Fishing Report Klamath River:  The Klamath has been loaded with fish this past couple of weeks, and will most likely be the same clear through April.  The boat went out on Tuesday -- we caught 22, and the biggest was six pounds. The Middle Klamath is worth the drive.  We did not encounter one other person along that whole stretch of river.  Where else can you experience that kind of solitude and great fishing on the west coast?  It doesn't get any better than this. Sacramento River:  As usual, the Sacramento has been good, and it's going to get better.  If you haven't caught a Sacramento rainbow, you need to get up here and catch one.	Above: Small-mouth bass caught in the Sacramento River   Klamath River November 17, 2008
	The following is an article written by Nick Gardner of Redding, which was published in the Record Searchlight on April 6, 2008.  It is reprinted here with permission of the author: How do salmon die?  Let us count the ways      Having fished the Sacramento River since I was 12 years old (45 years ago), I have noticed numerous reasons for the salmon decline.       Shasta Dam, built in the '40s, cut off 90% of the spawning habitat. The remaining spawning grounds are degraded by decreased water flows during the main spawn (October to December) drying up spawning rimes.      With my own eyes, I have seen eggs left high and dry that were submerged the day before; I have seen fry (baby salmon) flopping, stranded out of the water due to decreased flows, as I fished.  Millions of fish died as a result.      Many millions more fish are eaten by the increased number of rainbow trout (due to a lowered bag limit), and the merganser, a protected fish duck, that now has a family unit (four to nine ducks) camped on each riffle gobbling juvenile salmon.       Jet boats have been detrimental to salmon nests, sucking up millions of eggs when driven over spawning riffles.  Cabela man, with his waders and fly rod, crushes eggs as he wades through salmon nests in pursuit of trout.  I have seen 12 and 14 waders at a time on the riffle in front of the Lake Redding boat launch, day after day, during the spawn.      Striped bass, from Chesapeake Bay, planted in the 1800s, are probably as detrimental to salmon as Shasta Dam.  Stripers eat salmon smolt on their way to the ocean like popcorn.  There is a resident school below the Red Bluff diversion dam feeding on them on their journey to the ocean.  The smolt that get past Red Bluff face huge irrigation pumps that suck them and then another larger gauntlet of stripers before reaching the sea.      The main predator in the ocean would have to be the foreign fishing fleets with 20-mile long gill nets that can capture and process whole runs at sea.      The surviving salmon that return to spawn need to get past the Red Bluff diversion dam and the commercial fishing guide industry, located on the remaining spawning grounds, to spawn.      To enhance spawning success, water flows need to be maintained at 6,500 cfs September through January, and there should be a bounty of stripers, not a bag limit.  Perhaps the human footprint played a larger role in the declining salmon stocks than global warming.  You be the judge.
Fishing Tips: How To "Catch and Release" with Care "Catch and Release" has become a popular and preferred method of fishing.  Here are some tips to give released fish the best chance of survival. 1. Use barbless hooks.  Using needle-nose pliers to pinch down the barb works very well. 2. Land the fish quickly.  This is particularly important when water temperatures are warmer.  Fish get exhausted because there is less dissolved oxygen in warm water.  Don't use gear that is too light, and don't set the drag too loosely. 3. Use a landing net.  Choose a "fish-friendly," fine-mesh net. 4. Keep the fish in the water.  When possible, remove the hook while the fish is still in the water.  Minimize the time the fish is out of the water. 5. Use wet hands.  Wet your hands and the net before touching the fish.  Wet cotton gloves can also be worn.  If the mucus on the fish is removed they could get a bacterial infection. 6. Remove hook quickly.  Use long-nose pliers.  If the hook is deep, cut the line as close to the hook as possible. 7. Don't touch the gills.  Gill filaments are delicate and are easily damaged. 8. Revive the fish.  To release, hold the fish in the water horizontally, facing into the current.  Allow it to swim away under its own power.