01/07/25
Happy New Year to you all! Got the whiskey and snacks lined up to watch the show in 2025. Winter started out wet and has taken a drier turn lately. With the Holidays and all the activities that go along with them, I have had little chance to wet a line. I did make it out for the traditional New Year's day steelhead float on the American River. Thanks to fellow RTFC members, Jerry and Jim for the motivation. Our number wasn't drawn but a few lucky anglers landed fish around us. We avoided a frigid and/or wet day with some clouds and a few light sprinkles. Always good to spend the day on the water with good friends.
Just a reminder that the International Sportsmen's Expo is right around the corner if you're so inclined to bump elbows with a few thousand of your fellow anglers. The seminar line up looks good and there's always the "cheapish" drinks on opening night.
STEELHEAD: Since I made an attempt to lure one of the "metalheads" to join us on the drift boat on Jan. 1, I figured let's start there. Inland valley rivers are your best bet right now. All the northern coastal rivers are high and dark from all the CA/OR border systems coming through. Hopefully they will settle into fishing shape sometime in Feb. The Feather and American have been producing for those willing to start casting for the fish of a thousand casts. Flows are great in both and fish have arrived. Fish that were landed on the AR came on beaded crawlers behind a diver or flies on a swing through the riffles. Saw one stocky hen in the mid-teens landed just off Sailor Bar on a diver/worm. We fished plugs with crawler tails and got one crawler stolen for our action of the day.
TROUT: Wash, rinse, repeat for trout. Foothill planters and Pyramid Cuttys are options for now. If you want to catch and release some trout, all forks of the American above Folsom are worth a shot with artificial barbless presentations. The water conditions are great with perfect turbidity, just enough that you can swing spinners or spoons and have a chance not to spook'em.
OCEAN: Not too much to report as conditions have been atrocious. There is a reason the record for tallest wave surfed was just broken at Mavericks at 108 Ft. Same waves laid claim to a quarter of the slips at the Santa Cruz marina with many a boat sunk on their moorings. Not to mention the 150 feet of pier that separated from its footings and drifted out to sea with 3 maintenance workers and a skid steer. Record swells have been recorded all the way down to San Diego.
STRIPER: Been hearing a lot about the port and the Delta both producing for all methods, live bait, jigging, and trolling. If the wind cooperates it might be time for a trip down to see for yourselves.
I'm 1 for 1 for days in a week fished this year. Going to try to keep it up and we'll see where we end up.
Hook'em and Stack'em.
