Recreational salmon fishing limited to single site, catch

[Covelo]

The Feds forced the State to shut down what was in my opinion a pretty pragmatic program of raising up slavaged striped bass from the delta pumps and releasing them at a larger size to enhance the striper sport fishery. This program was discountined because of the winter run Chinook "extinction models" you referenced. So great, the striped bass anglers take a hit for the winter run Chinook .....

Of course I get the argument: "while they're not the REAL problem, striped bass are not helping out the situation by being here". That is a valid point. I just don't think that it is worth sacrificing a non-native sport fish that is so available and meaningful to so many fisherpeople to persue the point of "well, they are not helping the situation any".

I don't quite get the striper-victim point of view. The striped bass need to take a hit as their numbers are huge. I have caught stripers all summer throwing plugs and I was not even fishing at peak times (April-May). Float the Yuba River above Yuba City and see how many LM, SM and striped bass you hook. 20-30 a float easy. They are too available, so I do not understand this their numbers will suffer POV. As for meaningful that is an opinion. For me, the multiple endangered species in the River/Bay/Delta are much more meaningful.

While I would prefer the striper deregulation bill to pass, I am not happy about the process. I do not like the precedent of the legislature making game management decisions the DFG should be making. The DFG knows the impacts of the striped bass and other non-natives and should have moved in this direction already. If not, then some group would have eventually sued them in court over the impacts to endangered species and won. The water barons are trying this avenue also. They have obvious alterior motives but at least they are on the right side of the law this time.

Has anybody here ever even seen a winter run Chinook?

We boated 3 of them this past Dec while fishing for late fall run kings. Unfortunately you cannot tell them apart until you examine their gonads.

[Dustin Revel]

hey Dustin,
Since you brought them up (winter run Chinook that is), I was just kind of airing out the frustration I have with single species management.

This really is not an example of single species management. Many many species are affected when several million predators are introduced into an ecosystem. If anything this is an example of restoration management... all the sudden we're just not that into restoration anymore are we?

[matt johnson]

Dustin,

What I am ultimately getting at has everything to do with restoration. It may apprear to be self-centered, but I just want there to open and viable fisheries left in the Central Valley. Lets not "restore" ourselves into a corner! In my opininion the only "restoration" benefit reducing striped bass numbers would have on Central Valley Chinook would be to reduce predation at hatchery salmon release sites. And no, I don't think hatchery salmon have any place in salmon restoration, but that is a whole different argument! The best "restoration" card we have to play is improving primary production and the juvenile fish rearing capacity of the delta. Until we do that all fish that use the delta are going to continue the free fall.

Gorgeous King Covelo! The Sac late fall season was set back to close on Dec. 31 a few years ago to minimize such winter run encounters. My grandfather and uncle fished Kings on the Sacramento in town all winter long unless the river was blown. There was a "continuum" of salmon passage through Sacramento then, with fall blending into late fall, then winter run and spring run overlapping January through March. The season never really ended. That continuum still exists, although sadly at only remnant levels.

And by the way, next late-fall season please release any fish with an intact adipose. Coleman late-fall are doing fine, actually too good as they strayed all over the place this past winter and spawned in the wild at what I think are unacceptable numbers. Natural late fall escapement over the last two years has been abysmal. A sport fishery on this stock is not justifiable in my opinin. Just more bad fish politics/management. I'll pm you some data next week if you are interested.

Oh and one other thing, I would agree that the stripers are present everywhere in the system but I don't think the numbers are HUGE. Please take me to your fishin' holes! I have only been fishing stripers for the last 4 years so my "data-set" is very limited. However, anecdotal evidence in the form of the catch per unit effort of all the veteren striper anglers I have talked to suggests the striper population is at an all time low. Oh and the juvenile indicies since 2000 suggest a population in steep decline... The whole "fish ark" is going down in the Central Valley. Focusing on striped bass is not going to save the ship. Matt

[Covelo]

Please do pm me the data. Thanks