A quick scan of reports from the San Francisco Bay, Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg charters reveals an impressive number of large fish coming in on a daily basis. Captain Jacky Douglas of the Wacky Jacky out of San Francisco said the bite has been up and down, but the quality of the fish has been excellent. On Saturday, August 25, Cecilia Dickerson of San Leandro landed a 40 pound chinook while fishing aboard the Wacky Jacky. "She was trolling an anchovy off the Marin Coast at Muir Beach when the big fish hit," said Douglas. "The 13 anglers fishing with me on Saturday landed 22 salmon."

It's been the same story for anglers fishing out of Berkeley Sportfishing Center. "The salmon coming in over the last month have been averaging 15 to 20 pounds and there's a lot of fish out there from 30 to 40 pounds," confirmed Mike Librero. "The salmon boats are working to the north off Duxbury and Muir Beach. There's also a decent bite happening down south, but the fish have been much smaller."

On Saturday, August 25, Berkeley boats found a steady salmon bite with scores running about 1-1/2 fish per rod. The El Dorado was the top boat with an impressive catch of 30 salmon to 25 pounds for 17 anglers. The Easy Rider bagged a couple 30 pounders on their way to a total of 21 fish for 16 anglers. The El Dorado III ran south off Pacifica and brought in 21 salmon to 17 pounds for 30 people.

To the north off Bodega Bay, a large school of salmon has been holding in 300 feet of water from the harbor up to Point Arena. "We had a 43 pounder taken this week and 30 pounders have been common," explained Jason Herum from the Boathouse. "The Sandy Ann checked in on Sunday with 6 big fish up to 40 pounds for 6 anglers. The Pro Fish'nt had 13 salmon to 36 pounds the day before that."

According to Herum, it's been about the same numbers wise for anglers fishing out of Bodega Bay. "The average trip is only producing a fish per rod or less, but these are some really big fish," he added.

Finally, Fort Bragg has been the mainstay for consistency this year and they are also finding some impressive numbers of large salmon. At press time, numbers are down a bit with a good day producing a fish per rod, but you won't be complaining if the one fish you catch is 20 or 30 pounds. "We landed 16 fish on Thursday and 6 of them were over 30 pounds," revealed Rick Thornton of Anchor Charters. "Our numbers dropped a bit on Saturday and Sunday, but the fish were still a solid 20 pound average."

Thornton said the fish were all caught trolling hoochies and anchovies north of Fort Bragg in 100 to 300 feet of water. "Conditions still look good for salmon up here and we're hoping to get another big push of fish before the season winds down."

While salmon fishing is far from red hot off the North Coast, odds of landing a trophy-sized fish are actually better than most years. With 30 to 40 pound fish being caught on a daily basis, the risk of getting skunked is well worth the reward of catching the fish of a lifetime.