Denis Peirce: Where are the salmon?

The most reliable count for salmon in our valley rivers is the fish ladder at Red Bluff.

During the irrigation season the gates of the Red Bluff Diversion dam are lowered to divert water into farm irrigation system. In most years, this lasts from May 15 to Sept. 15. This past weekend, the gates were raised and the fish counting ended for the year.

The bad news:

The final count came in at 6,882 for 2007. This compares to 8,595 for 2006. The 2006 numbers were poor and 2007 is lower yet. This past Sunday the Emeryville fishing fleet put only one boat outside the Golden Gate for salmon. This boat took one salmon before they switched focus and limited out on rock fish and ling cod.

Up on the Sacramento River between Hamilton City and Woodson Bridge, the guides are continuing to struggle. The water is a perfect 58 degrees. There are fish in the system, but getting them to bite is difficult in the extreme.

When the gates are lifted at Red Bluff the silt is stirred up putting a little color in the water. This normally increases the bite below the dam. This also sends a good number of fish up river and the fishing at Jelly’s Ferry and the Barge Hole gets a shot in the arm.

Neither of these came to pass this year.

Closer to home a salmon survey was taken last week on the Lower Yuba. A kayak trip down the river counted only one salmon redd from the Narrows to Daguerre Dam. By mid-September there should have been hundreds.

The reasons for hope:

In 2004, we had a similar fish count. Going into the last week of counting there had been only 4,999 salmon passing Red Bluff. During the last week of counting 4,519 came up river, 2,415 in a single day.

This coming weekend is the fall equinox. We humans see this as just a few less minutes of daylight. In the natural world it can mark a major change as fall fishing patterns begin in earnest.

Up off the north coast, the salmon fishing off of Shelter Cove has come back alive. This area of the coast is a prime feeding ground for Sacramento Valley fish. Most years this fishery has faded in August as the fish move south headed for their natal rivers. The presence of mature fish here suggests that the fish are late rather than non-existent.

Anecdotally, a private boater off the Marin coast took his two salmon limit in short order yesterday. The combined weight of these two fish was 76 pounds. Hopefully these two are part of a larger school of mature fish heading our way.

Gary Manies of Strictly Fishin Guide Service took five steelhead on the Sacramento incidental to salmon fishing near Woodson Bridge during the last two days. He caught these fish on roe This is usually an October phenomenon.

In summary, the salmon season to date has been bad. We have not yet run out of time for the situation to reverse. There is precedent for the missing fish to arrive late and in good numbers.

The problem is that many of the prime fishing areas will close to salmon fishing in the near future. If we do get a late run of salmon the fishing will be compressed into a short time frame and our opportunities will be limited.

There are still stripers in the Feather River from Live Oak down to the mouth. As long as the flows remain near the 5,000 cubic feet per second expect the stripers to hang around. As of last weekend there was still a school of shad near the Yuba City boat launch ramp.

Frank Rinella (Sierra Guide Service) drifted the Lower Yuba from the Highway 20 bridge to Daguerre Dam. His party picked up some fish in the 14- to 16-inch range.

The most effective flies were bead head Pheasant Tail Flash Back and Olive Fox Poopah in size #16. Late in the day there was some surface activity on EC Caddis and Elk Hair Caddis. Most of the fish rising to dry flies were 3- to 6-inch rainbows.

There are good numbers of these small fish indicating successful spawning the last two seasons. This hopefully will be the foundation for the rebound of the lower river fishery.

Up on Englebright Reservoir the trout fishing remains good up above the no ski boundary. The farther up lake you go the cooler the water will be. My source notes that when you reach water that is 60 degrees on the surface there are good numbers of 14 inch fish at depths of 7 to 9 feet. Last Friday, he fished from 7 a.m. until noon landing five trout and losing seven, most of which hit olive colored trolling flies.

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Denis Peirce writes a weekly fishing column for The Union and is host of "The KNCO Fishing & Outdoor Report," which airs 6-7 p.m. Fridays and 5-6 a.m. Saturdays on 830-AM radio. He may be reached via e-mail at denisp@theunion.com.