Party boats have been getting out for rockfish with good results. After fishing high winds and tough action on Thursday 4-19 the conditions improved Rick Powers reported  the fish were chomping on Friday 4-20. Rick on the Friday ran south to Point Reyes and reported 34 limits of quality browns, coppers, quillback and other mostly bottom grabbers adding two lings. Rick said that with the big swell earlier in the week the lings just weren't cooperating but should as the winds back off. The forecast calls for breezy weather through the weekend with much better conditions forecasted for next Monday through Wednesday.

The PFMC released the final west coast salmon seasons on Tuesday April 19th. For Bay Area anglers the season begins on June 17th and closes October 31st. The minimum size will be 20 inches for the entire season. This is about a 40% deduction in "time" compared to the past few years. I for one, (who usually has a more pessimistic view) think this season could surprise to the upside. The reason is the large number of two year old fish we saw last season and that more fish continue to be trucked verses being released direct from the hatcheries. Add in big water flows over the 2016 / 2017 winter I'm optimistic about the 2019 season as well.
The rockfish season opens this Sunday April 15th. Rick on the New Sea Angler will be offering rockfish and ling cod trips. Rick will begin his rockfish / salmon combos in June when the salmon season gets underway. Jeff Caramella will be at the helm of the Samantha Irene as he is still looking to purchasing his own boat.

Salmon season setting process is underway
The salmon season setting process is underway and the news is a mix of "the good (Klamath jack counts way up), the bad (Sac Valley projections) and the ugly (government spin)".
Ocean abundance estimates for the Sac Valley are nearly identical to last year at 230,000 fish for 2018. This is the forecasted number of adults in the ocean at this time and below what is needed to allow for a full season by sport and recreational anglers. (I am rounding all numbers for this story).
The good news is that the Klamath saw far higher jack counts than expected and the adult ocean adundanace forecast estimates there are 359000 swimming off the west coast.
California fishery managers want us to believe that drought and the old standby term of  "poor ocean conditions" are solely to blame. This is where I call bullshit.
Yes, drought has had a severe impact on our fisheries but so has the complete mismanagement of water releases from our states largest reservoirs.
In 2014, federal and state biologists estimate that 95% of the upper Sacramento river salmon spawn died in the gravel or soon after emerging due to too hot of flows being released from Shasta dam. Despite promising to "do better" in 2015 they killed an estimated 98% (again state and federal figures) of all juvenile salmon in the upper Sac river. Once again they had depleted the cold water pool in Shasta lake that is used for salmon in the late Fall. They placed the blame on a faulty temperature device that monitors the cold water pool available for salmon. News came out later that this device has been known to be have been broken or inaccurate for several years. So what happened to the cold water reserve of salmon? It was sent south to irrigate crops grow in the desert. In a nutshell politicians placed a higher priority on almonds than our iconic salmon runs.
Pictured above: from the Deck of the Salty Lady in June of 2017. These fish are all very fat and healthy and show no signs of poor ocean conditions.
The low return of upper Sac salmon this past Fall was spun by California Fish and Wildlife as too many hatchery fish being trucked and they got confused on their return. Again I have to call BS. In fact the only reason we had a season at all last year is that fish were trucked during the drought. It's estimated that well north of 90% of the entire 2017 ocean catch was of hatchery origin. This is due to the fact that the Bauru of Reclamation killed all wild stocks due to the release of lethally hot flows onto the Sac spawning beds. You can expect the same in 2018.
The CDFW news release just below starts with the headline of drought and poor ocean conditions. In reality party boat and commercial operators have all said they saw excellent conditions off the North and Central coasts while poor conditions were reported off Oregon and Washington.
In addition, the federally run Coleman hatchery has an abysmal survival record. While our state hatcheries see 1 to 2% plus returns of adults, the return to Coleman runs at .01 to .05. This is due in part of their refusal to truck fish in most years or to develop release strategies that our state hatcheries have shown to work. Acoustic tagging studies show an astounding 65% of all smolts released from Coleman are lost in the first 70 miles and fewer than 5% make it to SF bay. Add in the huge losses at the Delta pumps and you can see that drought and ocean conditions are more factor than cause.
The Golden Gate Salmon Association is pushing for changes.
These include:
Reserves of Shasta lake cold water pool maintained for both Winter and Fall salmon.
Stop the dewatering of redds on the upper Sac and smooth Fall water releases so that wild salmon survive.
Adopt new hatchery release procedures and coordinated pulse flows timed with hatchery releases to improve juvenile survival.
Eliminate predator hot-spots including the areas where night lighting attracts both out migrating salmon and predators like striped bass.
Rebuild side channels so young salmon have a place to grow.
Close or build a barrier at the Delta cross channel gates.
Adopting these changes will help rebuild our salmon runs.
You can support our salmon fisheries by attending a GGSA dinner or join as a member and receive their quarterly newsletter highlighting what they are accomplishing. All monies raised by GGSA goes directly to rebuilding our salmon runs. You can learn more about their mission, recent accomplishments and to donate here. Golden Gate Salmon Association

Over the next few weeks we will receive additional info on what to expect as far as seasons from the PFMC. I feel that Central Coast saltwater and Central Valley river anglers could be disappointed while those on the North Coast could be in for a pleasant surprise. In about a week we should see the season options from the PFMC.
Mike Aughney

California’s Drought, Poor Ocean Conditions Impact Salmon Forecast for 2018
Commercial and sport anglers received mixed news today regarding the status of Sacramento River fall Chinook and Klamath River fall Chinook – California’s two largest Chinook salmon populations. While adult returns of both stocks were well below minimum escapement goals in 2017, and projected abundance for both stocks is modest compared to historic averages, state and federal fishery scientists reported an increase in the number of jacks (two-year-old Chinook) that returned to spawn in 2017. Higher jack returns, as seen in 2017, can indicate the potential for increased abundance of adult (three years old or older) Chinook for 2018 fisheries.
Forecasts presented at today’s annual Salmon Information Meeting suggest there are 229,400 Sacramento River fall Chinook adults in the ocean this year, along with 359,200 Klamath River fall Chinook adults. While the Sacramento River fall Chinook forecast is comparable to last year, there are greater numbers of Klamath River fall Chinook projected to be in the ocean in 2018. Fall Chinook from these runs typically comprise the majority of salmon taken in California’s ocean and inland fisheries.

The effects of the recent drought are still impacting California’s salmon populations. Outbound juvenile Chinook suffered unusually high mortality because of low flows and high water temperatures in both the Sacramento and Klamath watersheds in 2014 and 2015. Unsuitable river conditions, coupled with persistently poor ocean conditions during the same period, resulted in very low numbers of adult Chinook returning to spawn in both the Klamath and Sacramento River basins in 2017.
Over the next two months, the Pacific Fishery Management Council will use the 2018 fall Chinook ocean abundance forecasts, in addition to information on the status of endangered Sacramento River winter Chinook, to set ocean sport and commercial fishing season dates, commercial quotas and size and bag limits.
At the same time, fishery managers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will be working to develop a suite of recommendations for the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) to consider on 2018 fishing seasons, size limits and bag limits for Chinook salmon river fishing in the Klamath/Trinity and Sacramento River basins. For more information, please visit the FGC Sport Fishing Regulations website.
For more information on the process for setting the California ocean salmon season or for general information about ocean salmon fishing, please visit the Ocean Salmon Project website. For the latest ocean salmon season regulations, please call the CDFW ocean salmon hotline at (707) 576-3429 or the National Marine Fisheries Service salmon fishing hotline at (800) 662-9825.
For the latest inland salmon season regulations in the Klamath/Trinity basin, call (800) 564-6479, and in the Central Valley, please visit the CDFW Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations website