Salmon

With the opener right around the corner, does anyone have any resources that I can check out for catching salmon off the yak?

MolBasser

www.coastsidefishingclub.com,  they will have up to date salmon locations soon.

That link is broken......

Anyway, let's just start talking salmon.  Are you all mooching, trolling, jiging.....What are you doing.

I'm a NorCal (non kayakfisher) to SoCal (got my yak) to NorCal again.

I don't have experience with salmon in a yak.  Yellowtail, bonito, halibut....sure.  Salmon no.

Do you paddle around watching the meter for bait and then fish.  Do you troll till you find the bait?

C'mon people, you all did it last year, pony up!!  

MolBasser

check this out -

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=283

and try this for the coast side link:

http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com

That link is broken......


Do you paddle around watching the meter for bait and then fish.  Do you troll till you find the bait?

MolBasser

With a couple of exceptions (Pspark, Erik?, others), most of us caught salmon off a yak for the first time last year.  We have exactly one season experience on you...  

With that said, both trolling and mooching worked off a yaks.  For the most part, the same basics of fishing off boats apply to yaks.  

For mooching, 3ft leaders and sliding sinker holders with a banana or round sinker.  Tray bait (though I caught my first two using the bagged anchovies) with nice sharp circle hooks (owner brand worked well).

For trolling, many used divers (fish seeker or deep6) or sinker releases with a variety of bait holders (FBR or Salmon Rotator Killers) or lures (Apex, Sting King, watermelon worked well for me).  When I was trolling last season , I used a sinker release (looks like a salmon head) and a ultra lite, trout style flasher, then the lure.  I used as little as 6oz to get down as fish were shallow.  I don't think you need to tow the 2.5lb balls that they use on boats.

Be careful if you go out on opening weekend.  It will be a mad house with lots of boaters around.

Mol,
Here's my opinion on locations and methods:

Locations:
Moss Landing-A good bet, because the salmon can be caught within a few miles of the harbor along the canyon.  Your range is limited on the south end to Mulligan Hill (Salinas River) or  Pajaro (right where the condo's start) to the north.  During commercial season, we fished a lot trolling back and forth from Mulligan to Soldier's Club (Fort Ord) in 180-200ft (30-35 fathoms), just kept making the loop.  Some years, the Salmon can be caught right out in front of the mouth, maybe a qtr mile.  
I would avoid this place on the opener due to boat traffic.  Probably not a safe bet.

Monterey- Doable to paddle towards soldier's club, but its pretty far, but you can ride the typical north wind back.  I wouldn't go south around Point Pinos, because it can get UGLY there, even when the bay is flat calm I've seen some NASTY swells, not to mention fighting the N. wind.

Santa Cruz-Typically not very good via kayak because the salmon don't come in that close/shallow most years.  Its definitely doable, but your odds are better elsewhere.  Boats typically run south to Soquel Hole or north up the beaches.  Either way, too far to paddle.  

Half Moon Bay-A marginal bet later in the year.  When the bait is there, you can catch salmon & striper's right at the mouth of the harbor, off the jetty and beach.  One year, my dad caught limits of both salmon and stripers right near the mouth of the harbor.  WFO with birds galore, bait galore.  May occur in July-Aug timeframe.  May not occur at all.
 
Linda Mar- Last year was great.  Probably a non typical year.  Also, Summer stripers are common off the surf all along the San Mateo beaches and salmon may be found further offshore.  If/when they are pulling decent numbers of salmon off the Pacifica pier, then Linda Mar is a good bet. Probably Julyish.
When we used to commercial fish, there were some good bites between Pedro Pt to Pacifica, but that area is too shallow to fish with commercial gear.

I fished Bodega and Fort Bragg a few times, couldn't help you at either.  Other's are much more knowledgeable.

Time of Year:
Summer is typically better than spring.  Better weather, bigger fish and typically better fishing.  
However, whenever the fish show up in numbers, within paddling distance AND the weather is good, GO FOR IT!!!!  You never know when the window of opportunity will shut for any of the above 3 reasons.

Methods:
Pretty much mooch or troll.  I favor mooching.  Better fight on lighter gear.  Early, its probably better to troll out and monitor the FF.  If you find bait, then stop, drop and mooch.  Or if you get tired paddling, stop and mooch.  Jigging can work, but you're better off either trolling or mooching.  

Hope this helps.
Stuart

I'm glad to see this topic come up as I've had a few questions about it myself.  Speaking of questions, has anyone kayak fished for salmon out of Bodega Bay?  I haven't tried for salmon yet but are large recreational and commercial fisheries for salmon up here.  Every now and then last summer I would see the salmon boats trolling fairly close to shore from the Marine Lab where I work.

Brian

Word to the wise  -- heed Stu's tips.   He thought many of us everything we now know about salmon kayak fishing ... Thanks!

Word to the wise -- heed Stu's tips.

Amen to that! It's always nice to know that through this "intel sharing", we can learn from guys like Stu (and the other guys as well) - when it comes to actually "catching" and not "fishing"    

Special thanks to Erik for the Sturgeon tips / Scwafish and Cpyak for the Striper tips as well  

Paddle around until you find bait, then troll, mooch or 'trooch' around the bait.  If you're following up on coastside reports you won't have to look very hard because you can just follow the flotilla.

Excellent!

Thanks for all the info.  This is what I'm looking for.

I will miss the opener as I am flying in to Santa Rosa Island for some surf perch fishing.

MolBasser

Is it true that the return estimates for this year are almost twice as much as last years?  1.67M forecast for this year vs 831K forecast last year (871K actual).  BRING IT ON!!!

-Allen

Those pretty much  sound like the numbers I've heard.  The "Commercial Salmon Troller's Advisory Commitee" met recently at Bodega Marine Lab.  At the end of the meeting they had a open presentation that I sat in on.  Someone (I need to remember names better) from NMFS presented their model predictions for this coming salmon season.  

If you don't to be bored  with my understanding of the details turn away now.  

The model is based on the linear relationship between the number of Jacks counted in the central valley during the previous fall and the estimated population size of the 3 and 4 yr old fish this year (mostly using tagged fish I believe).  Anyway, the number of jacks counted this past fall was almost twice that of any previous year.  Therefore, according to the model the population size of adult salmon is probably also off the charts.

The bad news is that the Klamath populations are predicted to be at near all time lows and the latest word is that Salmon season my be closed midseason for a few weeks to allow more of the Klamath fish to make it back to spawn.

Is it true that the return estimates for this year are almost twice as much as last years?  1.67M forecast for this year vs 831K forecast last year (871K actual).  BRING IT ON!!!

-Allen

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/20/SPGNUBS5I11.DTL

I found this link on coastside but was reluctant to bring it up here b/c I was afraid of jinxing the season...

On coastside they were saying that the klamath fiasco isn't going to affect our region because they lowered the in-river take to 15% of returning fish.  
http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com/drupal/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=156347&an=0&page=0#156347

Coastside's political forum is the place for saltwater anglers to get the lowdown on the shenanagins that are always happening with the regulations.