Tackle shops are restocking custom lures, guides are booking trips, and anglers are getting ready: Salmon are coming back to the Sacramento Valley.
It has been four years since the region enjoyed full recreational fishing access to the majestic chinook salmon, a result of cutbacks caused by a steep decline in the fall run.
Today in Sacramento, the California Fish and Game Commission is expected to reinstate normal fishing rules in the Sacramento, American and Feather rivers for the first time since 2007, thanks to a rebound in the population. That means six months of fishing, starting July 16.
"I'm excited," said J.D. Richey, a longtime salmon fishing guide based in Sacramento. He pondered the awful prospect of quitting the business when the season was closed in 2008 but held on by offering more trips for other species, including non-native striped bass.
"I'm already getting calls from people wanting to go salmon fishing and get on the schedule," Richey said. "I'm excited about the prospect of going back salmon fishing and going back to work."
Fisherman's Warehouse in Sacramento, a major tackle retailer, is restocking its salmon wall with specialized gear to serve anglers.
"It means a lot," said John Bedwell, the company's general manager.
Fisherman's Warehouse closed its Rocklin store in 2008 when the salmon season was closed, costing four jobs. Seven other people were laid off at the remaining stores in Sacramento, Manteca, Fresno and San Jose.
All that, said Bedwell, was directly related to the shutdown of recreational salmon fishing across the state. About half of the business, he said, is dependent on salmon fishing.
"The day they announced closure of salmon fishing, we pulled the plug on that Rocklin store and erased it. It was gone in two weeks," Bedwell said. "The economy is horrible for business, but the worst thing possible is no fish."
The Department of Fish and Game, which advises the commission, estimates the Central Valley in-river salmon fishery generates at least $20 million annually in economic output for the state.
Not everyone is overjoyed by the salmon seasons proposed for adoption today. The main objection concerns the Feather River, which would open to fishing Aug. 16 – one month later than the American and Sacramento rivers.
The goal of this later opening is to protect spring-run salmon, a threatened species, which are difficult to tell apart from their fall-run cousins and could be accidentally caught by anglers during that one-month period.
"That first month is two-thirds of my business, so they're going to kill me up here," said Bob Boucke, owner of Johnson's Bait & Tackle in Yuba City. "They've already killed me for four years, so now they're going to finish it off."
New data from tagging programs at salmon hatcheries indicate the one-month delay is important to protect the spring run, said Rob Titus, a senior environmental scientist at Fish and Game.
The department also expects that high water flows this year in the Feather River are likely to make conditions difficult for fishermen during that month anyway.
Doing right by the spring run is especially important because the new tagging data also provide evidence that the more abundant fall run is now a hatchery-dependent species. In short, anglers' primary target has become domesticated by hatchery breeding.
Biologists argue this has weakened the species, making it more vulnerable to the kind of environmental changes that caused the population collapse four years ago.
John Williams, a consulting fisheries biologist in Davis who has analyzed early results of the tagging program, said the data indicate the Central Valley fall run consists of 80 percent hatchery fish – or more.
"This looks to me very much like the substitution of naturally produced fish for hatchery-produced fish," Williams said.
Whether hatchery or natural, federal officials have reported that the fall run collapsed largely due to changes in the Pacific's upwelling currents that reduced the food available to salmon during their ocean-going adult years.
But they did not rule out other factors, including habitat loss, water diversions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and pollution in the fish's freshwater habitat.
One silver lining has been a surge in research prompted by the crash, as well as new regulations to reduce the influence of hatcheries and boost the population of wild-spawned salmon. In addition to the tagging program that tracks 25 percent of all hatchery-raised fish, millions of dollars are being spent on habitat projects.
One of the most significant and complex programs, however, is behind schedule.
Under new Endangered Species Act rules, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is required to restore salmon access above Folsom and Shasta dams, starting on a trial basis in March 2012 and permanently in 2020.
The agency was supposed to have a draft fish-passage plan finished in January but ran into delays meeting permit requirements from other federal agencies, said John Hannon, a fisheries biologist at the agency. It also lacks resources to move more quickly.
"There's a money issue right now, and manpower," Hannon said. "It's been 50 years since fish were up there. So we have to make sure it's suitable before we go trying to move fish."
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Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264. Follow him on Twitter @matt_weiser.
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