Bacher: Steelhead anglers tough it out on American River opener

RANCHO CORDOVA – The American River below the Nimbus Fish Hatchery opened to steelhead fishing on Jan. 1 with surprisingly mild weather and tough fishing in cold water conditions.

There were hundreds of steelhead milling in the hatchery holding pond and in the new fish ladder on opening day, but relatively few fish were caught by anglers.

Most of the people I talked to fishing in the stretch below the hatchery didn’t hook fish, but a few anglers, mainly those who got on the river early to secure their spots, did well.

While I was there, James Hyman of Sacramento landed an 8 lb. steelhead while tossing out a Little Cleo. He was stoked when he got his fish in the net.

“I was here since 4 a.m. and this is my first steelhead,” he said, visibly excited, as any angler should be when he lands a quality steelhead.

Yuri Tyukanev of Sacramento and his fishing partner, Philip Tokarvev, reported even better fishing. They were fishing soft beads under bobbers when they hooked five and landed four steelhead on Jan. 1.

Their biggest fish weighed around 5 pounds. They also got on the river early around 3:40 a.m. to secure their spot until legal fishing time began.

Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide Service reported lots of drift boats on the river and slow steelhead fishing.

“We counted 10 boats from Sailor Bar downriver, the most I’ve ever seen on the opener,” he stated. “I saw none landed, although I did see a few fish hooked. We fished with Hot Shots, nightcrawlers and spinners, but didn’t get any bites. There were lots of salmon still in the river.”

While fishing from his drift boat in the Sailor Bar area, Austin Wilson of Fisherman’s Warehouse in Sacramento reported that the four anglers in the boat hooked four steelhead, but lost all of them. They were fishing with Mag Lip lures.

“I saw about 30 total fish caught by all of the shore and boat fishermen on the river on opening day,” said Wilson.  “The anglers in one boat landed seven steelhead, while those in another boat landed two.”

“I think there are a lot of steelhead in the river,” Wilson noted. “I’m looking forward to a good steelhead season. We need more rain to raise the river up to 3,000 to 4,000 cfs to improve the fishing.”

More: Bacher: Crab, Rockfish Combos Yield Holiday Season Action at Rittenberg Bank

A preliminary count of steelhead that have shown up at the hatchery to date is not available. However, we do know that the hatchery spawned over 2,000 pairs of fall-run Chinook salmon at the hatchery this season and met their egg collection goals.

“The total number of returning salmon is based on the hatchery counts and the in-river carcass counts and has not been finalized yet,” the hatchery reported on Facebook.

The best steelhead opener I have ever experienced was in 2002 when many anglers left with their limits of steelhead (just one fish at that time) while shore fishing below the fish hatchery. Others stayed longer to catch and release good numbers of steelhead. I caught a beautiful, silvery 10 lb. steelhead and released a couple of smaller fish that day while fishing a puffball at Sailor Bar.

Many steelhead openers produce tough fishing, but the action picks up considerably as the river level rises and fresh fish enter the river. I experienced outstanding fishing In January, February, March and April many years in a drift boat with my longtime friend, Rodney Fagundes, who passed away in October 2022.

The section of the American River that opened to steelhead fishing on Jan. 1 is from the U.S. Geological Survey gauging cable crossing about 300 yards downstream from the Nimbus Fiah Hatchery rack site to the SMUD power line crossing at the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman Park.

Only barbless hooks may be used. The bag limit is two hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead and the possession limit is four hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead.

Rio Vista Area Stripers - While the swimbait bite for striped bass has tapered off, the spoon bite has shifted into high gear in the Sherman Island Area of the Delta.

“We spent the last month catching lots of stripers in 2 to 4 feet of water in the Sherman Island Area,” said Alan Fong of Alan Fong’s Outdoors in Sacramento. “However, those fish that were holding in shallow water had left when Denise Loo, Jennifer Noakes and I fished around Sherman Island on January 1.”

“We looked around and found those fish in 33 feet of water,” said Fong. “We caught over 30 fish while fishing Blade Runner spoons. When the tide slowed, we hooked a few fish while fishing Keitech Swing Impact swimbaits with ¾ oz. Blade Runner heads. We had a number of double and triple-hook-ups while spooning. Our better fish were in the 5 to 8 lb. range.”

More: Bacher: Holiday Season Trout Magic at Lake Berryessa

Monterey Bay Bonito/Sanddabs: The year 2023 ended out of Monterey with good rockfishing and a surprising bonito bite.

The 20 anglers fishing on the Checkmate out of Chris’ Fishing and Whale Watching checked in with limits of rockfish (200), 3 lingcod and 10 bonito on Dec. 31, while 12 anglers aboard the Caroline landed limits of rockfish (120) and 4 lingcod.

Chris will be booking Sanddab/petrale sole combo trips and bonito fishing adventures starting next week through April 30. Sanddab/crab combos will begin when the CDFW director lifts the restrictions on crab traps in Fishing Zone 4 due to the presence of humpback whales.

Amador/Camanche: Trout fishing is going strong at Amador and Camanche lakes, now that they are being stocked with trout every week.

“Seven hundred pounds of trout, with around 10% trophy-sized fish, were released during our latest plant near the dam,” reported Lee Lockhart of the Lake Amador Resort. “There has been lots of action in the top 5’ from both boat and shore. Don’t forget the annual derby is underway and there’s still lots of tagged trout out there to catch.”

The latest plant at Camanche consisted of 1,000 pounds stocked in the South Pond, 1,000 pounds at the South Shore Ramp, and 1,000 pounds at the North Shore Ramp, a total of 3,000 pounds. Both shore anglers and boaters are hooking fish.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Steelhead anglers tough it out on American River opener