Monterey Bay salmon season set for April 3
Anglers in San Francisco, Eureka likely to face delay
SANTA CRUZ >> Local fishermen are sure to welcome a traditional first-weekend-of-April kickoff to the Monterey Bay Area recreational ocean salmon season, announced Friday by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Anglers on other parts of the California coast—the Francisco Bay, Fort Bragg and Eureka — aren’t so lucky.
According to Kandice Morgenstern, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildfire Ocean Salmon Project, those areas can expect the recreational ocean salmon season to be delayed until June or July.
In recent ocean salmon sport fishing seasons, local anglers weren’t getting out onto the water until later in April. The 2021 season is set to open April 3.
“The main driving factor to open Monterey Bay as scheduled is because fishing is better earlier in the year and because Sacramento River fall Chinook, is not as heavily constrained as the northern stocks,” Morgenstern said.
Those northern ocean salmon stocks include the Klamath River fall Chinook, which is being documented at lower-than-average numbers.
Still, Morgenstern warned,
even though Sacramento River fall Chinook is faring better than its northern counterparts, Monterey Bay Area fishermen still might not see ideal catch numbers.
“This season you may not see as good of catch as other seasons, overall,” Morgenstern said. “The stocks that folks are catching out in the ocean, those are at overall reduced abundances, so it may be harder to get a fish on the line this year.”
The environmental scientist said it was too early to know just why ocean salmon stock is forecast to be lower in numbers, compared to previous years.
“It’s hard to pinpoint at this time what that driving factor might be,” Morgenstern said. “It’s more a combination of ocean conditions and river conditions, and an abundance of prey food out in the ocean.”
For information on season dates, possession limits and fishery gear, visit wildlife.ca.gov, or by calling the Ocean Salmon Regulations Hotline at 707-576-3429.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council will hold a public hearing regarding the final ocean salmon fishery season dates at 7 p.m. on March 23. For information, visit pcouncil.org.