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A good day on the creek!

May 28, 2009 By JD 1 Comment

bryces-bass
Well, we had a good day on the ol’ Rio Americano Wednesday…I have a couple of shad/striper trips — a half day morning run and then a full day mission until dark after that…and the fishing was about as good as you can get!

We started off throwing swimbaits for stripers and caught a couple dandies…the 20ish pounder above taken by Bryce Roberts of Auburn, CA and then another nice one, caught by Jay Lopes, who was taking the day off from running halibut charters in the Bay…

Even the salty skipper needs to get bit once in a while!

Even the salty skipper needs to get bit once in a while!

But that only tells half of the story…
Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: american river, american shad, striped bass, striped bass fishing

CA to declare war on striped bass?

March 13, 2009 By JD 3 Comments

anarchy-striperHave 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...

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!

Filed Under: uncategorized Tagged With: ab1253, delta, lift fishing restrictions, striped bass

Are stripers a threat to salmon?

March 7, 2008 By JD 1 Comment

Hey JD, do you have any input regarding a theory that the non-indigenous Stripers may have a contribution to the current downturn in several indigenous species (i.e. Pacific Coast Salmon, Delta Smelt) populations?
–Don B.

Don, while stripers do dine juvenile salmon, there’s no evidence that suggests that they have big impact on salmon populations. Though non-native, stripers have been coexisting with salmon for 150+ years. In surveys of predators conducted in the Delta recently, Delta smelt have not been found in the stomachs of striped bass and in fact, stripers may actually help Delta smelt by preying on fish that like to eat smelt.

Nope, stripers are not the cause of all this. The main problem with the smelt is poor water quality in the Delta. caused mainly by epic water diversions. Back when we had big numbers of salmon and smelt, the striper numbers were also high…everything has collapsed since record water exports started a few years ago. The salmon are influenced by poor water quality though the major cause in their decline has been lousy ocean conditions.

Filed Under: uncategorized Tagged With: delta smelt, pacific coast salmon, Salmon, striped bass, stripers

Prospect Island Fish Rescue!

December 2, 2007 By JD 5 Comments

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…

Rescuing stranded fish on Prospect Island

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….

Click here to read more…

Filed Under: River Restoration Projects Tagged With: delta, fish kill, fish rescue, prospect island, striped bass

Surface Stripers: Unlocking the Code

November 19, 2004 By JD 1 Comment

striper

“What ya after?” asked the crusty old bank angler after I launched my boat. ?I pointed out toward the center of the lake where, in the glassy calm of the morning, it was easy to see a quarter-acre sized school of striped bass crashing the surface.?? His face looked like a tattered piece of leather that had been chewed on at great length by a hound dog, but it brightened considerably upon receipt of my answer. He flashed me a grin only an orthodontist could love and then snickered.?? “Son, you can’t catch them striper bass… everybody’s been trying but they won’t hit cuz they’re spawnin’.”

Well, I knew that he was way off base because it was mid-October and stripers are spring spawners, but I didn’t let on. I told him I was going to give it a try anyway just for kicks. He nodded and wished me good luck – said I was going to need it.
Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Bass Tagged With: striped bass, striper

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