Does the full moon affect salmon fishing? Absolutely 100% it does. Does the full moon make salmon fishing better or worse? Let’s just say it makes it different. Sometimes the full moon can be a blessing. How so, you may ask? Let me back up a little and start over. Explaining exactly what the correlation between king salmon and a full moon is.

There many superstitions surrounding fishing in general during a full moon. For almost all species of fish here in United States and abroad. We’re here to talk about salmon though. Chinook (King) salmon in particular. Even more specifically Fall Run Chinook Salmon on the Sacramento River. What separates king salmon from every other fish species or specific fishery in the United States? The answer is this…King salmon are the only fish species that I can think of that do not eat once entering fresh water. Their natural instinct takes over once the salmon matures and prepares to spawn. Leaving the Pacific Ocean and heading into fresh water for a couple hundred mile journey to their spawning ground. The salmon’s instinct stops them from consuming food once in fresh water. They are programmed to use up stored fat reserves for their final months of life. Dying after they spawn. So food becomes irrelevant to the king salmon. In fact if you dissect a river caught king salmon you will find their stomach has almost all but disappeared. Not empty but physically almost completely gone. Leaving excess room in the salmon’s stomach cavity for maturing skeins of eggs in the females and sperm sacks in the males. Chinook Salmon are the only species of fish that I can think of that anglers must target without using some kind of food (artificial or not) for bait. Think about that for a minute. How do you catch a fish that isn’t eating? Our entire tackle industry relies on the fact that almost all fish are targeted using some king of bait or bait attractant. What does this have to do with the full moon? Nothing directly! What it does tell me is that 1)-Salmon that arnt feeding, only biting out of aggression. Theoretically they are capable of being caught at any time during the day or night. They have no feeding schedule. Where almost all other fish species are dependent of feeding and this can be heavily influenced by a full moon.

Now, what does the effect of the full moon have on king salmon? Strictly speaking for salmon that are about to, or already have entered fresh water, the full moon directly affects the chinook salmon’s migration behavior. Big time! This instinctual drive to migrate during a full moon dates back as long as salmon have been in existence. Here’s why! Fall Run Chinook(King) Salmon when mature and preparing to enter fresh water to spawn, do so in the fall. Hence the name “Fall” Chinook Salmon. Each of the four distinct runs of Sacramento River King Salmon are named for the season of the year that they enter fresh water. For the majority of rivers and creeks in California, and the entire west coast for the most part. During early fall when salmon are staging at the mouths of their individual tributaries preparing to make their move to their ancestral spawning grounds. Only one thing stops them. Their ability to gain access into the fresh water rivers, creeks, and streams they were born into. After the dry arid summer months have sucked the water out of the salmon tributaries, many of the waterways that dump into the Pacific Ocean where the Fall Chinook Salmon wait to migrate. There isn’t enough flow for the salmon to successfully gain access into the rivers. So they wait! It is at this point there are only two things that will allow them to successfully enter these waterways.

1)-Rainfall- Once the first Pacific Ocen rain storm of the year make landfall on the West Coast. It delivers the precipitation needed for the rivers, creeks, and streams to catch the excess rain run off and deliver it back to the Pacific Ocean. When these tributaries rise due to rain run off the waiting King Salmon are able to cross the shallow sand bars at the coastline and get on their way up river to their spawning grounds.

2)-Full Moon- Typically the full moons effect on Pacific Ocean tides are the only other option for fall chinook salmon to gain access to many of the fresh water tributaries they call home. So on drought years, or years where precipitation is late to come to the west coast. The salmon utilize the daily high tides to surf their way over the sandbars. Where the tributaries tend to spread out and become to shallow for the salmon to successfully make their way into the river systems otherwise. Generally the full moon brings the largest tides of the month. Triggering the salmon to utilize the large swell and ocean waves to pass over the shallow river entrances. Although rivers like the Sacramento River do not have these shallow entrances. Allowing them to gain access to the river system without hesitation. It is still my belief that this instinct plays a huge roll in the run timing, as Sacramento River Fall Chinook salmon start their migration into the San Francisco Bay during the June, July, August and September full moons.

On June 29, 2026 we will be experiencing this months full moon (strawberry moon). This will without question will start the migration of our first big push of Fall Chinook Salmon into the Sacramento River and her tributaries. This will be confirmed by the success of the sport fishing fleet from the Bay Area marinas. Which are scheduled to start their Fall Chinook Salmon season on June 27, 2026. With hundreds if not thousands of salmon fishermen anxiously waiting for their season to start, it shouldn’t take long for reports to start rolling in. Anglers shouldn’t have to travel to far from the Golden Gate Bridge to find large schools of king salmon staged and waiting to start the final phase of their life cycle. We have less then a week to wait for some of the first solid fishing reports and key indicators of what the 2026 season will look like. I will be posting another fish report after the sport fishing salmon season opener in the ocean. Stay tuned and tight lines!