Yeah, I kow last year I saw quite a few of them. Once i saw an area they were targeting, I just kept moving upstream and then the fish were a little easier to target. I have to admit, I was impressed to see them thriving. I went down to Putah today and saw a jack king! about 8-10 lbs and it was just holding in a tailout by #4 and was showing red! Goes to show you even though the creek has tough times (trash, excessive bait, ams, etc...) nature still has a way!

Yeah I thought it was damned up pretty good myself. I talked with a bio buddy of mine at Nimbus and he says it is not uncommon to see them every once in awhile, since that is/was a native run for them. My buddy also said it wouldn't surprise him if someone caught a steelie! I guess you would have to have fished it long ago.

and why not? Salmonids are known for there ability to travel in very difficult water. For those that don't know I have stated a couple things on why "i" think the fish was there. Please understand, "I"  saw fish, so regardless of what you think, I know what I saw... 

1. The ofactory sensors in fish are also genetic (debatable, sense most fisheries biology is scientific theory). What this means is a salmon could be in the south or yolo bypass (excessive amounts of "rain" water well into late spring, like this year) due to the sensors "smelling" what the fish thinks is native spawning water while it is still in the sacramento. Thus the fish moves through. However we all know that legislation forced them to maintain a level of flow in Putah below the diversion to maintain anodromous species "steelhead" and "chinook slamon" native spawning runs.

2. Yes there is a diversion on Solano, but we also saw 7000 cfs plus this year, so this same fish found itself at the diversion, gates open and had high water on the downstream side of the diversion. So, the fish was able to navigate through the gate. Granted this may seem far fetched, but has stranger things happened? I personally have seen a 40-50lbs king salmon clear a 7' falls, so nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to slamonids and there willingness to achieve and survive. Just for the record I also saw a mid 20" trout clear the same obsticle.

Tight lines!

 

 

A couple of years ago I was fishing one of Putah's slower sections.  I hooked a fish about 15 inches long and got it almost close enough to land.  It had silvery sides and looked very much like a whitefish.  It also had the silouette of a whitefish (I have caught many whitefish in Idaho and Montana so I am very familiar with what they look like).  Unfortunately, I didn't land the fish so I couldn't examine it.  I have talked to others who fish the stream, but no one I have talked to has ever thought there are whitefish in the stream.