Go fishing now

There are two, possibly three, great choices for fishing close to Sonoma this week. Go now, before the weather and conditions change. If you want to stay close to home, take a drive over to the Napa River along Cuttings Wharf Road. Striped bass are biting in the Napa River in that area and downstream to Vallejo and upstream to the town of Napa. Check with Sweeney's Sport Shop in Napa for the best spots and bait of the day.

If you have a boat, or can book a party boat, San Francisco Bay is serving up fabulous striped bass fishing – the best it has been in a long time. Keith Fraser, at Loch Lomond Bait Shop, said the best action is drifting shiners off the Brothers, Sisters and the Whaling Station.

Trolling at the top of the tide along the Marin Shoreline with feathered jigs is also an excellent way to hook lots of fish, with one out of every two being a keeper, Keith reports. He said halibut fishing has been good in the Bay, but not as good as the striper fishing. And a few anglers are catching some salmon near Cal City. The salmon are running up to 35 pounds. He also added a small caveat – for reasons he cannot explain – the action when it is good is red hot. But on at least two days this last week, the bite went dead. That is, of course, why they call it fishing and not catching.

Keith books party boats for Bay fishing. Give him a call at 415-456-0321.

Capt. Rick Powers, of Bodega Bay Sportfishing, said catching off the Sonoma coast has been fantastic. Perfect, calm conditions provide a smooth ride to Ten-Mile Beach, where he is finding lots of salmon.  His party of eight anglers hooked 25 on Monday, landing 13 to 18 pounds.

He is also bringing in lots of ling cod to 20 pounds and full limits of rock fish.

Rick said this is some of the best late-season salmon action he has ever seen. Call him at 875-3344 to book a trip. Also, he is already taking reservations for the Dungeness crab season opener on Nov. 1. His combo trips allow anglers to go after limits of crab, ling and rock cod.

I mentioned last week that I fished the upper Sacramento River with very good success. Anglers will also find low, clear, but fishable conditions on most Northern California rivers, including the Fall River, McCloud and Pit rivers, and Hat Creek.

Moving north, Rogue River half-pounder and fall steelhead action is good right now.  Call Jim Andras at Andras Outfitters, 530-722-7992, to book a drift with Jim on the Rogue.

I was up in Oregon this week where there is good fishing on the McKenzie and Willamette rivers right now. I also read that the Clackamas and Sandy rivers are offering good action on fall steelhead.

One sobering note: When Dottie and I drove over the bridges spanning parts of Lake Shasta this week, it looked like a barren desert with one tiny little ribbon of water (the upper Sac) winding through it. If we have another year of drought, the central valley is going to be nearly out of water.  There just doesn't appear to be enough behind the dam to keep the Sac flowing for another 12 months.

More than 80 percent of that water is used by the farmers. If they can't grow things, we're all going to feel it when we shop for our groceries.