Sacramento Valley Diving

[FishDiver]

I lived in No. California for 20 years and never did any diving or even snorkeling. I am now on contract for a few years in Sydney, Australia and have caught the scuba bug. I did my my OW in January, and have done over 40 dives since then.

I will have my Master Diver certification by the time I get back to Sacramento. I have done some web searching for dive shops, clubs and dive sites in the area and come up essentially blank. It appears that most divers go to either Monterey or Tahoe to dive.

Are there any places worth diving near Folsom? What about Lakes Folsom or Natomas, the American or Sacramento river?

I haven't done any tropical diving yet, so I'm not completely spoiled. I have no problems with cold, murky water.

 

[duckbill]

I dive the Feather River at Yuba City all the time in the Summer when the water is lower. Viz is about 5-8 ft with a compacted mud bottom. I usually find interesting things to see, like cars, trucks, salmon and other fish, boat anchors, wallets, military dog tags, crayfish, even a turtle hanging out on the bottom once. Current is strongest at the top-center of the river (usually). The current is usually handlable if you hug the bottom if you want to pass to the opposite bank. Every spot of every river is different every year! Only trying it will teach you what is do-able for any given water level for any given spot for any given year.

Further north in Oroville on the Feather River is the salmon hatchery. The salmon get VERY thick just below the fish ladders before they are opened sometime in October. I've seen them from the surface, but plan to dive with them this year. Should be fun.

Otherwise, I've heard of divers drift diving the American River there at Sacramento. Folsom Lake is also a dive possibility from what I've heard.

Another valley-dwellers' destination is Fort Bragg. I'm fairly new to Sacramento area diving, and the Feather River has been my only local experience. The rest is heresay.
Good luck.

(Don't forget that some of the areas lakes are altitude dives)

 

[FishDiver]

Excellent!

I neglected to mention that I was an avid fisherman while living in CA. I have salmon/bass/shad/striper/steelhead fished in the areas you mentioned.

I have no experience diving in rivers but plan on doing it in local waters when I return.

 

[melfox26]

Check out www.dolphinscuba.com

Great dive shop in Sacramento with their own dive club.

 

[boomx5]

We dive Folsom from time to time when we need a quick dip. However, most of the time we head down to Monterey, or up towards Tahoe and some of the other lakes up the hill. Donner is a fun little dive as well as Stumpy Meadows in Georgetown. Another fun lake dive is Lake Commanche since there can be good vis at times. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to PM and I'll be happy to help.

 

[FishDiver]

We dive Folsom from time to time when we need a quick dip. However, most of the time we head down to Monterey, or up towards Tahoe and some of the other lakes up the hill. Donner is a fun little dive as well as Stumpy Meadows in Georgetown. Another fun lake dive is Lake Commanche since there can be good vis at times. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to PM and I'll be happy to help.

I have read posts that state the diving in Folsom Lake is boring and that the vis is bad. I know when I have fished there I could often see the bottom in 20' of water. What gives?

I have fished Stumpy and Camanche many times but the water was always quite dirty. Maybe the poor visbility just corresponded with the best fishing seasons. I fished Camanche all winter and Stumpy in the late spring.

Is there much to see in the Sierra lakes? I would guess that the vis is excellent but they always seemed rather sterile and devoid of life to me.

I am really interested in exploring my old fishing areas from my new perspective as a diver.

 

[IanK]

I am an ex Aussie from Sydney/Melbourne and have lived in DAvis for 20 years. My only experience in Folsom was not very good. I go down to Monterey and also Pt. Lobos if I can get in ( you need to reserve weeks ahead to grab a weekend slot in the park). Get in touch when you are in Sacramento.

How has the diving been around Sydney? I have been diving in Jervis Bay and Soutwest rocks in the past year or so and enjoyed them both.

 

[lonerider00]

I dive the Feather River at Yuba City all the time in the Summer when the water is lower. Viz is about 5-8 ft with a compacted mud bottom. I usually find interesting things to see, like cars, trucks, salmon and other fish, boat anchors, wallets, military dog tags, crayfish, even a turtle hanging out on the bottom once. Current is strongest at the top-center of the river (usually). The current is usually handlable if you hug the bottom if you want to pass to the opposite bank. Every spot of every river is different every year! Only trying it will teach you what is do-able for any given water level for any given spot for any given year.

Further north in Oroville on the Feather River is the salmon hatchery. The salmon get VERY thick just below the fish ladders before they are opened sometime in October. I've seen them from the surface, but plan to dive with them this year. Should be fun.

Otherwise, I've heard of divers drift diving the American River there at Sacramento. Folsom Lake is also a dive possibility from what I've heard.

Another valley-dwellers' destination is Fort Bragg. I'm fairly new to Sacramento area diving, and the Feather River has been my only local experience. The rest is heresay.
Good luck.

(Don't forget that some of the areas lakes are altitude dives)

ive dove the fish hatchery in oroville, vis wasnt bad, bout 40 some odd ft to the bottom and lots of debris and wreckage (rebar and old gold dredges and stuff,kinda cool actually,but could be dangerous if current gets swift and you're not watching yourself).... oh yeah, in 1 dive we filled 3 goodybags full of crawdads (they were inseason when we went and f/g said it was ok 2 take in there... is no take area for fish), great for a quick dip, water was about 50 degrees though (right off a snowbank) so it's about the same as monterey on a very cold day!!!

i've personnally done folsum but a cpl of my friend do it fairly often, they say its, uh... wet (shrug), vis varies and its close, jimearnst has some decent pics outa there so viz must be halfway decent on some days?, other than that, i've been wanting to dive it, to find out for myself

duck, im still not up for diving quite yet (got injurred at work back in april) but should be in a month or two (i think), if you wanna do the fish hatchery let send me a pm, i'm in chico and it's about a half hr to get there for me

 

[FishDiver]

I have completed another 30 dives since I began this thread and developed an absolute horror of boat props.

Is it possible to dive in Folsom without being ground into hamburger?

 

[bolantej]

some boaties are pretty ruthless. just get a safety sausage and a float and pray before you ascend.