Good-to-great fishing on the Napa River

There were few areas near Sonoma Valley last weekend where you could be cool and comfortable outside, and none were free from smoky air. But Sonoma’s Patrick MacKenzie, who guides on the Napa River, found relatively cool temperatures and pretty hot fishing for his clients there.

He says schools of larger striped bass have migrated up the Napa River and he is finding keepers in abundance and several larger fish mixed in. Bait is plentiful and active, which means the fish are aggressively looking to chase anything that looks like a meal. The water temperature ranges from 67 to 69 degrees. Which means floating in a boat on it keeps you cool.

He rates the fishing as good-to-great on the middle and lower parts of the river, with the upper section in downtown Napa the least productive right now.

Patrick is a fly-fishing guide and says that baitfish imitations in grey, white, chart white and olive white are the best flies. He also recommends that you use full sinking lines.

Patrick is an excellent guide and fun to fish with. To book a day’s fishing with him, call 721-6700, and visit his website at mackenzieonthefly.com.

It is even cooler floating on the Pacific off Sonoma’s coast, where Capt. Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sportsfishing keeps finding limits of rock and ling cod for his clients, while managing to find a few salmon along the way. Call Rick at 875-3344 to book a combo trip on his party boat, the New Sea Angler.

You don’t need a boat these days to catch lots of keeper-sized striped bass in San Francisco Bay. They’re present in large numbers all along the Marin Shoreline, says Keith Fraser at Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael.

“They’re catching limits right here, off the docks and the levee. One guy I talked to caught five keeper stripers fishing from shore at China Camp this week,” Keith said. He added that there are also lots of halibut being caught, and the king salmon fishing off Cal City (near Tiburon) has been running hot and cold. Call Keith at (415) 456-0321 for the latest reports and suggestions on where to fish. He has plenty of live bait available.

The incredibly hot temperatures and smoky air in the northern Sacramento Valley near Redding didn’t seem to stop some anglers from hitting the water for king salmon. Sacramento River guide Kirk Portocarrero reports several of his clients catching nice big salmon last weekend. To book a trip call Kirk at (530) 221-6151.

Further north near Mt. Shasta, the air cooled this week and the fishing on the upper Sacramento River near Dunsmuir has been pretty good, says Bob Grace at the Ted Fay Fly Shop. Most of the fly-fishing action is on nymphs, and the fall caddis hatch is still a few weeks away. Call Bob at (530) 235-2969 for the latest conditions and help in finding a guide for that area.