We're starting to see some pretty nice steelhead showing up on the Sacramento River above Red Bluff and its still early for them to be here in big numbers.  Annual steelhead return numbers have improved considerably since Coleman Hatchery started to recycle their hatchery spawners.  The adult steelhead will out migrate from Battle Creek for another ocean season and often times return for another spawning cycle.  This bolsters the returns and we're starting to see some much larger returning steelhead now as well.  The Sacramento River is a perfect steelhead river, especially above Red Bluff. Ten's of thousands of returning hatchery winter steelhead could be the story I'm telling, but we'll settle for what we have for now.  Natural cure eggs and artificial egg patterns drifted in shallow sections of the Sacramento River will get more and more productive as the season winds on.

Captain Jeff G.