Sacramento Fishing Report

SACRAMENTO RIVER
December 01, 2019 Headline	Salmon News
Sacramento River/Metropolitan Area: Alan Fong, manager of the Fishermen’s Warehouse in Sacramento, said, “They are still out there catching salmon in the Sacramento River, and most are trolling from Garcia Bend to Discovery Park. There were quite a few boats out there over the weekend. In the American River, one fisherman picked up a limit of 12-pound chrome-bright salmon on spinners from the shoreline. At the Port of Sacramento, Warren Trombley, formerly of the Fun Fishing TV Show, found unlimited action with spoons for striped bass to 12 pounds as the birds were diving all over the place.” Feather River: Brian Willits of Johnson’s Bait and Tackle in Yuba City reported decent striper fishing for those in the know for schoolies. The river flows have dropped, and the launch ramps higher in the system are iffy. Upper Sacramento River: Jeff Goodwin of Jeff Goodwin’s Fishing said, “Captain Jeff Brady fished the Sacramento River on Saturday, and he said there are quite a few salmon in the system. His clients hooked three kings, landing one. The Sacramento River below Balls Ferry hosts the Coleman National Fish Hatchery, and most all of our early late fall run salmon are headed for the hatchery. We get a chance to fish for these salmon until December 16th when the salmon season ends. Other reports coming from the Red Bluff area say there are good numbers of salmon headed our way. These kings travel quickly up river so I believe we should see a good bite any day now. Time will tell, but I don’t think we'll have to wait long. We have some dates left in December for those of you that wish to catch a bright river King salmon before the December 16th closure.” GGSA echoes State fish experts’ warning on proposed Sac Valley Reservoir $F:\GGSA\Dams\Sites\Sites graphic.jpg$ The proposed Sites Reservoir Project in the Sacramento Valley would take water from the Sacramento River. In comments filed with the California Water Commission, GGSA is echoing warnings from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife that far more water is needed in the Sacramento than levels the backers of the proposed Sites Reservoir are planning to divert at. The reservoir, proposed for the western Sacramento Valley, plans to divert river water even at low flows when it’s needed by salmon. The idea that water can be diverted from the Sacramento River during low flows doesn’t square with levels needed to keep salmon healthy according to state fish and wildlife officials. Backers of the new giant reservoir say it will help heal the environment. The southern California’s Metropolitan Water District say their investment in the reservoir would only makes sense if the Delta tunnels project to move it around the Delta is built, which many now consider doubtful. After GGSA call state water agency finally agrees to pay for tagging hatchery fish After hard advocacy by GGSA, the California Dept of Water Resources (DWR) agreed to pay to mark and tag Feather River Hatchery fall run baby salmon. These fish have been adipose fin-clipped and tagged for over 15 years, providing an unbroken series of data on survival and straying. Until now, DWR has never paid for this even though they are obligated to as part of required mitigation for operation of the Oroville dam. The cost had been borne by the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife using emergency drought funds which are now dried up. CDFW was unable to resolve the dispute with DWR until GGSA got involved and successfully made the case with higher ups in state and federal government that paying for tagging and clipping is part of DWR’s mitigation responsibility. Salmon season setting process is underway The salmon season setting process is underway and the news is a mix of "the good (Klamath jack counts way up), the bad (Sac Valley projections) and the ugly (government spin)". Ocean abundance estimates for the Sac Valley are nearly identical to last year at 230,000 fish for 2018. This is the forecasted number of adults in the ocean at this time and well below what is needed to allow for a full season by sport and recreational anglers. (I am rounding all numbers for this story). The good news is that the Klamath saw far higher jack counts than expected and the adult ocean adundanace forecast estimates there are 359000 swimming off the west coast. California fishery managers want us to believe that drought and the old standby term of "poor ocean conditions" are solely to blame. This is where I call bullshit. Yes, drought has had a severe impact on our fisheries but so has the complete mismanagement of waters releases from our states largest reservoirs. In 2014, federal and state biologists estimate that 95% of the upper Sacramento river salmon spawn died in the gravel or soon after emerging due to too hot of flows being released from Shasta lake. Despite promising to "do better" in 2015 they killed an estimated 98% (again state and federal figures) of all juvenile salmon in the upper Sac river. They placed the blame on a faulty temperature device that monitors the cold water pool available for salmon in lake Shasta. Later news came out that this device has been known to be have been broken or inaccurate for several years. In addition they drained Shasta lake and depleted the cold water pool needed by salmon, south to irrigate crops grow in the desert. In a nutshell politicians placed a higher priority on almonds than our iconic salmon runs. Pictured above: from the Deck of the Salty Lady in June of 2017 The low return of upper Sac salmon this past Fall was spun by California Fish and Wildlife as too many hatchery fish being trucked and they got confused on their return. Again I have to call BS. In fact the only reason we had a season at all last year is that fish were trucked during the drought. It's estimated that well north of 90% of the entire 2017 ocean catch was of hatchery origin. This is due to the fact that BOR killed all wild stocks due to the release of lethally hot flows onto the Sac spawning beds. You can expect the same in 2018. The CDFW news release just below starts with the headline of drought and poor ocean conditions. In reality party boat and commercial operators have all said they saw excellent conditions off the North and Central coasts while poor conditions were reported off Oregon and Washington. In addition, the federally run Coleman hatchery has an abysmal survival record. While our state hatcheries see 1 to 2% plus returns of adults, the return to Coleman runs .01 to .05. This is due in part of their refusal to truck fish in most years or to develop release strategies that our state hatcheries have shown to work. Acoustic tagging studies show an astounding 65% of all smolts released from Coleman are lost in the first 70 miles and fewer than 5% make it to SF bay. Add in the huge losses at the Delta pumps and you can see that drought and ocean conditions are more factor than cause. The Golden Gate Salmon Association is pushing for changes. These include: Reserves of Shasta lake cold water pool maintained for both Winter and Fall salmon. Stop the dewatering of redds on the upper Sac and smooth Fall water releases so that wild salmon survive. Adopt new hatchery release procedures and coordinated pulse flows timed with hatchery releases to improve juvenile survival. Eliminate predator hot-spots including the areas where night lighting attracts both out migrating salmon and predators like striped bass. Rebuild side channels so young salmon have a place to grow. Close or build a barrier at the Delta cross channel gates. Adopting these changes will help rebuild our salmon runs. You can support our salmon fisheries by attending a GGSA dinner or join as a member and receive their quarterly newsletter highlighting what they are accomplishing. All monies raised by GGSA goes directly to rebuilding our salmon runs. You can learn more about their mission, recent accomplishments and to donate here. Over the next few weeks we will receive additional info on what to expect as far as seasons from the PFMC. I feel that Central Coast saltwater and Central Valley river anglers could be disappointed while those on the North Coast could be in for a pleasant surprise. In about a week we should see the season options from the PFMC. Mike Aughney California’s Drought, Poor Ocean Conditions Impact Salmon Forecast for 2018 Commercial and sport anglers received mixed news today regarding the status of Sacramento River fall Chinook and Klamath River fall Chinook – California’s two largest Chinook salmon populations. While adult returns of both stocks were well below minimum escapement goals in 2017, and projected abundance for both stocks is modest compared to historic averages, state and federal fishery scientists reported an increase in the number of jacks (two-year-old Chinook) that returned to spawn in 2017. Higher jack returns, as seen in 2017, can indicate the potential for increased abundance of adult (three years old or older) Chinook for 2018 fisheries. Forecasts presented at today’s annual Salmon Information Meeting suggest there are 229,400 Sacramento River fall Chinook adults in the ocean this year, along with 359,200 Klamath River fall Chinook adults. While the Sacramento River fall Chinook forecast is comparable to last year, there are greater numbers of Klamath River fall Chinook projected to be in the ocean in 2018. Fall Chinook from these runs typically comprise the majority of salmon taken in California’s ocean and inland fisheries. The effects of the recent drought are still impacting California’s salmon populations. Outbound juvenile Chinook suffered unusually high mortality because of low flows and high water temperatures in both the Sacramento and Klamath watersheds in 2014 and 2015. Unsuitable river conditions, coupled with persistently poor ocean conditions during the same period, resulted in very low numbers of adult Chinook returning to spawn in both the Klamath and Sacramento River basins in 2017. Over the next two months, the Pacific Fishery Management Council will use the 2018 fall Chinook ocean abundance forecasts, in addition to information on the status of endangered Sacramento River winter Chinook, to set ocean sport and commercial fishing season dates, commercial quotas and size and bag limits. At the same time, fishery managers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will be working to develop a suite of recommendations for the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) to consider on 2018 fishing seasons, size limits and bag limits for Chinook salmon river fishing in the Klamath/Trinity and Sacramento River basins. For more information, please visit the FGC Sport Fishing Regulations website. For more information on the process for setting the California ocean salmon season or for general information about ocean salmon fishing, please visit the Ocean Salmon Project website. For the latest ocean salmon season regulations, please call the CDFW ocean salmon hotline at (707) 576-3429 or the National Marine Fisheries Service salmon fishing hotline at (800) 662-9825. For the latest inland salmon season regulations in the Klamath/Trinity basin, call (800) 564-6479, and in the Central Valley, please visit the CDFW Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations website. Brown Administration Prepares for Smaller One Tunnel Project; Restore the Delta Responds Read at our website. This afternoon, environmental reporter Paul Rogers of the San Jose Mercury News published a story declaring that the Brown Administration is revising their plan for CA WaterFix—a $17 billion water conveyance system that would move freshwater flows in the Northern Delta to the south—opting for a smaller single tunnel instead. The original plan for CA WaterFix featured two 40 foot high, 35 mile long tunnels with a capacity of 9,000 cubic feet per second, while the single tunnel could carry anywhere from 3,000-6,000 cubic feet per second. Paul Rogers reported that the reasons for scaling back to one tunnel include a lack of funding and political support. Executive Director of environmental watchdog group Restore the Delta, Barbara Barrigan-Parrila said, The Brown Administration's effort to scale back to a single tunnel project—a project that has not been evaluated, scoped, or discussed with Delta stakeholders—smacks of desperation. What are the impacts? How will it be operated? And considering past statements made by Metropolitan Water District's Jeff Kightlinger, why would we believe that a second tunnel wouldn't be added later? If this is the project, then we believe there must be a redo for the permit application at the State Water Resources Control Board because to date, nothing has been presented regarding the operation and construction of a single tunnel. If a single tunnel is running regularly in the North Delta, there must be a re-examination of the impacts on the salmon and Delta smelt fisheries by state and federal fishery agencies Upcoming Events: USAFishing proudly supports the many fishery and wildlife organizations that benefit anglers and hunters throughout Northern California. Does your organization have an upcoming event? Contact us at [email protected] and we will gladly post the information on our reports pages. California Waterfowl Dinners and Youth Events Calendar Golden Gate Salmon Association Events Calendar Gun Owners of California Events and Dinners River Levels: