There are no surprises awaiting anglers at this year’s trout opener. Saturday marks the traditional opening of the season throughout Northern California and the Eastern Sierra and all mountain passes except for Tioga Pass are open. That is the best news.

 

Rivers, creeks and streams are uniformly low and clear. Fish them now, because by June many will be a trickle. Better conditions will be found on lakes although warm water will have an impact on this weekend’s fishing.

 

For stream anglers, the early season conditions will be as good as it gets given the drought. Streams will only get lower as the season progresses given there are no banks of snow in storage to regenerate the flows.

 

The Truckee River has no water coming out of Tahoe and volunteers are being sought to capture the lunker trout that inhabit below Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City and release them into Lake Tahoe.

 

The East and West Walker are both low, clear and as Bridgeport Reservoir goes down in the summer, the East will also shrink.

 

The East Carson is in ideal shape right now but the West Fork already is low.

 

The Stanislaus River through Calaveras Big Trees is in good condition, but hasn’t been planted.

 

The Shasta-Cascade region has some of the best prospects. Fishing well right now are both the Upper Sacramento River and the Pit River. The McCloud is in excellent shape, too. Hat Creek is spring-fed so the drought has little impact.

 

Here is a look at conditions awaiting anglers:

 

Eastern Sierra: This region has received heavy plants of trout. The state, Mono County and local fish enhancement clubs all have put trout in Mono County waters. Mono County this week will be stocking 3,200 pounds of trophy, 6 to 9 pound fish. The road to Mammoth Lakes is clear and open.

 

Bridgeport Reservoir has been well stocked as has neighboring Twin Lakes. Twin Lakes typically kicks out browns weighing double-digits during the early season.

 

“The water is low in several places,” said Jim Reid from Ken’s Sporting Goods in Bridgeport. “There shouldn’t be any issues out of the gate, at least for a month or two. Later in the season there will be some issues on Bridgeport and the Walker.”

 

Both Virginia Lakes are frozen but too thin to ice fish.

 

Crowley Lake draws thousands of anglers during opening weekend. Those anglers will have to adapt to warmer water than usual.

 

“Usually at this time of year the water temperature is in 45 or 46 degrees,” said guide Mickey Baron. “It’s already 56 degrees. I think the shore guys may have some difficulty because the trout will have already moved away from shore toward deeper water. But no one knows for sure.”

 

Baron believes fly fishers will enjoy solid fishing because the lake has been ice free since mid-January and there is plenty of insect activity.

 

Over the hill on the western slope of the Sierra, both forks of the Carson have been heavily planted as well as Markleeville Creek and Silver Creek.

 

Last week, Alpine County Fish & Game planted 1,350 pounds in the West Carson, 1,350 pounds in the East Carson and 450 pounds in both Markleeville and Silver Creeks. In addition, DFW put 800 pounds in both forks of the Carson.

 

“The rivers are clear,” said Todd Sodero from Creekside Lodge in Markleeville. “The East Carson is perfect, Markleeville Creek is good and the West Carson and Silver Creek are OK. How long are fishable conditions going to last? Who knows?”

 

No matter how the spring and summer progress, Sodero said Alpine County Fish & Game is committed to planting 28,000 pounds of trout throughout the season.

 

Conditions are bleak in the Tahoe drainage. The Truckee is but a trickle at 200 cfs. The water from Boca has been cut.

 

Boats can be launched at Donner Lake, but that’s not the case at Boca, Stampede or Prosser.

 

Further north, conditions aren’t any better. The Feather River through Graeagle, Spanish Creek and the Middle Fork of the Feather are fishable now but don’t count on any of them having any staying power.

 

“It’s going to be a lake year,” said Allan Bruzza from the Sportsmen’s Den in Quincy.

 

That leaves the Gold Lakes Basin, Bucks Lake, Davis Lake and Almanor as alternatives.

 

Bucks Lake is a bit low but there won’t be releases until July. The trout at Davis Lake are larger than past years, said Bruzza. The spawn is over and trout should be moving into the weed bets. Almanor is a good bet for trout and smallmouth.

 

Downstream from Almanor, the North Fork of the Feather River should be a solid bet, said Mac Noble from Fish First in Chico.

 

“The North Fork has been good from Belden to Cresta,” Noble said. “Grizzly Creek, Yellow Creek and Caribou section will be good. Nymphing will be good but warmer days will bring out stoneflies or caddis.

 

Deer Creek has had no run-off so expect low water. Noble said sunny days will produce mayflies and some caddis and he expects an early and strong hatch of carpenter ants.

 

Excellent early season action is anticipated in the Shasta-Cascade region,
According to the Fly Shop in Redding, river conditions on the McCloud are very good. Best approach is with nymphs but there have been skwalla hatches, so be prepared to fish dries, too.

 

The Upper Sacramento is open year round and has been fishing well in recent days. Conditions are ideal for wading and there have been abundant hatches of caddis and baetis.

 

The Lower Sacramento is a solid standby and fishing is good from Redding downstream through Anderson. This is a good time to catch large trout and rainbows in the 22-inch class are being caught. Best action is from late morning to 5 p.m.

 

Pit River also is open year round and is fishing very well. Fish pockets and creases and use split shot to get nymphs down quickly into the strike zone.