Lake Sonoma Fly Fishing trips - Healdsburg California

Located in Healdsburg’s Dry Creek drainage, Lake Sonoma California offers some pretty remarkable year round fly fishing opportunities. Weather you are looking for a little escape from the wine tasting or a local looking for a good guide to help you learn the lake we have you covered. On any given day Sonoma offers chances for Spotted bass, Smallmouth and even Largemouth to go with Crappie, Bluegill!

Lake Sonoma offers a variety of fly fishing opportunities within 1 1/2 hours drive of San Francisco, and a few minutes from the Santa Rosa, Sonoma, and even the Napa Valley's renown food and wine. Escape from the ordinary wine country experience and include some exciting and memorable fishing to your itinerary.

The species:

Largemouth: Lake Sonoma Largemouth average 1.5 -2.5 lbs, with 3-5 lb bass being caught with some regularity. On most days anglers can expect 5-30 bass stripping streamers and topwater poppers. Experienced casters usually do best when targeting the larger fish as precision and being able to cast a good distance come into play.

Smallmouth: Smallmouth bass in Sonoma are a blast on a fly rod. Although usually smaller in size than largemouth cousins these awesome game fish with their red eyes and bronze color are fun fish on light fly tackle. Berryessa is home to a good populations of "smalleys" which can be caught year round along rocky shores.

Spotted Bass
Spotted Bass are found in Lake Sonoma in decent numbers and will readily take a fly virtually any day of the year. Most of the year they can be found along rocky shore line or drop offs mixed in with smallmouth and largemouth. They often fall for our Float and Fly technique especially early and late in the year.

Crappie
Caught mostly in the Spring from 4 to 12 ft depth these fish can really pad the numbers and are a welcome piece to the Berryessa grand slam or super grand slam.(Largemouth, Smallmouth, Spotted Bass, Trout, Kokanee and Crappie)

The Seasons and Fishing:

Sonoma, January - February

Bass spawn in the Spring here in California including in Lake Sonoma. Prior to March and before spawning begins, fishing is at it's slowest for fly fishing. Lake Sonoma often has cold water in the Winter driving the bass deep. That along with off color visibility makes fishing challenging especially for fly anglers. Winter Bass on Sonoma may still eat a well placed fly as long as the water isn’t too muddy. The challenge is finding them at the appropriate depth where they will feed and having enough visibility for them to see our flies. It's not to say you couldn't find a few fish if conditions happened to be right, but the numbers just aren't there. For this reason we don't start guiding Sonoma until March.

Sonoma, March - May

Starting in early March bass begin to move up and into the shallower areas of the lake. Staging along shoreline drop offs and rocky points. As they venture within range we employ our Float n’ Fly technique with good success. Catching 40+ fish in a day is very doable in the Spring. Along with spotted bass, Largemouth begin move into the shallows to spawn at this time and can be very territorial and defend their nest from other fish or even an intruding fly pattern. Spring fishing can start slow depending on water temps and clarity, but can be good as early as the beginning of March and run all the way through May & into June!

Sonoma, June to August

In the summer on Sonoma bass generally spend their days and nights resting in deep water, but they move to shallow water to feed in the morning and evening. This is our favorite time to get them on top water poppers. These shallow areas usually have vegetation or other structures to attract minnows, insects, crustaceans like crawdads or other small creatures for bass to feed on. In addition, these shallow areas tend to be adjacent to the deep waters where bass rest. So we target along points or steep ridges and the shallow areas around the edge of the lake. Rocky points, floating or submerged vegetation, docks or coves filled with trees are prime bass habitat and Sonoma has some of each of these elements. Fishing early and late in the day is the best time to be on the water.

Sonoma, September to December 

In the fall around September once the kids have gone back to school the lake gets quieter at least mid week. During this time we go back to the Float and Fly mid day but ply the edges and shallows with poppers in the morning and evening. As Fall becomes Winter and water temps cool, bass move to deeper water and top water flies becomes less productive. During this time we fish deeper along drop offs or rocky shores. Streamers and Suspended patterns work best and we can adjust our depth to get to where they are holding and feeding. We often have the Lake to ourselves.

Guided Trip Options

Full Day: $625
(8 hours) 1-2 anglers with lunch provided

Half Day: $485
(4-5 hours) 1-2 anglers

Tackle

We fish 5-6 weight fly rods with full floating or intermediate slow sinking lines. We are happy to provide rods and reels at no additional charge. We can also accommodate a third angler for $150 additional per day.

There is a small parking fee required at the Lake, so plan for that. We will meet between 7 and 7:30 depending on what the fishing conditions dictate.

Getting Here 

From San Francisco head north on highway 101 to Dry Creek Road exit. At the bottom of the ramp turn left and follow Dry Creek Road straight for 12 miles(through two stop signs).

Your exciting Lake Sonoma fly fishing adventure awaits! Call Now (707) 287-2939 for up to date fishing reports, current river conditions and information on experiencing enjoyable and memorable fly fishing for yourself. Dates fill up quickly for many of highly sought after guides so don't delay. You may also fill out our Online Trip Request Form. 

Booking a Lake Sonoma Fly Fishing Guide

To make a reservation, please give us a call at (707) 287-2939.