Fishing in the City Program continues into 31st year with catfish and trout plants

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fishing in the City program, now in its 31st year, is conducting Beginner "Learn to Fish" fishing clinics for children from 5 to 15 years old and planting urban ponds in the Sacramento Metro Area area with channel catfish this summer.

The program sponsored an opportunity to participate in free fishing clinics and fish for channel catfish on Saturday, May 11 at Granite Regional Park in Rancho Cordova. The CDFW also stocked channel catfish at four other Sacramento Area ponds.

Lacey Carlson, the Fishing in the City Sacramento Coordinator since November 2023, said the program is in the process of trying two new things.

First, the program features a new clinic model that they introduced this summer. “We will be testing out the new model and making adjustments so that it works for the community,” she said.

Currently, the program is sponsoring five short clinics that youths are required to attend before they are allowed to borrow a fishing rod and tackle box to fish the pond. The topics are: (1) practicing casting, (2) safety and fishing ethics, (3) knot tying, (4) ecology and fish adaptations and (5) rigging and knowing what baits to use, according to Carlson.

The five clinics take a total of 45 minutes to complete and then the young people go fishing. “Our goal is to create self-sufficiency with the young anglers,” Carlson said.

These events are geared towards children ages 5-15 years old with little to no fishing experience. All participants must be accompanied by an adult, and use Fishing in the City-provided rods/reels and tackle (no personal fishing gear allowed). These events have a rolling start time of 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Second, Carlson said the program is transitioning to a community-based model working with parks departments and different community groups to recruit more volunteers. Fifteen volunteers participated, including folks from the CDFW, NRVP (Natural Resource Volunteers Program sponsored by the CDFW), Hooked on Fishing Not on Violence and community members, at the event I attended.

More: Three giant trout over 14 pounds lead Amador catches

Fishing in the City is consistently planting five park ponds this summer — Granite, Howe, Hagen, Mather and Elk Grove, said Carlson. They are hoping to expand to other ponds in the future.

The Youth Beginnner “Learn to Fish" Clinics will be held starting at 8 a.m. on June 15 at Hagan Community Park in Rancho Cordova; starting at 8 a.m. on July 6 at Howe Park; starting at 8 a.m. on August 3 at Granite Regional Park; August 31 at Elk Grove Regional Park; and starting at 8 a.m. September 14 at Mather Regional Park.

Pre-registration is required. When signing up, people should choose which time they plan to arrive (between 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., or 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Events are rain or shine. In the event of hot, wet and/or cold weather participants are advised to dress appropriately.

Family members are welcome to come and learn, but, adults may not fish until the event ends at noon.

Created to improve angling opportunities for the growing and urban population in the nation’s most populous and most diverse state, the Sacramento program officially began at Southside Park in the summer of 1993.

The program has been offering fishing clinics, free rod and reel rentals and stocking rainbow trout and channel catfish ponds in close to home ponds in the Sacramento area for all of those years. The program also serves the San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan areas.

The program stocks channel catfish in the ponds in the warmer months and rainbow trout in the cooler months. The catfish plants take place from May through September, while the trout plants take place from November through March.

According to the CDFW website: “The Fishing in the City program was created in 1993 to improve angling opportunities to California’s growing urban population. Consistent with trends across the country, California’s urban anglers identified a lack of free time as the primary reason why they don’t fish more or stopped altogether.”

In covering Fishing in the City events since 1993, I’ve seen some surprising catches. I’ve seen crappie, huge redear sunfish, brook trout and even brown trout caught in the local ponds.

The program is currently recruiting volunteers. To volunteer, contact r2fishinginthecity@wildlife.ca.gov. For more information on the program, click here.

Camanche Trout Reward Trollers

While anglers have been concentrating on other lakes lately for trout, the trout fishing has been very good at Lake Camanche. Cal Kellogg of fishhuntshoot.com found top-notch fishing on his latest fishing adventure to the Mother Lode Reservoir while fishing from a small skiff.

“I caught and released at least 15 rainbow trout weighing up to 3-1/2 pounds in the main body and the river arm,” said Kellogg. “The surface water temperature was 68 degrees in the river arm. The best depth was from 25 to 35 feet deep. I power-trolled shad Trigger spoons at 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 mph. The fish were belching up threadfin shad when I got them in the boat. “

“The day started with a double hook-up and the action was pretty steady all day long. I saw about three or four boats fishing for trout out on the lake,” he revealed.

More: Bacher: American Shad Run Begins on Sacramento River

Folsom Lake King Salmon and Rainbow Bite Heats Up

Rainbow trout and king salmon fishing is excellent at Folsom Lake, as Cal Kellogg found during a trolling adventure in his skiff on May 14.

“I targeted trout first starting at 6 a.m. on the peninsula from the surface to 20 feet,” he explained. “I hooked 12 rainbows, landing eight. I caught a mixture of planters and holdovers in the 12 to 14-inch range while trolling cop car pattern Trigger Spoons teamed up with Turbo Flashers on two colors of lead core line.”

“I then targeted salmon on the end of the peninsula and hooked three fish while trolling shad tubes tipped with mackerel strips,” he noted. “I landed one salmon measuring 20 inches and lost the other two. However, it was getting hot and I left while the fish were still biting.”

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Fishing in the City Program continues into 31st year