Springtime Fly Fishing…

April is acting like a typical April… weather has been all over the board here in Northern CA. Don’t like what it looks like outside? Just wait a day. We have experienced wet and windy 50 degrees (snow at 3k) to sunny and high 70’s the very next day.

I have been super busy guiding the Lower Sac for wild trout and Shasta Lake for bass… with nearly every day off spent chasing those gobblers in the turkey woods. April is a wonderful month in northern California and I wish we could have three of them back-to-back. So much to do in April and seemingly not enough time to do it.

I’ll keep the fishing report short:

Bass - This has been my #1 pick of the month. Bass fishing on Shasta Lake is absolutely on fire right now. The conditions are perfect and the lake is at full pool which is very special!

We fish Shasta Lake from my 187 Champion bass boat while focusing on a variety of techniques: float n’ fly… casting poppers in the shadows & wood debris… and stripping baitfish patterns around structure and many submerged trees.

It is about as good as it gets on the lake and we often lose count of the number of fish hooked by lunchtime… Come check it out with me.

I only have April 22-26 open at his time and I will book 1 or 2 of these dates. Get a hold of me asap if interested.

Trout - It’s truthfully been a tough few weeks on the Lower Sac here in Redding, CA. We are scratching out some good fish daily, just not the numbers and consistency that we typically see during spring season. Hatches are slowly developing but remain sorta weak and short lived. You gotta stay focused and not miss your opportunities out on this river right now. Sounds like steelhead fishing, doesn’t it?

I’m seeing PMD, BWO and some MB mayflies. There are a small number of stoneflies and random craneflies & caddis. Flows are 8k currently and water the conditions are perfect. We have had some success fishing the dry/dropper lately and I suspect that will get better and better in the coming weeks.