el salto fishing lures Salta MagDiver 10" High Speed Trolling Built for blistering speed and brutal strikes The One Crankbait You MUST

Most are fantastic

Use of Gaffs (T14 CCR 2.06) No person shall possess or use a gaff in inland waters, except that a gaff three feet or less in length may be used to land legal-sized fish only by anglers fishing from a boat in the Sacramento River main stem below Deschutes Road Bridge

When bait fishing, a size 2 or 4 hook is a good place to start, but you can go as small as 6 to 10 and still reel in some nice size salmon

While I do agree that live bait does shorten the learning curve, I also think what you use depends on what you want to accomplish on a given day

A drop shots also a really good post-spawn bait up here, like a Roboworm