The weather held together on Friday 5-17 and party boats once again reported limit or very near to limit scores. The combined Half Moon bay / Golden Gate fleet were fishing 3 to 8 miles SE of the Main Farallon Island. Roger Thomas on the Salty Lady reported 14 limits to 20 pounds. The Emeryville Sport Center had three boats out the Huck Finn Seeker and Salmon Queen who landed a combined 84 salmon for 46 anglers to 26 pounds. Out of Half Moon Bay long time friend Dennis Baxter on the New Captain Pete reported 13 early limits of salmon. The grade is a mix of half running 8 to 12 pounds with a solid showing fish in the low to high teens. The weather was good with 10 to 12 knots of wind over a 4 foot swell. Boats have lots of room this weekend.

On Thursday 5- 16 the seas laid out and party boats, most with very light loads hammered limits of big salmon below the Islands. Emeryville Sportfishing had two boats out the Huck Finn and Salmon Queen who reported a combined 35 limits of salmon to 24 pounds.
Out of Sausalito Roger on the Salty Lady had 4 limits to 20 pounds. Out of Half Moon Bay Dennis on the New Captain Pete reported 8 limits averaging 15 pounds and going to 23. All captains said the size of the fish today were impressive with most running 12 to 17 pounds and all boats taking a few in the 20 pound class. Boats were trolling 4 to 7 miles SE of the Farallon Islands in flat calm conditions with winds less than 5 knots over a 4 foot swell. The forecast calls for wind on Friday but the "window of opportunity" could remain open long enough to allow boats to get out and get home before the winds pick back up. Our sponsors in Emeryville, Sausalito and Half Moon Bay have lots of space open on Friday. Walk on anglers are welcomed!

On Monday 5-13, the salmon bite was fantastic with Captain Dennis Baxter of the New Captain Pete saying, "They bit like wild dogs this morning," adding, "I am proud that I am a fisherman today." They put in 10 easy limits to 29-pounds at 37’34/122’53 with the fish biting on the clear side of the rip. Baxter said, "They obviously didn’t read the book on salmon fishing since they are supposed to bite in the brown water." The fish are loaded with a variety of bait including krill, short-belly rockfish, sauries, and baby sand dabs. Captain Tom Mattusch on the Huli Cat also found quick limits on Monday in the same general area. Unfortunately the winds came back up on Tuesday 5-14, putting the kibosh on the action at least until possibly Thursday when the winds are forecasted to briefly lay down.

Petaluma, CA -- The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) is calling on the US Bureau of Reclamation to release adequate water from Shasta reservoir to help transport six million baby salmon down river, past the Delta and into Suisun Marsh where they are safe. The baby salmon are to be released by the Coleman fish hatchery, more than 250 miles upstream from San Francisco Bay, on Wednesday, April 24. Any water release will need to be coordinated with fishery officials and not diverted downstream.
Golden Gate Salmon Association Executive Director John McManus said, "We consider the salmon produced by hatcheries to be an important part of the future fish in the ocean needed to keep the commercial and recreational salmon industries alive. We’re calling on the federal Bureau of Reclamation to release a short-term pulse of water from Lake Shasta to help the baby salmon safely navigate down river and out to the ocean."
The Coleman National Fish hatchery, located on a tributary of the upper Sacramento River, is responsible for mitigating the loss of salmon habitat blocked by the Shasta Dam. This hatchery produces and releases about 12 million fall-run baby salmon every year.
Salmon fishermen are worried that without additional water release, too many baby salmon will die before reaching the safe areas. Fishermen are especially worried about the impacts to the 2015 fishing season after the feared loss of a high number of the hatchery’s baby fish that were part of an earlier fish release on April 10th and 11th when river conditions were unfavorable.
In nature, baby salmon generally ride turbid winter and spring runoff flows from the upper river down to the ocean. The runoff carries them downstream while providing some cover from predators in the murky water.
Heavy rains in November and December helped to replenish much of Shasta Reservoir’s water storage, but near-record low precipitation has persisted since January. However, there was some rain runoff in the upper Sacramento April 5th through the 8th and this natural runoff would have provided improved conditions into which this first group of baby salmon might have been released (see documentation of these flows in attachment).
Fishery managers apparently missed the opportunity provided by this natural runoff and instead released the baby fish several days after its passage when the river was lower, slower, and clearer, providing a big advantage to the predators hunting baby salmon. Fishing guides along the river reported high numbers of salmon smolts in the stomachs of predators following that fish release.
If no water can be found to assist the outmigration, GGSA asks federal fishery managers to consider trucking a percentage of the Coleman juvenile salmon to the some location on the lower Sacramento River for release.
"We need federal and state water managers to make our rivers fish friendly again," said GGSA board president Victor Gonella. "We understand this was a low water year for northern California but the future of the salmon industry is riding on getting this year’s crop of baby salmon safely out to sea and for that, we need an additional water release or we need to truck some of those fish."
GGSA also calls on federal fish and water agency staff to ask major water diverters of Sacramento River water to decrease their diversions for the few days the baby salmon are expected to be near their intake pumps.
"Pulse flows have worked very well in the past and represent a good strategy for moving salmon smolts safely down the river, particularly in low flow years," said GGSA board member Dick Pool. "In the past, many of the water diverters cooperated by reducing diversions when the smolts were passing. We need that type of coordination and cooperation again."
GGSA proposes renewed spring pulse flows as part of its salmon rebuilding plan.
John McManus will be testifying on behalf of GGSA at the California legislature’s Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture Thursday, April 25 and is expected to touch on related issues.
The Golden Gate Salmon Association is a coalition of salmon advocates that includes commercial and recreational salmon fisherman, businesses, restaurants, tribes, environmentalists, elected officials, families and communities that rely on salmon. Their mission is to protect and restore California’s largest salmon producing habitat comprised of the Central Valley river’s that feed the Bay-Delta ecosystem and the communities that rely on salmon as a long-term, sustainable, commercial, recreational and cultural resource.