{REP} Sac River Slam 9/19 or 9/20

Can't make it... Party I have to attend 1pm and no way out.... Rollins Sat early morning instead...

Maybe next time, I was down at the river last night, saw two 40" salmon and 22" steelhead caught, I only managed a small trout

Myself, Kevin (insearchoffish), Matt (racer414), Daniel (das2380) got out today, nice to meet all three of you.

OTW 0730, launched at Balls Ferry landing in Anderson off the water at 2:00 down at the Barge Hole Gravel Bar, along the way we managed a few trout between us in the 14 - 15" range, a couple squaw fish, Daniel got a SMB at the barge hole.

As for the salmon will let Kevin tell his story if he wants to share.

All in all an enjoyable day on the water, although I managed to drop my very old cheap cell phone in the water, which went through a couple thousand hours of kayak fishing before it went overboard, guess it's time for a smartphone. I do have some gopro video to edit.

Barge Hole was interesting, first time I have fished it on a weekend, not as bad as I thought it would be, maybe 15 or 20 boats around and 6 -8 people shore fishing, we saw several nice sized salmon landed, most were brown, one or two that had a little silver/red in them Saw at lot of salmon jumping, they are stacked up there right now.

Appreciated the company today, still lots to learn about the river, both how to fish it and kayak it. Certainly could see that the smaller lighter kayaks Kevin, Daniel and Matt had were much more maneuverable then my Revo 13 which I paddled all day instead of pedaling.

Anyone want to give it a try let me know. River is pretty tame for kayaking right now since the flow is so low.

Had a great time exploring some new water, meeting some new people and battling some monster kings! Now if I left it at that Rob would be checking the AOTY daily to see how big.   But I wont, I worked for salmon right out the launch throwing spinners and backtroling Kfish through the deeper runs for nada. Arrived at the barge hole and kept at it with those two and couldn't buy a bite, watching fish being caught all around on beads I caved and asked Bryan if he had a few for me. What a great guy, posts the hookup, arranges shuttle and provides beads, hooks and weights for me! First drift a little squaw, at least the skunk is off. 2nd drift I feel something weird on the line and begin to reel when all of a sudden head shakes. First run pop. User error faulty knot, dammit. A couple more hours of beading and trolling the kfish back up and it started getting hot and the crowds clear. So I figured I may as well try something else. Tied on a jig and started getting jiggy. It did not take long and I was getting towed around. Man I love that. I had a suspicion that it was foul hooked and sure enough after 10-15 min I see my jig in the tail. First removed the hook from the ass that someone had broken off then pulled my jig and let him swim off. No keepers but I got my fix of big fish tug

Well it was a long drive for a day trip and not a whole lot to show for it. But man it was good to get back on the water with good company and a nice float. I managed two beautiful bows on the way down to barge hole and missed a couple others. Once there we saw plenty of salmon being caught but the combat fishing just wasn’t my thing so I mostly relaxed and watched others catch fish. Once things cleared out a bit I made a half-assed attempt for salmon which yielded nada and by that point it was time to head out. Overall a nice day!

Thanks for showing us around Bryan!

Looks fun, I was thinking of you guys out there.  Wish the salmon would've cooperated, was anybody drifting roe?

Looks fun, I was thinking of you guys out there.  Wish the salmon would've cooperated, was anybody drifting roe?

Sorry you couldn't make it Ben, looking forward to fishing with you some time, we didn't have any roe, next time.

Any interest in a multi-day float? Kevin mentioned it and it is something I have been looking at/thinking about trying to find possible overnight campsites, Barge hole gravel bar would be one.

Possibly put in at Redding, fish down to the barge hole, camp overnight, next day fish down to Red Bluff, not sure what is south of Red Bluff for possible third day of fishing?

I am game for going closer to Sacramento also for the multi-day float if others want to give that a try, really nice on the Sacramento River for kayaks right now.

Bryan

I would love to do an overnighter but with my schedule these days it just isn't possible.  The mouth of Cottonwood Creek makes for a great camp spot between the Redding to Red Bluff stretch, and puts you on the Barge Hole nice and early.

You did get that text  Keep me posted on when you want to do that, Ive been wanting to do a multiday up there for years, and now after getting to see a small section I want to see more and spend more time!

You did get that text  Keep me posted on when you want to do that, Ive been wanting to do a multiday up there for years, and now after getting to see a small section I want to see more and spend more time!

Yes, I could read the text but couldn't answer after the mishap with phone on Saturday, picked up the new phone yesterday. I am very interested in doing this will post another thread see how many might like  to join us.

Bryan