Upper & Lower Sac

A couple weeks back I spent the weekend up around Redding and fished the Upper Sac one day and then did an overnight float trip on the Lower Sac the next two. The reports said the Upper Sac was fishing tough with high water and that the Lower Sac was on fire. The reports were pretty accurate.

I fished the Upper around Delta at a few spots I like and have caught big fish at in the past. The lower part of the Upper Sac is a great stretch of the river with bigger water and bigger fish. It seems that there are a few larger and wild fish down low that can be difficult to catch and a lot more "cookie cutters" up top. At least that has been my experience. I managed to dredge this nice fish up not too far from Delta.



Before starting the drift on the Lower Sac we fished near the Sundial Bridge. This picture is a must have for norcal anglers.



We drifted from Bonnyview down to Jelly's Ferry and camped about half way in between. The boat was a two-man pontoon that was pretty easy to fish from. About half the fish caught came from drifting and half from wading. I'll take wade-caught fish over fish from a boat any day. There are truckloads of fish in the Lower Sac and if you drift enough water with a good drift you will catch them. On the other hand, when you are wading you can find a spot where there are likely fish and then use knowledge and experience to figure out what is going on. We had one such experience on this trip where it took about an hour to figure it out, but then once we did we yarded 'em.

Below are some representative Lower Sac rainbows.