Russian River Mouth

Not really a fishing report unless you are a sea lion.  I went to the mouth of the Russian this morning and for you salmon/steelhead guys, the mouth is indeed open.  There are a few sea lions working right in the fast water.  My guess that they are fishing and fish are moving across the beach. 
Here you go:
 

Yeah Baby! The Mini-x is ready.... Steelie Time!!

   Good signs!

It seems like I've been waiting for a couple of years to hear something positive about the Russian.  Thank you for taking the time to post and add pictures.

As of last week (Thursday) 50 had made it to the hatchery at lake Sonoma. This is coming from an employee who I know there.

12 made it up today alone.

It was close to breaking thru during the drive past it to LRC

Is the river blown out now?

Is the river blown out now?

I was on the bridge in Healdsburg yesterday above the fish ladder and it looked like black coffee with a bit of cream in it.  Having not fished steelhead in a while, I would have passed on it.  It may clear in a day or so with no rain, but it was pouring Thursday afternoon on the northern part of the river.

I called King's in Guerneville and they said it take a week for the river to clear after the last of the rain yesterday.
East Bay Ed

Here is what it looks like in Healdsburg 5 mins ago. Greening up nicely should be ok with bait tomorrow with no rain, the tribs are running pretty clear.

It looks like there is a push of runoff coming down which may delay the river clearing. http://cdec.water.ca.gov/river/russianStages.html Hopland has crested and is dropping. Cloverdale has crested and is falling. Healdsburg is just starting to climb (3pm Christmas Day).

I'm hoping that it will be fishable on Monday.

I am hoping for monday /tuesday!

Can someone explain what you guys are talking about? Are you waiting for conditions to get good for steelhead? Has the RR not been good for steelhead/salmon recently?

Can someone explain what you guys are talking about? Are you waiting for conditions to get good for steelhead? Has the RR not been good for steelhead/salmon recently?

After a big rain the rivers will turn to mud.  Much too dirty to work bait or lures.  It normally takes a few days on no rain to clear the rivers a bit so the fish can locate bait/lures.  Some rivers clear much faster than others.  Like the Smith will clear fast due to its abundant gravel/rock bottom.  The Russian collects water from a lot of agricultural land that contains a bunch of silt.  This in turn ends up in the river making the river very cloudy. 

I'm heading up to Sonoma lake dam to see if the fish ladder is busy.
Tom