Many of you striper enthusiast have heard about it, you may know someone who has done it, but I guess until you’ve experienced it yourself you really dont know what you are missing. Fishing for striped bass at night that is. That’s right, the night bite! You may have heard it said before…”niight time is the right time.” And that cliche couldn’t be more accurate. In fact, any fishing you’ve done in the daytime here on the Sacramento River. Simply will not compare to the success you will find after the sun goes down. Striped bass fishing on the Sacramento River is plain, and simply better at night. And here is why.

There are several reasons that striped bass fishing is consistently better at night. Let me first say that, for those of you who know striped bass. Know that they have an insatiable appetite for almost anything that swims, crawls, slithers, slaps, or splashes in the water. These fish are extremely intelligent. Not to mention highly adaptive to new environments. They can feed and sustain in almost any river condition. They will feed in muddy water, clear water, night, day, salt water, freshwater, East Coast to the West Coast, and all rivers and lakes in between. Striped bass are always ready to eat. Let’s cover two of the primary reasons the night fishing for Striped Bass in the Sacramento River is so productive.

Once the striped bass move into the Sacramento river during the spring migration and spawn. Their favorite food source becomes baby Chinook Salmon. This is their food of choice. This is the most prevalent food source around at this time of year, and the stripers exploit it. The juvenile chinook salmon released by Coleman National Fish Hatchery have no idea what lays in wait for them. The timing of these hatchery releases couldn’t be worse for the juvenile chinook. In the same breath the timing couldn’t be better for the striped bass. The spring migration of stripers heading up the Sacramento River, coincides directly with the baby salmon which are out migrating or heading down river to the Pacific Ocean. It’s like a nature made head on collision. The naturally given instinct that mother nature gives the juvenile chinook salmon is key to the night bite. Their instinct is to migrate under the cover of darkness to aid in their safety from predation. So as the sun sets the juvenile salmon come out of their daytime hiding spots amongst the rocks, bushes, trees, gravel bars, and other structure they hide in during daylight hours. If taking notice around sunset or early evening on the edges of the river. You will see juvenile salmon start hopping around. This is a sign that they are ready to migrate with the darkness when it arrives. Just before complete darkness, the juvenile salmon swim out to the rivers primary current lines (called the “bubble line”), and uses its strong currents to help aid them in a long travel to the Pacific Ocean. The juvenile Salmon will stay out in the middle of the river in the main current and travel south with the river all night long. Before returning to the banks of the river, and all her hiding spots, come first daylight. The stripers key in on this migration pattern immediately. Quickly adapting to their food source, the stripers turn nocturnal. Laying down themselves all day. Then gathering in large schools and feeding at night. It’s during this night time migration when the striped bass feed heaviest on the juvie salmonoids. The striped bass know when they are around baby salmon, the entire river vibrates with their presence. At this point they will congregate together and find a near by chokepoint in the rivers main current. Typically where the river narrows dramatically creating a funnel. Here they will sit, gathered up, being fed by the continuous migration of baby salmon throughout the night. Scattering before daylight returning to their own hiding spots for the daylight hours. Please know when striper are gathered up and actively feeding. They are 100 times easier to catch them where they are off the bite (daytime). Not to say a striped bass won’t seize the opportunity to eat something during the daylight hours, because they do! However where you may catch one in the daytime, you may catch dozens at night.

The potential for catching a monster striped bass is more likely at night during the spring run. The seldomly used technique of “trolling” is by far the most likely way to get your hands on a giant female striper. Speed trolling (3 - 5mph) is almost a forgotten art in the Sacramento River these days. With all the boat traffic in a small area, trolling is mostly ineffective during the daylight hours. Due to the boat traffic putting the stripers down. Nighttime is a completely different story. The reaction bite caused from speed trolling is revitalized when the darkness falls. Usually this is best done in the stretch of river south of Colusa, ca extending to Knights Landing, Ca. It is almost always is best trolling on the rip rap river banks that create a levee on both sides of the river. The best tip I ever received for trolling up big stripers. Was given to me by a true Sacramento River striper legend by the name of Kenny Ball! He told me this…”Mike if you want to catch the big stripers you have to fish for them”. Meaning find these colossal female stripers on your fish finder at night and troll over, and over, and over her until she reacts you your plug and smashed it. This advise worked like magic and it put my first forty on the deck. I’ve caught them on the first pass running through them and I’ve had it take as long as the second consecutive night trying to target a particular big fish that I had been graphing.

The second reason the nighttime dominates, the daytime for striped bass fishing is this. The daytime boat traffic caused by the ever growing number of anglers who run up and down the Sacramento River, from sunrise to sunset, every day of the season. Tends to put the stripers down. Sending them in to hiding. Or as the fishing guides call it, “pouting”. When explaining to my clients the relationship between striped bass and boat traffic. My explanation is this. Imagine you are standing on the street and a 747 jetliner comes roaring twenty foot over you. Would would you just stand there as if nothing was happening? No, you would run as fast and far as you could. So as you can imagine the first big jet sleds that come rumbling down the river at daylight, the stripers typically run for cover. The nonstop boat traffic and fishing pressure that lasts the duration of the spring striper run. Quickly puts the large congregations of striped bass off the daytime bite. Whereas during the night the boat traffic dissipates dramatically, and the river becomes quiet. Even without baby salmon around the striped bass will gather up and lay in the shallow waters of the submerged gravel bars and sand bars that line the Sacramento River. It is here that you can anchor up, or hit spot lock on your trolling motor. Now you can cast swim baits and black rubber worms at the shoreline. In a area the stripers have moved into. A seriously productive night time technique for putting big numbers of striped bass on your boat. The stripers living in the “wild” (not Army Core Engineered rip, rap) sections of the upper Sacramento River typically will be laying in 3 to 6 feet of water. Gathered up far off the main current. Here they will rest and take the opportunity to feed when it exist. Striped Bass have the unique ability to hunt down the beat of a paddle tail from a swimbait, or the vibration caused by the long, slender tail of a black plastic worm. These stripers are able to key in on even the slightest vibration or movement under the waters surface. Even on the darkest night, stripers will find a black plastic worm and choke it down as if it were broad daylight. This is why we say nighttime is the right time.

If you have ever entertained the idea of heading out at night and giving this night fishing thing a try, but still may be on the fence about it. I encourage you to give it a try. Don’t wait, just do it! Being out at night in the dark fishing and driving a boat is outside of most people’s comfort zone. Keep in mind this is the same exact river as during the daytime. Know your trouble areas and pay close attention to detail during the daytime. Then going out at night is more comfortable. Just use caution as you typically do, and fish the way you normally would. Just do it at night. As a aid to navigation adding a few thousand lumens to the boat will let you see from bank to bank making night like day in front of you. Another way to make yourself confident and comfortable fishing in the dark, is to hire a professional fishing guide. This would probably a smart decision for a few obvious reasons, and it will prove to be money well spent. There are only a small handful of local fishing guides and fishing charter services that offer these trips. We here at SalmonSacRiver do offer fully guided night time striper fishing trips from April 1, 2024 lasting through May 15, 2024. Also weather dependent. Big rain, or big wind and these night trips quickly become not so enjoyable. If you would like to book a reservation for one of these night trips feel free to contact us at 530-722-8876. Or through the email submission form process on this website SalmonSacRiver.com. A short list of separate individual fishing guide and fishing charter services would include: Ryan Tripp’s Guide Service, North State Salmon with Robert Petty, and RH Guide Service’s Raith Herryford. Don’t let this season pass you by without checking out the night bite. Tight Lines!

Mike's Fishing Guide Service for Sacramento River fishing targeting King Salmon, Striped Bass, White Sturgeon, American Shad and Rainbow Trout. The Best Sacramento River Salmon Fishing Guide and Striped Bass Fishing Guide on the Sacramento River.