If you've ever wanted to go after salmon, this season in Northern California is shaping up to be a really good one. The fish are big and they appear to be very widely distributed. Even better, they have been biting aggressively up and down the coast.
The elephant in the room especially here off the Sonoma coast is the wind and swell conditions. We seem to be stuck in a pattern of a few calm days surrounded by days of helacious winds and swell. If you can go on those calm days, it is absolutely glorious to latch into and play some real slugs.
It's my opinion that the rod and reel are not that critical. As long as you have a smooth drag and a fairly long and whippy rod, you have everything you need in that department. Seems to me that you gotta have a flawless leader to get these fish to the net; you get only heartbreak with a weak or poorly tied leader.
Make sure that you don't miss this season. Get out there if you can. And who knows? We might even get a chance at albacore before long
John