Delta/Sac River Salmon

Post Reply
Dave A
Posts: 134
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 7:45 am
Location: Rocklin

Delta/Sac River Salmon

Post by Dave A »

I'm looking to take my bass boat out and do so jigging for salmon. Have any of you had any tried or had success doing this? It's hard to put down the frog rod but I would like to get into a salmon or two. It's been years since I have caught one. I usually launch out of B&W but not sure that would be a high percentage area. Any suggestions on launch, areas, and techniques.

Thanks guys.
Bobp
Posts: 40
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2018 10:23 am

Re: Delta/Sac River Salmon

Post by Bobp »

Just one-wait at least a month
M Pollard
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:42 pm

Re: Delta/Sac River Salmon

Post by M Pollard »

a lot of guys fish Beaver, Sycamore and Mokelumne River and Sloughs for Salmon.. I went last year and there were alot of boats, i did not catch any, but seen a few that did....
User avatar
Burke
Posts: 497
Joined: Sat May 07, 2005 6:59 am
Location: Woodland, CA

Re: Delta/Sac River Salmon

Post by Burke »

Like the previous posts said, I would wait until the water gets cooler and fish the Mokelumne River and the dead end sloughs (Beaver, Hog, and Sycamore) that connect to the Mokelumne. We launch out of Wimpy's Marina because it's on the Mokelumne River. When you are fishing in an area where there's a lot of boats close by, about the only thing that you can do is jig for salmon. We fished the sloughs mainly because there aren't a lot of boats close by.

Instead of jigging, we crank 3/4 oz Chrome with Blue Back and Orange Belly Rat L Traps. We upgrade the hooks to Owner 4X hooks (size 4) and use heavy duty split rings. Our reels are spooled with 50 or 65 lb braid and we use a medium heavy rod. We discovered this salmon lure purely by accident fishing for black bass.

Years ago, we had jigged all morning for salmon and caught NOTHING, not even a bite. We were frustrated and decided to go into Sycamore Slough and fish for black bass and stripers. That afternoon, we were cranking that particular Rat L Trap since we caught stripers and black bass on it on a previous trip. Well, that afternoon, the 2 of us caught stripers, black bass, and took home 4 salmon using that lure.

We thought it might have been a fluke catching the salmon on that lure so the following week, we took 2 boats into Sycamore and all 4 of us cranked the same color Rat L Trap. That day, we took home 8 salmon plus stripers and black bass. We probably hooked over 20 salmon that day. When we returned to the marina, most boats had caught 1 or 2 salmon jigging for them. When the other salmon fishermen saw us unload our salmon, they asked us how we caught our salmon. We told them, but, of course, I don't think they believed us.

I told a fishing buddy of mine from San Francisco how we caught salmon using the Rat L Trap. Of course, he was a non-believer. I took him on a fishing trip to the Delta and after the trip, he became a believer. That day, he took home 2 16-lb salmon that he had caught on a Rat L Trap.

We have used this lure every time we go fishing for salmon and have been fairly successful. If they are in the area where we are fishing, we will catch a few. My personal best salmon using this lure was a 26-lber.

I haven't fished salmon in recent years since the salmon run numbers have been really low.
Dave A
Posts: 134
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 7:45 am
Location: Rocklin

Re: Delta/Sac River Salmon

Post by Dave A »

Thank you for Burke! Rat L Trap salmon, go figure.
Post Reply