A guided day on the Lower Sacramento

Our guided trips on the Lower Sacramento River begin by meeting here at The Fly Shop on the morning of the trip. Depending on the time of year, we vary the meet times to put you on the water during the most productive times of the day.

Mornings are an exciting time here at The Fly Shop, with all the pent-up excitement for the day’s fishing wafting through the air like the aroma of fresh-baked bread. Guides often arrive early to trade stories from the day before, exchange information, and pick out the flies they have the most confidence in. Once you’ve met your guide in the morning, they’ll check your licenses and ask to see your fly boxes. Most likely, they’ll make some recommendations based on what’s been working for them lately. They don’t want to load you down with flies you already have or don’t need, but they will want to make sure that you have enough of whatever’s working.

A full day float trip on the Sacramento will be about eight or nine hours long and will cover any one of half a dozen different sections of the river, each between 6 and 14 river miles, between Keswick Dam and Red Bluff. We also offer half-day float trips, which are four to five hours on the water and usually cover shorter drifts closer to the city of Redding.

All of the guided trips with The Fly Shop are fly fishing and catch-and-release only. It is sometimes hard to believe the incredibly productive fishing right in the city limits of Redding, and the amount of wildlife and great fishing within a stone's throw of the residences that line much of the river. Some of the downriver drifts are very rural, and there are days on the water when it is unusual to see another fisherman. Most of the Sacramento River is equipment intensive, with very little of the river easily accessible to foot traffic.

• Lunch is provided on all our full day trips. If you have any special dietary needs, you'll need to let us know in advance and, of course you are free to bring your own food, snacks, or beverages.

• We also offer half day trips that average four or five hours on the river. Lunch is not provided on half-day trips, but the guides will have a cooler with drinks. The half day trips are a great way to begin the first afternoon of an angling holiday on the Sacramento River and are particularly popular in the mid-summer when dry fly action can be red-hot in the later part of the day.

• Our guide team is on the Lower Sacramento nearly every day of the season. They are the unqualified experts. They know best what's working and what's not, and the list of flies that you'll need is usually very precise and accurate, and sometimes different for each guide. While trout can be finicky creatures, and their diets frequently change from day to day; our guides work as a team and their intimate knowledge of the river and the current feeding habits make it an easy job to choose the effective fly patterns that will help make every day on the water productive.

• It's usually best to purchase flies the guide picks out on the morning of the trip. Guides don't provide the tippet and flies for your trip, and since most local trips begin with an early rendezvous at The Fly Shop, you can pick up whatever terminal tackle and flies you might need for the day before you hit the road. These guys aren’t just trying to sell you stuff; they’re trying to make sure that you have the right tackle and flies to make sure that your day is as successful as possible.

• Consider our "Package Deals" if you are just getting started in the sport. We'll match you up with the correct rod, reel, line, and all the flies, tippet, leaders, and terminal tackle you'll need for an extra $50 a day. The only things not included in that package are licenses or waders.

• The majority of our drift boat trips are designed for one or two anglers sharing the guide and boat for the day. Though we do have several large drift boats that can accommodate three anglers (there is an additional fee for a third angler), we strongly advise against more than two fly rodders sharing a boat in most situations.

• Car shuttles are not included in the price of the trip. Guides will most likely ask you to help them run a shuttle on the morning of the trip, using your vehicle to shuttle their trucks/trailers to the takeout point. If you won’t have a vehicle, or if you’d prefer to not help with the shuttle, you are welcome to pay for a shuttle on the morning of the trip.

• Every angler needs to have a current California fishing license and Delta Enhancement Stamp. Both are mandatory for the Sacramento River . Also, fishermen that are headed for the river below Anderson are required to have a California Steelhead Report Card.

• The Lower Sacramento is a tailwater fishery, its flow release controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation at Keswick Dam. Flow releases change throughout the year, ranging anywhere from 3,500 cfs (/cubic feet per second/) to 80,000 cfs. Although flows from 35,000-80,000 cfs are not safe levels to drift the river, over the years we have discovered than any flow level below 35,000 cfs is ideal for great trout fishing. In fact, often times these high flows of 15,000-35,000 cfs present conditions where the trout are concentrated in a few specific locations, and the fishing can be great.

• River Flows can be checked in advance on-line at The California Exchange Center

• Be sure to pack your camera! Every day on the Lower Sacramento River presents the opportunity to hook that rare fish of a lifetime.

If you prefer to correspond on-line simply e-mail us at info@adventuresinflyfishing.com and we,ll respond promptly.