Waters · United States
American River (Fair Oaks) fishing report
Updated Friday, 9 October 2026 · refreshed automatically through the day
The lower American runs cold out of Nimbus Dam through suburban Sacramento, holding fall chinook, winter steelhead and stripers that follow them up from the delta.
Today's report: good (80/100)
Striped Bass is the most promising species on American River (Fair Oaks) today. Water temperature at the gauge is 18.1°C (65°F) and barometric pressure is stable. Gauge AMERICAN R A FAIR OAKS CA shows the water level falling (1 cm/24h).
American River (Fair Oaks) water temperature and flow
- Water temperature: 18.1°C (65°F)
- Discharge: 50.4 m³/s (1,780 cfs) — down 2% over 24 hours
- Level trend: falling (1 cm/24h)
Measured at gauge AMERICAN R A FAIR OAKS CA · reading 12 min ago. Published by the national hydrological service, not estimated by us.
Best time to fish today
- 21:00–23:00 local time — score 74/100
- 00:00–02:00 local time — score 80/100
- 07:00–09:00 local time — score 89/100
3-day outlook by species
| Species | Friday 9 Oct | Saturday 10 Oct | Sunday 11 Oct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinook salmon | 58 — fair | 68 — good | 81 — excellent |
| Steelhead | 50 — fair | 57 — fair | 69 — good |
| Striped Bass | 80 — good | 87 — excellent | 88 — excellent |
Why this score
Cast & Scan uses a deterministic, published scoring model — no black box. The strongest influences on today's American River (Fair Oaks) rating:
- water temperature: helping (+1)
- wind: helping (+1)
- season: helping (+1)
- precipitation: helping (+0.9)
- pressure trend: helping (+0.8)
- cloud cover: helping (+0.75)
Forecast computed Fri, 09 Oct 2026 16:41:42 GMT · data: Open-Meteo + gauge AMERICAN R A FAIR OAKS CA · refreshed automatically through the day · see our published accuracy
Wondering how this stacks up against the apps you already know? Cast & Scan vs Fishbrain vs BassForecast — an honest comparison, including where they beat us.
Read before you go
- The best time to fish for bass
- How river flow trend changes the bite
- Barometric pressure and fishing, explained
More chinook salmon waters
- Kenai River (Soldotna) — Alaska, USA
- Au Sable River (Foote Dam) — Michigan, USA
- Cowlitz River (Castle Rock) — Washington, USA
- Deschutes River (Sherars Falls) — Oregon, USA
- Feather River (Oroville) — California, USA
Nearby waters
- Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta — California, USA (77 km away)
- Feather River (Oroville) — California, USA (102 km away)
- Truckee River (Farad) — California, USA (136 km away)
- Clear Lake — California, USA (139 km away)
- Trinity River (Lewiston) — California, USA (269 km away)
- Rogue River (Grants Pass) — Oregon, USA (457 km away)