Late Fall Kings

The Sacramento River plays host to a long standing run of “Late Fall” King salmon that shoot upstream from San Francisco Bay and can be in the Anderson, Ca. area just days after entering the system. Beginning in early November, we’ll start to see these bright Kings showing in the Barge Hole where they will wait for rain before making the right turn up into Battle Creek where Coleman National Fish Hatchery is located. Coleman raises between 750,000 and a million “Late Fall” smolt to release every year into the Sacramento River and who will then out migrate to the Pacific Ocean where they will spend 3-5 years before returning to the Sacramento River as adults. This isn’t a huge run of salmon, but what they lack in numbers, they make up for in their quality as a sport fish. This is a special fishery with light boat traffic and a chance to hook one of the biggest King salmon of the year. Many of our clients know they are fishing for a potential trophy King and are just one bite away from realizing that dream every day they fish. It can be cold and wet, but its a trip well worth booking to many of our serious fishermen.

The Season

The “Late Fall” King salmon season on the Sacramento River usually starts around mid November and runs through December 31st. 2020 is a special year in that we have a season that is two weeks longer than has been possible in decades. Normally the Late Fall salmon season ends on December 16th, but this year it closes December 31st. The importance of the extension is that we generally see our best fishing in December and with two more weeks of fishing, we should be able to fish when there are quite a few Kings available in the Barge Hole this year.

Late Fall King Tactics

Late Fall kings enter the Sacramento River during the cold water months of November and December. Frigid water temps can be the coldest of the year making for some lethargic King salmon. Many mornings the water temps are in the high 40’s and the salmon tend to be sluggish under such conditions. This makes it challenging to use bait, which is normally a staple during the earlier run of the fall Kings. One of the most effective techniques for catching Late Fall Kings is to back troll large Brad’s KF 16’s plugs in the deep sections of the Barge Hole. Wrapped with fresh Sardine fillets, these large plugs can entice and aggravate these cold water Kings with both a scent trail and an aggressive action. When properly presented to holding Kings, these plugs can be the best presentation used to get hooked up with one of these big hard fighting King salmon. Some days these Kings can be caught on cured salmon roe, but most often later in the day when water temps come up a degree or two. These are the techniques we deploy daily when fishing for Late Fall King salmon on the Sacramento River.

Best Places To Fish

We concentrate our efforts on the Sacramento River in Anderson. Ca. where the Barge Hole is located. For most of the hatchery Kings, the Barge Hole is the last hole they will sit in before heading up into Battle Creek and into Coleman Hatchery. They could sit there for days or even weeks giving anglers access to them throughout the Late Fall season. With a wild population of Late Fall salmon also arriving around the same time, we can target them in the sections of the Sacramento River above the Barge Hole as well. The Barge Hole is the best place overall to fish for Late Fall King salmon in November and December without question.

How Do I Book A Late Fall King Salmon Trip?

Booking a Sacramento River Late Fall King salmon trip is easy and we usually have plenty of available spots to fill. Lots of people shy away from fishing in the winter for King salmon because it can be wet and pretty darn cold. That eliminates the fair weather fishermen and usually only leaves the die hards to fill our vacant dates. Thats makes for plenty of room to fish for these great fish in the Barge Hole, which is normally pretty busy from August through October. One point worth making is that we often have lots of hatchery steelhead in the Barge Hole area in November and December which creates an opportunity to fish for steelhead after the Kings stop biting later in the morning. Kings and steelhead, now thats a perfect day! If this sounds like a trip that you would like to put together for a small group, please give Jaynie a call at our reservation desk and she will help you book your trip. She can be reached at (530) 510-2925 between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm daily.