King salmon, rainbow trout of 'exceptional' size are at Folsom Lake

Dan Bacher
·4 min read
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SACRAMENTO — The king salmon bite started late on Folsom Lake this year, but the fish being caught are exceptionally large ones. A number of salmon ranging from 7 to 12 pounds have been caught over the past two months, along with beautiful holdover rainbows weighing up to 6 pounds.

Located on the American River in the Sierra Nevada Foothills above Folsom Dam, Folsom is the second reservoir in the state after Don Pedro where the successful spawning of Chinook salmon in the river above the dam has been documented by anglers and CDFW biologists.

Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide Service has reported more huge Chinook  salmon — three fish weighing 7½, 9.2 and 8.6 pounds — over the past few weeks than in all of his previous years fishing on Folsom Lake. While the fish haven’t been numerous, the size has been exceptional for the lake.

ICYMI: California Fish and Wildlife trucking millions of juvenile salmon to saltwater again this year

On Thursday, Milo Weiner and Josh, his dad, caught and released a 7½ pound king salmon and kept three rainbows, including one trophy fish weighing 6 pounds and two others measuring 18 to 19 inches long, while fishing with Lampkin.

“We also released a rainbow and lost another big fish,” Lampkin said. “All  of the fish the hit in the Folsom Point (Dike 8) area in the South Fork. The salmon bit pearl-colored Matrix Shad paddle tail lures. The fish hit anywhere from 30 to 65 feet deep.”

“The fish are huge — I put away my kokanee rods and replaced them with steelhead rods on the boat — you can’t control kings with a kokanee rod. We also got the big salmon net from the river for landing these fish,” he said.

Angel Soto and his two sons, Michael and David, teamed up to catch and release a 9.2-pound king, along with landing four rainbow trout, while trolling at Folsom Lake on June 23 with Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide Service.
Angel Soto and his two sons, Michael and David, teamed up to catch and release a 9.2-pound king, along with landing four rainbow trout, while trolling at Folsom Lake on June 23 with Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide Service.

On Father’s Day, dad Angel Soto, and two sons, Michael and David, teamed up to catch and release a 9.2-pound king while trolling a Matrix Shad lure in the same area with Lampkin. They also bagged four rainbows in the same area while trolling pink and firetiger Dragon lures and Brad’s Cut Plugs at 2 mph and Speedy Shiners at 3 mph.

Another earlier trip by Lampkin with Bill Wagner produced an 8.6-pound king (released) and a half dozen rainbows. They trolled gold and red Speedy Shiners at 65 feet deep between Folsom Point and the end of Peninsula at the confluence of the two forks.

Lampkin noted that the fish are feeding heavily on threadfin shad, not Japanese pondsmelt, so your best bet is to use lures in shad patterns or troll with whole shad.  “The big rainbow had seven shad inside its belly,” he said. Information: (530) 320-0994.

Other anglers have reported catching huge kings at Folsom. Steve Brown landed an 11-pound king while trolling a hoochie behind a dodger at 70 feet deep on Folsom on a recent trip, according to Craig Newton of Willfish Bait and Tackle.

More fishing: Rainbows, browns and mackinaws targeted by anglers at Caples and Bear River lake

On the Folsom Lake Fishing Report Facebook Page, Kyle Fogal reported catching three kings to 12.6 pounds while rolling anchovies behind Topcoat flashers at 75 to 80 feet deep on June 18.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife stocked 100,002 juvenile kings in 2019, 121,424 in 2020, 49,983 in 2021 and 99,986 in 2022.

Folsom Lake is holding 837,156 acre feet of water, 86% of capacity and 110% of average. The lake level is 453 feet in elevation, 13 feet from full.

Golden Gate chinooks: On Sunday, Zach Medinas of Gatecrasher Fishing Adventures decided to avoid the crowd fishing the San Mateo County Coast for salmon limits and prospect for big kings off the Marin Coast. His hunch paid off; the six people aboard the boat landed four hefty salmon including a 33-pounder and three others weighing 16 to 18 pounds.

“They said they didn’t want to fish salmon any longer and then opted to fish for rockfish and lingcod, bagging around 40 rockfish and two lingcod while using live bait on barbless circle hooks,” he said. Information: (925) 497-4171.

Ebbetts Pass trout: Spicer Reservoir continues to kick out rainbows and brown trout for shore anglers using PowerBait and nightcrawlers and trollers pulling spinners and spoons. Union Reservoir, which features trout and brown bullhead catfish, is now open, according to Bill Reynolds of Ebbetts Pass Sporting Goods. Information:  (209) 795-1686.

Contact Stockton Record Correspondent Dan Bacher at danielbacher53@gmail.com. 

This article originally appeared on The Record: Large king salmon, rainbow trout hitting on Folsom Lake