American River – Steelhead Fishing opening day 2009

The American River is closed from Nov 1. just above Goethe Park to the Hazel Bridge and reopens January 1st. I obviously had not fished this water since late Oct. and was really looking forward to it. So I thought I would give it a try on Opening Day.

I went to my first spot near Sunrise and only saw two other cars, cool! I stopped and asked one angler what part he was fishing… At first he seemed sort of surprised I asked and unwilling to say, “I don’t really know” Ya right! I was only asking in an effort to not crowd. After I explained and specifically asked if he was going to fish a certain stretch, he said yes. So I figured I’d move on to the next spot. I arrived at the next spot and only saw one car, even better!… So I thought. I made my way to the bluff overlooking this spot only to see the swarm of bodies and boats all up and down the river! They all parked on the other side… Wow! I had no idea how many people would be on the water! I made my way down and staked out a spot and went to work. Here’s a shot of my view up and down river.

I probably fished for a couple of hours with out any takers. I did get one bump on a spoon, but nothing else. I also saw a few half pounders being caught and released and heard of a couple nicer 4-6lbers caught just up from where I was. I decided to make a move back to my first spot.

When I arrived and made my way to the water, I saw a boat was sitting right below the area I was hoping to fish. I still had plenty of room just above them but every drift of my offering would have dropped into the same water they were fishing… I stood for a moment looking at the two fishermen up river, and considering what I was going to do… Then, to my pleasant surprise the boat pulled anchor a drifted away. I quickly moved into the spot. I made my way out up to about my knees and was only fishing for maybe 10 min and noticed another drift boat paddling up river out of the main current along the shore. This is when my day got even better!

When that boat made it up to where I was fishing, I said;

“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Oh just getting started… I see your fishing spoons, great spot for that,.. any luck?”
“No, not yet, I just got here.”

I don’t remember exactly what else we said to each other but it was friendly chit chat back in forth. Then he says;

“Hey I was planning to fish this spot as well, ya wanna go for a drift?”
I only had to think about that for a nano second and walked over and said;
“Sure! I’d love to! My name is Steve.”
“I’m Russ, good to meet you.”

Regardless of whether or not I got into his boat, I want to take the time to point out how cool it was that he rowed quietly up the shore, stopped and made conversation with me before ever wetting a line! With the water being as low as it is, I can’t imagine what it must be like for the drift boat fisherman and guides. I’m sure they don’t always wish to drift right through were we might be fishing from shore, but from what I learned, they don’t always have a choice. We are all fishing in pretty tight quarters and it’s great to see the professional camaraderie.

Russ says;

“How much time do ya have?”
“All day! Why?”
“Great! If you want, your welcome to join me for the whole trip down river and I’ll drive ya back up to your car.”
“Awesome! Sounds great! What do ya need me to do?”
“Hand me your rods, you wont need them… Unless of course you want to… I have everything we’ll need. Put your backpack up there, and grab a hold of the boat, let’s pull up a little and fish this spot.”

With a quick glance at his gear, I thought to myself, you don’t have to tell me twice!
By the time we had pulled the boat up river a bit over a swallow section, another boat had moved in and was anchored. So we hopped in, Russ rowed us over just a bit, dropped anchor and said;

“They are not in the right spot. We’ll wait until they leave.”

Russ handed me two matching Gloomis rods mounted with Shimano Curados with small plugs on the end of the line and said;

“Drop those back, put them in gear and set them in those rod holders.”

A few minuets later the other boat moved on. Russ pulled anchor and moved us into position and continued rowing, keeping us in position… After a few minuets in that spot we continued slowly moving down river. We eventually reeled up and moved on. Here is one my views for the remainder of my day.

I always make a point of telling my wife where I’m fishing and certainly going to let her know I was leaving that spot in a boat, so I called and gave her an update. She said “have fun!” and away we went!

We saw a few zombie Salmon swimming around while we fished several more spots as we made our way down the river. Taking the opportunity along the way telling fish stories and talking with other fisherman. Pretty much the same report… Not much happening… A few half pounder’s and only one or two bigger fish. We were never able to hook up on any fish either but it was great to meet Russ and we had plenty of fish stories to tell. I hope to fish again with Russ soon. If you ever looking for a great guide, give Russ a call!

See ya on the water,
Steve

Russ’s info:
Hog-On
Russ Strickland
American River – Drift Boat Fishing Guide
707-477-5174
russ@hogonfishin.com
http://www.hogonfishin.com/

Here’s a couple shots from a stop we made to check out the new channel cut just below the Sunrise foot bridge.