OFF THE HOOK: Big numbers of salmon surge into American

Anglers fishing the American River in the Sacramento metropolitan area are enjoying the best salmon fishing since 2004, a year when anglers experienced wide-open fishing at times on the legendary urban stream.

I fondly remember a trip with the late Randy Buffington of American River Guide Service at Gristmill in the fall of 2004. I quipped that if we caught limits of salmon that morning, I would kneel down in the boat, bow to him and proclaim, "Oh, Great Salmon Master."

Well, needless to say, I had to follow-up on my pledge, since we caught three-fish limits of bright, fresh chinooks while back trolling sardine-wrapped Kwikfish.

Unfortunately, the collapse of Central Valley salmon led to lower numbers of fish and slower fishing in 2005, 2006, and 2007 and the complete closure of the American to salmon fishing in 2008 and 2009.

After being open for one month of mediocre fishing last year, the American is producing great fishing again. For example, Russ Strickland of Hog On Drift Boat Guide Service called me on Oct. 13 to tell me that his client, Justin Cisneros, had caught early limits of bright chinooks in the 8- to 10-pound range.

"We hooked the first fish at 6:50 a.m. and the second fish at 8 a.m.," said Strickland, who has been experienced an excellent salmon season on the American. Cisneros landed his limit, while Strickland also took home a salmon.

Cisneros, who recently joined the staff at the Department of Fish and Game's Nimbus Fish Hatchery, hooked more fish that morning than on all of the bank fishing trips he has made on the river after moving to Sacramento.

"I had caught only one salmon on the river before today," Cisneros said. "Today I caught my limit and also lost another fish."

Strickland and Cisneros hooked all of the fish while fishing salmon roe behind diving plugs.

"This is the best salmon fishing I've seen in 10 years," said Strickland. "When I began my season on Sept. 6 this year, I was hooking fish on Flatfish. However, we lost most of the fish because of the barbless hooks."

After losing so many fish, he switched over to the two methods he is employing now — back trolling roe and a leader behind a diving plug, and fishing roe under slip bobbers.

While the numbers of salmon showing on the American are very promising, most of the fish caught to date have been "jacks" and "jills" — 2-year-old fish — in the 5- to 10-pound range. Hopefully, the large females will begin to show in numbers in the river soon.

The return of jacks is good news, since federal biologists will estimate the abundance of adult fish abundance next year based on this fall's jack returns.

The section of river from the USGS gauging station cable crossing near Nimbus Hatchery to the SMUD power line crossing the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman Park closes on Oct. 31. After the closure, the section from there to the Jibboom Street Bridge will be open to salmon fishing through Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, workers at Nimbus Fish Hatchery are gearing up for the arrival of a large number of salmon when the fish ladder opens. In 2010 the hatchery trapped 7,269 adult chinooks and 1,826 grilse, compared to 4,135 adults and 654 grilse in 2009, according to Bob Burks, Nimbus Fish Hatchery manager.

Unfortunately, the 2010 salmon run paled in comparison to the runs from 2001 to 2004, when 100,000 to 150,000 fish, a mixture of naturally spawning fish and returns to the hatchery, returned to the river.

On May 5 and 6, the DFG released three million chinook salmon smolts near the mouth of the American River. This release site was chosen because studies have shown that young salmon released near the mouth of their home river are more likely to return to that river to spawn, two to five years later.

"This year we are expecting a very good return of salmon on the American River and this will give anglers a greater chance to catch one of these magnificent fish," said Senior Environmental Scientist Joe Johnson of DFG's North Central Region.

After the salmon season is over, anglers will switch over to steelhead fishing. 2011 was a great steelhead year for me, since I caught adult steelhead on every trip that I made to the river in January and February. Hopefully, the last two high water years on the river and good ocean water conditions should lead to a good return on steelhead this fall and winter.

For more information about fishing with Russ Strickland of Hog-On Drift Boat Guide Service, contact: 707-477-5174 or www.hogonfishin.com/lets-go-fishing.