However, the salmon fishing has been up and down, with limits one day and tougher fishing the next. "We're taking an overall average of one fish per rod, with better fishing some days," said Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan's Guide Service in Elk Grove. "The fishing is just now picking from a drop in flows on the river."

The Bureau of Reclamation recently dropped releases from Keswick Dam from 9500 cfs to 7500 cfs or less, causing the action to slow down for a few days as the fish became adjusted to the changed conditions.

The Woodson Bridge area has been one of the top areas on the Sacramento to catch salmon this year, as evidenced by the largest numbers of guides and private boaters fishing the river on the day I fished this section of river with Villanueva. For the five days prior to our trip, Villanueva had experienced a hot streak, with limits of big chinooks the rule taken early each day.

Villanueva had docked his boat near his campsite at the Woodson Bridge R.V. Park, where Don Henderson of Sacramento and the deckhand for the day, Fred Thomason of Last Cast Guide Service, met us. Villanueva noted that the boat ramp at Woodson Bridge is in the process of being repaired, so anglers have to launch at Hamilton City to the south or Los Molinos to the north to fish this area.

After Villanueva launched his boat from the shoreline, we fished a variety of locations south of Woodson Bridge, but experienced tough fishing all day. Don Henderson and I each landed a quality chinook, with Henderson boating an 18 pounder, and I landing a 22 pounder. We side drifted with salmon roe until the end of the day, when we tried a few drifts back bouncing with roe.

Anglers whom we talked to in other boats reported mixed success. Some boats reported catching limits, others reported a fish per rod and some reported getting skunked. The quality of the fish was outstanding; we didn't see a single dark fish boated by any of the anglers.

All of these salmon were hard-fighting fish, growing fat and sassy on the abundance krill, anchovies, sardines and herring now thriving along our coast. The resurgence of the chinook population on the Sacramento River is a testament to improved ocean conditions and decades of fishery restoration efforts by United Anglers, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and other fishery conservation groups. The enforcement of the Endangered Species Act and the Central Valley Improvement Act, is spite of all of the attacks by corporate agribusiness and the "wise use" lobby, have contributed greatly to improved spawning and rearing conditions in the river.

Villanueva's latest adventures on the Sacramento produced some large chinooks. Two anglers fishing with Villanueva on Saturday, August 25 landed two salmon weighing 15 and 20 pounds. On the following day, the three anglers fishing with him took three fish going 21, 22 and 18 pounds.

The bite should improve as the fish recover from fluctuations in flows and increasing numbers of chinooks move up the river. The most productive section of river now is from Red Bluff through Hamilton City, though big kings are being caught by patient anglers fishing at Colusa, Knights Landing, Verona, Discovery Park and Freeport. The Sacramento metropolitan area salmon fishing should heat up in late September and early October when the American River chinooks move in.

For more information, call Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan's Guide Service, (916) 684-7148 or visit his website.