5-12-08

Sacramento River Salmon fishing. Well as most of you know, Ocean salmon fishing has been completly shut down this year but there will be a shortend river season on the Sacramento river. The season will open Nov 1st and go through the end of Dec with a one fish limit. The last two years Nov and Dec has been the best fishing of the year on the Sac. This is the late fall run and the fish are often very fresh. The river conditions play more of a role this time of year. We need rain to push the fish up but not too much rain. In the past there is very little presure this time of year. The problem is the river is only open from Red Bluff down so a lot of the redding guides will be fishing our area around Chico which is the best area so the crowds could be a factor. However there are other interest such as hunting and holidays so I dont think it will be too bad. The feather is currently open but will close as soon as they get the regs written. The springers are showing a little so this will be your only sot at a Salmon for a while. Anyway my books are open, knock yourself out. I am not going to take deposits, just call or email with a date you want to fish and I will pencil you in.

4-6-08

Lake Oroville coho fishing report. The coho fishing at Lake Oroville is getting better and better as the fish grow and the water warms up. The lake is much cleaner now and the debris not nearly the problem it was. The fish are getting fat and putting on a much better fight, starting to jump and go nuts like only coho can. Were getting them trolling dodgers and lures, plastics and crawlers. Here is a picture to show you what they are looking like. We had some for dinner last night. simply delicious.

3-24-08

Lake Oroville Coho fishing. I dont know what happened to last years fish but I havent talked to anyone catching any. The lake is on the rise and debris is everywhere which makes it a little hard to troll at times. The smaller coho are from 12 to 14 inches and scattered all over the lake. If you get a bite, concentrate on that area for a while and then move on if you dont get anything. Use a variety of offerings and depths. The fish are still holding from 20 feet to the surface. The bite should get better from here on as the lake warms a little. Now go find the big ones and let me know where they are.

3-12-08

Sacramento river salmon fishing season. Well, most of you reading reports have probably heard they have started an emergency closure for salmon in the ocean. Fort Bragg will remain open until April 1st and the area around the Klamath will be open for recreational fisherman. No commercial fishing in California and part of Oregon. What does that mean for the Rivers? They wont address that until the meetings in April, but I would guess they will need to get the quotas for the hatcheries before they open any seasons. What scares me about this is I remember when they closed the Winter run to fishing, guess what it is still closed and that was many years ago. I undestand we cant just keep depleting the run but fisherman are not the problem so are they going to fix the problem. Why is fishing closures an emergency and water diversion is not? Well this is pissing me off thinking about it so I will stop writing now. Check back for updates as they come in. I will post a real fishing report next week. chinook

3-4-08

As most of you know we have had back to back very poor fall run salmon seasons and this season looks grim as well. We wont know what this years seasons and regs will be until after the powers to be, meet in April. I dont think they will close the river to fishing but who knows. I do know just closing the season is not the answer. We all need to join fishing organizations that will loby to keep our water here in the delta. As there may be many reasons for the decline of the king salmon in the Sacramento river system, the main reason is the health of the Sacramento river delta. The eco system is messed up due to pumping too much water to central and southern california through the california state aquaduct. This is big money and dirty politics and its not going to change without a great deal of pressure through lobbying by fishing organizations. The spring run and the late fall and winter run are in a little better shape because the fry go through the delta at a little different time and arnt munched on so heavily by stripers. By the way the striper run should be good this year. The other thing is why do the hatcheries bother raising salmon smolt only to release them for striper food, it makes no sense. Well I will get off my soap box now, thanks for listening. I will be back! Chinook

2-19-08

Lake oroville coho fishing is good, getting limits now, mostly smaller fish but still good eating. Some schools are small and scattered and other schools are big and eager to bite. The fish are in the top 15 feet of water.You might find them in 10 feet of water or suspended at 12 feet in 100 or more feet of water.

2-7-08

Well its time to start thinking about lake Oroville coho fishing. This years plants are growing fast and eager to bite. The lake is coming up and the spillway ramp is open. We are getting a good snow pack so the lake level should come up nicely this spring. Last years holdovers should add a little fun to the expedition just knowing you could get a 5 lber at any time. I will start looking for the larger fish soon, so check back for reports

1-3-08

Sacramento River fishing Report- Chico. The last day I fsihed was Saturday , two days before the season closed here near Chico. I had 4 fish on, two in the boat and a couple other take downs that didnt stick. December was as good as it had been all year but still hit and miss. What was different about December from September was when there was fish in the hole you could get them to bite. A pretty dismal year to say the least. We had a lot of small fish in December and a few big fish in August and the first of September. It should have been the other way around. With all the Jacks and 3 year old fish we got in December next year should be better for the late fall run. As for the early fall run, who knows. This nice little hen made some nice roe for the Smith river this year. Happy New year. Next up is Lake Oroville coho starting in March.

12-4-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing report, Chico. Well, We have a little bit of good news up here. Some fresh fish have moved into the system in the last 10 days. 15 to 20 lbers are being caught by persistant anglers. Most of the fish are coming on plugs. Its a little curious to me why were getting 3 year old fish now when we should be getting 4 year old fish and we got 4 year old fish in the summer when we should have been getting 3 year old fish. Dont get me wrong, its not red hot, but it is encouraging. Pray for rain and lets go fishing.

11-19-07

Sacramento river salmon fishing report - Chico. A few late fall run kings are starting to trickle into the system and I do mean trickle. At least there are some fresh run chinook to fish for. I dont see any big push happening unless we get a big rain to bring them in all at once. If we do get a big rain I would get out there a few days later and you might see some action. Right now use stealth techniques and you might get lucky and if you do the fish will be fresh.

11-5-07

Sacramento River Salmon Fishing Report- Chico. Salmon fishing on the Sac river near Chico is still very slow. very few fish in the area and very few people fishing. The sturgon fishing for oversize fish is very good. If anyone wants to come up from the bay area with some ghost shrimp I can get you on some oversize sturgeon. I dont think we will see any salmon in the area unless we get 4 or 5 inches of rain and then its questionalbe. We are in the second year of very low salmon numbers in the sacramento river system and we may be in for one more before it starts to turn around if the 3 year cycle holds true. I have seen this happen before and it has come back with avengence so dont give up on them too soon. Of course better hatchery practices and conservation would help.

10-10-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing report - chico. Fishing remains great in these parts, catching remains tough. Lots of hours for a fish but I cant think of a better way to spend time. Were getting spurts of fish coming through and if your in the right spot at the right time you get rewarded, if not wait for the next day. Im booking trips for Nov and Dec when we usually get big bright fish in this area. Now go whack em.

9-25-07

Sacramento river salmon fishing report - Chico Sunday we started out the day early, rained until we got in the water and stopped for the ride up river and the rest of the day was beautiful. Started fishing plugs and got a short strike right away that didnt stick. Not long after that we got one on, turned out to be a 20 inch striper. Fished plugs until around 0900 for no more strikes and started bouncing roe. Fish on, off, damm. fish on again, big sturgon. I will post a picture of this. The back looks a little green in the green water but the belly is white. The head looks like a white. If anyone knows for sure email me. We get lots of these in this hole. Maybe they are crossed. Back to salmon fishing. Fish on, off. Back to the top, fish on, landed this one but it was a jack. Started boondogging, one hook was crusted over with old roe, I thought I should change that hook but I didnt and guess what, hooked a salmon and broke my leader at the hook, I am still beating myself up for that one. I think we lost another one in there somewhere. Well days like that happen, I just dont like it happening to me but at least we were getting action. We didnt see any one else hook up but we tried to stay away from congestion. Give me a call and get your own action, the hook thing wont happen again, believe me.

9-17-07

Sacramento River Salmon Fishing Report - Chico Lots of fish rolling early this morning. We saw one caught on a plug at first light. Only one other boat in the hole. We fished plugs until about 0830 with no take downs then switched to roe. Caught our first one about 30 minutes later, 21 lb hen. Then we got a sturgon a few minutes later. We got the big dog drifting roe about 11am. 35lb buck on 12 lb line with a light spinning rod, what a blast. We were in a hole by ourselves. The best part about the slow year is it is weeding out everyone but the diehards like me and a few others. Now go whack em. chinook

9-12-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing Report- Chico. Things are looking a bit bleak around these parts. Just when you think it cant get any worse, guess what, it gets worse. I hate to be so negative but two skunks in a row does that to me. I really dont like getting skunked and dont intend to get use to it. This is the middle of September, we should be getting limits, not skunks. What in the world is going on? Lots of speculation but no real answers. The count over the diversion dam is 500 les this year than last as of today. The gates go up this saturday and the release will start dropping so we wont have any more counts after Saturday. Im going to shake this week off and get back after them just like a QB that throws an interception. I hate this report but I have to be honest. Lets put some viva viagra in the water and see if we can bring in some horny salmon.

9-3-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing report, Chico. Fishing here is about the same, I have been getting one each trip back bouncing or dragging roe. We got a 30 lber Friday and a 35lber Saturday. These fish were very nice. Sorry, camera is in Chicago whith the wife. The count is about 100 per day at the diversion dam. The release is 9500. Fishing should get as good as its going to get in the next two weeks so get your trip in now.

8-25-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing report- Chico We worked all day for a bite yesterday, well two bites if you count the big cat. David Schuler nailed this 35 lb buck bouncing roe at 1 pm. These big fish can really make your day. He has a little red on him but the meat looked great. There seem to be a lot more fish in the system yesterday than before so things are looking up. Now go whack em

8-25-07

Sacramento salmon fishing report- chico oops, thats not a salmon, what the hell, had us going for a little while, oh well big cat, back to the drink.

8-17-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing report- Chico. Fishing remains about the same, picking up a fish hear and there. I cant believe the lack of people fishing. We are having some great weather for August. We caught this one today back bouncing roe about 1 pm near Hamilton City

8-12-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing Report - Chico The big Kings are trickling in right now. Were fishing hard for every bite. The best part is the days have been perfect with very little boat pressure. We got this 25 lb beauty today on a green K16 with the secret sauce.

8-5-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing, Chico. Some big fresh fish came up river this week. Not a lot of fish in the river but things are definetly inproving. The big fish are mostly biting early in the morning on large plugs. Still no roe bite that I have seen but that should inprove in the next 3 weeks as fish start to stack up in the deep holes. Get on the books and lets go whack em

7-30-07

Sacramento river Salmon fishing report, Chico. I fished different parts of the river the last 3 days looking for pods of fish. I did find a pod of fish one day and got one short pull down and saw two caught but that was about it. The fish were a little dark for this time of year so they are holding a little lower in the river before moving up. The pod of fish I found on Saturday were gone on Sunday. I have reports out of Tehama and Red bluff of very slow fishing since the opener with an occasional fish being caught. It is still very early and we should be getting some fresh fish in the next two to three weeks so we will keep on fishing until we get into them and then we will fish some more.

7-20-07

Sacramento River Salmon fishing report. I didnt fish the opener but here are the results posted in the Paper today. Ord Bend - 4 salmon caught Hamilton City - 19 cuaght Woodson bridge- 9 caught Red Bluff - 30 caught. I will start fishing the Sac exclusively next week so you will see updates after that. Things are looking much better than last year.

6-30-07

Lake Oroville Coho fishing is starting to slow down a little but remains good. It is taking a little longer now to get fish but persistance pays off. Limits are no longer the rule for more than 2 people on the boat. Its still very fun and great table fare. Here are some pictures of yesterday and today.

6-25-07

Lake Oroville Coho fishing remains outstanding. Were getting them trolling 35 to 60 feet with a variety of lures. The best spots are still the dam and 162 bridge. Limits are the rule. These trips are $100.00 each and usually last 5 hours. All equipment is provided. shad fihing on the Sacramento river has been inconsistant. Some days they are in the usual spots and biting and some days you run all over the place looking and scratcing your head. I am booking for fall run salmon on the Sacramento River. Prime dates are from the middle of August to the middle of October. Book your trip now to get the date you want.

6-11-07

Sacramento River Shad fishing was a little more inconsistant this week but still very good for the most part. The fish seem to bite a lot better in the afternoon. They increased the flows a little and the water was a little colder so it seemed the fish started biting when the water warmed up a degree or so. I had a lot better luck this week with the fly rod than the spinning outfit. Last week it was the other way around. The oroville coho fishing is just off the hook. The fish are getting bigger by the day and the bite has not slowed one bit. My boat is averaging about 5 fish per hour and they do come in bunches. Saturday I think we had 4 doubles and 2 triples. This is becoming a great fishery. Call now to book your fun fishing adventure.

6-3-07

The Oroville Coho fishery remains hot this week. I fished Oroville lake for Coho Friday with limits for 3 people. Great fun. Saturday I checked out the Feather for Salmon and that is still very slow. The River is lower than I have seen in quite a while for this time of year which would be ok if there were a lot of fish in the system but thats not the case. I fished the Sac near Hamilton on Sunday for shad. My boat was simply on fire catching and releasing a good forty fish from 8 am until noon. I can do coho or shad trips for $100.00 each for 2 - 4 people. The trips start at 0700 and go until noon. The weather is great and both trips are a lot of fun.

5-26-07

I have been fishing Lake Oroville for Coho salmon this last week and it has been fantastic. We have been catching easy limits and releasing unharmed fish. The fish are from 15 to 20 inches and very fat. They jump, dart and strip off line. Very fun. I am using custom made rods using an 8 foot 4 wt fly rod blank on the down riggers which makes for a very fun fight. Give me a call and come fish with me, you won't be disappointed. I am offering these trips for $125.00 each, two to four people. I provide everything but the beer. Show up at the dam at 6 or 7 am and we will fish to around noon. Today we had a triple hook up which makes for a cluster but it doesn't get any better than that. fish on chinook, no, Coho

5-21-07

Sacramento river striper fishing is still going pretty good from colusa to Grimes. Lots of fish in the 15 to 24 inch range are still holding in the area. Yesterday the fish were not hitting the Jumbo minnows very well but we got plenty of action on cut sardines at anchor. I think most of the spawning has taken place so the larger females are hard to come by. Friday I fished the Princeton area with only one 7 lb fish. I dont know why the fish havent moved up river in any numbers, I guess they have what they need where they are. The best part about the striper fishing in the Colusa area is most of the guides have left and the pressure is very lite. Now lets go fishing, the weather is perfect Kevin Gifford, Chinook Guide Service

5-14-07

Sacramento River Striper report. Lots of small school size stripers and shakers have moved into the Colusa area. You still mignt find some quality fish at night spawning on the sand bars but most of the fish being caught in the daytime are small males. These smaller males love the cut bait and you can get steady action trying to get keeper size fish. We can no longer get jumbo minnows. The bait shops tell me they have a disease and cant be brought into california. An alterative to jumbos is squaw fish or blue gils but that can take a lot of your day trying to catch bait. good luck fishing, Kevin Gifford, Chinook guide Service

4-30-07

The striper fishing in the Colusa area slowed down over the last weekend but their were still plenty of fish to be caught if you were willing to chase them back down river. I think several factors come into play here. First the water was stained and fluctuating up and down and second I think the stripers are chasing the salmon smolt down river. However they still need to spawn so they will be back when the water either stabilizes or the flows increase and the water temp gets prime for spawning. With all the bait in the water and all the boat traffic the bite is off a little right now. The best meathod is drifting live jumbo minnows. The coho bite at Oroville lake is pretty good right now. They are biting just about any shad imitation lure and of course worms. Troll 10 to 30 feet down around 1 - 1.5 mph with lures and under 1 mph with worms. They can be found just about anywhere in the lake where water is running in. When you find one concentrate on that area. Good fishing

4-15-07

Some quality stripers have moved into the Colusa area of the Sacramento River. They are a bit picky right now so the best action is coming on drifting live jumbo minows. Im using a 7 foot loomis GL2 spinning rod which makes for a very fun fight on these nice stripers over 8 lbs. We landed one today over 12 lbs and lost another probably in the 20 lb range. These fish arnt even close to spawning so hopefully the fishing will just get better over the next 2 weeks Now lets go fishing:

4-8-07

Well my new website is almost complete. let me know what you think. Lots of good fishing to be had in the area. Lake Oroville is kicking out lots of bass and coho when you can find them. Bass are off the rock ledges and in the coves where water is running in. Plastic worms and grubs are working well and of course minnows are always killer this time of year. mini night crawlers are a good bet to find both bass and chos. Work them slow away from the banks. The stripers have moved into the Colusa area of the Sacramento river. Drifted jumbo minnows are working the best along with hair raisers, trolled plugs and cut bait. The Feather is starting to kick out a few spring run salmon. The bite should turn on in the next month as flows increase to give our friends to the south their water allotment. K16 backtrolled with a sardine wrap works the best for me for the early springers. Now lets go fishing