March 7, 2022 — On the surface, the outlook is relatively bright for this year’s chinook salmon season, a popular time for sport anglers up and down the North Coast, and a potentially profitable one for the commercial fleet.
State and federal scientists issued their annual forecast this week and estimated more than 396,000 adult salmon were waiting to return to the Sacramento River system, known as the Sacramento fall run, to spawn this year and would be ready to catch.
That’s higher than all but one of the last seven years and would be the highest, except experts admittedly overshot with their 2015 forecast.
Those who fish in the ocean from Monterey to Eureka have some reason to feel optimistic after a strong season last year.
Salmon is the second most lucrative type of fishing in Bodega Bay, behind Dungeness crab. It has brought in half a million pounds in each of the last three years, with earnings in the $4 million ballpark.
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