King salmon fishing on the Sacramento River closes for the season on Dec. 16 except for the section above the Red Bluff Diversion Dam that remains open through Dec. 31, but you can still target landlocked salmon in Berryessa, Oroville and other lakes.
For the most part, salmon fishing was disappointing on the Sacramento, Mokelumne, Feather and American rivers this season, a combination of warm water conditions and relatively low returns of spawning salmon.
Berryessa: Alan Fong, general manager of Fisherman’s Warehouse in Sacramento, reported top-notch salmon success on trips to Lake Berryessa on Dec. 3 and Dec. 10.
On the first trip, Fong and two female anglers caught 15 salmon while spooning with ¾ oz. “electric chicken” Blade Runner spoons at 45 feet deep in the main body. The kings ranged from 16 to 20 inches long. The fish were concentrated on bait schools.
On his next trip last Thursday, the lake had undergone its annual fall turnover and the big bait balls had disappeared. After catching no salmon while spooning, Warren Trumbly, Dave Clark and Fong switched over to mooching at 45 feet deep with Gitzits, tipped with anchovy strips, and found “lights out” action.
“We stopped salmon fishing after catching 20 fish, including those we released and kept, ranging from 18 to 24 inches,” Fong said.
They then switched over to bass fishing with spoons, catching and releasing 15 smallmouth and largemouth bass to 4 pounds.
“We left the lake at 1 p.m.,” Fong said. “The salmon are in the main body of the lake moving north towards Putah Creek as they feed on threadfin shad. The shad the fish are following are exceptionally big, 3 to 4 inches long.” Information: (916) 362-1200.
Oroville: Boaters are also picking up some quality landlocked salmon on Lake Oroville.
“I made a scout trip to Oroville on Thursday,” said Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Guide Service. “We didn’t know what colors, how deep or where the fish were, but we still did okay. We landed four salmon, lost four fish and also picked up a couple of spotted bass. We caught the fish on the Brad’s Cut Plug with Pro-cure scent. The fish ranged from 18 to 19 inches long.”
However, fishing on his next trip on Saturday was very slow, apparently spurred by the storm front that hit the lake, and Reimers reported no salmon caught by any of the boats on Oroville while he was there.
West Delta sturgeon: If you want to hook a hard-fighting white sturgeon, this is a good time to hit the West Delta and Suisun and Honker bays.
Four anglers fishing with Zack Medinas of Gatecrasher Fishing Adventures, including 14-year-old David Shigematsu and his father, caught and released four legal-sized “slot” sturgeon ranging from 42 to 59 inches on Dec. 12.
“We first fished in 30 feet of water at the Firing Line near the Middle Grounds,” Medinas said. “Then we moved to fish Honker Bay in 18 feet of water. We fished salmon roe on both the incoming and outgoing tides.” Information: (925) 497-7171.
American River steelhead: Salmon fishing on the American River will remain open through Dec. 31 in the stretch from the SMUD power line crossing at the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman Park downstream to the Jibboom Street bridge.
Salmon fishing remains slow and few anglers have been targeting the kings. However, half pounder and small adult steelhead are available for waders drifting nightcrawlers and roe or fly fishing in the riffles.
As of Dec. 7, the spawning intake at Nimbus Fish Hatchery included 5,206 salmon and more than 5.7 million eggs.
Contact Record correspondent Dan Bacher at danielbacher@fishsniffer.com.
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