Salmon

80+ lb. salmon carcass found!

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Giant King Salmon
This mammoth, record-class king salmon was found dead on Oct. 30 in Battle Creek, a major tributary to Northern California’s Sacramento River by a crew of biologists surveying the creek for spawners.

“The length of this giant was 1290 mm (50.7 inches!) and I can’t remember the massive girth, but a weight calculator gave an estimate of 85 pounds!” says Matt Johnson, of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, who sent to photo in to be entered in our Smoker of the Year Contest. “Some lucky dog might have broken the state record had there been a season this year!”

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Which rods for Steelhead & Salmon?

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JD,
I have a new Willie Driftboat 17×54 and plan on being ready to fish winter steelhead.I have quesition about rods for salmon & steelhead.

I plan on using HSR981c for plug & light back boucing.I was thinking about getting some Gloomis HSR1021c for plug fishing for salmon. When using long leaders on plugs or bait&diver I was going to use STR1263c for salmon.

For steelhead fishing I was planing to use HSR9000c for plugs. When side-drifting I was going to use STR1024s in snagy water and was thinking about using G-Loomis STR1162S rods for side-drifting & double as float rod.

Your opinion would be great. Thank You, Mitch H.

Sounds like you pretty much have it all covered! The only thing I think I would change is the STR 1024’s for side-drifting….they’re extremely parabolic. With such a soft tip, your sinkers will be more inclined to fall into the gaps between the rocks and get hung. The 1025 is better…

Good luck!

–JD

Are stripers a threat to salmon?

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Hey JD, do you have any input regarding a theory that the non-indigenous Stripers may have a contribution to the current downturn in several indigenous species (i.e. Pacific Coast Salmon, Delta Smelt) populations?
–Don B.

Don, while stripers do dine juvenile salmon, there’s no evidence that suggests that they have big impact on salmon populations. Though non-native, stripers have been coexisting with salmon for 150+ years. In surveys of predators conducted in the Delta recently, Delta smelt have not been found in the stomachs of striped bass and in fact, stripers may actually help Delta smelt by preying on fish that like to eat smelt.

Nope, stripers are not the cause of all this. The main problem with the smelt is poor water quality in the Delta. caused mainly by epic water diversions. Back when we had big numbers of salmon and smelt, the striper numbers were also high…everything has collapsed since record water exports started a few years ago. The salmon are influenced by poor water quality though the major cause in their decline has been lousy ocean conditions.

Best fishing in the World: Baltavia

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Little Bear & Frenchy with a 125-pound king
This time around, I’m going to skip the tips and tell you instead about the amazing trip I took recently to what is, without question, the planet’s best big steelhead (and salmon) fishing destination: Ostrov Novrossiysk, a large island 75 miles off the coast of Baltavia in the former Soviet Union.

The largest king salmon and steelhead in the world live in the streams of the island and I can tell you with absolute certainty that, after seeing what I did last month, this sport will never be the same. The following is a journal of my trip…

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