California’s June 7-8 Ocean salmon season offered some of the best fishing many longtime anglers can remember. Fast action, quick limits and bustling harbors characterized the weekend along much of the coast with a hot salmon bite reported as far south as San Luis Obispo County. Excellent ocean conditions from Crescent City all the way down to Avila Beach allowed anglers to get out both days and try to catch the iconic sport fish in ocean waters for the first time since 2022.
“We’ve seen so many pictures and heard many stories of people enjoying their time on the water with family and friends,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham. “By all accounts, the weekend was a huge success.”
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) estimates 9,165 Chinook salmon were taken statewide by 10,505 anglers aboard both charter vessels and private skiffs, achieving the summer fishery harvest guideline of 7,000 Chinook. On recommendation from CDFW and industry, the National Marine Fisheries Service took in-season action today to close the remaining summer dates of July 5-6, July 31-August 3, and August 25-31.
Like most salmon seasons, the majority of catch and the greatest number of anglers originated from ports in the greater San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas.
Nearly 100 CDFW and partner-agency staff participated in dockside data collection activities over the opening weekend at major boat launches and sport fishing centers statewide, counting anglers and their fish and collecting heads of hatchery-origin fish to recover coded wire tags containing life history information.
“CDFW appreciates the ongoing participation and cooperation of the recreational fishing community in our dockside surveys, which generate data vital to planning California’s ocean salmon seasons every year,” said CDFW’s Senior Ocean Salmon Project Supervisor Kandice Morgenstern. “Anglers are also very interested in learning about our hatchery programs and to participate in our courtesy program where they can learn about the hatchery of origin, age, and release location of their fish after the information is recovered from the Coded Wire Tag.”
The recreational ocean salmon fishery is set to reopen September 4-7 under a separate fall harvest guideline of 7,500 Chinook in waters between Point Reyes and Point Sur. If the harvest guideline isn’t reached, the season will continue September 29-30. If any fish remain after this date, the fishery will continue in waters between Pt. Reyes to Pigeon Point on October 1-5 and October 27-31.
The use of harvest guidelines and in-season management in California’s ocean sport fishery management is new this year. The guidelines were developed as part of the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s pre-season process using catch and effort information from prior years along with expected performance this year. The guidelines serve to ensure that impacts from the fishery to stocks of particular concern - namely Klamath River fall Chinook and Central Valley Spring and Sacramento River Winter Chinook, are minimized. In-season management, including use of in-season monitoring and harvest guidelines, is a new objective identified in California’s Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future released in January 2024.
For additional information, visit our website at https://wildlife.ca.gov/oceansalmon, or contact our Ocean Salmon Regulations Hotline at 707-576-3429.
Experience the sights and sounds of the opening in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QziCFilLvzs.
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Media Contact:
Steve Gonzalez, CDFW Communications, (916) 804-1714
Emma Keller, CDFW Ocean Salmon Project, (707) 502-8418