Here is one place locally that salmon fishing is good, as reported by the Sacramento Bee.
An excerpt.
“Beginning Monday, anglers get a limited shot at catching king salmon fresh from the ocean on the Sacramento River.
“Fishing for late-fall king salmon will run through Dec. 31. The stretch of river open to fishing extends from 150 feet below the Lower Red Bluff (Sycamore) Boat Ramp to the Highway 113 bridge at Knights Landing.
“But why make this exemption for the second year in a row when there's been a general two-year ban on river and ocean fishing? Why this stretch of river? Why this specific time frame?
“Well, one salmon population - the late-fall run - has remained healthy even as the early fall, spring and winter runs have collapsed amid drastic modifications to their Delta and river environments. This stretch of river was chosen because the California Department of Fish and Game is confident that the salmon here will be from the late-fall run.
“Officials studied more than 1,000 marked fish here during this period last year and found only one that was not from the late fall run.
“If you go out, don't expect fast fishing. While the run is stable and healthy, anglers are targeting a population of fish less than one-tenth the size of the fall king salmon run - at least in the not-so-long-ago "good old days."
“Bob Boucke, owner of Johnson's Bait and Tackle in Yuba City, points out that late-fall salmon are fast- moving, seldom settling into one spot for very long.
"We have to sit there until more fish come through," he said. "Fishing one day might be fabulous and the next be lousy. We're at their mercy."
