Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3803 Jan 17- Feb 1 2019 | Page 16
14
Jan 17 - Feb 1, 2019
MAP FEATURE
VOL.38 • ISS. 3
The upper stretch of the American River below Nimbus Fish Hatchery opened with clear and cold water conditions.
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.
S
Urban Anglers Work Hard for Steelhead on
American River Opener
teelhead fishing on the upper
section of the American River
opened on January 1 with clear and cold
water conditions and chilly weather,
tough conditions for the often elusive
fish. It wasn’t the worst opener
I’ve ever encountered,
but it wasn’t a stellar
opener like the one in
2002 where just about
everybody I talked to
caught steelhead.
The American is my
home river, the
urban gem of a
stream where
I first started
fishing for
anadro-
mous
fish. I
have
spent many thousands of hours over the
years fishing for the river’s steelhead,
salmon, shad and striped bass. I caught
my first-ever steelhead, salmon, shad
and striper while fishing its clear
and sometimes crowded
waters in the late sixties and
seventies.
The section that
opened on New
Year’s Day is from
the U.S. Geological
Survey gauging station
cable crossing about
300 yards down-
stream from
the Nimbus
Hatchery fish
rack site to
the SMUD
power line
crossing
at the
Bruno Novi of Roseville
used a homemade fly
to entice this 27 inch
steelhead below the fish
hatchery on January 1,
2019.
Photo by DAN BACHER,
Fish Sniffer Staff.
southwest
boundary
of Ancil
Hoffman
Park.
Fishing on
the opener
was tough
for most
anglers.
Bruno Novi
of Roseville
landed
a bright
27 inch
steelhead
while using Hundreds of steelhead are showing at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery this year.
a homemade
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.
fly below the
hatchery on
was closed. Rodney Fagundes and
opening day. He was the only angler I
I had many memorable experiences
saw catch a fish during my venture to
the river below the hatchery on January of catching hard fighting steelhead
from his drift boat in the short stretch
1.
between a sign below the hatchery to
A number of anglers in drift boats
the cable, but those days are now over.
launched at Sailor Bar on the opener,
The CDFW closed the section of
but likewise reported tough fishing like
river below Nimbus Dam to the cable
the shore anglers.
crossing to prepare for the implemen-
“We hooked and lost two small
tation of the Nimbus Fish Hatchery
steelhead while using Little Cleos on
Weir Project, a join project by the
the opener, but we didn’t land any
Bureau of Reclamation and CDFW.
steelies,” said Jerry Lampkin of TNG
Motor Sports Guide Service, who fished The project, including a new fishway
to allow the salmon and steelhead to
the stretch from Sailor Bar to Sunrise
go from the basin to the hatchery, is
with two anglers. “We saw a total of 6
designed to improve the hatchery’s
steelhead landed by shore anglers and
fish collecting operations, as well as to
boaters during our drift. Most were
expand available salmon and steelhead
hooked by fly fishermen.”
spawning habitat and to avoid the
Roland Aspiras, former Fish Sniffer
often risky work required to install and
staffer, also reported slow fishing. “I
remove the hatchery weir every year.
lost a fish possibly in the teens. There
“The purpose is to create and maintain
was not much other action. The results I
heard were mixed. It seems spoons were a reliable system of collecting adult fish
producing some good results; one friend for use in the Nimbus Fish hatchery
(Hatchery). Secondary objectives are
reported landing two fish.”
to minimize operation and mainte-
In a big change from previous
openers, the entire section of river from nance costs, avoid reducing river flows,
and improve safety,” according to the
the Nimbus Dam to the gauging cable