Share your catch
US

American River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The Lower American River: a 29-mile parkway river through Sacramento with hatchery salmon and steelhead from Nimbus and a spring shad run.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Flow
1,160 cfs
Air / High
59 / 70 F
Wind
NW 2 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 11446500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

American River feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. The river is running 1,160 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings cloud cover, wind NW around 2 mph, falling pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 70. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:45 AM-11:45 AM and 10:14 PM-12:14 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

SteelheadExcellent

Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Chinook salmonFair

Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

Tomorrow: Warmer at 75 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

California requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $64.54 for residents. What a California licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with CDFW before you keep anything. The season dates for California, read off the agency, are on the California seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from American River at Fair Oaks.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 11446500.

1,2881,5451,8021,160 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 122 years of October 23

At 1,160 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 11446500 (American River at Fair Oaks) is at the 57th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 122 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 883 cfs; the highest was 5,050 cfs and the lowest 100 cfs.

p10 294median 883p90 2,517

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 11446500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp59 F
High / Low70 / 56 F
WindNW 2-3 mph
Pressure1017.2 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 13%
Sunrise / Sunset07:22 / 18:16
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)60 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish American River this week

Today is the pick of the week on American River, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
9:45 AM-11:45 AM and 10:14 PM-12:14 AM
Minor period
4:09 AM-5:09 AM
Sun
07:22 to 18:16
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 11 mph
Rain chance
13%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on American River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Steelhead illustration

Steelhead

Great Lakes tributaries from fall through spring; West Coast rivers have both summer and winter runs

Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the Pacific or the Great Lakes to grow, then return up rivers to spawn; unlike most Pacific salmon they can survive spawning and spawn again. Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Chinook salmon illustration

Chinook salmon

Seasons follow the runs: spring, summer and fall runs on the West Coast, and late summer into fall in Great Lakes rivers

The largest Pacific salmon, caught by trolling and mooching at sea and by drifting and plunking in rivers as adults return to spawn; also stocked in the Great Lakes. Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

When to come: the American River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Steelhead
Chinook salmon
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks American River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 64 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 71 F, wind to 8 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

California requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

California fishing license. Salmon, steelhead and shad seasons, gear rules and closures on the lower American River change by reach and year: check the current CDFW Sport Fishing Regulations before fishing.

Access

County Regional Parks access points along the parkway include Sailor Bar, Sunrise Recreation Area, Ancil Hoffman, River Bend Park, Watt Avenue, Paradise Beach and Discovery Park.

About this water

The lower American River from Folsom Dam to the Sacramento River, about 29 miles of county parkway, Sacramento County, California.

Fishing American River: the full guide

The parkway

Sacramento County's master plan describes the American River Parkway as a greenbelt of about 29 miles from Folsom Dam to the river's confluence with the Sacramento. The lower American is classed as a Recreation river in the state and federal Wild and Scenic systems. County Regional Parks lists access points along it including Sailor Bar, Sunrise Recreation Area, Ancil Hoffman, River Bend Park, Watt Avenue, Paradise Beach and Discovery Park.

Salmon and steelhead from Nimbus

CDFW's Nimbus Hatchery in eastern Sacramento County raises Chinook salmon and steelhead for release to the American River. The salmon run comes in fall, with hatchery spawning from early November to mid-December, and the steelhead run in winter, with hatchery work in January and February. The hatchery visitor center, owned by Reclamation, is closed until further notice.

American shad

CDFW lists the American among the Central Valley rivers with major shad runs. Shad were planted on the West Coast between 1871 and 1881; their spawning migration peaks in May and June, and angler effort and catch on Central Valley rivers peak between April and June.

Common questions

Where do the salmon and steelhead come from?

CDFW's Nimbus Hatchery raises Chinook salmon and steelhead for release to the American River; salmon run in fall and steelhead in winter.

When is the shad run?

CDFW says shad spawning migrations peak in May and June, with angler catch on Central Valley rivers such as the American peaking between April and June.

Where can I reach the river without a boat?

Through the county's parkway access points, among them Sailor Bar, Sunrise, Ancil Hoffman, River Bend, Watt Avenue, Paradise Beach and Discovery Park.

Is fishing good at American River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Folsom Lake16 miSacramento River17 miLake Amador31 miLake Camanche33 miPutah Creek37 miMokelumne River37 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 11446500 β€” American River at Fair Oaks
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 14:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 38.5987, -121.3716 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 7, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 7, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.