26 January 12 , 2024 VOL . 43 • ISS . 1

James Hyman of Sacramento landed this beautiful steelhead while tossing out a Little Cleo lure on Jan . 1 , 2024 on the American River below Nimbus Fish Hatchery .

Photo by Dan Bacher

The holding pond at Nimbus Fish Hatchery is plugged with steelhead . Photo by Dan Bacher reported that the four anglers in the boat hooked four steelhead , but lost all of them . They were fishing with Mag Lip lures . “ I saw about 30 total fish caught by all of the shore and boat fishermen on the river on opening day ” said Wilson . “ The anglers in one boat landed 7 steelhead , while those in another boat landed two .” “ I think there are a lot of steelhead in the river ,” Wilson noted . “ I ’ m looking forward to a good steelhead season . We need more rain to raise the river up to 3,000 to 4,000 cfs to improve the fishing .” A preliminary count of steelhead that have shown up at the hatchery to date is not available . However , we do know that the hatchery spawned over 2,000 pairs of fall-run Chinook salmon at the hatchery this season and met their egg collection goals . “ The total number of returning salmon is based on the hatchery counts and the in-river carcass counts and has not been finalized yet ,” the hatchery reported on Facebook . The best steelhead opener I have ever experienced was in 2002 when many anglers left with their limits of steelhead ( just one fish at that time )

The bag limit is two hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead and the possession limit is four hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead

while shore fishing below the fish hatchery . Others stayed longer to catch and release good numbers of steelhead . I caught a beautiful , silvery 10 lb . steelhead and released a couple of smaller fish that day while fishing a puff ball at Sailor Bar . Many steelhead openers produce tough fishing , but the action picks up considerably as the river

level rises and fresh fish enter the river . I experienced outstanding fishing In January , February , March and April many years in a drift boat with my longtime friend , Rodney Fagundes , who passed away in October 2022 . The section of the American River that opened to steelhead fishing on January 1 is from the U . S . Geological Survey gauging cable crossing about 300 yards downstream from the Nimbus Fiah Hatchery rack site to the SMUD power line crossing at the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman Park . Only barbless hooks may be used . The bag limit is two hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead and the possession limit is four hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead : https :// nrm . dfg . ca . gov / FileHandler . ashx ? DocumentID = 202686 & inline

Yuri Tyukanev of Sacramento was fishing a soft bead under a bobber when he landed this steelhead on the American River below the hatchery on Jan . 1 .

Photo by Dan Bacher

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