Anticipation is high for Central Valley river salmon opener

Anticipation is high for Central Valley river salmon opener

by Dan Bacher

Anticipation for the opening of the Sacramento River recreational salmon season on Monday, July 16 is "running high" as recreational and commercial fishermen continue to experience one of the best ocean seasons in years, the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) announced Thursday.

Not only are there large numbers of fall run Chinook salmon heading upstream to spawn, but the economic impacts can be felt far and wide.

“This season on the Sacramento and its tributaries is going to be off the hook," enthused Bob Boucke, GGSA board member and owner of Johnson Bait and Tackle in Yuba City. “Guides are booked up, hotel rooms are hard to find and my best advice is get on it now.”

Boucke plans to fish the Sacramento River below the mouth of the Feather at Verona with spinner/Kwikfish combos on opening day. "The high flows on the Feather River will hopefully encourage the fish to come up the river," said Boucke.

“Whether you are a hotel renting to fishermen up north, a guide filling up boats, a fishing gear or boat supplier, this is turning into a banner year economically for all," said GGSA President Victor Gonella. “Not only that, wild king salmon are a healthy food source that has gourmands in backyards and restaurants all over Northern California salivating.”

Federal biologists estimate the ocean abundance of Sacramento River fall Chinook in 2012 at 819,400, far above the number – 122,000 to 180,000 fish - needed for optimum spawning.

To date, anglers have reported great salmon fishing at an array of spots from Crescent City to Monterey. This bodes well for fishermen eying the coming opener in the Sacramento, Feather, American and Mokelumne rivers.

The section of Sacramento River set to open on Monday extends from the Lower Red Bluff boat ramp to the Carquinez Bridge (between Vallejo and Crockett) at the entrance to San Pablo Bay.

An additional portion of the river from Anderson to the Red Bluff Diversion Dam will open on August 1.

Sections of the Feather, American and Mokelumne Rivers will also open Monday.

GGGA representatives said all of these rivers are seeing a resurgence in salmon runs as a result of court ordered restrictions on Delta water diversions that went into effect starting in 2008. Record water diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta between 2000 and 2006 killed untold millions of baby salmon and caused the first-ever closure of ocean salmon fishing in 2008 and 2009 in California, according to Gonella.

“Fishermen are seeing that restrictions on pumping water from the Delta are crucial to healthy, sustainable salmon runs,” said Gonella. “When a little of the river’s flow is allowed to carry baby salmon to sea every winter and spring you end up with healthy runs like we’re seeing this year. This translates into tens of thousands of jobs and happy salmon fishermen, not to mention a common sense balanced approach to water use in our state.”

Currently, California’s salmon industry is valued at $1.4 billion in economic activity annually and about half that much in economic activity and jobs again in Oregon. The industry employs tens of thousands of people from Santa Barbara to northern Oregon.

This is a huge economic bloc made up of commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, fish processors, marinas, coastal communities, equipment manufacturers, the hotel and food industry, tribes, and the salmon fishing industry at large.

While anglers look forward to a banner salmon season on the Central Valley rivers, fish advocates say salmon, steelhead and other species are threatened by a state-federal plan to export more water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies.

The Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal or tunnel, an enormously expensive and environmentally destructive government boondoggle that is expected to hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and other fish species.

GGSA and other fishing, conservation, consumer and environmental justice groups strongly back the recent request by 12 Northern California Members of Congress to delay the peripheral canal framework's announcement until a far more detailed description is made available for review.

"The Golden Gate Salmon Association appreciates the hard work and message of the 12 Congressional members who are asking the Commerce and Interior Secretaries to take a long hard look at the peripheral canal before adding their support," said Gonella. "The law currently requires the state to restore the ecological health of the delta. More freshwater flowing through the delta is needed to do this. Improved flows would improve salmon runs which translates into jobs for our members."

Governor Jerry Brown and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are expected to announce a plan on or about July 25 for a tunnel to divert Sacramento River water 35 miles around the Delta to the Tracy pumping facilities.

The Representatives' letter is available at: http://georgemiller.house.gov/6-22-12%20congressional%20BDCP%20letter.pdf

The Golden Gate Salmon Association is a coalition of salmon advocates that includes commercial and recreational salmon fisherman, businesses, restaurants, tribes, environmentalists, elected officials, families and communities that rely on salmon. Their mission is to protect and restore California’s largest salmon producing habitat, comprised of the Central Valley rivers that feed the Bay-Delta ecosystem and the communities that rely on salmon as a long-term, sustainable, commercial, recreational and cultural resource. '

For more information, contact: Michael Coats (707) 935-6203 or Michael [at] coatspr.com

2012 Central Valley Salmon Seasons:

The following is an updated summary of seasons, daily bag and possession limits on salmon issued by the California Department of Fish and Game on July 6.

Sacramento River
Daily bag and possession limit of two Chinook salmon for all open areas.
From Deschutes Road Bridge near Anderson to 500 feet upstream of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, open Aug. 1 through Dec. 16.
From 150 feet below the Lower Red Bluff (Sycamore) boat ramp to the Carquinez Bridge (includes Suisun Bay, Grizzly Bay and all tributary sloughs west of Highway 160), open July 16 through Dec. 16.
All other areas and dates are closed to salmon fishing.

Feather River
Daily bag and possession limit of two Chinook salmon for all open areas.
From the unimproved boat launch ramp above the Thermalito Afterbay Outfall to 200 yards above the Live Oak boat ramp, open July 16 through Oct. 15.
The area within 250 feet of the Thermalito Afterbay Outfall has been closed under the authority of DFG for public safety and to prevent take of legally protected fish.
From 200 yards above the Live Oak boat ramp to the mouth of the river, open July 16 through Dec. 16.
All other areas and dates are closed to salmon fishing.

American River
Daily bag and possession limit of two Chinook salmon for all open areas.
From Nimbus Dam to Hazel Avenue Bridge, open July 16 through Dec. 31.
From Hazel Avenue Bridge to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauging station cable crossing near Nimbus Hatchery, open July 16 through Aug. 15.
From the USGS gauging station cable crossing near Nimbus Hatchery to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) power line crossing the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman Park, open July 16 through Oct. 31.
From the SMUD power line crossing at the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman Park to the Jibboom Street Bridge, open July 16 through Dec. 31.
From the Jibboom Street Bridge to the mouth, open July 16 through Dec. 16.
All other dates are closed to salmon fishing.

Mokelumne River
Daily bag and possession limit of two Chinook salmon for all open areas.
From Camanche Dam to the Highway 99 Bridge, open July 16 through Oct. 15.
From the Highway 99 Bridge to the Woodbridge Irrigation District Dam, including Lodi Lake, open July 16 through Dec. 31.
From the Lower Sacramento Road Bridge to the mouth, open July 16 through Dec. 16.
For purposes of this regulation, this river segment is defined as Mokelumne River and its tributary sloughs downstream of the Lower Sacramento Road Bridge, east of Highway 160 and north of Highway 12.

The San Joaquin, Calaveras, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers and all other inland Central Valley areas will remain closed to salmon fishing for 2012.

All other regulations for bag and possession limits for trout, salmon and other species, as well as general information about restrictions on fishing methods and gear on the above rivers, are available on the DFG website at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/regulations.