08/11/26
Salmon season is in full swing with the ocean back open and inland seasons open as well. The Ocean is on the quota now so take advantage of good conditions when they present themselves. The Sacramento Metro area is starting to produce some salmon and the upper reaches of the Feather and Sacramento continue to kick out fish to those familiar with the ins and outs of those locals. Offshore ocean has been offering up Albacore when the weather and seas allow access. Sierra lakes are producing trout and Kokanee.
Made a few trips since the last report. Up to Union Valley for Kokanee and north to Klamath for the 4th of July. Union Valley did not disappoint with fast action on Kokanee from 11-15". It was an early bite for us with most of the action over by 7:15. Two sets of doubles and couldn't get 4 rods out without getting a bite. We had 7 by 7:15 in Camino Cove from the rocks to the back before the bite shut off. We explored a bit and found fish above Yellowjacket but they weren't biting. Went back to Camino and trolled round until the bite came back on around 9:30. Three fish in three passes and we were back at the ramp by 10:30. My neighbor went up the next week to troll for trout and got three nice rainbows so that's an option if you finish up your Kokanee early.
Kokanee: I made a trip up to Shasta last week to try to take advantage of the bigger model of Kokanee up there. It was a semi-success as we found the Kokanee and were able to land a hand full before the heat encouraged us to find some AC. We had some intel on a few locations and found them at Waters Gulch in 150-200’ of water suspended at 95-105’. 5.5” silver dodgers and a few different lures resulted in 5 nice Kokanee to the boat and a few more long distance releases. Kokanee were 16” to over 18”. We had a by-catch of 3 holdover rainbows, biggest over 4 lbs. The fish filleted up very nicely and was great at the table and out of the smoker. Other local options for Kokanee that are worth the effort are Hell Hole and Union Valley. Both are offering quality Kokanee up to 15”. Stampede is still on my no go list this year. Check out the 5 fish weigh ins for the Kokanee Power derby held August 1st and you will see why. Lots of little cookie cutter skinny fish.
Inland Salmon: I’ll be making a trip to the Sac Metro soon to try my luck in the ole stompin grounds. Been a while, hopefully it will all come back to me. I guess I can go back to jiggin if all else fails! Probably going to start trolling Silvertrons to get the lay of the land then shift over to the 360 flashers and cutplugs. Fish coming out the upper Feather and Sacramento are mostly being taken on backtrolled sardine wrapped flatfish. Up north on the Klamath, Jerry Lampkin and associates are having a banner season with fish coming on trolled kastmasters, rolled anchovies, and flasher/cutplugs. Some chromers taking soft beads farther upstream too.
Hope everyone gets a chance to take advantage of the opportunities to go out and wet a line. Hopefully before my next report I’ll have squeezed in another local Kokanee trip, a few hours in the Metro, and maybe even getting out to chase some chicken of the sea. Tight lines all!!
