Sacramento River - Stripers and Salmon surge to Isleton

2004-10-13 Can Nguyen -- Bob's Bait Shop

Even though it was windy for a couple days last week, it was still fishable. Generally, the weather was very good throughout the week except for Sunday and this Monday. Salmon fishing was very good although some days were slow as the salmon moved to a different location. The best areas for fishing salmon are along Old Sacramento River starting from the mouth toward Walnut Grove. However, some specific areas where salmons were caught most are North of Vieira's Resort, Long Island on the East side, Isleton Boat Ramp to Isleton Boat dock, and the Isleton Bridge. In the Walnut Grove area, trolling along Old Sacramento river starting from the mouth of the Georgiana Slough up to the mouth of the Mokelumne river. Other good areas for salmon are the Mokelumne River, North of B&W resort and along OxBow marina on the Georgiana Slough. On 10/09/04, Martinez who never caught his first salmon at Giusti's Bridge in Walnut Grove on Blue Fox. The fish weighed 22 lb and the fish was really bright. On 10/08/04, Bruce from Isleton and his wife were fishing at the mouth of the Old Sacramento River and got three salmons on Silvertron. The fish weighed an average 9 lb. Striped bass fishing was also fair to good with a number of striped bass caught along Highway 160 North of Brannan Island State Park, the Isleton Bridge, the Georgiana Slough, Potato Slough, Steam Boat Slough, North of Snug Harbor and along the Cable Ferry. Nicole Brownewell got a 25 lb. striped bass on shad on 10/08/04. She may have been in third place in the Rio Vista Bass derby last weekend. Sturgeon fishing was slow. However, one 62” sturgeon was caught at Santa Andrea Shoal on 10/09/04 on sardines by an angler who fished in the striped bass derby last weekend. Catfish fishing was slow last week due to the colder water temperature. Trolling for salmon is fun but it requires a lot of time and effort to get a good result. Since salmon are not like striped bass, who chase to catch the lure, salmon bite the lure whenever it is swimming, or flashing in front of them. To drop the lure right at the depth where salmon are running is based on luck and a good guess. According to most of fishermen, more salmon were caught in the early morning in depths of 5 to 7 feet, while during the day, more salmon were caught at close to the river bottom. Therefore, less weight or no weight is used when trolling in the morning, while a 1 oz or 2 oz weight should be used during the day. Beside that, certain lures can be used to catch bigger fish than others. Recently, most salmon, with an average weight from 10 lb to 15 lb, were caught on Silvertrons, where the bigger salmons were caught on Blue Fox, Kwikfish, or E-Chip. http://themasterbaiter.tripod.com/

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