Salmon Fishing in Northern California

While professional salmon fishers have traveled all over Northern America to hunt for the elusive king salmon, most productive king salmon fishing takes place in Northern California. Because the Sacramento River runs for almost 400 miles, it makes California salmon fishing perfect. There used to be a time when salmon runs were so thick along the Northern California coast that you could walk on the back of salmon to reach the other side of the river. While salmon fishing is quite that good now, with careful conservation and restoration projects, the Sacramento river is regaining its vitality as well as its salmon.

The record for California salmon fishing in Sacramento River resulted to the catch of an 88-lb king salmon. The fall salmon run is the best time of the year to go salmon fishing in Northern California. The Northern California salmon fishing season begins in the middle of July on the lower river and the beginning of August for the upper part of the river. This is because the salmon reach the upper part in small numbers. When September approaches, large groups of salmon start battling upstream. By October, the highest peak of fishing season, the salmon are in full force. By November and December, the big 40 to 70-lb salmon begin to appear.

By that time, you should have caught your trophy salmon and gotten your picture taken with it. You would never want to go salmon fishing without a camera on hand. If the generally mild Northern California weather permits, salmon fishing season can continue into early January. That gives you enough time to keep on trying your luck and break the state record of the 88-lb salmon.

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