Folsom Lake King Salmon Are Hitting. Here's what you need to know

GRANITE BAY – Fishing for landlocked king salmon is shifting into high gear on Folsom Lake. Trollers are hooking the majority of the fish, but shore anglers can also hook king salmon while tossing out minnows, inflated nightcrawlers and PowerBait at Granite Bay, Brown’s Ravine and other areas on the lake.

“Fishing was really good in the afternoon on Sunday, Feb. 25,” reported Cal Kellogg at fishhuntshoot.com. “The two anglers fishing with me in the boat landed eight king salmon and one trout. The biggest salmon measured 18-1/2 inches while the rest were 15 to 16 inches long. We caught the biggest fish on a whole anchovy and the rest on Fish Eye Dodgers and Shad Tubes.

“The bite got really going at 1 p.m. Most of the fish hit off the end of the peninsula. They were spitting up pond smelt that they had just fed upon. I trolled from 18 to 47 feet deep, working the contours and keeping the gear on the bottom.”

On his previous trip on the lake, two anglers fishing with Kellogg caught and released seven rainbow trout and six kings. “The trout ranged up to 14 inches and the salmon went from 15 to 17 inches,” he said.

“All of the trout hit pink Trix worms in the top five feet of the water,” he noted. “The salmon hit 6 inch Fisheye Dodgers trailed by white shad tubes. The kings were scattered at 15 to 30 feet deep.”

“The biggest salmon were holding on structure,” said Kellogg. “We trolled off both sides of the peninsula to the main body.”

Folsom Lake is holding 610,091-acre feet of water, 632% of capacity and 129% of average.

The three open launch ramps at Folsom Lake are Granite Bay, Folsom Point and Hobie Cove at Browns Ravine, according to the Folsom Lake Marina.

Camanche Rainbows: The trout fishing remains superb at Lake Camanche as heavy plants of Mt. Lassen rainbow and lightning trout continue.

“Today we had the pleasure of taking out Robert, Erin and their awesome daughter Sara to Pardee for a tutorial trip,” said Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide Service after his most recent trip to Camanche. “To say that this crew smashed them would be an understatement. They had multiple double hook-ups, long-fought battles, and smiles all around.

“Robert fired off questions about trout and kokanee fishing, and it seemed every time we'd start a conversation the rods were going off. We caught some donkey holdovers (big trout) to go with a solid grade of other Lassen rainbows, and Sara caught the first crappie I've seen come out of that lake in years.”

More: Bacher: New steelhead run record set on the Mokelumne River

“We wrapped things up around noon, and headed in for some photos and fillets,” he continued. “Today we ran custom stick baits, spoons and soft plastics, keeping our presentations in the top 20 ft, and varying speeds from 1.1 to 3.1 mph. We've been blessed to be on such a great bite at all the local lakes and even more opportunities are just around the corner with kokanee and king salmon.”

American River Steelhead: The steelhead fishing on the American River has been “about a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10,” reported Austin Wilson at Fisherman’s Warehouse in Sacramento. On Feb. 26, the one angler fishing with him landed one steelhead weighing 4 pounds. They also released some of the steelhead smolts recently released into the river.

“We’ve averaged one to three steelhead per trip since the beginning of the year,” he stated. “Most of the adult fish have been from 3 to 8 pounds. With the high water in the river, we drifted in my drift boat from Sailor Bar to Gristmill. Fishing with Little Cleos and Mag Lips is producing the top action,” he advised.

In early February, one-year-old steelhead were loaded into tanker trucks at Nimbus Fish Hatchery and released into the American River to begin their outward migration to the ocean. We’ll see some of these fish return to spawn in a few years.

Releases to the American River from Nimbus Dam are 6,000 cfs.

More: Bacher: CDFW salmon info webinar to discuss 2023 returns, 2024 ocean abundance estimates

Suisun Bay Sturgeon: White sturgeon are providing the most productive fishing in Suisun Bay and the West Delta as another storm was forecasted to hit California this week. Fishing for sturgeon has been up and down, depending on the day.

“Fishing is really good some days and tough on others,” said Zack Medinas of Gatecrasher Fishing Adventures. “There is a lot of runoff and water logged-trees are creating a hazard on the water. On Saturday, Feb. 24, we caught one sturgeon in the low forties and one going 45 inches.”

On a previous trip, Medinas and a fishing buddy caught and released four fish, including two in the new slot size in the low forties. Lamprey eel and salmon roe are providing the best action in 26 to 35 feet of water. Medinas has been fishing in Suisun Bay and the West Delta region.

“There are a lot of 34 inch to 36 inch undersized fish out there that are the result of good sturgeon spawns in 2017 and 2019. There was considerable recruitment to the sturgeon population during those years” he added.

“If you fish after a storm, it’s best to target the incoming tide when the current isn’t running hard so you won’t get clobbered by trees in the water. It’s better to get off the main current into areas like Grizzly Bay,” Medinas advised.

Under emergency regulations adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission in November 2023, harvest has been reduced to one white sturgeon for 2023 and 2024. Catch and release fishing for white sturgeon will still be allowed with a valid sturgeon report card after one sturgeon is kept except for closures outlined in California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Sections 5.80 and 27.95.

The slot limit has been reduced to 42-48 inches, and a limit of two fish per vessel per day was added. Fishing for white sturgeon will also be closed seasonally upstream of the Highway 50 bridge on the Sacramento River and Interstate 5 bridge on the San Joaquin River from Jan. 1 to May 31, 2024. This upstream area will re-open to catch and release fishing on June 1, 2024, once spawning season is over.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Folsom Lake King Salmon Are Hitting. Here's what you need to know