Sacramento River Salmon

I have been fishing the banks of the Sacramento river and have caught 3 salmon on flying Cs this year.  I watch boats trolling (cut plugs / silvertrons) or anchoring up (jigging, cut plugs, or kwik fish).  I don't see many kayaks on the river.  I read about the barge area.  Is the river flow too fast for a kayak to troll?  Could you anchor where the boats are and fish the same way as the boats?  I was thinking about giving it a try but wanted to hear from the experts.

Here is one of the salmons I caught on the sac river with a flying C

I was thinking you would have to have a group of 3 to four guys so that one person could stay with the gear while the other went to get the trucks. But I would think it would be awesome to float down river a couple of miles easy day out.

I have fished the river in my hobie kayak a lot, mostly up north at Barge Hole, Redding area but recently went out of Knights Landing north of Woodland. I have also launched up out of Corning. This time of year when heavy agriculture season is over and rains haven't started, flow is lower, many boat launches are accessible to kayaks, especially pedal kayaks where you can pedal up stream. No need to have drop off and pick up spot although I have done that also. Many places on the river reverse currents form especially around bends where it is easy to hold your spot against current with little drift, especially in wide flat areas. In those places I float down through the deeper water, turn upriver, move over near the bank and pedal back up, repeat. Where the river narrows, current can be stronger and can't always pedal upstream. My general rule is if river is 10,000 cfs or less the hobie can handle it. I always pedal upstream first out of launch, if current to strong then head right back to launch try again  another day. I don't use an anchor because I always use light tackle and if I get a salmon, steelhead on I learned very quickly have to be able to turn the kayak and go with the fish. Plus some of those charter boat captains will come racing through and pretend they don't see you and I like to move out of the way or turn into the boat wake. If I want to fish one spot I find a place along the bank where I can nudge bow of kayak in the rocks and/or sand so it holds against the current.

I’ve tried jigging at the locks in the barge canal/deep water channel in W. Sac. Done shore fishing in Freeport. Took the kayak out of Clarksburg only to catch a bass. Not sure if you were only looking for the northern end of Sac River. Barge Hole up north and Barge Canal in W. Sac. May be going back on the canal in Nov for one more shot at salmon from my yak.

Dang brah, you had me on da edge wit dem runs...played it well...thanks for posting.

Anyone having any luck with salmon from their kayaks? I've been trying from shore with no luck and thinking of dropping the boat in to see if it's worth it. I saw a bunch of fish rolling up on the feather recently but couldn't get any interested in what I was throwing.

My conclusion to this whole river salmon thing, get ready for SF bay 2021 salmon season..😂
I caught one of the banks down Freeport Last Friday in around noon. One hr before high tide. Started 9am. But two times I went to SF past two years I caught one and a limit. Didn’t get to go this year tho.
The drive makes me lazy and the sensitivity of people about the “spots” kinda made me lazy.. it’s not welcoming anymore..

I’ve been kayak fishing for salmon several times this season. I’ve been to Los Molinos, Woodson Bridge (twice), Knights Landing, Lake Washington, and today I even went to Star Bend in the Feather River. Either I’m doing something wrong, or the fish just aren’t biting.

Here is one of the salmons I caught on the sac river with a flying C

Cool video! The slowmo jump is especially nice...