Lower Sacramento River Fishing Guides and Conditions, California

About the Lower Sacramento River

The Lower Sacramento below Keswick Dam is the most productive trout tailwater in California and one of the few large western rivers you can fish every month of the year. Cold releases from Shasta and Keswick hold the river in the low fifties through a Redding summer that regularly runs over a hundred degrees, and the resulting insect biomass grows rainbows that are thick, hard-fighting and abundant.

Guided trips here are drift boat trips almost without exception. The river is big, deep and fast, and the productive water is mid-channel gravel and drop-offs rather than the banks. The standard runs are Posse Grounds to Bonnyview, Bonnyview to Anderson River Park, and Anderson to Balls Ferry, each a comfortable half or full day. Indicator nymphing with small mayfly and caddis patterns accounts for most fish; there are dry fly windows in the fall, and swinging for steelhead is a separate pursuit further down. Fall and winter also bring salmon into the system, which changes both the fishing and the boat traffic.

The Keswick gauge is the release number and it drives everything. Flows are managed for water delivery and salmon, so they can change substantially between weeks. Guides generally consider something in the 4,000 to 10,000 cfs range good working water; much higher and the river pushes hard and the wade options disappear; much lower and the fish concentrate but get selective. Sudden ramping in either direction shuts the bite down for a day or two.

Redding has flights, lodging, shops and more guides per mile of river than almost anywhere in the state, so this is an easy trip to arrange on short notice.

Access

Keswick Dam access: the top of the tailwater, limited boat launching.
Posse Grounds Boat Ramp, Redding: the standard upper put-in.
Caldwell Park and the Sundial Bridge area: town access and wade fishing.
Bonnyview Boat Ramp: mid-river ramp, a common takeout and put-in.
Anderson River Park: ramp at the bottom of the middle float.
Balls Ferry and Bend Bridge: lower ramps toward Red Bluff.
Wading is limited by depth and current; most productive water is reached by boat.

Seasons

Year-round fishery; the river never closes for cold or runoff.
March through May: strong nymph fishing, spring insects, moderate flows.
June through August: cold releases keep it fishing through triple-digit air temperatures; go early.
September through December: salmon in the system, fall dry fly windows, the best big-rainbow months.