We're just days away from one of the most anticipated salmon fishing days of the year.  Thats right, the Sacramento River above Red Bluff opens to salmon fishing on Saturday morning at 5:14 am.  Scouting reports are in and there's salmon stacked 20' thick in the Barge Hole.  Two things will make this opener a big one.  First, this years season opener is on a Saturday which means an above average crowd will be fishing the Barge Hole at first light.  Realistically, we could see 70, 80, even 90 boats in the hole this year.  Second, there are an unusually large number of big salmon stacked in the Barge Hole which will surely mean the mornng bite will be outrageous to say the least.  This opener for the Sacramento River can't come soon enough for us.  The lower river below Red Bluff has been pounded by anglers for the past two weeks and to say fishing is tough, is an understatement.  Any of the Kings that held ground in the Red Bluff area have either pushed up river into closed waters or have scattered in every direction.  Thats not to say we aren't still catching salmon, its just the fish we are catching are few and far between.  Hopefully the open section of the Sac above Red Bluff will provide some additional opportunities until we see some new fish enter the system from the ocean.  With this weeks full moon, we typically see an influx of new fish in the Chico to Anderson areas.  The bulk of the fall run is still in the ocean where saltwater anglers are currently enjoying an amazing season along the coast.  When we see the charter boat fleet numbers begin to drop consistently, we'll know the salmon are pushing into the Sacramento River system.  Most years we'll start to see this sort of movement in mid August.  In the meantime, we'll keep fishing and finding enough salmon to keep the interest alive.  Tight lines!

Capt. Jeff G.