I've scheduled a short season on the coast this week and have been fishing the Klamath River for King salmon and steelhead. Fishing has been slow, but there are some fish in the system. Currently, the water levels on the Klamath are low and the in-river water temps are sitting at about 73 degrees. These are not the kind of conditions a guide wants to see when he's trying to put clients on some descent fishing. Another issue has been the periodic closing of the mouth of the Klamath and new fish can't enter the river under these conditions.

Winter weather continues to soak the north state, and Shasta Lake continues to be on the rise. As of January 28th, the lake level stands at 96.5' feet below full pool. Since it is still relatively early in the winter season, this is great news and it looks like El Nino 2016 just may break our historic 4 year drought. This past week has seen daily lake levels rising between 2' and 5' feet and this has taken the predictability right out of the bass fishing on Shasta.