Kenneth Brown (right) pictured with his son in front of his shop Bodega Tackle, 884 Bodega Ave in Petaluma.
“Fishing-related businesses have never really recovered completely from the 2008 and 2009 closures. The question is what we do now, when there are fewer fish spawning and reaching the ocean. History has proven that operating our dams to provide cold, consistent flows is critical. That, along with modernizing hatcheries and habitat expansion can rapidly restore our salmon," says Staplin. Some guides and fishing-related businesses are advocating for more hatcheries. They believe this would mitigate overfishing and problems due to environmental issues. Stone says there is a need for a fish hatchery on the main stem of the Sacramento River to mitigate the loss of naturally spawning fish and their offspring that do not survive due to the diversion of water from the river, which increases the water temperature. This negatively affects the habitat for many species of fish. Fish also die off because of a lack of available water in rivers and tributaries during droughts, and at times when the water quality is poor. Building blocks emerge The success of Fish Story, which opened in 2023, offers a few ideas for fishing-related businesses that want to establish themselves during this period. The announcement of this year’s salmon fisheries spurred Cronin to redo the setup for the entire store—enabling him to move a great deal of inventory in approximately six days of sales. “We saw sales up a 1000% during the September fishery. Next year, we hope salmon numbers will be up even more, so we’ll have close to a full fishery. If that happens, we’ll be ready, in terms of ordering more supplies,” says Cronin. Cronin also learned to get “tons of lures” in stock—from hoochies, the rubber version of an octopus or squid, to flashers,
shiny lures that come in a wide variety of colors and patterns. “We had everything, including dodgers, which look like giant spoons or oval blades, to attractor flies, which look like large flies, sometimes with stripes. I’ve been fishing all my life. I had to learn through selling lures that there’s no one way to fish for salmon,” says Cronin. Cronin says talking to customers and sales data from the past two years have also showed him where his customers are based. Eighty percent of his customers are from Petaluma and other areas of southern Sonoma County, and Marin County. The other 20% come in from the East Bay and San Francisco. One of the things Cronin has been working on since opening day is encouraging fishing among young people. “I coach Little League and the players on my team found out I fish. When the word got out, a ton of kids started to come in,” says Cronin. Now he sees players texting him what they caught and asking questions, in the store and out. They want to know what lures work and what it’s like to fish for different species, including Chinook salmon. “Pair that interest with good communication and good customer service. Add a wide selection of what people want. That’s when you’ll get people on board. You’ll see salmon become important to even more people,” says Cronin. g
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50 NorthBaybiz
January 2026
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