Bay fishing red hot

After being as stinky as a week-old carp this summer, fishing in San Francisco Bay is smelling sweeter with lots of fresh-caught salmon, halibut and striped bass this week.

Keith Fraser, at Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael, opened our phone conversation Wednesday with an exclaimed, “It’s red hot! The salmon fishing near Cal City now is red hot.” He added that the halibut and bass action has been excellent, also.

Keith said most of the salmon are caught at the top of the tide and the two hours following. After that he suggests drifting live shiners for halibut and stripers.

The salmon caught inside the Bay are big, too. He said several more than 40 pounds were landed this week.

Keith books Bay party boats where you can go out after salmon, halibut and stripers all in the same day. Call him at 415-456-0321.

Salmon fishing off the Sonoma Coast has been good some days, only fair others, but the rock and lingcod action continues to be great. Capt. Rick Powers, of Bodega Bay Sportfishing, is also excited about the proximity of albacore tuna, and is planning some party boat trips to fish for them soon. Call Rick at 875-3344 for reservations for either coastal salmon and rock fishing, or an upcoming albacore trip.

Local lake fishing has been fair to good this week depending on whom you talk to.

The Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club had a tournament on Berryessa last week that produced only fair action and was won by Jon Graves with a five-fish limit of 11.33 pounds.

The SCBBBC is a great place to meet other non-professional bass anglers who like to participate in low-key, fun tournaments. You don’t have to own a boat to join, and they meet once a month at the Coddingtown Round Table Pizza in Santa Rosa. Their next tourney is the Clear Lake Classic set for Sept. 28 and 29. For more information about the club, go to scbbbc.com.

Bob Grace, of the Ted Fay Fly Shop in Dunsmuir, said the fly-fishing on the upper Sacramento River this week has been good. The nighttime temperatures are dropping, so the cooler water is making the trout more active. Most of the action is on small nymphs.

Trout fishing on the McCloud, Pit and Fall rivers is also good right now.

The most interesting report I saw was from the Redding Fly Shop, which indicated that there is some great action on the Trinity River right now for big German brown trout (to 26 inches) and steelhead.

This is also a good time to be planning a trip north to the Rogue River in southern Oregon, because the run of steelhead half-pounders will begin soon. The best contact for a great fishing trip on the Rogue or Klamath is Andras Outfitters. Rachel Andras and Jim Andras, who used to teach fly-casting at Leland Fly Fishing Ranch in Sonoma, are great people and really know their business.  I have had many fantastic days fly-fishing with Jim as my guide.  There’s none better for the rivers of northern California and southern Oregon. Call Rachel at 530-722-7992.

I noted that closer to home, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife planted some more rainbow trout in the East Branch of the Russian River (a tributary of Lake Mendocino).