Trolling For Tidewater Kings From Freeport To Courtland   By: Dan Bacher November 20, 2006 More Articles by Dan

The Sacramento River from Freeport to Courtland receives less fishing pressure than the busy Sacramento area further north, but this river stretch produces some of the best salmon, striped bass and sturgeon fishing every year.

Here the river, after passing through the outskirts of south Sacramento, enters the tranquil farming region of the North Delta, as indicated by the sign, “Freeport, the Gateway to the Delta,” that you encounter as you drive down the River Road from Sacramento through Freeport. Boat ramps are few and far between, with public boat ramp access to this area available at Garcia Bend, and Merritt Island below Clarksburg.

I have personally experienced some of my finest salmon fishing from this area while bank fishing and fishing from a boat. I fondly remember an October day in 1994 when Chris Dunham and I landed two limits of big, beautiful chinooks while trolling spinners and Kwikfish with no weight. I was overjoyed at the time because three out of the four fish were hens, providing me with plenty of salmon roe for the steelhead season on the American River.

The salmon fishing to date this year has been some of the slowest on record, but this area of the river has still manages to produce surprisingly good fishing for knowledgeable anglers. For example, Jason Thatcher of Executive Guide Service has been averaging 2 to 4 fish per trip on the river below Freeport.

One of the better trips was on Thursday, October 26, when I called Thatcher on the river at 9:00 a.m. “We already have a 40 pounder in the boat,” said Thatcher, “and we lost another fish five minutes into the morning.”

He was never able to finish his report because as we were talking, one of his clients hooked another fish. “Fish on… I got to go,” he stated.

By the end of the day, the five lucky anglers, Roland Vomdorf of La Habra, Don Thomas of Folsom, Mark Martinez of Folsom, David Martinez of Yorba Lind and Albert Martinez of Fullerton caught four fresh, quality salmon. Vomdorf topped the catches with his 40 pounder. In addition, they also brought a 35 pounder into the boat. “The fish was bright, so fresh that it had sea lice on its tail.”

The fishing was a little slower the next day, with the four anglers ending up with one 35 pounder, another beautiful fresh fish. One thing is for sure this year – the fish may not be numerous, but the fish being taken included a surprising number of fish in the 30 to 40 pound range.

What does Thatcher attribute his success to? “It’s all about covering water,” he said. “When the fish are suspended and moving through the area quickly like they are this year, you increase your chances of finding pods of fish by covering a lot of water with long trolls.”

He also said that “sticking to your guns” with the rig and method that you have the most confidence is also crucial to success. “If you start losing confidence and start changing your leader length, lures and other things, you'll have a harder time catching fish. Stick to a program that you know will work and you’ll catch your salmon.”

Thatcher has two standby lures that he uses – Kwikfish and Silvertron spinners in silver and green. He paints a lot of the plugs with custom colors. Thatcher’s goal is to fish the lures about 2 feet off the bottom. He uses relatively light weights – 1 to 3 ounces – to do this on a three-way swivel. He attaches a 6-foot leader and the lure to the swivel.

Since this is tidal water, you need to pay attention to the tides. The incoming tide is best, though you can also nail good numbers of fish on the outgoing tide, according to Thatcher.

If you want to shore fish the Sacramento River for salmon on the Yolo County side, you need to fish the public access points such as Merritt Island. In spite of vociferous protests by anglers, the reclamation districts collaborated with law enforcement authorities to shut down fishing and parking on the Yolo County side of the river.

This is in blatant violation of the California constitution, which guarantees anglers the right to fish the state’s public waters. These signs outrage me every time I drive by them – and I hope that some day a pro-bono lawyer will have the courage to join with anglers to legally challenge the authorities for denying anglers the right to fish.

Anyway, public fishing access is available on the Sacramento County side of the Sacramento River in this stretch of river – and fishing for salmon can be very good. “A lot of boaters keep complaining that they’re not catching any fish, but the shore anglers over the past few weeks have brought in a lot a salmon,” said Johnny Tran at Freeport Bait Company.

For example, Matt Thomas was tossing a Blue Fox spinner from shore at Clarksburg when he hooked a 54 lb. chinook on October 26. Amazingly, the same angler brought in a 42 lb. salmon after the fishing the same spot two days before, according to Tran.

“The salmon fishing got off to a slow start this year, with our first fish caught off Freeport not reported until September,” he stated. “However, the guys fishing early and late in the day now are catching good-sized fish while using #5 Blue Fox and Mepps Flying C spinners in a variety of locations. The bank anglers in this area have definitely done better than the boats this season.”

The forecasted ocean abundance of Central Valley stocks in 2006 by the California Department of Fish and Game was 632,482 fish, based on a return of age-2 fish (jacks and jills) in the fall of 2005. However, it looks like they may have to reassess their methodology of calculating salmon abundance, since 2005’s ocean abundance estimate was nearly 1.7 million fish – the big numbers of fish predicted in the ocean last year didn’t show in the catches of either ocean or river anglers this season.

The Nimbus, Feather River and Coleman fish hatchery officials are all scratching their heads over why more fish haven’t appeared at their facilities yet. The Nimbus Fish hatchery usually opens the fish ladder on November 1, but this year they have decided not to open it until more fish appear. However, as Bob Burks, assistant manager of the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, quipped, “Those dang fish just don’t look at the calendar!”

This section of river is also known for its fine sturgeon, striped bass and catfish fishing. Merritt Island below Clarksburg has been renowned as an area to bag big sturgeon for years. While fishing shrimp baits and pile worms, anglers also catch big catfish and striped bass. This river stretch produces good numbers of 20 to 40 pound stripers every year, as well as many smaller fish.

The most underfished species in this area is smallmouth bass. Salmon anglers often hook these fish while tossing out spinners from shore, but only a few boaters specially target them. Anglers can target the rip rapped banks of the Sacramento, as well as Steamboat, Sutter and Miner sloughs, with crayfish crankbaits and a variety of Senkos and plastic worms. The spring and summer yield the top action, but these battlers can be taken throughout the year.

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