BODEGA BAY, Calif. (KGO) — After almost a three-year closure, Bay Area sport salmon fishing is again, and North Bay fishermen are celebrating a season already producing spectacular catches.
At Bodega Bay on Friday, the constitution boat Surf Scooter returned to the dock with coolers stuffed with king salmon, giving anglers and fishing operators a long-awaited enhance after years of restrictions tied to declining salmon populations.
“We’re greeting this with open arms,” mentioned Captain Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sport Fishing. “Things have been tough the last few years to say the least.”
Powers mentioned fishing circumstances have been distinctive for the reason that season reopened.
On Friday, each passenger aboard the Surf Scooter caught the two-fish each day restrict allowed below state rules.
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“The catch is about as good as it gets,” Powers mentioned. “We had fantastic fishing today. Big salmon — big huge king salmon.”
Among the anglers was A.J. Cruz, who traveled from Honolulu to fish Northern California waters.
“Amazing,” Cruz mentioned. “Great quality, fat content, and they’re mean. These fish are mean.”
As fishermen unloaded their catches, a number of harbor seals gathered close by, apparently hoping for a meal of their very own. Visitors on the dock have been impressed by each the scale and high quality of the fish.
“We were here yesterday. The fish are bigger today,” mentioned Sherriff Gunther, who was visiting from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “The quality of the fish is bigger today.”
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Santa Rosa resident Steve Furgeson mentioned the robust early returns are encouraging after years of closures.
“They shut it down for so long, it had to come back,” Furgeson mentioned. “There’s a bunch of them out there now.”
The reopening marks a major second for California’s salmon fishing trade, which has endured extreme financial hardship in current years. State and federal fishery managers closed each business and leisure salmon fishing seasons after salmon populations fell to critically low ranges.
“We’ve been missing our salmon season,” Powers mentioned. “We’ve had two years where we didn’t get to fish, then last year, a very abbreviated season, a six-day season.”
The optimistic reviews lengthen past Bodega Bay. Operators with Salty Lady Sportfishing in Sausalito say fishing has additionally been robust there, with salmon averaging about 20 kilos. Fishing teams say the length of this 12 months’s season will depend upon how rapidly anglers attain the harvest restrict established by regulators.
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“Fishing will remain open until a quota, a number of fish caught, is 34,900,” mentioned John McManus, senior coverage director for the Golden State Salmon Association. “When that number is hit, they will shut the fishery down.”
For now, demand seems robust. Powers mentioned his cellphone has been ringing continually with anglers keen to e book journeys whereas the fishing stays productive.
“It’s been phenomenal fishing,” he mentioned. “Wide-open limits every day. They’re all big, beautiful salmon.”
The 2026 leisure ocean salmon season will stay open till the statewide quota of 34,900 fish is reached or fishery managers decide extra restrictions are mandatory.
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