The long awaited Northern California Spring Striped Bass fishing has finally arrived! Reports of striped bass being caught throughout the entire Sacramento River system along with the Feather River and the Sacramento River Delta are coming into the fishing communities here in Northern California, daily. Plagued by high and very muddy river conditions thus far into the season on the Sacramento River, a waiting game has insued in most cases for local Northern California striped bass anglers. "Waiting for river conditions on the Sacramento River to become ideal may cost anglers a good portion of their season. The stripers are here and will continue to come, they will be in all the popular spots along the Sacramento River. You may have to change how you target them, but waiting for ideal conditions in this over-saturated Spring will only cost anglers missed opportunities and a shortened season." explains Sacramento River fishing guide Mike Rasmussen, owner of SalmonSacRiver.com. The Sacramento River again reached the 60ft+ mark on the Colusa, Ca bridge gauge, running most anglers off the river for the weekend. With striped bass being caught before this last series of Northern California storms by several Sacramento River guides such as Raith Herford of rhguideservice.com and Anthony Crawford's Got Fish Guide Service | Facebook anglers can expect that this weeks dropping of the Sacramento River around the Colusa, Ca area will present many new opportunities for anglers as the striped bass will be arriving all week.

Ryan Tripp holding a keeper sized striped bass he caught on the Sacramento River near Colusa, Ca last week while soaking cut bait with Mike Rasmussen of SalmonSacRIver.com.

Anglers on the Sacramento River willing to get out and endure less than ideal conditions for linesides, can expect to be fishing river levels that are higher than desired and water conditions on the dirty side, as poor water clarity of less than six inches can be expected throughout this week. On the bright side, stripers will still be very catchable using high and dirty water techniques, such as soaking cut bait and pile worms, or trolling lures such as "broken back Rapala's" or "deep diving Yozuri's". Trolling lures should be better during the later part of the week and into next weekend as water levels continue to recede on the Sacramento River. Kittle's Outdoor & Sports at kittlesoutdoor.com has all the popular cut baits, such as sardines, anchovies, and mackerel as well as pile worms (weather depending), night crawlers and chicken liver for those striper anglers that want to spice up their bait selection. Kittle's also has an assortment of trolling lures and trick worm teasers to choose from, for this seasons high water striped bass fishing. At the current time there have been no reports as to which boat launches, if any, are operational. Steelhead Lodge in Colusa, Ca and Butte City boat launch in Butte City, Ca will be your best bet as they are usually the first to be maintained.

Sacramento River Striped Bass fishing guide Mike Rasmussen of SalmonSacRiver.com reports he will be fishing out of the Colusa, Ca area starting this week and continuing throughout the remainder of the Striped Bass season on the Sacramento River. Rasmussen takes groups of all sizes and skill levels and has availabilities open throughout the season. SalmonSacRiver.com fishing guide John Pearl (JP. Guide Service) will also start booking dates that don't interfere with his bass fishing tournament schedule. Contact Mike Rasmussen by phone at tel:530-722-8876, and John Pearl by phone at tel:707-536-3984. For reservations online for either Mike or John search SalmonSacRIver.com.