The 2022 Sacramento River King salmon season is just 6 weeks away from its annual summer opener!  The forecast is for an above average return of fall Kings and the ocean reports are aligning with the PFMC estimates.  The daily bag limits for Sacramento River salmon this year is 2 per person daily with a 4 salmon per person possession limit.  We expect that the intermittent closures for the ocean commercial fleets will allow the first push of King salmon to enter the river system in good numbers which means we expect our season opener below Red Bluff to be very good again this year!  Allowing these early run salmon to swim freely up river during the absence of the commercial trawlers and party boats will definitely load the deep holes with fresh king salmon in the cool waters of the upper river in the Red Bluff area.  As August approaches we will see more and more salmon in the river until the bulk of the run arrives in September.  Forecasts for returning Kings, if correct, will make for some of the best salmon fishing we've seen in several years.  This is not a year for, let's wait and see what the reports look like before booking a trip because most of the busier guides will be booked by then.  September and October will be the portion of the season that will see the most salmon in the system and even small return years, the salmon fishing is at its peak for the fall season.  August and September are the most popular months to book salmon fishing trips on the Sacramento River and those two months fill first.  There are fewer salmon around in July but the salmon are very bright and fresh out of the ocean.  October is when we see the most salmon caught each day but they have been in the system longer and are generally a lot darker than the early run Kings.  By mid October the tail end of the fall run will be in the Anderson area and the salmon will start to push up into their spawning areas reducing the number of available fish to catch. We typically see a lull in the salmon fishing action until mid November when we start to see the first good push of late fall salmon arriving in the river above Red Bluff.  Thanksgiving through the end of December is when we will have the most late fall salmon in the river and many will be stacked in then Anderson area holes.  January 1st is the end of the 2022 Sacramento River King salmon season above Red Bluff.  The salmon season below Red Bluff closes after December 16th.  We're excited about this years king salmon run and like many of the salmon fisheries up and down the west coast, it should be a good one for us too!  We have lots of available dates on the schedule, but they won't last long once the season opens.  Our busiest month at the reservation desk is July.  I expect we'll be sold out by August again this season for fall salmon trips.  I personally only have 10 days that remain available in Aug-October and the guides that use our booking service are filling up as well.  If you don't get booked anywhere for the fall salmon fishery, look at the late fall salmon season in Nov-Dec.  Its the only opportunity to catch fresh run Kings pretty much anywhere along the west coast.  Thank you!

Captain Jeff Goodwin