Woodson Bridge 6/28

[Terry Thomas]

Fished the Woodson Bridge area yesterday with some friends. The fishing was not hot-n-heavy, but we did find some fish. Water level and temp. still look and feel good. Very little boat traffic on the river. We managed to land @70 shad for the six anglers. Did see one dead "spring run?" salmon and one floating sturgeon.
T.

[matt johnson]

Thanks for the report Terry, that sounds like pretty good shad fishing to me!

Say, could you describe to me where you spotted that sturgeon carcass? Were you above or below the bridge? Could you estimate how long the sturgeon had been dead? Was it fiarly fresh looking, or was it something really gassed up and rank and un-approachable?

I would like to pass along the sighting to some interested parties.

The sturgeon you saw was most likely a member of the threatened green sturgeon population. Twelve adult green sturgeon carcasses have been reported below the Red Bluff Diversion Dam this year. This is disturbing. Thanks, Matt Johnson.

[Terry Thomas]

Matt,
Sadly, the sturgeon was @5 ft. in length, white, and bloated drifting down river. We were @two miles below the Woodson Bridge.
Terry

[matt johnson]

Thanks Terry.

Hard to say if your dead sturgeon was related to the mortalities associated with the Red Bluff Diversion Dam this year, but that would be my guess. Here is a link to some recent green sturgeon reporting in the Sac Bee:

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/239903.html

And now back to the shad fishing: The Los Molinos area of the Sacramento has been real good to me lately. The fish are concentrated in certain areas. You have to find those spots. You also pretty much need a boat. The flows are very high. With the shad being as late as they were this year, I expect good shad fishing will continue well into July. Matt.