Editor’s Note: Extremely low salmon returns forced fishing closures in 2023. Check regulations very carefully before fishing for salmon in future seasons.
Sonoma County, along with neighboring Napa County, is the heart of the area known as California’s Wine Country.
But it’s also a great place to play outdoors, so before you head to a tasting room to sip some wine, find a river to toss some line. We’ll show you the best places to fish in Sonoma County.
Besides Santa Rosa, this county of about a half million people includes Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Healdsburg, Sonoma, and other communities.
It’s also something of a playground for Bay Area residents two hours but nearly a different world away. They come for the hilly vineyards, rugged coastline, towering redwoods and, of course, fish-filled lakes and rivers.
After we’ve shown you the best fishing spots in Sonoma County, check out the “Fishing in Neighboring Counties” section at the bottom of this article. There you will learn about other great fishing holes in nearby areas, whether you want to fish closer to the Bay Area, up the coast or inland.
Benoist, Lake (and Lake Wilson)
These small ponds were formed from gravel pits and have resident bass to catch, and perhaps some other fish as well.
The lakes are in Riverfront Regional Park along the Russian River in the Windsor area.
Gualala River
The short mainstem part of this coastal stream is the boundary between Sonoma and Mendocino counties and is most enthusiastically fished when the winter steelhead arrive.
The South Fork Gualala flows through Sonoma County and also is open for steelhead fishing up to its confluence with the Wheatfield Fork, which is right near the Annapolis Road crossing in the Sea Ranch area.
Gualala Point Regional Park offers some access to the lower part of the mainstem and tidewater, as well as a campground. There is additional access on the north side of the lower river in Mendocino County, and lots of services in the Gualala community on the coast.
S. Fork Road parallels the open part of the South Fork Gualala.
These areas are open most of the year for hatchery steelhead or trout, with a seasonal spring closure in April and most of May. Generally, the first steelhead will likely return sometime around Christmas and continue into the winter. Some steelhead may be around through March, up to the closure.
Keep in mind that barbless hooks must be used and that the bait season is shorter but includes the prime steelhead run in the winter months.
Always be sure to check for regulation updates as well as low-water closures.
Ilsanjo, Lake
This small reservoir deep in Trione-Annadel State Park is mostly fished for largemouth bass and bluegill by those who have the ability and gumption to hike or mountain bike the more than two miles in each direction.
If you’re up to packing in a float tube along with your fishing gear, so much the better to reach bigger bass. The state parks folks claim bass to 9 pounds have been caught here.
Spring is your best bet. Water levels can get pretty low.
Pacific Ocean
Sonoma County’s best-loved ocean fishery is out of Bodega Bay, just a little over a half hour from Santa Rosa.
Boats leaving the harbor can hit it big when the salmon are running, usually in the middle of summer when everyone wants to be outdoors anyway.
After the salmon fishing fades away, long-range boats go after albacore in the early fall, when the nice weather typically sticks around awhile.
Rockfish and a sprinkling of lingcod are almost always easy to catch from charter boats, and halibut catches are a summer option as well.
Shoreline, beach, pier, and jetty anglers mostly catch perch, flounder and in rockier areas and jetties, a smattering of rockfish and lingcod. You might get lucky and catch halibut from shore in the summertime when they tend to come into shallower water.
The Spud Point Marina pier is open for fishing inside the bay, where perch are your most likely catch but other species come into play.
Piers are also good spots for seasonal crabbing for tasty Dungeness, with fall the prime season starting with the opener on the first Saturday in November and going into winter.
Clamming can be good in the tidal flats during very low-tide cycles that come every few weeks.
Elsewhere, Salt Point and Sonoma Coast state parks offer good beaches for surf fishing, with some rocky areas where you can catch rockfish and other species.
Ralphine, Lake
This 26-acre lake in Howarth Memorial Park in Santa Rosa should offer very good trout fishing for a short time early in the year.
The lake has typically been stocked several times in February and March, and fishing will be most successful in the week or two after a trout delivery. By mid-spring, trout fishing is likely to be slow. By summer, it’s likely to be over.
It’s not game over completely, though, because the lake also is home to a year-round population of bass, catfish and bluegill. Those species will really just be getting easier to catch as the trout fishing falls off into mid-spring, and you can catch them most easily from then and through summer and early fall.
Located just west of the larger Spring Lake (see separate listing), this is a day-use park with picnic tables, barbecue grills and accessible restrooms and fishing area. You also can rent a canoe or kayak, or launch your own small craft.
See the park’s website for more information.
Russian River
This river seems to have it all.
Start the calendar year fishing for winter steelhead.
Turn the page to spring and find hordes of American shad and perhaps a decent run of striped bass pushing upriver.
As the water warms, the smallmouth bass and channel catfish start to get really hungry and aren’t shy about biting.
Sonoma County hosts a long stretch of the mainstem of the Russian River, which flows down from Mendocino County north of Cloverdale and then enters the Pacific near Jenner, just up the coastline from Bodega Bay and an easy drive west from Santa Rosa.
Along the way, it’s followed somewhat loosely by Highway 101 down to around Healdsburg, then turns west and eventually follows Highways 116 and 1. Several other roads provide closer access between Healdsburg and Guerneville.
Sonoma Coast State Park is located at the mouth, and several other parks are among the many public access sites along the river.
With all that access, and with being just a couple hours north of the Bay Area, this can be a popular place for anglers.
Summertime also brings the splash and giggle crowd, so as nice as the weather around here is on a summer afternoon, plan your fishing time accordingly (make that, early).
We cover how and where to catch all the major game fish here in our complete fishing guide.
More: Russian River Fishing
Salmon Creek
The lower section of this small stream just a couple miles north of Bodega Bay offers you at least a chance to catch and release a wild winter steelhead.
Salmon Creek is only open below Highway 1, which is probably less than a mile of stream before it empties into the Pacific Ocean at Salmon Creek State Beach.
You could keep a hatchery fin-clipped steelhead if you caught one, but your odds of that are long because hatchery smolts aren’t planted here.
Steelhead occasionally stray into other rivers, but if it’s a keeper you’re looking for, it’s best to head on to one of the rivers farther north that have hatchery runs.
Be sure to pay attention to barbless hook rules and seasons, plus low-water regulations enacted during drier spells.
San Pablo Bay
Sonoma County has a half dozen or so miles of waterfront on San Pablo Bay, which connects the freshwater of the California Delta to the east with San Francisco Bay to the west.
Sonoma County’s waterfront is largely undeveloped. So while you’ll probably go into another county to fish it or launch your boat, the waters off Sonoma and neighboring counties are a popular fishing grounds, especially for sturgeon and striped bass that pass through between the bay and delta.
Spring is the time both species head upriver, but stripers in particular go back and fourth in different seasons. Some anglers also target sturgeon in the winter months here.
Salmon pass through the bay, sometimes in good numbers, on their way toward the Sacramento River and other rivers, but they are most often caught elsewhere.
Perch, rays and even sharks also inhabit the bay and can be caught at times.
Santa Rosa Creek
This Russian River tributary is closed to fishing for trout and salmon species including steelhead, but part of it is open to fishing for other types of fish from late April into mid-November.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife describes the open area as being from Laguna de Santa Rosa in the lower creek up to the Highway 12 bridge. Upper reaches are closed.
Potential fish in the seasonally open part of this stream include the warm-water game fish found in the lower Russian River, such as smallmouth bass and channel catfish.
Sonoma, Lake
This is a large reservoir covering about 2,500 acres when full.
It’s also quite full of warm-water gamefish including being among the best largemouth bass fishing lakes in Northern California.
Catfish and panfish such as bluegill and crappie round out some of the common catches at the reservoir, which is close to Santa Rosa and within a reasonable drive from the Bay Area.
Lake Sonoma is a fantastic place to fish by boat while exploring either of its long creek arms. Get up into those arms to escape the powerboaters (there are no-skiing zones up there) and also to access less-fished water and even boat-in campsites.
There’s lots of submerged trees that hold all of the lake’s structure-loving fish species.
The CDFW mentions stocked trout in its species but doesn’t list any trout stocking here on its schedule. Other sources report landlocked steelhead in the reservoir.
At any rate, there are just enough rainbows of whatever description around to warrant some chasing them, to see what happens. Some of them can be quite big.
But the warm-water fish are the main show around here for most anglers.
There is a marina, boat launches, boat rentals and other services.
More: Lake Sonoma Fishing
Spring Lake
Also known as Santa Rosa Creek Reservoir, this 75-acre fishing spot right in Santa Rosa offers a variety of warm-water fishing.
Bass, panfish and catfish can be caught year-round here, although they will bite more readily once the water warms a bit in the spring and then through summer and into fall.
The lake has been stocked in the past with hatchery rainbow trout, but more recent records suggest that is no longer the case. See the Lake Ralphine entry for your best bet for early season rainbows.
The reservoir is in Spring Lake Regional Park on the east side of Santa Rosa. Camping and a boat launch are located on the southwest side of the lake.
Fishing in Neighboring Counties
Mendocino County: To the north, the Ukiah area has parts of some excellent river systems, including the Russian and Eel rivers for steelhead fishing.
Lake County: To the northeast, this county is home to Clear Lake, simply one of the very best bass and warm-water lakes in America.
Napa County: To the east, this Wine Country neighbor hosts Lake Berryessa, a superb mixed species fishing spot with salmon, trout, bass, catfish, crappie and more.
Solano County: To the southeast, the Vallejo area allows anglers to get out on San Pablo and Suisun bays to catch striped bass, sturgeon and salmon, and up into the lower Sacramento River and Delta for even more fishing action.
Contra Costa County, to the southeast, this East Bay area has some fantastic fishing lakes, including Los Vaqueros and San Pablo reservoirs.
Marin County: To the south, the rugged coastline, hidden lakes, and popular bay fishing spots around San Rafael have everything from salmon and stripers to bass, catfish and trout.