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THE SALMON RUN IS ON!
By: Ron Wilson
October 16, 2003....
California's Salmon migration to their annual spawning grounds has been
going on for a few
months now.
Schools of salmon have
been heading up the Feather River to reproduce and end their life cycle.
Fish have also been traveling up the Sacramento River to where they were
raised near Red Bluff. Some of the last schools of fish that will head up
the Sacramento River to spawn each year are the fish that are raised in
the American River near Sacramento.
Guide Wayne Douma of
Fish-On guide Service, along with clients Rick Coelho of Manteca, John
Zeman of San Jose and myself, traveled to Vierra's Resort to give some of
the last schools of migrating salmon a try.
Wayne had 50 lb braided line on his reels; he said the reason for braid
was for better feel, he also liked the fact that there was no stretch when
you set the hook on a fish.
Attached to the end of the braided line was a 3-way swivel, on the
straightaway end of the swivel he had 4 feet of 20-pound test monofilament
tied to a lure. On the downward side of the swivel he had about a foot and
a half of 20-pound test line with a weight on it.
The weight would vary from 1 to 2 ounces depending on the current and how
swift the tide was at the time. Wayne had 4 rods for us to use with each
rod rigged with different types of lures. A Blue Fox Spinner on one rod, a
silver wiggle wart on another, A K13 Flatfish silver with a green nose and
sardine wrap soaked in pro-cure on another and the last rod had a silver
tron spinner.
 The
area was crowded with boats around the resort where the school of salmon
were hanging out. To add to the boat traffic the Rio Vista Striper Derby
was also going on with boats of all sizes and descriptions chasing
linesides.
Wayne said when he uses spinners and Kwik-Fish together while trolling he
keeps the boat speed at about one and a half miles an hour. He said that
if you are only trolling spinners, you can go about two miles an hour
which will make the blades on the spinners spin faster which makes the
lures more attractive to the salmon.
Wayne likes to set his lures at different depths so that he covers the
water when he goes through a school of fish. He does this by having his
clients let out different lengths of line as they let their lures out. One
guy will let his out 4 touches. On a level wind reel a touch is counted as
one when the line goes from one side of the spool to the other. The next
guy will put his out 5 touches and the next 6 touches.
Trolling for salmon is mostly a waiting game. The action can be fast and
furious when you’re in them, but when your not or they’re not in an
aggressive mood, they’ll be a lot of slow time on the water.
We had an early strike but the fish was never hooked. The next strike
turned into a 5-pound striped bass. Wayne told me that he had never had a
striped bass caught on a Kwik-Fish so this was a first for the Fish-On
boat and also a first for John as it was his first lineside.
Time went by and finally we had a 10-pound salmon strike a lure but
immediately throw it when he jumped about 5 feet into the air. Having a
salmon leap out of the water like that really gets the blood pumping.
We boated a 12-pound hen and then we had a 20 pounder, hooked by Rick,
jump right in my face at the side of
the boat before it was put in the net. Action like that makes one forget
about all the time you were sitting there hoping for a rod to bow up from
a strike.
There were several other California Striped Bass Association (CSBA)
members in the same area. Among them were Jeff Boyle and his 12-year-old
son Scotty. They were using silver spinners to hook salmon also. It was
the same old story catch some and lose some. Scotty caught a beautiful 20
pounder. The picture shows that he had a double handful of fish and that
ear-to-ear smile made dads day.
Meeting the fisherman new and old made my day on the river. Vierra's
Resort was a new place to launch for me, so it was also a learning
experience.
I
don't care how good a boat you have or how well you think you know how to
fish when you are traveling to a new area you should always use the
expertise of a good guide to get your feet wet. Let them show you the
ropes and then you can go and be successful at catching fish in the same
area yourself.
By using a guide’s knowledge you can then take your boat and a friend or
two and if you are successful you can really brag about your newfound
expertise!
The salmon run is still going strong and the American River salmon have
showed up in numbers! Call Wayne Douma at 209-838-7040 and see if he has
an opening on his boat or possibly another guide he can set you up with,
as now is the time to go after this run of fish. Wayne chases these silver
fish from Rio Vista all the way to Red Bluff and stays in the know of
where to go catch them and how! |
