MAP FEATURE
16 Jan 18 - Feb 2 , 2018 VOL . 37 • ISS . 03
Anglers patiently wait for a steelhead bite on the American River on January 1 . Photo by DAN BACHER , Fish Sniffer Staff .
American River Steelhead Opener Yielded Few Fish
There couldn ’ t be a bigger difference between January 2017 and January
2018 on the American River below Nimbus Dam . Last winter , high flows ranging from 15,000 cfs to 80,000 cfs were raging down the river as record snow and rain hit the river watershed .
This year , on January 1 , the Bureau of Reclamation was beginning to ramp down flows from 3,500 cfs to 2,000 cfs after we experienced one of the driest Decembers on record .
A crowd of over 50 anglers lined the river below Nimbus Hatchery and at Sailor Bar on the opener this year , arriving in the early morning hours to get their spots on the river .
Dale Isidro of Santa Cruz thought it was going to be a great day when he caught and released a 4 lb . hatchery steelhead while fishing a 2 / 5 oz . Little Cleo on his third cast below the hatchery . “ I missed one other fish and got no other bites ,” said Isidro .
His fishing partner , Armand Sladwick of Santa Cruz , also was excited when he hooked and released a 4 lb . wild steelhead on his fourth cast while shore fishing with salmon roe below the hatchery .
“ I though the fish was much bigger by the way it fought ,” he stated . “ I saw another angler land an 8-lb . steelhead and that was the last steelhead I saw landed , although
some fly fishermen hooked and lost s few steelhead .”
Fish Sniffer staffer Roland Aspiras reported “ dead slow ” fishing on the opener below the hatchery .
“ I hooked two steelhead and landed one ,” said Aspiras . “ I saw only one other hookup in my immediate vicinity .
Rodney Fagundes of Sacramento and I fished in his drift boat below the hatchery , but we didn ’ t get any bites on any of the baits we used , including Wee Warts , Hot Shots , Little Cleos , shrimp and roe . Isidro and Sladwick joined us in the boat
Steelhead like this beauty are released back into the American River by the CDFW staff after being spawn at Nimbus Fish Hatchery .
Photo by DAN BACHER , Fish Sniffer Staff . later that morning , but they didn ’ t hook any fish either while fishing with us .
J . D . Richey of Richey ’ s Sport Fishing also reported tough fishing – and was thankful he got one steelhead in the boat opening day .
“ We had been doing much better in the past few weeks in the lower section of the river ,” stated Richey . “ There must have been at least a few fish caught on the opener , but the only one that we were aware of came on our boat .”
“ We saw three sea lions in the upper
Dave Gault caught and released this husky American River steelhead while fishing the lower river on December 28 .
Photo courtesy of JAMES BRATT , Grass Valley . river near Sailor Bar . We also saw almost no spawning salmon or salmon carcasses as during a normal year , the river smells from all of the rotting carcasses . The weather was far too good , and there were plenty of fishermen out trying ,” he summed up .
During 2014 , the Bureau of Reclamation conducted a one year experiment by releasing 150,000 Coleman National Fish Hatchery-strain steelhead into the river .
“ This was not done to supplement the American River run , but was a study to find a potential replacement for the current strain of steelhead ,” said Gary Novak , hatchery manager . “ They were looking for an appropriate replacement for the current Eel River strain . We wanted to see if these