The Sacramento River runs clear and cold from Shasta Lake and provides 50 miles of the best big-river rainbow trout habitat in California. Downstream, there are more rainbows (perhaps smaller), as well as striped bass, steelhead, largemouths, and panfish. (Marcel Siegle photo)
September 03, 2025
By Mike Mercer
The July morning was hot and almost over when I found him. The water didn’t look like much, just some confused, swirling currents below a minor riffle drop. I’d passed the spot a hundred times and had never seen so much as a single fish rising. Until today. Wading past, I was intent on the next familiar piece of water, and it was just dumb luck that I noticed out of the corner of my eye a tiny geyser of water that didn’t seem to belong. Unconvinced, I nonetheless listened to my gut and stopped, impatiently agreeing with myself to watch the water for 30 seconds. At 10, I saw it again— a soft explosion that seemed to take place mostly beneath the surface, with just...
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