
The city of Sacramento plays host to a large fall run of Chinook salmon every year when the fish move through the State Capitol on their way to the spawning grounds on the upper section of the Sacramento River near Redding, the American River, the Feather River and other tributaries.
The fishing on this salmon opener on July 16 was surprisingly good at two spots on the river – the Sacramento River below Red Bluff and the mouth of the American River at Discovery Park right here in Sacramento. As was the case last year, the cooler water coming down the American caused the fish to hold at the mouth.
In fact, a number of guides from out of town, including Kirk Portocarrero of sacriverguide.com, decided to try fishing the river out of the Discovery Park ramp on the opener, along with the local anglers who converged on the river.
Portocarrero reported excellent fishing on opening day out of Discovery Park. The four anglers fishing with Portocarrero landed 4 salmon ranging from 12 to 18 pounds while trolling Silvertron spinners below the mouth of the American.
Since opening week, the fishing has slowed down as it normally does this time of year, but anglers are still catching some bright, quality fish as they move through. Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Guide Service, after fishing the Feather River on opening week, decided to try fishing out of Discovery Park.
On his first trip on July 24, he landed an 18 lb. salmon below the mouth of the American on a Blue Fox spinner. However, the next two trips he made didn’t yield any fish.
Dennis Pfanner at Sacramento Pro Tackle confirmed the slowdown in fishing. “Since the opening week of salmon season, the fleet at the mouth has caught zero to three fish per day,” he stated.
“These are the mid-June to mid-July fish that we have been seeing for years,” Pfanner said. “After mid-July, the numbers usually begin to slow down. We don’t see the bigger numbers of fish until mid-September when the American River starts to get really active.”