By Matt Weiser - mweiser@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, March 10, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1

J.D. Richey caught his first salmon in the American River as a seventh-grader. It was just over 13 pounds, hooked on a spinning lure from a canoe downstream of the Howe Avenue bridge.

The experience so impressed him that he became a fishing guide. Now, after 10 years helping clients from all over the world catch Central Valley salmon, 2008 could be Richey's final season.

A near-record-low fall chinook spawning run in 2007 has regulators considering an all-out ban on salmon fishing in California this year. It would protect surviving fish, but for Richey and others whose lives are tied to salmon, the future looks dim.

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