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.  

We’re back...and fishing!

After our South American adventure, I snuck in a trip to Berryessa on Christmas Eve and the fishing was very very good. We caught a mess of rainbows in the 2-3 pound range then spooned for bass and crappie as well. Nice mixed bag.  

With Striper fishing slow due to the cold, I’ll be fishing the lake more in the upcoming couple weeks — and don’t forget the American opens to Steelhead in Jan. 1

Back in the USA!

Sorry for the lack of reports but I was in Patagonia for most of December. We were exploring some new guiding opportunities and man, the potential is amazing!  

Ill fill you in later but here are some pix of the jaw dropping scenery! 

It’s Striper Time!!

I did my final salmon trip of the year just before Thanksgiving and we ended up with one so I switched to Delta stripers and we hare been seeing some really nice fish on topwater, swimbaits and jigs so far this early season!  

A nice big hen caught & released. 

C&R topwater fun! 

Another nice popper bass that will live to fight another day! 

Solid one! 

Double header spoon bite! If you are gonna eat some, these are the right size. Let the big ladies go... 

A few stripers on the meter... 

That’s a wrap on the 2017 North American king season! 

Good King Action (Still!)

The beat keeps on going...good king salmon fishing continues as we are still seeing nice action each day trolling the Sac Valley.  

Sadly, my phone went over the side last week so I lost a bunch of pix but here are a few from Yesterday.... 

Best Salmon Action of the Season...& some bigger ones too!

It's been a really, reality good week of salmon fishing on the Sac, where trolling has been the hot ticket. This has been the best action, day-to-day, of the season so far!

I keep hearing about party boats out in the Salt still catching kings too so we look to be poised to get some more fish soon! 

While this has mostly been a small fish year, we started seeing much larger kings this week, with several in the mid to high 20-pound range. 

For the first time in months, my schedule opens up next week, so now's a great time to hop aboard !

The hits keep on comin'!

The king salmon fishing in the Sacramento River has been steady lately...and some larger fish started showing this week too. Here are some pix from the past couple days...

Nice, Bright Kings!

Today was one of those days that makes me lay awake and stare at the ceiling fan in the middle of the night.  

We caught two beautiful kings on the Sac...but it was the "what could have been" that's haunting me a bit. We had 8-10 other Bites that snapped the rod down and just didn't stick. Deep down I know that's just how the ball bounces sometimes. We'll land everything that bites one day and then we'll miss some on others. But still, I'm always analyzing, always thinking of ways to improve my game. 

Sac & American

Fished the Sac & American the past couple days. The fish on the Sac were brighter but the American's kings were a little more numerous though darker.  

Tougher Bite

I was really pumped to get these two super nice ladies into their first ever salmon today. The bite was slow though we actually would have had limits if all the grabs stuck. Wind coming up for the weekend.... 

Fresh Kings Coming Through!​

On Thursday, we had a nice day of catching bright kings on the Sac but the bite was a little off on Friday though we still managed to hook 4 and land 2.