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Is the Striper really the Enemy of the Salmon??

October 23, 2017 By JD 9 Comments

In California, a huge battle continues to rage, pitting striped bass versus salmon. The basic storyline here is that the decline of native species like Chinook salmon and steelhead is being blamed, at least in part, to predation by non-native fish…most notably, the striped bass.

Who is making these claims? The stewards of the resource, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife? Nope? The salmon fishing industry? Guess again. Save the salmon organizations? Wrong again!

The folks behind the this rhetoric are water contractors and districts in Central and Southern California, who depend on the Sacramento River System for their water supply. Since 2009, there have been three bills introduced the State Legislature that had anti-striped bass language written in. Fortunately, anglers rallied against all of the bills and none passed.


Furthermore in 2011, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, a group of San Joaquin Valley water districts, asserted, that striped bass were harming native species. As part of a settlement agreement stemming from that lawsuit, the CDFW was forced to come up with regulations changes to reduce the number of striped bass in the region. Again, the public’s voice was heard and, in a unanimous decision, State Fish & Game Commissioners voted not to pursue a proposal that would have changed sport fishing regulations related to anadromous striped bass, including increasing bag limits and decreasing size limits.

So far, the stripers and striper anglers have won out, but the water districts are powerful, organized and loaded with money so there will likely be another attack soon.

But what of all this? Is the striper really the enemy of native fish in California? And would eradicating them bring back salmon, steelhead and fish populations?

History

First off, a little history is in order. According to the CDFW, the initial striper introduction to California took place in 1879, when 132 small bass were brought successfully by rail from the Navesink River in New Jersey and released in upper San Francisco Bay. Fish from this lot were caught within a year near Sausalito, Alameda, and Monterey, and others were caught occasionally at scattered places for several years afterwards.

Photo: CA Department of Fish & Wildlife

There was much concern by the Fish and Game Commission that such a small number of bass might fail to establish the species, so a second introduction of about 300 stripers was made in lower Suisun Bay in 1882. In a few years, striped bass were being caught in California in large numbers.

By 1889, a decade after the first group of eastern fish had been released, striped bass were being sold in San Francisco markets. In another 10 years, the commercial net catch alone was averaging well over a million pounds a year. In 1935, however, all commercial fishing for striped bass was stopped in the belief that this would enhance the sport fishery.

The sport fishery took off from there and striped bass have been woven into the fabric of California fishing ever since. Today, they are an immensely popular gamefish and support a huge fishing industry that ranges from Monterey Bay to the south and Red Bluff to the north and all points between — the Sacramento, Feather, American, Yuba, Mokelumne San Joaquin and Stanislaus rivers, San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, Suisun Bay, Grizzly Bay, the 1,000-miles of Delta and beaches from San Francisco down to to Monterey Bay.

The Current Situation

Since 2006, fall-run Chinook salmon numbers in the the Sacramento-San Joaquin River System have been mostly a epic decline. As recently as 2002, the basin saw nearly 800,000 kings (by the way, the striper numbers were incredible then too) but by 2008, that number had fallen to a record low 59,000! Fall Chinook have bounced back a bit a few years since but, overall, the outlook isn’t good.

Until 2006, California’s fall kings ran in robust numbers — large enough runs that I never once heard any talk about concerns of striped bass predation. Well, when the king runs crashed and fisheries managers and anglers started looking for causes, it wasn’t hard to trace a lot of the system’s problems to massive water exports to the south.

The pumps that suck water from the Delta are so strong that they can reverse the flow of the river, fooling out-migrating salmon smolt into heading “downstream” right into the pumping facilities. There’s so much water being drawn out of the system that the Bay-Delta estuary water quality is extremely compromised, making for very poor rearing conditions. To satiate the southern metropolitan and agricultural district’s enormous appetite for water, the pumps run hard all summer, often leaving rivers low and warm in the fall — and, of course, that makes for poor spawning conditions.

With the ill-effects of the pumps obvious to even the layman, the water contractors and irrigators took to a different tactic — blaming the Chinook’s decline on predation from non-native species. And that’s where the lawsuits and Assembly bills I spoke of earlier came into play.

The Truth

What of all this? Is there any truth to their claims? Well, as someone who spends more time “in the trenches,” living and breathing this stuff than anyone, I feel uniquely qualified to give you the real on the water story.

Let’s start with predation. I’ll never deny that stripers eat juvenile salmon. The fact is they do. And if you looked at the population trends and saw striped bass numbers were going through the roof while salmon continued to decline, you may have a point.

The reality of the situation, however, is that striped bass numbers are in a free fall, right along with salmon, steelhead, delta smelt and a whole host of other species. The entire system is in collapse! And the common denominator is water…more specifically, the lack thereof. The decline was exacerbated by the drought years of 2012-2016 as well, but the population crash began well before then.

For years, scientists have gone on record saying that the Striper has not cussed the demise of native fish species. One of the area’s foremost authorities on the subject, fisheries biologist Dr. Peter Moyle said:

“The key to restoring populations of desirable species is to return the Delta to a more variable, estuarine environment. Reducing striped bass and other predator populations is unlikely to make a difference in saving endangered fishes, and will serve only to distract attention from the real problems…”

Massive Delta pumps reverse the flow of the river near Tracy, CA and suck millions upon millions of Native fishes to their doom, and yet we still try to blame Striped bass for native fish declines.

Biologist Dr. David Ostrach spent most of his career studying striped bass in the delta system and knows more than just about anyone alive about this subject. He says quite simply:

“Striped bass aren’t the predators…The PUMPS are the PREDATORS!”

The simple truth is fish need water and the wealthy water districts that suck this very water from the system will do anything to deflect attention/blame from themselves! 

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: california delta, chinook salmon, striped bass

Rockfish with Crackling Ginger

August 17, 2015 By JD 1 Comment

Yum!

Looking for an awesome, supremely easy way to cook up white-fleshed fish like rock/lingcod, halibut and striped bass? This is it!

You only need a few basic ingredients and even fewer skills in the kitchen to make this turn out fabulous. I learned this from my good friend Rainsong who lives on the ocean in Humboldt County. She adapted it from a similar dish a family member tasted overseas.

The Goods

Ingredients:

  • Fish fillets
  • 1-2 Cups Freshly-Grated Ginger
  • Peanut Oil
  • Green Onions
  • Rice
  • Tamari or Soy Sauce
  • Sesame Seeds

How to Do It:

Start off by cooking the fish. Keep it simple here: Basic steaming works best but you can also lightly pan grill it with a bit of soy and sesame oil…

Cooking Fish

In a small pan, heat up 1/2 to 1 cup of peanut oil. Get it super hot…pull it off the heat when the oil starts smoking, Be careful here!

While the oil is heating, spread the cooked rice over a platter. You can go white or brown here…whichever you prefer. Then, place the cooked fish on top…

fish on rice

You next move is to cover the fish in fresh ginger, green onions and the drizzle on Tamari or soy sauce. You can also add sesame seeds…

ready for Action

Now, here’s where the magic (& fun) happens! Take the smoking hot oil and lightly drizzle it over the whole dish. The heat of the liquid will caramelize the ginger. Check out the video…

And that’s it! Serve that baby up and enjoy! Rainsong said that the recipe is so simple she’s even done it while camping!

Want to learn how to catch rockfish? Check out my guide to catching rockfish with light tackle.

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Filed Under: Cooking, Techniques Tagged With: Cooking, halibut, lingcod, recipe, rockfish, striped bass

Now, that’s one Huge Striped Bass!

July 8, 2015 By JD Leave a Comment

  
Tom Tomasian, beast slayer and our number one fan on the East Coast, nailed this behemoth of a striper off the New Jersey coast recently. 

The massive bass (don’t you guys call ’em rockfish back there?) weighed about as much as 8 limits worth of California stripers…or exactly 62.5 pounds! 

I didn’t catch what he caught the fish on, one that big may have eaten a German Shepherd, a full-sized goat, two kindergarteners or maybe a Prius. 

In any case, that’s one heck of a striper!

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Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: giant, new jersey, striped bass, striper

Anti Striper, Bass, Catfish, Panfish Legislation Making Headway in the HOUSE

June 11, 2015 By JD 1 Comment

stripers
Here we go again! The water mongers are trying to pin the blame of the Delta’s woes on striped bass instead of the real issue!

This time around, U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) today offered an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Act for 2016 which would “ensure an appropriate focus on predation control efforts” in an attempt to recover fish listed as protected under the Endangered Species Act.

“In the Central Valley, predator fish represent a constant threat to native populations such as steelhead and salmon,” said Rep. Denham. “While we’re spending millions trying to save the lives of these fish, which play a huge role in the allocation of water, we must also be working to eliminate the threat that predator fish pose. My amendment would require the NOAA to prioritize controlling non-native predators so we can save salmon and steelhead.”

This, of course, is simply a way to divert attention from the fact that a lack of water and poor water quality are the number one reasons all the fish on that list are Endangered.

All you have to do is take a look at a graph of Delta fish populations. Fish like salmon, steelhead…and Striped Bass are all in a nosedive. The common denominator? Water…not predation!

You can read the whole story here

This, of course, isn’t the first time Republican lawmakers have tried to eradicate striped bass from California. Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) introduced anti-striper Bills in 2009 and 2010, both of which got smashed. I’ve been saying all along, however, this fight is far from over…

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: delta, Salmon, striped bass, water

Two of the Biggest Inland Stripers Ever Caught!

May 26, 2015 By JD Leave a Comment

66.9-lb striper

Man, there have been some BIG stripers showing up join the radar lately, including this massive 66.9 pounder caught recently by Alvin Vang of Clovis, CA. He was fishing San Luis Reservoir off the bank with a white Fluke from the Romero Visitor Center.

While big enough to swallow dogs and small humans, this fish actually fell shy of the California state record 67.8 pounder, which was caught in 1992 from neighboring O’Neill Forebay by Hank Ferguson of Soquel, CA. For more on this story, check out the Fresno Bee

MO Record  striper

Not to be outdone, the great state of Missouri – Bull Shoals Reservoir to be exact – just pumped out this new state record 65-pound, 2-ounce striped bass to Lawrence Dillman of Rockaway Beach, Mo. Hillman was fishing alone at night with a 6-inch live minnow near Powersite Dam when the leviathan hit.  See the whole story at USATODAY

Historical Significance

So, just where do these two fish rank on the all-time striper leader board? Well, the official IGFA All Tackle World Record for the species is an ocean fish caught off Connecticut in 2011 that weighed 81 pounds, 14 ounces.

The two fish above are certainly in the top 1o and more likely, the top 5 all time taken in freshwater lakes. The current freshwater striped bass record is a 69 pound, 9 ounce fish caught in Alabama in 2013.

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Filed Under: Angling Records, News Tagged With: california, missouri, record fish, san luis reservoir, striped bass

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