The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I had a couple of great days on the Lower Sac this weekend. On Saturday I was lucky enough to get out there with my dad and Bonnie (wife) for a half day. We floated from Posse Grounds down to Bonnyview. We did this float in about 4 hours time and the fishing was consistent all the way down the float. I didn't work to hard trying to backrow stuff. We managed to land a dozen fish on eggs and small mayfly nymphs. The quality of the fish was awesome. Almost all of the fish we landed were between 16-19''. It is a special thing when you can row for your wife and dad. I still love watching how excited Bonnie gets when she hooks a fish. It is awesome fishing with her because she knows what she is doing and most of the time out fishes the other person in the boat. As she did again with my dad. It must be that womans touch. I guess I taght her enough of the right fly fishing technique.

Sunday I guided the Lower Sac and we floated from Posse Grounds down to Sac RV. The fishing was really good. We hooked 40+ rainbows on this drift. This has been one of my better winter days out on the Sac so far this year. We landed four fish that went 19'' and we got several others that were all 18''. I think that we might have hooked a steelhead above Sac RV because whatever we hooked took about 25 yards of backing off my clients reel in about 10 seconds. We never saw the fish because he ended up wrapping us around something on the bottom of the river. Bummer. Steelhead on that drift are pretty rare! Another Lower Sac steelhead that gets the better of us!

Tight Lines!

RJS:

How is the Cypress St bridge passage?

marteen

In my opinion the cypress bridge is not as dangerous as everyone makes it out to be. It is a pretty straight shot in moderate speed of water. However with this said a rookie on the oars would have problems. If you keep your boat straight you will have no problems getting through. If you have experience rowing then there is nothing to be fearful of. Remember if you are heading towards one of the bridge pilings point the nose of your boat toward the piling and pull away from it.

I would only suggest people doing the Posse to Bonny drift if they have moderate experience on the oars. There is no reason for additional people to get hurt on this river. So if there is any question in your mind that you may not be skilled on the oars then I suggest fishing down river.

Remember the Lower Sac has tons of water to fish. Plus if you do one of the Lower Drifts then there will be less people.

Tight Lines!

Dude - if you were a Redding local and on the river daily, you'd know that 40+ hook-ups per day right now is very average.
You want exciting ?? Try streamers......


And why do you feel the need to broadcast your 'where/what/when' results every time you fish ? Then proceed to give advice on how to avoid the crowds... wtf ?

Dear God of the Lower Sac (sd for those that aren't sure who i'm addressing),
your constant whining and bitching as well as the ever present need to make people think you are the best guide is quite frankly annoying and makes you look like a jackass. The beauty of the free market is people have the power to choose, and if you are as good as you say you are you would never lose any trips to this out of the area guide who does average at best (I do not agree with that assessment btw)
Dustin

no/msg

back on a fishing note..
I have no knowlege of the lower sac other than what I have read. If I were to get the urge to fish it, are there areas where a fisherman(with mild sanity) could attempt to wade or bank fish. also what would the proper gear & flies be. I can find spots if there is any fear of them getting crowded I would just like to know if it is possible without killing yourself.

Wading on the Lower Sac is pretty tough since most of the fish that we catch are towards the middle of the river. So people with out boats don't have tons of success. But that doesn't mean you can't go up there and pull on some nice rainbows. A boat enables you to access more of the spots on the river.

Few spots that you should try wading is the Posse Riffle above the Sundial bridge. There are a few riffles you can fish off of the highway 44 bridge on the east side of the river. A couple more riffles off the Cypress bridge on the east side of the river. Down river quite a ways you can access the river in Anderson at the Deschutes bridge. This will put you on a couple good riffles.

I have also heard that there are some fish hanging around the Bend Bridge. This is off of Jellys Ferry Road about 5 miles north of Red Bluff.

If I was going to wade then that is what I would do. Even though I don't work for the fly shop you may want to go in there and they have free maps of the Lower Sac. This may help you get a little more dialed in.

Don't worry about making the Lower Sac to busy. It is not like the river is a big secret. It is probably one of the most well known California fisheries and has been in almost every major fly fishing magazine. There is enough water for everyone.

Tight Lines!

Hey BTrout, there are plenty of spots to wade, just depends on the flows. Once you get much over 5K, the wading gets a bit dicey... under 5K and there are some real regular spots folks hit. You can't expect huge fish numbers since you are covering so little of the water, but you can wade and catch fish. One spot might be good for an hour or two of fishing and then you'll have to pick up and move. You can do it at higher flows too, but it's harder to find good wading places at high flows.

Head into the Fly Shop and ask where you can wade. Looks like about 3,200 coming down the river right now, so there should be plenty of places to walk... just watch out for salmon redds.

B-

DustinRevel wrote:
Dear God of the Lower Sac (sd for those that aren't sure who i'm addressing),
your constant whining and bitching as well as the ever present need to make people think you are the best guide is quite frankly annoying and makes you look like a jackass. The beauty of the free market is people have the power to choose, and if you are as good as you say you are you would never lose any trips to this out of the area guide who does average at best (I do not agree with that assessment btw)
Dustin



Dusty,

sd is as good as he says he is, in fact, he's even better than that. I've had 100+ fish days w/ him on the LSac, 200+ days if you count his fish too. If I could fish worth a crap who knows how many fish sd would put me into?

All I know is the last four or five times I've been out with sd, only once have I had to wait for my second cast to hook up.

Don

100 fish days?That would be one fish every five minutes without a break during a eight hour float.
That is a good day!How many one hundred foot casts?
RAS

If I were to fish these areas would I be able to walk from riffle to riffle or would I have to drive from spot to spot. also, it seems like I should be able to just drive to redding pick up a map at the fly shop and be on the river right near town??
As for tackle, it seems like a nymphing river, I have a 10ft 5wt should I bring a heavier rod for streamers ect., or is that overkill, I like to throw as light as logical. and is it pretty standard tippet and terminal gear, seems like around here you cant go wrong with a spool of 4x maybe 3x some thingamabobbers and medium shot, but I am new.
I am just looking for new water and I am pumped about a place were I have a shot a 10+ fish a day with several over 15in, maybe bigger, you guys are so lucky out here!!