The Reel Life: $800 of salmon caught in 2 hours | Sports

As promised, here is the report from our first “Salty Lady Fishing Club” trip.

We got a break in the weather and traveled two hours southwest of San Francisco to an area known as “Deep Reef.” The water had the perfect salmon-rich brown color and we found lots of life, with birds, whales, jellyfish and, of course, salmon. Once in the water, the bite broke loose and the 15 anglers managed limits plus six crew fish in two hours.

Most fish weighed in the 10-pound range, but the large fish of the day landed by Sal Ramos weighed in at 15 pounds.

After filleting the fish, my son-in-law and I ended up with 20 pounds of fillets. By my calculations, with wild king salmon selling for $40 a pound at Sunshine Market, we made an $800 haul! Due to the split season, we will not be able to go back out again until July.

As tides subsided this week, boats targeting halibut in the San Francisco Bay got back to limits or near limits using live anchovies. There are still no good halibut reports from Tomales Bay, even though schools of bait have been seen entering the bay at high tide. I also heard a report of an angler catching a 37-pound halibut in Tomales Bay, adjacent to Hog Island.

Bodega Bay salmon have been scarce. There was a report of a couple of silver salmon caught off Elephant Rock. But since you cannot keep silvers, they were released. Most likely these fish are staging to enter Lagunitas Creek at the base of Tomales Bay, one of the last silver runs in the Bay Area. The six-pack boats have been targeting rockfish, where limits have been the rule. The Real Obsession did have a trip last week where they also caught 10 lingcod in addition to the rockfish.

If you want to catch kokanee, you will have to travel. The top bites continue to be Whiskeytown Lake, Stampede Reservoir and New Melones Reservoir, but these are all more than three hours from the Napa Valley.

The Coleman Fish Hatchery in Anderson reported winter Chinook salmon are beginning to spawn in the Sacramento River. Although their name may imply that they spawn during the winter months, the fish actually spawn during the summer. Their name comes from the time of year when they enter freshwater from the ocean, not when they spawn.

Sites Reservoir is an environmentally beneficial, off-river reservoir that will capture excess water from major storms and save it for drier periods, helping California’s farms, businesses and cities continue to supply reliable water when other sources are low.

The Sites Reservoir Project will be situated on the west side of the Sacramento Valley, approximately 10 miles west of Maxwell in Glenn and Colusa counties. The Sacramento Valley is a unique region, known for its farming community, rich agricultural benefits and natural beauty. The region has been considered ideal for off-stream water storage since the 1980s, and the proposal is widely supported by local community leaders, residents, as well as state water managers and water agencies from the Bay Area to Southern California.

Most of California’s water storage has come at the expense of migrating fish. Sites Reservoir would capture, and store stormwater flows from the Sacramento River – after all other water rights and regulatory requirements are met – for release in dry and critical years for environmental use and for California communities, farms, and businesses when it is so desperately needed.

When operated in coordination with other Northern California reservoirs such as Shasta, Oroville and Folsom, which function as the backbone to both the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, Sites Reservoir will greatly increase flexibility, reliability and resiliency of statewide water supplies in drier periods. Visit sitesproject.org to learn more about how Sites Reservoir will work.

Nestled in Northstar’s mountainside, Sawmill Lake is a private, secluded 10-acre reservoir stocked with hundreds of bright, fighting rainbow trout. Reserved for catch-and-release fly fishing only, Sawmill is the perfect lake for guided float tubing or shoreline stalking.

Fishing at Sawmill Lake is limited to four rods at a time and reservations are required. Fishing days can be reserved by phone or email. You must be confirmed by pre-payment. There is a guide on-site daily to provide helpful hints. The lake can also be booked for large private groups. This adventure is a bit pricey, but you will catch some unbelievable fish and it is a great way to get a youngster hooked on fishing. Visit tahoeflyfishing.com/sawmill-lake for more information.

Back in December I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about “Captain Jim” Penn, who owns PTZ Fishing. It stands for Pound The Zone. Jim is a commercial fisherman who sells directedly to the public. He fishes most days and sends an email to his mailing list detailing what he caught, where he will be, and the cost. He is usually in Emeryville or Martinez at the end of the day.

His top catches are Dungeness crab, California halibut, or Chinook salmon. The crabs are live, so you need bring your own cooler. The halibut is whole and so is the salmon. Prices are consistent with wholesale. I read he was asking $10 a pound for a whole uncleaned halibut. For those of you who have never cleaned a fish, a 10-pound fish will typically yield 5 pounds of meat, so that is a retail price of about $20 a pound. It is an excellent way to get super fresh fish. Sign up at ptzfishing.com to get the daily email.