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After a sometimes tense-filled week of meetings in Fresno, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) released its ocean and inland salmon season options Monday. The PFMC took a precautionary approach in setting the season alternatives, though some would argue they didn’t error on the side of caution enough. While more Chinook salmon returned from the ocean to spawn last year...
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Following a year of a complete salmon shutdown across the board, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) is again taking a precautionary approach in setting the 2024 ocean salmon seasons, even though ocean abundance forecasts have increased over the prior year for both the Sacramento River and Klamath River Fall Chinook. When the PFMC released its first, and not final, ocean...
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As I started this report it was snowing big snowflakes; the snowflakes have now turned to rain. This storm has really brought in some crazy weather. The total rain for this storm is over three and a half inches of rain and almost one-half inch of snow in the Willow Creek area. I can imagine it brought a lot more...
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The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced today that fall-run Chinook salmon fry released for the first time from its Fall Creek Fish Hatchery in Siskiyou County are presumed to have succumbed to gas bubble disease in the Klamath River. On Monday, Feb. 26, CDFW released approximately 830,000 fall-run Chinook salmon fry into Fall Creek, a tributary of the...
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The main Eel was starting to turn green Wednesday, but was big. Thursday’s rain dashed any hopes of the river dropping into shape anytime soon. Flows are predicted to reach 43,000 cfs at Scotia by Saturday morning. Will need a couple weeks of dry weather before it drops into fishable shape.

If the forecasts from Wednesday’s Oregon Ocean Salmon Industry Group Preseason Planning Meeting are accurate, we could be in for another lean year when it comes to Chinook salmon fishing along the California coast. It could also result in another complete ocean and river closure to Chinook fishing state-wide in an effort to protect Chinook stocks. Though the ocean abundance...
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