I live just a few minutes from the lower Sacramento River in Red Bluff. It’s where I go when I have a couple hours to fish. There are a lot of great ways to catch trout on the river, but one of my favorites is with a lightweight Spey rod. These two-handed rods are great for swinging flies and stripping streamers.
They make long casts easy, so you can cover massive amounts of water. This approach has reignited my interest in wade fishing on the lower Sac and has enabled me to develop some streamer techniques that have elevated my lower Sac trout game.
Much has changed since the spring of 2015, when I last wrote in this magazine about Spey casting for trout on the lower Sacramento. At that time, trout-sized Spey rods were just starting to appear on the market, and it was difficult to match them to appropriate lines. Since then, Spey casting for trout has been embraced by the rod and line manufacturers, and the market segment has been given the mercifully short and memorable name, “Trout Spey.” Many of the most popular rod companies now offer Trout Spey lineups from 2-weights to 4-weights, mostly in 10-foot 9-inch to 11-foot 6-inch lengths. It’s also much easier to find matching lines for these rods, since it’s the grain weight of the line, and not the rod’s weight designation, that really matters. The other big change involves fishing tactics. As I’ve used these newer, lighter rods I’ve learned to fish more water types and techniques.
Appropriate Gear
I’ve fished a wide variety of Trout Spey rods, and my favorite for the Lower Sac is a 3-weight 11-foot model. It can cast a country mile, but is light enough to make a 12-inch trout feel like a worthy adversary. Despite their light touch, these rods have a fair bit of backbone and can handle steelhead up to five pounds. That comes in handy in the fall and winter, when steelhead are present in the lower sections of the river.
A Trout Spey line system resembles a traditional shooting-head system. Starting at the reel, you’ll have backing, then running line, then your fly line, a tip (usually sinking), some tippet, then your fly. For backing, 20-pound-test Dacron will suffice. Choose your favorite running line from your favorite manufacturer. These are typically tailored to Spey fishing, and you should pick the lightest available option. For your fly line, look for a line in the Scandi body style with a grain weight that matches the recommendations listed for your rod. The tip should be a 10-foot poly leader. Most of the time, I’m fishing the heaviest poly leader I can find. They come in different sink rates, and you would do well to have a floating, an intermediate (typically clear), and a fast sinker, perhaps 5 to 6 inches per second.
Poly leaders come with a short exposed length of tippet that is fairly heavy, perhaps 12-pound test. I like to attach a tippet ring to this section with a Clinch Knot. Then I attach my tippet to the tippet ring with another Clinch Knot. I usually use 2X tippet for larger flies (size 8 and larger) and 3X for smaller flies. Four feet of tippet will typically suffice.
Good Flies
Swinging flies subsurface is the best way to get familiar with Trout Spey techniques. This presentation is just like the traditional trout and steelhead swing. Cast across the river or down and across and let your flies swing across the currents until they’re straight downstream. Many classic trout nymphs work great for this technique. I do the bulk of my Trout Spey fishing with Bird’s Nests, Hare’s Ears, Pheasant Tails, and Prince Nymphs in sizes 12 to 14. These are great attractor patterns that work most of the time and are a good choice in the absence of a visible hatch. Small mayflies are abundant on the lower Sac, so be prepared with Pheasant Tails, Hogan’s S&M Nymphs, Mercer’s Micro Mayflies, Pale Morning Dun nymphs, and soft hackles in sizes 16 to 18. When I see small mayflies hatching, I usually attach one of these flies on a 4X dropper leader tied either to the bend or the eye of a larger attractor pattern in front. The dropper leader should be about 2 feet long. During caddis hatches, I switch to Bird’s Nests, Fox’s Poopahs, Silvey’s Pupas, and Bubble-Back Caddises in sizes 12 to 18. The spring caddisflies on the lower Sac usually are olive, size 14 to 18, and the summer/fall caddisflies are tan, size 12 to 14.
Larger nymphs can work very well at times. There is a big population of Golden Stoneflies on the river. These inch-to-inch-and-a-half stoneflies hatch from April through June and then again from September through November. A size 6 or 8 Rubberlegs Stonefly is a great imitation. I fish these larger flies on 2X tippet or sometimes even 8-pound or 6-pound Maxima tippet. Don’t neglect traditional steelhead patterns, especially in the fall and winter, when both trout and steelhead will be present. Burlaps, Silver Hiltons, and Green-Butt Skunks all produce strikes this time of year. Tie these larger flies on a straight 8-pound Maxima leader. There is a great chance of getting a sea-run fish on an old-school steelhead fly.
The Streamer Game
The lower Sac is not known as a productive streamer river. This is because most people fish the river from a drift boat, rather than on foot. The drift boat puts you out in deeper, faster water, where it’s difficult to keep a streamer near the bottom. The Trout Spey approach automatically fixes this problem by putting you in the right water type, which is shallow water near the edge of the river. That’s where most of the forage fish live.
There is no shortage of forage fish in the lower Sac. There are juvenile trout, salmon, pikeminnows, and suckers, plus numerous species of smaller fish. With salmon spawning year-round to some degree, there are always bite-sized salmon on the menu. The biggest salmon run is the fall run, with fish spawning in October and November. By April, there are plenty of two-to-three-inch salmon in the river.
Trout Spey is a great way to fish streamers. You can easily cast big flies quite far and give them different actions by using different styles of retrieve. By wading through runs and riffles and making long casts, you can quickly cover a lot of water, making it easier to find an aggressive fish that wants to eat a streamer.
My favorite Trout Spey streamer is the venerable Zonker, size 6, in silver. As I work my way downstream, I usually alternate my approach on each cast. I throw one cast down and across and pulse the rod tip by stripping line in and letting it go back out. This action effectively jigs the fly, moving it up and back in the current
are few areas to wade that you can access from shore. You can still find boat-accessible wading areas with flows as high as 12,000 cubic feet per second. When fishing from Anderson upstream, pay attention to the Keswick Dam outflow gage. If you’re as it swings. I finish by stripping in the fly once the swing is over. Then I throw a cast more straight across the river and start the strip immediately. All types of streamers can be productive on the lower Sac. I’ve done well with Clouser Minnows, crayfish imitations, and Woolly Bugger–style flies.
Dry Flies on the Trout Spey
Dry flies aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when we think about Trout Spey, but they can be fished successfully on the lower Sac. The main challenge is straightening the leader to get a good fly-first downstream presentation. Rig up with a floating poly leader and an improvised tapered leader, perhaps 3 feet of 2X and then 3 more feet of 4X tippet. Grease your fly and leader with fly floatant. Avoid casting across or upstream — try to target fish that are downstream from you. The best technique to use is the classic “skate-and-drop” technique developed on spring creeks. Cast a little to the side of your rising fish and upstream of it. Quickly reach upstream to drag the fly into the same lane as the rising fish, then drop the rod and feed line out to let the fly drift over the fish. I always carry a few Parachute Adams and Elk Hair Caddises just for these special occasions.
Where to Go
There are good Trout Spey areas from Redding down to Red Bluff and beyond. Some of the best drive-in spots in the Redding/Anderson area include Turtle Bay, Anderson River Park, and Balls Ferry. In the Cottonwood/Red Bluff area, try the Jellys Ferry bridge, the Bend Recreation Area, the Bend bridge, Dog Island Park in Red Bluff, and the Sycamore Grove boat launch.
If you can float the river, you have a lot more options. Any wide riffle, run, and tailout with relatively uniform current can be productive. If you’re familiar with swinging flies for steelhead, look for good “swing water.” In general, avoid areas with sharp seams where two currents meet or with swirling water. The lower parts of the river have more swing water than the upper area around Redding. Unless flows are very low (under 5,000 cubic feet per second), there are few good spots to swing flies above the Bonnyview bridge in Redding.
Fly selection is also dictated by where you are fishing. Closer to Redding, the fish have a narrower diet that includes mainly small mayflies, midges, and caddisflies. In other words, fish lots of size 16 and smaller flies. As you get farther downriver, the fish dine on a wider array of food items, including grasshoppers, stoneflies, crayfish, and sculpins. That means you can do well fishing larger flies and attractor patterns.
When to Fish
To be safe and have good fishing, it is imperative to pay attention to water levels. A good benchmark is 7,000 cubic feet per second. If flows are higher than that, are few areas to wade that you can access from shore. You can still find boat-accessible wading areas with flows as high as 12,000 cubic feet per second. When fishing from Anderson upstream, pay attention to the Keswick Dam outflow gage. If you’re fishing in the area around Cottonwood and Red Bluff, you should pay more attention to the gage at the Bend bridge. For Keswick Dam’s outflow, visit ter.ca.gov/jspplot/jspPlotServlet.jsp?sensor_no=799&end=&geom=medium&interval=10&cookies=cdec01; for flows at the Bend bridge, visit https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ ca/nwis/uv?11377100.
Trout Spey techniques are generally most productive from the spring through the fall. Insect activity really picks up in March on the lower Sac and is solid through November. I’ve had my best streamer fishing from August through October. The best chance of hooking a steelhead is typically from October through December. I really enjoy wet wading during the summer months. With releases from Keswick Dam running 30,000 cubic feet per second at the time of this writing, though, it could be a little while before my next Trout Spey outing.
