Fishing the Sacramento River for King Salmon,

By BC

The Redding weather reporter was forecasting a hot and dry day. That is, triple digit hot, as in, hot, hot, hot. I didn't realize that he was also forecasting the next day's fishing. Well, the weatherman does get it right on occasion.paragraph

This particular fishing excursion began as a suggestion from a HAFBO buddy. Something like " dude, you should have seen the way Kenny handles the boat,.on every drift .., those salmon are as big as ..,". And seeing that we were going to be in the neighborhood anyway, well, why not indulge in a little salmon fishing. A call to Ken Begley at Dawn to Dusk Guide Service got us a reservation to fish the Sacramento River the last Monday in August.

At one time, the Chinook (King) Salmon fishery in central California rivers was world renown for its abundance. It is thought that at one time, 2,000,000,000 spawners used the waters of the Central Valley drainage. From 1875 through 1910 commercial landings reported 5-10 million pounds of salmon processed annually. From 1907-1910 the recorded annual salmon catch ranged from 8 to 11.2 million pounds and that number does not include fish that were shipped fresh on ice throughout the west and east coasts. Salmon kept 21 processing plants in operation

Water temperature and rate of flow has historically produced several groups of Chinook in the river system. Spring-run fish were the most prevalent throughout the river system and utilized the higher elevation streams for spawning. Beginning in September, the Fall and late-fall runs spawn in the lower reaches of the river and Winter-run fish were able to utilize the upper reaches. Currently, the fall-runs are the most numerous.

Loss of habitat due to dam construction, water diversions, placer mining and withdrawals for municipal and agricultural uses has severely reduced the range and number of all the runs of Chinook salmon, particularly the spring and winter-runs. In 1991, it is estimated that only a total of 147,000 king salmon returned to spawn in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system

Declines in the salmon spawning runs are not new. As early as 1872, artificial reproduction at hatcheries was in use to supplement the declining natural runs. Since that time more hatcheries have been brought on-line, billions of eggs have been incubated and tens of millions of Chinook salmon have bee released into the rivers and streams. Today, Winter-Run Chinook salmon on the Sacramento River are listed as endangered under the California and federal Endangered Species Act. The spring-Run is considered to be in danger of extinction or in danger of becoming extinct in the foreseeable future. Currently the Fall-Run is not in danger of extinction, but is likely to be so in the future.

A call was made to Ken after the evening's weather report to firm up our morning's plan. He suggested a change. The Sac. wasn't producing many fish, but the Feather River was. Ok, new plan. Up at 2:30 drive to the put-in and be on the water at the crack of dawn. Right, got it.

Ken operates a 20-foot Koffler jet boat and getting it in the river and underway takes only minutes. After a few more short minutes we were upriver and trolling for salmon. At this time I need to clarify the term "trolling". Actually what we were doing is called back-trolling. Back-trolling is the practice of using a small kicker outboard to slow your backward drift while on the river. In addition to controlling the rate of your drift the kicker also controls lateral positioning. A skilled helmsman can keep a boat positioned upstream from any desired riffle or hole with ease. Ken is skilled.

While drifting backwards down the river, the angler trails out behind the boat, at a distance of about 25 yards, a #16 Kwikfish on a 6' leader. The leader is attached at a swivel to a 20 lb. braided line wound on a level-wind reel that is attached to a 7' graphite rod. The flow of the river gives the lure the required motion needed to attract the salmon. The depth of the lure is controlled with an added lightweight sinker, also attached at the swivel. The weight varies with the speed of the drift, rarely over > oz. It is the responsibility of the angler to keep the lure in motion. Lack of motion indicates that your bait is resting on the bottom or you are fishing a fouled lure.

When a fish strikes at the bait, let them run with it. Bass fishermen seem to have a problem with this. If you try to set the hook like you would with your favorite bass lure, you'll be pulling the bait from the fish's mouth. If you give them a second or two before raising the rod tip and maintain constant line pressure, you'll land more fish. We missed on several strikes before developing the knack. On two other occasions we had big fish at the boat come un-hooked and those #16's are pretty imposing when they are flying toward you.

In between the missed strikes and the flying lures we did manage to net some keepers. Two each, the legal limit. By the time these fish get to this part of the river they are weighing between 15 and 25 lbs. on average. Thirty and forty pounders are caught regularly. Our fish were still bright and just starting to lose some of the color in their tails. In another 6-8 weeks, they will try to complete their life cycle and spawn.

This trip was a first for me and I plan to make it an annual event as long as there is a working program in place that guarantees an increasing trend in salmon populations. Fighting these fresh sea-run fish on light gear is a lot more fun than trolling and they are second to none when served at dinner. I'd like to get you to "thinkin" that I'm pretty good with rod an reel, but the credit goes to Ken. It's his knowledge of the river and his ability to keep the baits in the right position that are responsible for the great fishing.

Resources:

Ken Bagely (503) 378-2551 Dawn to Dusk Guide Service 1885 Diamond St. Anderson, CA. 96007