Sacramento River, California

Keswick Dam to Redding

Shasta Dam releases run nine miles down Keswick Reservoir to Keswick Dam, and the Lower Sacramento, the tailwater, begins there just north of Redding. The first 650 feet below Keswick Dam are closed to all fishing all year, and the reach from there down to the Highway 44 bridge in Redding is closed April 1 through July 31 to protect spawning fish. This is not the Upper Sacramento, which is the freestone above Shasta Lake along I-5; the two rivers get confused constantly.

Redding city reach

The Sacramento River Trail and the city parks around the Sundial Bridge, Turtle Bay and the Posse Grounds put a lot of quality water within a short walk of downtown Redding. Access is better than on most tailwaters, and at winter and spring flows the riffles and gravel bars through town wade well. Most guiding is done from drift boats and jet boats launched at the city ramps.

Anderson to Red Bluff

Below the Deschutes Road bridge at Anderson the river leaves the last of the foothills and the floats from Balls Ferry, Jellys Ferry and Bend down toward Red Bluff run through valley oak country. Trout are still abundant but this is also the reach where fall steelhead show up, from Anderson down to Los Molinos, and where the fall salmon spawn concentrates. Bank access is limited; boats are the practical way to fish it.

Rainbow trout

Wild rainbows are the fish of the Lower Sac and they grow fast on a river that never warms or freezes. No hatchery trout are stocked in the Redding reach, so the 2 hatchery trout limit makes the trout fishery catch and release in practice. Caddis are the main hatch from March through the fall, with baetis in winter and early spring and egg patterns behind spawning salmon from October into December. The Fly Shop calls winter the time for the largest fish, with the year's lowest flows and the best wading.

Salmon, steelhead and browns

The Sacramento has four runs of chinook (winter, spring, fall and late fall); fall fish spawn in the tailouts from early October and late-fall fish continue into winter. Steelhead reach the lower floats in fall. Brown trout are present in small numbers and have a separate 5 fish limit, but they are an occasional catch rather than a target. Salmon seasons and closures change yearly; check CDFW before keeping anything.

Season and regulations

The Bureau of Reclamation sets the flow at Keswick: winter and spring releases usually sit between about 3,250 and 5,000 cfs and summer irrigation releases climb to 12,000 to 15,000 cfs. Local sources say wading options are good until releases pass roughly 7,000 cfs and the main channel is mostly boat water above that, so this page compares the Keswick gauge to a 3,000 to 7,000 cfs wading range. Floating is fine at any normal release.

Keswick Dam to 650 feet below: closed all year. 650 feet below the dam to the Highway 44 bridge: open January 1 to March 31 and August 1 to December 31, barbless hooks only. Highway 44 bridge to Deschutes Road bridge: open all year, barbless hooks only. Limits: 2 hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead, 5 brown trout; wild rainbows and steelhead must be released. A steelhead report card is required to fish for steelhead. Confirm the current CDFW Central Valley regulations before you go.