[env-trinity] Anglers Still Waiting For Record Return Of Sacramento Kings

[Daniel Bacher]

Anglers Still Waiting For ‘Record’ Return Of Sacramento Kings

by Dan Bacher

Although salmon fishing on the Sacramento River has improved greatly since 
the opener on July 16, the action is not what anglers expected after 
Department of Fish and Game biologists predicted a record ocean abundance of 
Sacramento fall run chinook salmon this year.

State and federal biologists predicted an ocean abundance of 1,678,300 
California Central Valley chinooks this season, almost double the pre-season 
abundance of 831,800 fish in 2004. This abundance was based on record 
returns of jacks (two year old) fish on the Sacramento River and its 
tributaries in the fall on 2004.

In fact, when the commercial salmon season was slashed by approximately 50 
percent to protect Klamath stocks depleted by the fish kills of 2002, 
commercial and recreational fishermen were alarmed that too many salmon 
would return to the river for the available spawning habitat, causing 
concern over potential fish kills.

However, the hot salmon season expected on the ocean didn’t materialize, 
though there were spurts of excellent action nearly everywhere from Morro 
Bay to Shelter Cove for short periods. Anglers blamed a combination of 
unfavorable weather, scattered bait and other factors for the inconsistent 
fishing, but the fishing has to date has not reflected the abundance of 
Central Valley fish that were projected.

“The biologists projected around 400,000 fish in the Sacramento River and 
Battle Creek, the biggest projection ever,” said Scott Hamelberg, manager of 
the federal Coleman National Fish Hatchery. “We’re getting ready to receive 
100,000 adult chinooks in the hatchery. However, it’s still too early to 
tell whether these projections will bear out.”

The counts over the Red Bluff Diversion Dam this season were significantly 
higher than last year, with 15,099 salmon and 74 steelhead counted over the 
facility from May 20 to September 14, compared to 9,544 salmon and 62 
steelhead in 2004. However, counts over the diversion dam have been much 
higher in previous years.

“Based on our fish counts over the dam, the run doesn’t now look it will be 
as large as predicted earlier this year,” said Jim Smith, project leader for 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The run will probably be better than 
last year, but nothing like the counts over the dam in the 1985 and 1986, 
when 54,000 to 55,000 fish went over the dam.”

Regardless of whether or not a record number of fish arrive, the hatchery 
expects to have no problem reaching its production goal of 12,000,000 fall 
run chinook smolts and 1,000,0000 late fall chinook smolts.

The fall run arrives at the hatchery from now until early November, 
according to Hamelburg. The late fall run chinooks start arriving in 
November and continue until February.

The facility, located 6 miles up Battle Creek from its confluence with the 
Sacramento, plans to start spawning fall run chinooks on October 1. They 
will spawn 5,000 fall adults and 500 to 800 late fall adults to meet their 
production goals. The fish not spawned will be given to the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs and the Department of Justice for use in the prisons.

Also, the natural spawning escapement goal of 122,000 to 180,000 adults, set 
by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, should also be met with no 
problem this year.

In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service operates a winter run 
chinook spawning facility in the Livingston Stone Fish Facility below Shasta 
Dam. “We usually collect 100 chinooks so we can release 250,000 smolts into 
the river in January and early February. We raise the fish in the river 
below Shasta, rather than in Battle Creek, so the scent of the river 
imprints upon the fish,” said Håmelburg.

Meanwhile, anglers are still struggling to hook salmon on the Sacramento, 
Feather and American rivers. Experienced anglers and river guides are hoping 
that the fish are late – and that the bite will bust loose in the next few 
weeks.

The stretch of Sacramento River from Los Molinos to Woodson Bridge in 
Corning is one of the most popular stretches of river to fish for king 
salmon, as well as for shad, steelhead and sturgeon. Rene Villanueva of 
Steelie Dan’s Guide Service, who has fished this stretch of river from 1992 
to present, described the fishing on the river to date as “fair.”

“Anglers are having their good days and bad days this year,” said 
Villanueva. “You’ll get limits one day and then struggle for your fish the 
next. The fishing is very inconsistent. In contrast, last year at the same 
time we were catching limits of chinooks most days.”

On Tuesday, September 13, Glen, Randy and Nathan Kramer bagged their limits 
of salmon to 27 pounds while fishing below Woodson Bridge with Villanueva. 
They nailed most of their fish while boon doggling salmon roe.

Chuck Powell of River Run Guide Company, his wife, Alice, and Gary Whitney 
also experienced solid action that day. The angling trio nailed three 
chinooks weighing 38, 24 and 20 pounds.

However, the action slowed down dramatically the next day when Richard 
Alves, Fish Sniffer webmaster, and I went fishing with Villanueva. In spite 
of fishing hard with roe both above and below the Woodson Bridge all day, we 
never hooked a fish. Other experienced guides also reported very slow 
action, with many anglers blanking out.

On the other hand, Jason Thatcher of Norwest Executive Guide Service and 
Bill Divens of Salmon King Lodge had a very good day of salmon fishing. 
Their two clients, Michael Williams of San Diego and Vance Chapman of Grants 
Pass, Oregon, landed full limits of chinooks to 27 pounds.

Will a record run materialize this season? “I think the biologists may have 
overestimated the numbers of fish expected to return this year,” concluded 
Villanueva. “If there were that many fish arriving in the river, we should 
be limiting out every day like we were last year at this time. On the other 
hand, maybe the fish are running late this season.”

Villanueva will be moving back to Elk Grove to fish for salmon on the 
Sacramento and American rivers in the metropolitan area on October 1. For 
more information, call (916) 684-7148.

Meanwhile, mark your calendar for The 15th Annual Return of the Salmon 
Festival at Coleman Fish Hatchery on October 15 from 9 am to 4 p.m, 
according to Roger Shudes, coordinator of the festival. The hatchery will 
host an open house featuring public viewing of the salmon spawning 
operations, the giant salmon aquarium, fish tagging information booths, 
recreational displays, wildlife art, children’s activities, food by the 
Junction School and more.

The Anderson Rotary Club is cooking up their fabulous “Salmon Bake” at the 
Shasta Outlets in Anderson from 11 am to 3 pm. Free admission and ample 
parking is available at the hatchery and the Shasta Outlets. For more 
information, call (530) 365-8622 (Coleman NFH) or (530) 378-1002 (Shasta 
Outlets).