Potluck Time in the City

by Jack Naves

‘When Worlds Collide’ is a way of expressing different opposing things coming together into a single moment. One example would be a huge international city like San Francisco being only minutes away from world-class halibut and striper fishing. When most of us think about fishing, we imagine getting back to nature and escaping the city.

On a more scaled down level, the fishing opportunities that Sacramento offers are another example of worlds colliding. Within earshot of roaring freeways and blasting train horns, the Sacramento and American Rivers provide metropolitan fishing to over two million nearby residents.

While most of us need departure from the city at some point, the convenience of making a quick trip to a nearby location can be the difference between fishing or staying home! This time of year, potluck opportunities present themselves to anglers fishing the Sacramento, American, and Feather River systems. Now is the time to try your luck for striped bass and shad within the city limits and bustling freeways. I was lucky enough to get into the action during two recent potluck trips in the city of Sacramento.

On May 25, I had a scheduled trip with Max Wagner of Eugene, Oregon. Not knowing exactly where we would be fishing, some other plans came up just before the trip. I was originally thinking about fishing at Bullards Bar for kokanee, but it is over ninety minutes from my house. Not to worry, I told Max, we could still fish the nearby Sacramento River in the morning and be back home in plenty of time.

Timing the striped bass spawning run through Sacramento can be very unpredictable. For those of us fishing in the city, the fish often shoot up past us while we are busy with other plans. I let Max know that striper fishing in late May is usually past its prime, and we’d most likely spend our time focusing on American Shad instead. However, we would throw out some bait first thing in the morning to see if any stripers were around.

We arrived at Discovery Park at a quarter after five o’clock in the morning on May 25. As light made its first dim appearance, I motored the boat upriver to an inside bend across from ‘Crawdads on the River’. Once I anchored up and killed the motor, we could hear the whooshing sound of tires laying ground on the concrete of nearby Interstate 5. Suddenly, the urban sound was contrasted by the familiar cry from a pair of magnificently colored wood ducks flying past us in full spring plumage.

After we deployed our circle hooks baited with chicken livers, I started tying up baits on additional leaders. Out of the corner of my eye, the rod directly to my left pumped down, up, and then slammed down almost to the water. I dropped the bait and quickly grabbed the rod. The rod loaded up heavy, and I announced to Max, “It’s a keeper”.

The water was moving fast due to pulse dam releases, and the fish made several runs before Max scooped it into the net. It was a skinny twenty-six-inch striped bass making its run back to sea after spawning up north. About an hour later I landed another fish of similar size, but the bite slowed so we motored downstream in search of American Shad.

There were at least three-dozen boats anchored up below the mouth of the American River. We anchored below the fleet and deployed Dick Nite spoons on dropper setups in eight feet of water.

The shad fishing wasn’t as red-hot as I had expected; we only landed three shad and lost one. We called it a day at ten o’clock and were back at my house within a half-hour. Motivated by the surprisingly good striper action, I planned another trip for the following morning.

I decided to change things up and fish at a more striper-friendly location near Garcia Bend the next morning. This area of the Sacramento River is about eight miles south of downtown, but still within the city limits.

On that morning, Jason Carlisle of Elk Grove met me at the ramp, and we motored to a spot I started fishing with my dad back in the early 1980s. We anchored up in sixteen feet of water, and right off the bat my second rod was slammed by our first keeper striper of the morning.

It was barely over the eighteen-inch minimum size, so I released it back into the debris-filled river. The pulse flows from the dams upriver stirred up quite a mess of floating leaves, sticks, logs, and occasional trees. However, this didn’t deter the striped bass from being active, as Jason’s rod bent down hard, and it wasn’t from a floating piece of wood.

Jason’s fish made a wild run from the port side of the boat under all the lines and up the starboard side. After several line-stripping runs, I finally got a glimpse of the fish and ran the net into the water without hesitation.

“Nice one!” I exclaimed, and quickly unclipped the leader so Jason could get a fresh bait back into the water. His fish weighed about six-and-a-half pounds, another beautiful late-spring Sacramento striper! I followed it up with another keeper, and then another nice fish which I quickly released. It was time to try for shad once again.

Just like the previous morning, the shad scene was devoid of action. In fact, we only hooked one shad that shot to the surface, jumped, and threw the hook before Jason could even get the rod out of the holder. That’s the beauty of potluck fishing on the Sacramento River. What was anticipated to be a weekend of shad fishing instead turned into two solid striper trips.

As spring transitions into summer, the shad fishing around the Sacramento Area should pick up. However, don’t forget to bring along some bait just in case some downrunner stripers just happen to be making their way out of town. Even a quick morning trip can yield limits of tasty white fillets if your timing is right. Sometimes fishing close to home can offer the best of colliding worlds (and fish species!)

Photos – Crop as Needed

Photo 1 - Max with Shad

Max Wagner of Eugene, Oregon poses with a feisty American Shad within the backdrop of downtown Sacramento on May 25. The morning illustrated that you could find great fishing right within the capitol city of California amongst the traffic, trains, and…Major League Baseball? Yes, the Phillies and A’s started playing just beyond the skyscraper about three hours after this photo.

Photo by Jack Naves, Fish Sniffer Staff

Photo 2 - Jack with 26-inch Striper

The author shows off a 26-inch striped bass that slammed a circle hook baited with chicken livers on the morning of May 25 on the Sacramento River. Jack was fishing near Crawdads on the River within the city limits of the state’s capitol.

Photo by Max Wagner, Eugene, Oregon

Photo 3 - Jason with 6lb Striper

In this photo, Jason Carlise of Elk Grove hoists a hefty spring-run striped bass on the morning of May 26. Jason landed the six-pounder using chicken livers baited on a circle hook on the Sacramento River near Garcia Bend in Sacramento, CA.

Photo by Jack Naves, Fish Sniffer Staff

Photo 4 - Jack with Released Striper

This early-morning striper was caught and released by Jack Naves on May 26 near Garcia Bend on the Sacramento River. Jack has been fishing this area since the early ‘80s, and enjoys hearing the same familiar calls of Kingfishers, Swainson's hawks, wood ducks, and other birds that frequent the peaceful area in the springtime.

Photo by Jason Carlisle, Elk Grove

Staff Tackle

Jack Naves fished with Max Wagner on the Sacramento River in Jack’s 20’ North River Seahawk powered by Yamaha. They caught striped bass using BnM Fishing West Point Crappie Rods teamed with Abu Garcia Ambassadeur C3 reels loaded with 65-pound test Power Pro green braided line. They also landed American Shad using Edge Mag Pro rods teamed with Dick Nite #0 pink/chartreuse spoons on dropper rigs made with Berkley Trilene XL clear 10-pouund test line.