Sailor Bar and the Nimbus reach
The lower American begins at Nimbus Dam, the re-regulating dam below Folsom, and runs 23 miles west to the Sacramento River. Hazel Avenue puts you at the top of it: Sailor Bar county park on the south bank is the main walk-in access for the upper river, and the Nimbus Fish Hatchery sits on the north bank. The water from the dam down to the USGS cable crossing about 300 yards below the hatchery fish rack is closed to all fishing year-round, so the fishable river starts just below the hatchery.
This upper reach has the fastest, coldest water on the river and is where fall half-pounder steelhead and staging Chinook concentrate. A paved bike and foot path follows the whole parkway, so you can walk to almost any bar or riffle without a boat.
Ancil Hoffman Park and the middle river
Ancil Hoffman County Park and River Bend Park (the old Goethe Park) cover the middle miles, with long gravel bars, side channels and enough walking room to spread out on a weekend. The SMUD power line crossing at the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman is a regulation boundary, so know which side of it you are on when the seasonal rules change.
Lower river to Discovery Park
Below the power lines the river slows and warms as it passes Watt Avenue, Howe Avenue and Paradise Beach on its way to the confluence at Discovery Park. This is shad and striped bass water more than steelhead water. Shad run from May into June and stripers are in the river year-round with the best fly fishing in the warm months.
Steelhead
Adult winter steelhead, an Eel River strain introduced through the Nimbus Hatchery after the dams went in, enter from early December through March. Smaller half-pounders show up in spring and again in fall, and the fall fish feed on afternoon and evening caddis in the upper river from River Bend up to Sailor Bar. Only adipose-clipped hatchery trout and steelhead may be kept; anything with an intact adipose fin goes back.
Chinook salmon, shad and striped bass
Fall Chinook, sustained by the hatchery, arrive from September with October the top month, and the fish stacked in the Nimbus reach draw crowds of anglers and spectators alike. Whether salmon may be kept is decided each year by the Fish and Game Commission, so confirm before you go. American shad and striped bass are both introduced fish that have been in the system since the 1870s and give the river a second season once the steelhead are gone.
Season and regulations
Flow decides the fishing here. Bill Kiene's shop in Sacramento calls about 2,000 cfs ideal, notes fish get spooky below 1,500 cfs, says 3,000 cfs is still wadeable, and warns that flows over 5,000 cfs drown people every year. The flow shown on this page is the Fair Oaks gauge in the upper river.
The lower American is regulated under CDFW's Central Valley hatchery trout, steelhead and salmon rules: barbless hooks only, a limit of 2 hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead, wild fish released, a Chinook limit that is set annually, and a seasonal closure on the reach between the hatchery cable crossing and the Ancil Hoffman power lines. A steelhead report card is required. Check the current CDFW Central Valley regulations for the exact dates before you fish.