American River

Fishing the American River

The Lower American is a big lowland tailwater. It leaves Folsom Lake, passes through Lake Natoma, drops over Nimbus Dam and then crosses the east side of Sacramento to meet the Sacramento River at Discovery Park, about 23 miles of salmon and steelhead water in all. Nearly every bank sits inside the American River Parkway, so a paved bike and walking path follows the river the whole way and pedestrian bridges cross it in five places. Expect gravel bars, riffles, long pools, islands, side chutes and rip-rap, with a few pieces you can only reach by boat. Upstream of Folsom Lake, the North, Middle and South Forks are separate pages. The top of the fishery is the Dam Pool under Nimbus Dam, reached from Hazel Ave., with the hatchery just downstream. Below it, Upper Sunrise and Sailor Bar spread into gravel bars and small islands, the best wading fly water on the river. Around the Sunrise Blvd. bridge, Sacramento Bar and Lower Sunrise face each other across a long pool, and the island riffles at Suicide Bend come next. Then come San Juan rapids, the salmon hole at Elmanto Drive, Rossmoor Bar and Ancil Hoffman Park. The river widens past Goethe Park, where the riffle turns into Arden rapids when flows are up, and Gristmill, Watt Ave. and Howe Ave. hold some of its most dependable riffles. Howe Ave. is the last place to pull out a drift boat. Below there the river slows past Glen Hall Park and under the freeway bridges to the beaches at Discovery Park, which flood at high water. Chinook salmon and steelhead are the reason most people come, salmon in the deep holes and steelhead on the riffles and tailouts. As of 1995, late summer and fall were the prime time, with no set run months, so check current run reports before you plan around a date. Striped bass and smallmouth bass use the lower river: the south side of the island at Howe Ave., the islands between Watt Ave. and Gristmill, and north of the islands at Sara Park. Native rainbow trout belong to the forks above the lake, not this reach. Fly anglers wade the riffles and swing or drift the tailouts, and wading is easiest in late summer and fall. Bait and lure anglers work the holes from banks and gravel bars. Drift boats and car-top boats reach water the path does not, and where bluffs or brush crowd your back, a roll cast does the job. Releases from the dams decide the day: high water drowns beaches and wipes out some riffles, and low water can strand a ramp. The Dam Pool gets crowded when fish are running. Regulations on the American change and differ by section, so check the current California regulations before you go.