural spawn in the river from Red Bluff up through Redding. I spoke with Tim Fox who has guided this stretch of river for decades. There has not been an official estimate of the fall spawn here but Tim believes there could be as many as 100,000 salmon in the river above the hatchery. He has not seen this many salmon in the system for as much as a decade.
Tim fishes not for salmon but for resident rainbow trout and returning steelhead. The quality of his fisheries is directly related to the salmon returns. Individual salmon lose a small percentage of their eggs but when multiplied by the tens of thousand of spawners, there is an incredible amount of protein released. Also the salmon bodies left in the river build the food chain of the river. Tim has seen the effects in the trout he catches. In the spring of 2024 through this spring the size of the local trout had declined to the 15” to 17” range. Five years prior, rainbows in the 20” to 22” range were common.
Over the course of this summer and fall Tim estimates that the local trout have put on as much as 2 inches in length. The girth of the fish have noticeably increased as well.
Tim floats the river in his drift boat. During the summer irrigating season the river can be 12,000 cfs. Over the course of the last month the river flows have been decreasing. A week ago the flows were 6500 and now have dropped to 4500 cfs. The flows near 4,000 are good for shore access for wading anglers. One of the more popular areas for shore anglers is near the SunDial Bridge in Redding. There are numerous riffles between Redding and Red Bluff that have public access. Tim recommends picking a location for fishing based on water clarity. The main source of turbid water is Cottonwood Creek after rainy weather. There are other local creeks that can muddy the water as well. Tim’s rule is to head up stream to find clearer water. In Redding the water comes from Lake Shasta and is clear in the fall.
Tim’s preferred fishing method is egg imitations at this time of year. The original “Glo-Bug” , a yarn egg, was invented in Redding. Now that the egg bite has been on for well over a month the trout have become rather selective. Tim carries sizes 8mm and 10mm in a variety of colors. Washed out pink, champagne, is a good color to have with you. The other fly option is insect imitations. A Bird’s Nest or BWO nymph in size 16 are popular patterns in the area.
Based on Tim’s decades of fishing the Sacramento River he says the fishing will remain good from Thanksgiving through the first of the year. The Sacramento River has a “Late Fall” run of salmon that will be in the system during this time. Depending on the amount of rainfall Lake Shasta can get muddy and feed off colored water into the Redding area during the worst of the winter season.
I checked in with Jeff Goodwin who guides on Lake Shasta. Currently the lake is in a transition period and the trout fishing is poor. Every year in late October through most of November the trout are moving from the depths up to the shallows as the water temp drops down toward the high 50’s. Bass anglers working the lake edges are picking up an occasional trout. The shad minnows are in the same pattern. A week ago the surface temp was 61 degrees. The lake is on the rise but is still 80 feet below full. Most years the good fishing for bigger trout comes on between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Both Eagle Lake and Almanor have excellent fall trout fishing. On Eagle Lake the traditional Jay Fair flies in orange continue to produce. On Lake Almanor the pond smelt minnows are near the surface and long line trolling has continued to produce quality trout as well as smallmouth bass. Look for windows of decent weather and go now. Come January you will wish you had gone.
