Unfortunately for fishermen, the recent storms in the Bay Area have overfilled almost every stream and river where steelhead have been biting. The Smith, which had been excellent for salmon during the entire salmon season, was starting to really offer up quality steelhead. It didn't stay as steady with steelhead as it had with salmon during the last couple of months of the season. The steelhead biting wavered up and down just a little bit, but overall has improved steadily.

Thanks to the recent storms, the Smith probably won't be fishable until sometime next week. The Smith is a river that typically clears out pretty fast no matter how much mud gets churned up from rain and storms. But even given that speed, the storms have been severe enough that it's going to take a little extra time. The American River also tends to clear more quickly than some of the other North Coast Rivers, but even so it's not going to be ready until at least next week either. Both rivers should start to clear over the weekend, and maybe be alright by mid-week.

Over the last week anglers have had to stay in because of the storms. But with the storms clearing off and the injection of the rainwater into rivers, streams and the Delta area, the whole dynamic of these areas could change dramatically from last week to next week.

It may still prove frustrating for many anglers because, with the exception of the Smith River and the American, there's not going to be many steelhead biting for the next few weeks. Other areas are going to take that long to clear enough to be fishable. Fishing from the bank will be impossible because of the mud, and the lakes are so dark and thick the fish just won't be there.

The good news is that when it all clears off, the fishing could be vastly improved from how it's been over the last few weeks. Trout are still going to be planted in several lakes just as they have been, like Lake Amador that's been getting a hefty trout plant every week. So even though no one can really fish them and expect anything to bite, the fish levels will build up even during this downtime.

Another good thing to note about the recent storms is that the rain has not been cold. It might've felt cold to us, but as far as actual temperature it's warm enough that it's not going to slow the fish down once the water settles. None of the storms should have dropped any of the lake temperatures dramatically enough to do that.

When the storms do pass, if you have to take a break from steelhead because of the muddy water, give sturgeon a try because they should be biting well in the Delta as early as this weekend. Try fishing South Bay, San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay. While sturgeon biting wasn't bad before, now that the tides aren't an issue anymore and the fresh water has been dumped in, sturgeon fishermen should do well.

Photo Credits: ingridtaylar

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Angling, CA, Fishing, Fishing Report, River Fishing, Salmon, San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, Sturgeon, steelhead

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delta area, extra time, fish, fishermen, Fishing, lake amador, little bit, mud, north coast rivers, rain, rainwater, Salmon, salmon season, smith river, steelhead, storms, streams, trout