So, here we are… smack dab in the middle of what used to be salmon season in NorCal. In years past, late September and early October was prime time to be on the Sacramento, Feather and American rivers. In fact, as recently as 2002, the Sacramento River system was jammed with nearly 800,000 king salmon.

But now, there’s hardly a fish left. What the heck happened and what can we do?

Well, if you’d like to spend an extremely enlightening evening learning about the California salmon population, crisis and recovery efforts, be sure attend Placer Nature Center’s 4th Friday Lecture, “Salmon at the Heart of Nature” tonight at 7 p.m., at 1212 High Street.

The featured lecturer will be Sacramento State University professor, Dr. Tim Horner, who’s an internationally recognized expert on salmon, as well as fish ecology and habitat issues.

Dr. Horner will discuss climate change, commercial and recreational fishing, Delta water demands, mining, sediment input, water diversions, water quality, dams and water releases, water temperatures, hatchery practices and habitat reduction and all their effects on our salmon populations.

While he will speak about global fish issues, Horner will concentrate on our local fisheries and the American River.

Tickets are $10 general; $8 for PNC members and can be obtained by calling (530) 878-6053 or online at www.placernaturecenter.org. You may also pick up tickets at Tsuda’s Café, Latitudes Restaurant and Newcastle Produce.

“Two of Auburn’s finest restaurants are creating special meals for 4th Friday Lecture goers and 20 percent of the meal proceeds will be donated to Placer Nature Center to support environmental learning projects,” said Leslie Warren, Executive Director of Placer Nature Center. “Dine at 5 p.m. at Tsuda’s or Latitudes — enjoying a special themed menu — and delight in science learning at 7. It is an easy walk between the restaurants and our venue at 1212 High Street, too.”

Since we’re on the subject…

With Valley rivers closed to salmon fishing, many folks have been heading to the Klamath River to get their fix. I just got back from running a week’s worth of guide trips up there and the grim news is the fishing has been very poor of late.

A couple weeks back, the system got a good shot of fish and boats were catching as many as 25 salmon per day each. Last week, however, it was all one could do to scratch and claw 1 to 4 kings in a full day of fishing.

What’s to blame? Well, we had too much traffic, plenty of warm water (70-72 degrees), lots of moss and a pretty good clip of boats drifting gillnets down the river at night.

This is prime time for the Klamath and it’s a bit alarming to see it so poor. The good news is there’s still time left for some fish to come into the system… but they’d better hurry!

The reports I’ve been getting from upstream on the Trinity River paint a rosier picture and most drift boaters and bankies I’ve talked to have been scoring some nice kings and steelies lately. Hopefully, that will continue though we’ll need to see more fish coming through the lower Klamath before I feel supremely confident that it’s going to be a banner season up there.

I’m headed up to the Trinity soon to get into the driftboat, so I’ll report back when I get some updated info. Until then, the next best thing you can do is learn about salmon at the lecture tonight!