The Future??

If this sounds very familiar…well…you’re right:

This bill is similar to the one the Fuller introduced last year that was defeated by a coalition of anglers who care about the fishery and that acted in concert with sportfishing and environmental groups lead by CSPA. That bill was killed in its first committee hearing because the false arguments used by the author significantly overstated the impact of striped bass predation. Scientific testimony provided during the hearing made it clear that striped bass rarely, if ever, eat Delta smelt and that predation on listed salmon is so low that it does not impact the population level of the listed salmon.

Yet, Fuller still alleges that declassifying stripers is necessary to reduce predation on federally protected salmon and Delta smelt. Funny thing is she represents the 32nd Assembly District, which includes Bakersfield, Ridgecrest, Tehachapi, Taft, Kern River Valley, and the Frazier Mountain communities…not exactly hot beds of salmon interest.

It won't be long before they gun for all the other non-natives in the Delta...bass, catfish, crappie, etc...

It further requires the Stewardship Council to evaluate predator suppression options and make recommendations to remedy these problems.

“CSPA finds it absolutely arrogant that Fuller and her bill’s supporters would advocate the destruction of this valuable public resource again! Why should they be allowed to usurp the professional management and legal authority the government has given the Department of Fish & Game and the federal fishery agencies to protect listed species? The fishery agencies and their scientists know a great deal more about the striped bass fishery and the impacts it has on species of concern. They also understand and what it means for fisheries to co-exist in a dynamic estuarine ecosystem.”

How you can help

CSPA is calling on anglers and the public to help us make another legislative stand by raising your voice in opposition to this bill. In addition to the sending a letter or FAX to the committee that will hear the bill, please remember CSPA needs your financial support to continue their efforts to protect and restore California’s fishery resources. Send what you can afford to support these efforts by using Pay Pal or send your contributions to:

CSPA
6597 Cane Lane
Valley Springs, CA 95252

Send your letters to Jared Huffman, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife (as addressed below), and be sure to copy your Assemblymember and specifically request they support your opposition to AB 2336 by letting this committee know of their opposition! The Committee Chairman is a strong supporter of the professional management of the public’s fish and wildlife resources, but we need a majority of the committee to oppose the bill.

Here’s a sample letter…be sure to put this in your own words. The Committee’s FAX number is 916-319-2126

Assemblymember Jared Huffman, Chair
Assembly Committee on Water, Parks & Wildlife
1020 N Street, Suite 160
Sacramento, CA 94249

Re: My Opposition to AB 2336 (Fuller) – Striped Bass Eradication

Chairman Huffman and Members of the Committee:

I am writing to express my complete opposition to AB 2336. I’m outraged over supporters of the bill who think they have a right to destroy the striped bass fishery owned by the public. This fishery has co-existed with all the fisheries in the Bay-Delta estuary for 130 years and it has collapsed right along with our salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and the other fish dependent on the estuary. Even in its degraded state it still manages to generate some $250 million annually to our state’s trouble economy.

The issues of striped bass predation should be left to the state and federal fishery agencies that are charged with managing the public’s fishery resources. These are the professionals and scientists who have the expertise know how best to manage our fishery resources.

It is time the Legislature sent a message that divisive bills such as this one will not be tolerated. Instead, the Legislature needs to focus on correcting the ecological crisis in the estuary that is destroying our fisheries, including the immense impacts of excessive water development and export out of the Delta.

I will greatly appreciate your efforts to help protect our priceless fishery heritage!

Sincerely,
Name
Address

Well, the International Sportsmen’s Exposition rolls into Sacramento Jan. 21-24 and, as usual, I’ll be there at the seminar stage in the California Sportsmen Theater.

This time around, I’ll be yakking about how to catch Delta stripers the fun way — gill nets. Kidding, of course! Actually, I’ll cover what you need to know about casting lures like topwater, swimbaits and jigs. For the first time ever, I’ve only got one appearance at this show — Sat., Jan. 23 at 3PM, so come by and check it out. And oh, by the way…I already checked…the NFL championship games are both on Sunday, so no conflict there!

You asked for it and now you’ve got it! Our new fishing report section that so many of you have been clamoring for is up and running!

We’re starting with Northern California and will steadily add new waters in this state and others in the upcoming weeks. These babies are like Fishing Reports on steroids — in addition to a run-down of what’s happening from a fishing standpoint, each report will feature photos of the area, a map, current weather, water conditions, photographic list of species available, plus trusted guides, lodging and tackle shops in the area.

You can find the new report section in the menu bar:

Or, click HERE

Have you heard about the kookey new Bill that would basically declares war on California striped bass?

Introduced by Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield last Friday, AB 1553 would lift fishing restrictions on striped bass, which are non-native to California. The rationale is stripers are invasive, apex predators that devour endangered fish such as Delta smelt, winter-run Chinook salmon and the soon to be listed longfin smelt.

By allowing for anarchy-style fishing (no size or bag limits), striper populations could be severely effected by over-harvest, resulting in yet another opportunity lost for the state’s anglers. In addition, the bill would cancel any revenue raised by the Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp that was slated for striped bass recovery.

“This bill is just trying to strike a balance,” Fuller said. “The state’s water system is failing and we are taking all these steps to alleviate the impact on endangered fish, which has a major effect on people up and down the state that don’t have enough water.”

California native fish expert, noted biologist Dr. Peter Moyle from U.C. Davis says this about it:

“There is no hard evidence that striped bass specifically have caused any fish declines or even suppressed fish populations in the Delta, although it is certainly possible under the right circumstances.” Read his entire response at Alex Breitler’s blog in the Stockton Record.

And there’s the rub. It’s all about the water. She’s throwing stripers under the bus when the real problem with the Delta system is a lack of water. If you need any more proof of that, just look at who’s backing the bill — the Modesto Irrigation District and the Kern County Water Agency. Kinda says it all doesn’t it?

Even tiny shakers like this will be fair game if AB 1253 passes...

There’s no denying that striped bass eat untold thousands of salmon and smelt. But so too do largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, black and white crappie, channel catfish and a whole host of other non-native species. Are we going to try to get rid of them all, too?

Plus, before we started exporting record amounts of water out of the Delta in recent years, you never heard much talk about the so-called “striper problem.” Stripers (and all those other invasive species I just mentioned) have co-existed with salmon and smelt for 150 years. The massive, record-high water diversions have come about only over the past few years. Is it a coincidence that so many fisheries are suddenly in dire straits? I think not…

We aren’t addressing the issues here, people, and by doing that we will see the decline of all our fisheries.

Hope those suckerfish can hang on…they soon may be all we have left!

Okay, so it’s not exactly a secret, but roe is one hell of a productive sturgeon bait. Ever since we started catching diamondbacks on eggs years ago while fishing for salmon on the Sacramento River, I always wondered why the sturgeon guys didn’t use the stuff. After all, we caught pretty good numbers of fish boondoggin’.

Well, as it turns out, sturgeon guys are a crafty lot and small groups of anglers had been using salmon roe and keeping it quiet. Since then, the lid has been blown off the story and everybody’s using it.

Before we get too far along here, a few quick pointers. First off, don’t cure your eggs with a sulfite-based salmon cure…sturgeon don’t like eggs cooked that way as much — unless you’re in freshwater. In salt, plain is better. Keep in mind, that the cure isn’t quite as important in briny water since the eggs won’t milk all that much. If you want to add something, soak the eggs in scent first.

Okay, so now Jay Lopes of Right Hook Sportfishing in West Sacramento shows how it’s done…

Bury

Wrap

Huck

Balance

Catch!

Repeat

A little early morning dance with a popper-eating striper on the California Delta…

Reformed salmon angler Tony Koregelos of Sacramento, CA shows off a chrome 20-pound Chinook salmon that ate a swimbait intended for striped bass in the California Delta.

In light of the crappy salmon situation in the Valley, Tony recently off-loaded his jet sled and bought a bass boat so he could spend more time catching…um…stripers. Oh well, it was a nice thought, anyway.

On a year when salmon are so few in number, Tony’s fish is significant because he caught it on the San Joaquin River, which has far fewer fish than does the Sacramento River side of the Delta. Furthermore, you can see that the king is missing his adipose fin, which means it had to have come from a hatchery. Judging by the photo, I’m not totally sure, but it looks like the fish was taken above the mouth of the Mokelumne, which means it was likely a Merced River Hatchery fish — which has been seeing under 50 fish a season in recent years. A rare catch, indeed!

For more “Salmon out of Nowhere” action, check out the video of the king trusty sidekick Reilly and I nabbed a few weeks back HERE or the photo the big king one of my clients caught last season while striper jigging on the San Joaquin HERE

A crisp, greasy-smooth morning. A topwater plug chug-chug-chugin’ across the surface. Geese cackling overhead and a big striper somewhere down below hears the breakfast bell ringing. Soon, the calm will be shattered and the popper will disappear in a violent explosion of spray.

Ah, yes, I love those fall mornings on the Delta. I can’t wait!

Wow…it’s already been a year since the Prospect Island Fish Rescue. Though we rescued 1,800 striped bass that day, many thousands (the number may have been as high as 10,000+) of adult and juvenile stripers perished in the mud when the island was pumped dry — the effects of which we’ve been feeling in the rivers, Bay and Delta this summer and fall.

Here’s a look back at what happened that icy December day…

It was a cold, wet, muddy job, but 50 of us headed out to Prospect Island on Saturday morning to see if we could save any of the fish stranded there by the Bureau of Reclamation. Team Salvage was made up entirely of volunteers (lead by Bob McDaris and Jeff Nash, who coordinated everything) who gave their Saturday to saving fish. When the smoke cleared and the dust (mud) settled, we captured 1,466 live fish (1,462 striped bass, 2 big largemouth and 2 jumbo cats) and released them into Minor Slough. Though most of the fish were in sad shape from living in 6 inches of skanky, silt-choked water for two weeks, only a couple went belly up after being released back into the Delta.

Here’s my photo log from the day….

After a brief safety meeting and waver signing session, we donned our waders and set out through the muck to the main pool of stranded fish, which was about an 800-yard hike. The mud was so sticky and soft that you couldn’t stop moving — or you’d sink down and have trouble getting your feet free. Several folks took spills into the icy waters and charter skipper Jim Cox lost one of his wading boots.

The first thing we noticed was the carnage — there were dead fish everywhere like this big striper.

Everywhere you looked, there were carcasses — and this is after the Bureau scoped up untold thousands and buried them.

The good news was we found some fish still alive…which was amazing, considering the conditions they were living in. The water was no more than 10 inches deep and so muddy that it was thick. It had the consistency of chocolate syrup. Luckily, the weather’s been cold lately which has helped keep them alive.

First, we set up some barrier nets and then several of us grabbed landing nets and did a “cattle drive” by walking side by side from one end of the pond to the other.

When one’s net was full…

…it was time to schlep the haul over to the holding station, where guys would keep circulating the “water” in an attempt to keep the fish alive until the Buggy arrived for another run.

Bob McDaris got this Buggy on loan for the project and it was a lifesaver — stripers and ours. There’s just no way we could have moved so many fish without it.

After loading as many fish as we could into the makeshift holding tanks on the back of the Buggy, McDaris would hightail it back over to the levee, where the other portion of our hard working crew was waiting to unload…

..and then run the fish up the slippery hill and over the levee.

With little time to spare, the stressed out fish were rushed to the “Exit,” a pipe that dropped them down the other side of the levee and into the clean waters of Minor Slough.

Down the hatch!

If you were a striper stranded on Prospect, this was a welcome sight:

There are still a bunch of fish still out on the island that can be saved. Rescue efforts will continue Sunday and, according to the Bureau’s Jeff McCracken, they’ll keep the property open for as many days as are needed.

For more information, call Bob McDaris, owner of Cliff’s Marina in Freeport, cell 916-769-8047 or office 916-665-1611 or check out www.rescuethefish.org

A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY WHO WORKED THEIR ASSES OFF OUT THERE TODAY!!