Whats the word on Sacramento Salmon Season Opener?

07/28 America River downstream from Watt Ave Bridge.  Matt and I did another evening Salmon recon looking for a good salmon spot.  Moved a bit farther downstream from last attempt just next to the powerlines.  15ft, sandy bottom, a lot of leaves and twigs floating causing us to have to pull up and clear our lures every ten minutes or so.   a little less current but still moving pretty good.  No bites but still not expecting much.  Most of the boats out are still looking for Stripers.  Got nailed by a big branch/tree that got tied up in my anchor line.  Had the water been moving it would have been a possible sinking.  Was kind of on my QRAS so was able to untie and paddle away.  My anchor line got caught up and the log was big enough to drag the anchor and anchor line downstream a ways.  Had a tough time getting it off my anchor line and buoy.  Unscathed but need to keep an eye up river when anchored facing downstream.

I like the stretch above sunrise bridge. Deep, and not moving fast, I slow troll upstream quite a ways. There is a narrow shoot that they have to use upstream where it bottle necks down and gets really swift. On the south side of the river, is a good holding spot. I anchor up there and crack out the kwikfish. Nice thing about there is, once you hook up, they almost always dart for the slow water and you can actually land them!  There needs to be some more fish in the system for me to go, but will post a hookup later next month.  Good luck

Heard from DFG that Salmon don't appear to have come in the G Gate, Projecting mid month American and Verona... I'm Hoping for sooner... please report if you go out... Find them we must, Hungry Kids!!!!

Salmon are here....Dfg who said they didn't come thru the gate is a bit confused.. They are catching big salmon at the mouth of the AR every day. They are catching salmon at the basin every day also. The fish and game guys working at discovery said a 50 pounder was taken....
They are here, just not in big numbers yet. Me and Steve watched one boater on Saturday at Discovery by a guy jigging....thing was a beast!

When we goin??!!!?!?

That's the same thing I am hearing in Isleton area.  Fish in the system, but not enough in number to make it worthwhile yet.  Saw several trollers over the weekend ---no catchers even among my neighbors.  Most are switching back to striper plugs after a couple of hours trying for salmon.  At least the current isn't flying through here.  Stevie that is some scary stuff about the debris---be careful!  I had a tree dislodge by PB anchor a while back-thank god it did hook and drag me under.  Tight lines all!----Jeff

When we goin??!!!?!?

Me and Steve are planning a trip later this week....will post a hookup when we do.
Weekends are a nightmare there with the traffic. Could be a reAl problem trying to get a big salmon on the yak when it's pulling you between boats. And if a boat hits you while you are anchored it could get nasty. They want to land their fish, we want to land ours...
So weekdays when most boats are off the water would behest bet I am thinking..

Yak will be on the car Wednesday threw Friday Just don't go teusday! I'll be at $5 movie night, Cowboys and Aliens   in auburn! 

Saw it Saturday..........five dollar movie nite is worth it......it was ok. Not the 20 for two we paid, along with the 6.25 popcorn.......

I probably wouldn't recommend having a Hook up for fishing the mouth of the AR (Disco).  It's kind of risky for kayakers and I wouldn't recommend it.  What I would recommend is checking it out from the shore preferably on a weekend morning to see what it can get like.  Weekdays are still busy and at all times kayakers are not on boaters minds.  Verona is bad but still better than the mouth as there is really just fisherman there and a lot smaller boats (somewhat more civilized.)

Here are the key issues I am concerned with. 

One, anchoring up among the boats/yachts.  Once you are tied in, you are still stuck as there will be boats all around you anchored up.  There is tons of recreational boat traffic on top of the congestion with the fishing boats (aluminums to yachts).  None of these groups are concerned about wake.  Getting caught in the cross chop on anchor in a kayak is a serious problem.  Recreational boats are still using the intersection to go from Sac River to American.  That intersection is where you are going to anchor up. It reminds me of the original Jaws movie when all the people were out in the bay trying to get the reward for the maneater.  A huge cluster fuck.  Same thing.

Two, boats will cut anchor and drift with a fish, not worrying whats downstream.  There is no buffer zones.

Three, if you do catch a fish how are you going to horse it up.  You can't cut the anchor loose and drift downstream with a thirty pound beast torquing the crap out of your pole and two hands being necessary to not lose your pole.  Grabbing a paddle and one handing yourself around some down stream boats and into a open area a hundred yards downstream or paddling to the bank is highly unlikely.  Anchored in and the fish crosses under the kayak or upstream, then what.  How are you going to land the pissed off fish even with a net.

Four, people are drunk or have salmon fever.  Kayakers shouldn't be out there is probably the general thought.

The current looks a lot calmer than a month ago, but it is still ripping.  I guarantee you won't be able to swim upstream back to your kayak.  The Sacramento ain't no joke even now.

I would highly recommend taking a look see and possibly paddling around before you decide to anchor up.  Jigging on the American side is probably the most doable.  Catching a day with twenty boats and minimal recreational people would be optimum.  Anchoring next to a big boat and making friends would be helpful as well.

I just wouldn't recommend going out there in a group. 

The pockets on the American or the off areas on the Sacramento are probably a lot safer bet to get your line wet.  The Salmon have to travel up all the same areas so its not like they are only in a couple isolated areas.  The majority of fish are being caught in these couple of areas because there are a crap load of boats.  Stick that many boats anywhere along the Sac and you would probably get similar results. 

Be careful out there.

hey Montana- I have heard about that spot.  Seems like the go to spot outside of Natomas Basin.  Matt and I will add that to our scouting list.  I like to try out an area a few times to get it figured out.  Watt is just convenient as I live right there so I can go floating if I have a couple of hours before or after work.  Thanks for the info.

07/30 Sat -  Went out to Clarksburg for more Salmon attempts.  Anchored downstream from the free public launch right at the S-bend just up from where I lost my last anchor set-up.  Had Matt this time so double the lines in the water.   The depth ranges from 50' in the center to 25' just off the bank.  Medium/light current can feel the difference of tide change.  Windy in the am and turns calm and sunny by 9am.  Not marking a lot of fish.  Matt popped a catfish right off the bat and pretty much killed our fish mojo.  Everybody knows if you catch a catfish right off the bat fishings going to be bad (I'm just throwing that one out there.)  Off the water at noon and headed out to the mouth of the AR for some recon.  I already wrote about that earlier.  Still going to give it a shot but probably midweek.  Ease into it.  The water is way down so very congested.  Last Sunday they had 30 fish caught this Saturday they had 15 fish out of 45 boats surveyed.  Still light but they are catching. 

Went back to my backyard at Watt bridge in the evening.  Scouted out the last section before the island at Howe. The water shallows up a bit but the current does drop.  Out of the three stretches between Watt and Howe I think right before the powerlines is the best spot.  15' deep, somewhat narrower, moderate current. 

In the future, might think about heading farther up the feather as well or down farther as I hear the Salmon schools are still not even ready to come through the Gates in the bay.  Just gotta keep plugging away.

Yea, Jeff, Floating trees are bad news.  That was my first experience with such and it was like a slow motion train wreck.  If there was any current I would have been screwed as it plowed right over the anchor buoy so it was pretty much stuck.  What made it less sketchy was that it actually dragged the anchor.  If the anchor had stuck then that tree would have forced the back on the kayak down and then I would have had to bail.  QRAS, pretty important.

damn, what a thread, and FULL of great info!!
Steve-looks like you are going to be the one puilling them in , eh...  great scouting!!

The floating tree and anchor is very scary, QRAS clearly is very important!

I live at the gristmiull access, there is some really great holding water just upstream from here.  It ius deep, fairly laminar, shaded by cliffs, full of boulders and fast, soon, soon 

jim

Thanks for not mentioning me losing my anchor and pole on that trip Steve! Damn catfish..