The much anticipated 2012 Sacramento Valley salmon season opened today, July 16 and reports have been filing into FishwithJD HQ all day long. I sat the opener out and won’t start fishing until early August when the fish will be much more stacked up and I can give clients a really good shot at catching their limits of kings.
That being said, there was some nice fishing here and there in the Valley. The best report I got was from the Woodson Bridge area of the Sacramento, where Vance Staplin hook a bunch of fish to end up with 8 nice kings, the smallest of which was a 14-pound buck. The rest were chrome 18-pound hens. Vance got his fish all on K16′s and admitted that he got lucky and found a nice pod of fish. He noted that most boats fared worse and ended up with 0-3 each.
Allen Benbow caught this nice king just below the Outlet on the Feather on roe
Over on the Feather, a crowd of boats (75-80) landed an estimated 25 fish below the Outlet, so the action wasn’t exactly red hot there either. The buoy that marks the upper end of the fishing in the Outlet was underwater due to the high flows, so DFG wardens let anglers fish higher up than they will be able to when the water drops and there were some kings caught there as well. There were some nice chrome fish and some darker springers in the mix. The Boyd’s Pump area was dead…
At the mouth of the American, a good crowd gathered and I heard of reports of a half dozen or so kings being caught by the trollers working Silvertron Spinners outside the lineup of anchored vessels.
Overall, the opener wasn’t a bomb but it wasn’t super hot, either. And that’s pretty much why I’m holding off for a bit longer. We always get salmon fever this time of year, but the real action is yet to come. And based on how crazy-stupid-good the ocean salmon bite has been pretty much all summer, we are in for a barn-burner of a season in the rivers!!
If you’re looking to go guided this season: www.thesportfisher.com
I must say salmon fishing was at best, slow, every where in 2011! This year has been fairly good on the coast, big fish south of Pedro Point. No fish north of rodeo! Follow the bait! & the big tides.
because the water at the mouth of the American is so warm, 69* last week do you think it would make much difference up river a few miles like at Elk Horn? I like to put in at Discovery or Elk Horn? (mainly because thats where my pass is good)
I can go up to Knights Landing but theres a lot of boats there… your advice would be very helpful. Thanks
No, it’s pretty warm quite a ways up. It starts cooling down towards Colusa!
J.D. Last year you said in the Bee that the salmon fishing on the American was the best you’ve seen in decades. I wrote to the Bee and said I think your trying to promote your own business because I was out there on the confluence and they had to get by me to get to you! I just didn’t see that many fish caught for you to make that kind of statement. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to tell it the way I see (saw) it! I think your a good guy…at least your wife said you were when you cancelled a trip on the American with me because of poor fishing conditions years ago. I appreciate your positive outlook but I’m kinda skeptical about your feedback (fishing reports). Sorry….Steve.
Steve, normally a comment like yours wouldn’t even merit a response, however when my integrity is questioned I get very upset. One thing I have always believed in and taken extremely seriously is my honesty. It’s the cornerstone to my personality and my business and take great offense to your comments…especially when you go public with them in the Bee and on my website.
If you have questions or concerns, please direct them at me first instead of slandering my business in public. Me, my wife and 6-year-old son would greatly appreciate it!
I find it very contradictory that you question my honesty when you also admit that we cancelled your trip a few years back because the fishing was slow. A dishonest guide would have taken you fishing anyway…and believe me, you got lucky as there are plenty of guides who would have happily taken your $$.
I find your comments very curious on many fronts…
The fishing at the mouth is very different than upriver. At Discovery, the water is much warmer (salmon bite poorly in warm water) and the fish don’t hold there. Upstream near Sunrise, an entire run of fish stacks up as they have nowhere else to go, so y you’ve got a lot of fish in a small area.
Furthermore, the American was much higher in the fall than we typically see it (4,000 cfs) and cold thanks to our record winter that year. The fish jetted upstream earlier than I’ve seen in a long time, so perhaps you weren’t there when they shot thru or they didn’t bite well.
Plus it’s very much about the tides down there. Miss the tide, you miss the bite..
The fishing upriver was phenomenal…I ran two trips a day with limits nearly every time out. The fishing was so good that at least two fellow well known guides ran 3 trips a day several times a week. Friends were calling me…”DUUUDE, we caught 30 kings today!”
I have not seen so many salmon in the river since the banner year of 2002. Obviously, 2010, ’09 and ’08 were terrible as we hit record lows and had closures. The writing was on the wall in 2007 and 2006 was a down year as well. In 2004-2005, we had good fishing but not like 2011. Of course, 2002-2003 were banner…which brings us back to my comment in the paper about last season being the best in a decade. I wasn’t bullshitting anyone…nor did I have anything to gain by saying it after the season.
This is what I do for a living…so there is also a difference in skill level. That’s not to slight you, but there is a difference between fishing a weekend or two and being on the water every single day (at one point, I did 71 days straight last season). Plus, there’s no way I could go and expect to excel at your job after doing it a short amount of time.
You can say what you want about me but please don’t ever question my honesty or integrity!
Wow! Talk about showing your own ignorance. There were guys getting 12 hook ups a day at Discovery if you were there at the right time, which is an incredible bite for that area. As JD said around Sunrise was so stacked with fish a blind man with a bamboo rod could of limited out in a half hour. My buddy and I in maybe 8 combined trips landed close to 150 fish. They were jumping in the boat. There are pleanty of guides who embelish the truth to muster up business. JD is not one of them. Come on…the guy turns away business when the fishing is slow like he did you. He doesn’t need to lie or steal anyone’s money. I think that ill informed low blow deserves a public opology “Steve the Stump”!
Jeremiah: I sent JD a personal e-mail apologizing because it was not my intent to make him out a liar. I was fishing in and around the confluence 3-4 days a week and I just didn’t see that many hookups. I saw guide boats go up the American only to come back in a short while where I was fishing. The fishing around the confluence was pretty much over by the 1st of November. Maybe only a few boats out there because the fishing sucked! A lot of guys thought we’d be getting fish through November. So what was I suppose to think? Maybe if JD would have expanded a little on his article in the Bee and explained why the fishing was so much better on the
American ( i.e. colder water, higher water the fish are stacked up on the American etc.) I could have understood why he was saying 2011 was the best run of Salmon in a decade. People have opinions and I was expressing mine. Sorry JD and Jeremiah if I offended anyone by being too out spoken. I just was hoping to generate some feedback from others and their perspective on the 2011 salmon season. Because for me and a lot of others it was not a good run and most of the fish I saw caught were Jacks besides!
Steve
Steve,
You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fishing up in the river was as good as it gets. The majority of the fish were Jacks and smaller adults but they were biters. JD was right…you can trust in that.
Roy
the bridge is near hwy 120
the bridge is at 99 or 5
hey JD isn’t there a good salmon hole near the rail bridge off hy 99 ? don’t they have a boat ramp there?
Maybe a simple question has a simple answer.
If a Salmon’s body begins transforming when they hit the fresh water rivers, why do these early run salmon seem to be chrome where the later ones seem to be darker. They both leave the ocean, and come into the river. Why the different decomposition time periods?
Well, it’s actually not so easy. But, generally, these early fish are either springers or summer-run fish which have higher body fat content. They don’t spawn until later in the season, but have to have enough energy to sustain themselves all that time in freshwater. They come in more healthy…fall fish come in and dump their cargo pretty quickly, so by the time they hit the river they are already beginning to break down…
where do you fish this time a year? Sacramento, American, Confluence, Red Bridge?
Never fished this time of year for Salmon? I like the sound of Chrome though.
Joe, honestly, I don’t. You can catch a few fish in the places you mentioned but I’ll be knee deep in salmon come August up near Chico!
The ocean! That’s where all the fish are right now. From Monterey to Bodega we are experiencing the best king fishing in a decade.
Those who fished hard and knew what they where doing did pretty well.
Yep…overall a promising start!
It’s time to pull the cover off of my 16′ Willie ! You DA man JD, thanks foe the info.