The Sacramento River in Redding is in prime shape and the wild rainbows that live within its banks agree.  With flows currently at 9,200 cfs, theres lots of cool water to provide the right conditions for the thousands of wild rainbows that call the Redding stretch of the Sacramento River home.  Todays catch and release trip with Captain Justin Thompson was a success and numerous hard fighting trout ended up with a temporary visit to the rubber mesh net.  Its rumored the flows will drop next month, and we'll see a little less water to work with, probably until next spring.  Its not a problem for the rainbows, they are used to dealing with flow fluctuations pretty much year round.  We saw a lot of spawning winter and spring run salmon in the Redding area this year and we're hoping the fall run follows suit.  Generally speaking, the fall run salmon appearance provides an excellent opportuity to match the hatch with egg patterns when fishing for Redding's rainbow trout. The egg drop lasts well into the start of early winter and its a great time to look at scheduling a catch and release trip.  Another noteworthy time to fish for the Redding rainbows is August 1st opener.  The section of the Sacramento River in Reddig above the SR 44 Bridge opens August 1st and the trout fishing can be amazing.  That section of the river has been closed to angling pressure for the last 4 months.  When it opens, the wild rainbow trout are as easy to catch as any other time of the year, and then some. Keep this fishery in mind, as its generally overshadowed by the fall King salmon run and we primarily get booked up for the salmon fishing trips.  If you're interested in fishing for trout in Redding, give Jaynie a call at our office to get more information about these trips or to schedule a date to fish with one of our local guides.  (530) 510-2925, thank you!

Captain Jeff Goodwin