Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3718 Aug 17-31 | Page 18

18
Aug 17 - 31, 2018
MAP FEATURE
VOL.37 • ISS. 18
The mouth of the American River at Discovery Park is one of the most popular spots for anglers to target king salmon, striped bass and shad
in the Sacramento Metropolitan Region.
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.
T
Salmon Fishing in The Shadow of The Capitol
he city of Sacramento plays
host to a large fall run of Chi-
nook salmon every year when the fish
move through the State Capitol on their
way to the spawning grounds on the upper
section of the Sacramento River near
Redding, the American River, the Feather
River and other tributaries.
The fishing on this salmon opener on
July 16 was surprisingly good at two spots
on the river – the
Sacramento
River below
Red Bluff
and the
mouth
of the
Amer-
ican
River
at
Discovery Park right here in Sacramen-
to. As was the case last year, the cooler
water coming down the American caused
the fish to hold at the mouth.
In fact, a number of guides from out
of town, including Kirk Portocarrero of
sacriverguide.com decided to try fishing
the river out of the Discovery Park ramp
on the opener, along with the local an-
glers who converged on the river.
Portocarrero reported excellent
fishing on opening day out of Discov-
ery Park. The four anglers fishing with
Portocarrero landed 4 salmon ranging
from 12 to 18 pounds while trolling
Silvertron spinners below the mouth
of the American.
Since opening week, the fishing
has slowed down as it normally does
this time of year, but anglers are still
catching some bright, quality fish as
they move through. Rob Reimers of
Rustic Rob’s Guide Service, after
fishing the Feather River on
opening week, decided
to try fishing out of
Discovery Park
On his first trip
on July 24, he
landed an 18 lb.
salmon below
the mouth of the
American on a
Blue Fox spin-
ner. However,
the next
two trips
he made
didn’t
yield
any
fish.
Kirk Portocarrero of sacriverguide.com shows off a beautiful Chinook caught below the mouth
of the American on July 16.
Photo courtesy of sacriverguide.com, Redding.
Dennis Pfanner at Sacramento Pro
Tackle confirmed the slowdown in fishing.
“Since the opening week of salmon sea-
son, the fleet at the mouth has caught zero
to three fish per day,” he stated.
“These are the mid-June to mid-July
fish that we have been seeing for years,”
Pfanner said. “After mid-July, the num-
bers usually begin to slow down. We
don’t see the bigger numbers of fish until
mid-September when the American River
fish move into the system.”
The fishing could be very good in the
Sacramento this fall, based on the stellar
fishing trollers are currently experienc-
ing on the ocean from Half Moon Bay
to Bodega Bay, with the most consistent
action at press time taking place right
now outside of the Golden Gate along the
Marin County coast.
The actual abundance of Sacramento
River fall run salmon on the ocean appears
to vary greatly from the less-than-stellar
forecast.
Even though 2017 Sacramento River
adult spawning escapement was only
44,574 adults, the jack
Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Guide Service counts were above nor-
landed this bright Chinook salmon on the mal. A total of 24,375
Sacramento River at Discovery Park on July jacks returned to the
24.
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff. Upper Sacramento,
Feather River and American River Basins
in 2017
The jack counts are employed to
model the ocean abundance forecasts for
the year. Forecasts by Dr. Michael O’Far-
rell of NOAA Fisheries presented at the
CDFW meeting on March 1 in Santa Rosa
suggest there are 229,400 Sacramento
River fall Chinook adults in the ocean this
year, but the actual number appears to be
much larger, based on the current fishing.
The CDFW noted that returns for
Sacramento River fall run Chinook – the
main stock of salmon supporting Cali-
fornia’s ocean and Central Valley river
fisheries – have been low for the third
consecutive year, pushing them into
‘overfished’ status. In order to meet con-
servation goals for Sacramento River fall
run Chinook, some ocean salmon seasons
have been shortened and the daily bag and
possession limits for Central Valley river
fisheries have been reduced.”
“The goal is to get even more fish
back to the spawning grounds this fall
than would be required in a normal year,”
said California Department of Fish and
Wildlife (CDFW) Fisheries Branch Chief
Kevin Shaffer in April.
That goal appears to be something
well within reach, based on the current