Valley Salmon Fishing’s been Hot!

The king salmon fishing in the Sac Valley has been very good lately and we have seen limits every day out recently.  

Whats also exciting is the fact that the fish are good sized too, running up to 25 pounds.

We should see good action for the next several weeks!

Trinity Salmon & Steelhead Good.

Trinity River salmon & steelhead fishing has been amazingly good this past week for me!! The kings are chrome bright And there are lots of ‘em! We’re also seeing at least a couple nice adult steelhead per trip. 

Ill be back fishing the Sac Metro Area for salmon mid October, so hope to see you then! 

Valley Salmon: Good!

The salmon bite in the Sac and Feather Rivers has been steady lately and we are poised for our best fall season in recent memory!

The other exciting news is the fish are of good quality, too, averaging a solid 18 pounds with larger ones showing up as well. The ocean is still pumping out excellent action too so all signs are pointing to an excellent season through November! 

I am headed for the Trinity and then will be back in action on the Sac with our brand new sled in Oct! 

Sacramento Fall Kings

Based on how stinkin’ many kings have in the ocean this summer, our Sacramento, American and Feather river salmon scene this fall should be some of the best we have seen in years! 

I’l be chasing Valley kings most of October and November and those fish are typically chrome bright and full of fight. Get in touch with me or Tamara soon to guarantee a spot! 

Trinity Salmon/Steelhead Trips coming soon!

I’ll be on the Trinity once again, fishing the amazing canyons for salmon & steelhead in September and October out of the drift boat. 

I have a few select dates left, which include Sept. 17-20, & Oct. 3. 

Let me know ASAP if you’d like to get in on the fun! 

Alaska was Awesome!

I’m back from another king season in SW Alaska. The water was high all month and the fishing was really fun! Lots of gorgeous kings, plus sockeye, chums, pinks, dollies, rainbows and even an early silver or two!  

Please let me know if you’d like to fish with me up there in 2019!

Alaska Time!

I’ll be guiding in Alaska from June 20 until July 20 so no local fishing...looking ahead to the fall, however, salmon fishing is excellent on the ocean right now so we just may have a good in-river season.  I’ll be on the Sac, Feather, Trinity and Klamath Sep-Dec with my brand new sled!  

Ill try to post pics from Alaska when we have WiFi. 

Excellent Shad Bite!

Shad fishing, just as I predicted, got really really good when the weather heated up. Fishing is best in the evenings and the bite should go at least another couple weeks because we are still seeing fresh, purple-back Shad moving in!  

I run half day evening trips through June 19 so hop onboard if you want to get into some drag-burning fun!  

The Shad are In!

The shad fishing on the American has been great one night, a little tougher the next because of all that cool, windy weather we had last week.  

The fish are here and the bite should really pop starting Monday, when temperatures are forecasted to get into the mid-90’s. Shad love hot, stable weather so this week should be great! 

Last night we found a pretty steady bite and the fish are all still beautiful and fresh! 

Stripers: Still Going Strong (Shad Showing Too!)

Solid striper fishing continues in the Valley rivers and Delta. Though we are on our second full moon of the month, the fish are still hanging around and providing good action. For me lately it's been mostly a swimbait and spoon show. The fishing should hang in there for another week or two in the river and then we'll follow the fish to the Delta. 

Shad are showing up in the Sacramento Metro area as well as the lower American and Feather rivers. This is just the beginning and fishing will just get better over the next several weeks.

I'll be doing some shad-striper combo trips starting May 6.

River Stripers: Great Action!

The Weather has been all over the place...warm, cold, wet, windy and everything in-between but that hasn't slowed the fishing down. It's been a great week of striper fishing and we've been catching fish on light gear on a variety of methods like swimbaits, jigging spoons, trolling and even fished a few minnows last weekend. 

The water temps came way down with this last storm so that's going to keep the stripers around a while longer. After next week, I will again start to have a little bit of room to fish if you'd like to get out and have some fun!

Great week of Striper Fishing!

Striper fishing really kicked into gear this week and we found some really awesome topwater action on good-sized fish. We also had some good swimbait and jig bites as well. There is some big rain coming in this weekend which will draw more fish into the system. It looks like we won't fish over the weekend due to the weather but next week could be epic!

Another jumbo bass C&R!

There was a good striper bite on the Delta late last week and while most fish were schoolie sized, we did get a 37-pounder on a topwater plug on Saturday.  The spring run is definitely ready to roll! 

River fishing is on hold at the moment as just about everything is muddy...

Reilly with a gorgeous 34# hen he caught with me on a topwater plug on Saturday. The fish was released after a quick photo.  

Stripers are in the Valley Now!

The spring run of stripers is officially here! This is just the beginning and fishing will continue to improve. The rain we are getting now should encourage a bunch of fish to make the upstream migration so it's time to take a look at your calendar and get your date to fish. 

In addition to the schoolie size fish that are typical for this time of year, we have also been seeing some big hens! Here's one we got a few days ago...

A beautiful 27 pounder we caught & released on Friday. 

Spring Stripers Coming Up!

Well, we are finally getting some winter (better late than never!). This rain and the accompanying rise in the rivers should get the stripers on the move. March and April are our prime months, so now's the time to make sure you get your dates on the calendar! 

You can reach me direct at (916) 952-1554 or via email: fishwithjd@gmail.com

Big Sturgeon Happening Now!

We had been seeing some really nice sturgeon action lately on really big fish. Most of them are oversize but if you like to pull on a giant, now the time to go! 

The fish have been running mostly 80+ pounds lately and we had an 8 footer last night that was well in excess of 200 pounds. Pretty dang fun!

Steelhead Seminars this week!

No fishing the rest of the week for me...I’ll be over at the Interntional Sportsmen’s Exposition and will be doing seminars on steelhead fishing. Hope to see you there!  

Sturgeon on Tap

Switched it up this week and started chasing dinosaurs. Between bouts of wind, we have been catching some nice fish — and seeing lots and lots on the meeter. With more rain coming in, the water will get muddier and warmer and the action is just going to get better and better.  Here’s a 58 incher Chelsea released today...

Steelheading Picking UP After the Rain

The change in the weather brought some steelhead into the region and fishing was pretty decent last time out. We caught plenty of half pounders and 3 smallish adults in the 3-pound class. The interesting thing was the adult fish were colored up, like maybe they were hung up downriver waiting for the rain...

Speaking of steelhead, don't forget to come by the Sacramento International Sportsmen's Expo next week (Thurs-Sun). I'll be giving winter steelhead seminars on Thursday and again on Saturday in the California Sportsmen's Theater in the main fishing hall. Stop by and say hi!

American Opener Slow

The much anticipated American River steelhead opener was very tough… There were lots and lots of boats and lots and lots of people. And — several sea lions all the way up to Sailor Bar as well!

I only heard of one Steelhead caught — luckily it was on my boat: this little hatchery hen that we released...

Prior to the opener, I had been seeing quite a bit of action from small adults and halfpiunders so the upper opener was a bit of a shocker. So, I’ll go back down into the stretch below Ancil Hoffman and work that until the top starts to fish better.