Fisherman Lands 48-Pound King Salmon on the Sacramento River

Back in April, we wrote about a lucky fisherman who caught a 57-pound striped bass on the Sacramento River near Chico (the article ended up going viral… twice). Now, that same fisherman is back with a different type fish but a similar number on the weight scale.

Billy Driessen of Driessen’s Guide Service has had quite the year on the Sacramento River, first with the bass and now with a brand new score – a 48-pound King Salmon. It was actually Bob Wallace of Morgan Hill who landed the monster salmon on October 8 near the Los Molinos Bridge, but it was Driessen’s boat, and guidance, that helped land the giant fish.

He sent us the following photos of Wallace with the salmon:

As the story goes, the men spent most of the afternoon with absolutely no luck. As they got closer to the launch ramp, ready to call it a day, Driessen set up a Luhr Jenson K16 – Kwikfish on the rod and handed it over to Wallace. Then, as the sun was setting at 6:48 pm, Wallace bellowed out “I got him!” And the fight was on.

Over 10 minutes laters, the king salmon, measuring 46.5 inches long and 27.25 inches wide, was on the boat. The men, who have been salmon fishing on the Sacramento and Feather Rivers for over 20 years, said it was the biggest they had ever landed.

Welp, it’s officially salmon season in Northern California. Fish on! If you want to hop on the hot streak with Billy Driessen, you can check out his guiding website at driessensguideservice.com.

P.S. here’s a photo of the 57-pound bass Driessen caught on the Sacramento River earlier this year. The guy’s got skills…