A&E

This has been, without a doubt, the most difficult steelhead season I have ever experienced. Usually, I am good for 20 or more fish landed and often released in a year and I am just a part-timer. Guys in the know, who have the time, should be able to land 30 or more fish in a season. One experienced angler I know named Robbie is usually good for 50 fish in a good season, but this year he has managed only five. I tend to fish around Healdsburg and so I have missed out on a lot of the action below Guerneville, but a quick check with Scott at Kings has pretty much confirmed that they are experiencing the same kind of thing down there. Fish are moving but not holding. Guys are getting fish when a pod moves through and if they are lucky enough to be where they are at that moment. This is a far cry from last year when the water was clear and the fish had to hold up.

“If I had a dollar for every time I heard that I should have

will host its annual Library Release Weekend on Friday and

will be held June 13 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the

Season openers are always a great source of optimism but there is no greater fishing  opener than the ocean salmon season. This year’s ocean salmon season opener is being met with higher than normal expectations because of the tremendously high projection by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council for the amount of Salmon that are swimming in our oceans. This was based on the higher than normal jack (juvenile salmon) returns to the rivers last fall.  Many in the know are cautiously optimistic because their projections have been known to be wildly inaccurate. But to most, any good news is welcome especially regarding the health of our fisheries and is cause for optimism.