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Salmon fishing best in years

Fishing and hunting

 

Salmon fishing out of the Golden Gate and off the Sonoma coast is the best it has been in several years, with party boats reporting full limits of big fish on most trips. The only thing that slows them down is wind, which did keep some of the boats off the water parts of this week. 

In addition to the excellent salmon action, Capt. Rick Powers, of Bodega Bay Sportfishing, is still doing combo trips where clients can get salmon and lots of rock and lingcod every trip. Call Rick at 875-3344 for more information.

Joel Sinkay, owner of Leonard's Bait Shop at Port Sonoma, took a holiday this week and fished out of the Golden Gate, bringing home a nice limit of salmon. He said most of the best action is on salmon, although he has regular customers who are getting good striper fishing in the Napa River and near China Camp using his live bullheads.

If you've ever dreamed of semi-retiring and running a bait shop, Joel has his for sale. He also runs a shrimp boat and has decided that running two businesses is one too many. Call him at 762-7818 if you're interested.

Keith Fraser, at Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael, had one customer who fished out of the Golden Gate Sunday for seven hours with very little luck, then came inside the Bay to Cal City (off Marin shoreline) and landed limits of salmon to 35 pounds in less than an hour's fishing. They also hooked and lost several other fish and saw lots of others caught.

For those who get seasick on the ocean, Cal City in the Bay is now the place for salmon action. Keith added that there are lots of halibut being caught around South Hampton, and even many striped bass biting in the Bay. Call Keith at 415-456-0321 to book a party boat for a day's fishing.

Bass fishing at Lake Berryessa, Lake Sonoma and Clear Lake continues in the summer mode, which means anglers who know the water and move around can find fish.

Local fly-fisher and fly-fishing instructor David Dempsey reports that the Mt. Tamalpais Fly Fishers will be hosting Dan Blanton at their Tuesday, Aug. 23 meeting. Blanton is a renowned and well-published salt-water and Delta fly-fisherman who will be speaking on chasing stripers on the fly as well as sharing more than a few tips about fishing the Delta.

MTFF meets in the Town Center Community Room, second floor, located on the south end of the Corte Madera Town Center Shopping Center. All of the meetings are free and open to the public.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. with informal fly-tying lessons and demos. Blanton will take the podium around 7 p.m.

Dempsey is headed to Montana in mid-September to speak at the International Women Fly Fishers Symposium on “Habituation, Behavioral Adaptation and Conditioning of Trout; How It Affects Our Fly Pattern Choices and Techniques.”

Dempsey said, “The gist of the talk and presentation is on how we can adapt our techniques and fly-pattern selections for those tough fish that have seen too many anglers and too many flies. I'm fairly well known for my abilities with a dry fly on flat water.”

You can contact him at demtrout@vom.com.

Fly fishing on the upper Sacramento River and McCloud Rivers is good right now. Fishing on the Trinity River for salmon is also good.