Quick Take
After a successful opening weekend exceeded the season limit, California's salmon spot-fishing days in July and August have been canceled.
The first recreational salmon season in California in three years made such a big splash on its opening weekend that the next three dates have been canceled.
More than 9,000 Chinook salmon were taken statewide by 10,505 sport anglers during the season opener on June 7 and 8, exceeding the harvest limit of 7,000 fish for the summer season. As a result, the remaining summer dates on July 5-6, July 31 through Aug. 3 and Aug. 25 through 31 have been closed, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced Monday.
The opening weekend offered “some of the best fishing many longtime anglers can remember,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife in a media release. “We’ve seen so many pictures and heard many stories of people enjoying their time on the water with family and friends,” said director Charlton H. Bonham. “By all accounts, the weekend was a huge success.”
The salmon fishery will reopen Sept. 4 through 7 under a separate fall harvest guideline, with the possibility of other dates opening in late September and October on the Central Coast if the quota isn’t reached.
Most of the fish were registered in ports in Monterey Bay, including Santa Cruz, and the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the traditional hubs for salmon fishing.
Using harvest guidelines to manage the fishing season while it’s underway is a new approach for CDFW, and aims to minimize the impacts of sport fishing on the salmon stocks of particular concern.
In April, the 2025 commercial salmon season was closed for the third consecutive year due to critically low fish stocks.
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