Coastal Stripers....

[Darian]

From my own and others experiences and from posts on other BB's I've read, it's not overly common but common enough to catch Stripers in the surf from Monterey to Marin and in some coastal lagoons within in that area. In literature, it was common to catch Stripers in the Lower Russian River (saw photo's while waiting for dinner at the Jenner Inn) and Tomales Bay but I can't recall ever hearing of any Stripers being caught above (north) that area in California.

on my own, I actively fished the lagoons of creeks and rivers along coast from Santa Cruz to southern Oregon from 1966 thru 1976 and am/was aware of the Striper fisheries that existed in the Coos and Winchester Bays and local beaches at that time. They collapsed around the mid-70's according to locals. Personally, I saw or caught Stripers in lagoons north of the mouth of Tomales Bay during those years.

My question for the members of this BB is, has anyone recently observed or caught Stripers in any numbers in coastal rivers or lagoons within the area from the southern end of Monterey County to the mouth of Bodega Bay How about anything observed from the mouth of the Russian River north to Humboldt Bay

[Larry S]

Darian:
I'll bet Loren Elliott will have something to say on this subject.
Best to you,
Larry S

[Marty Gingras]

I heard through the DFG-Enforcement grapevine that large striped bass were recently observed near Greenfield on the Salinas River, but I have not yet heard it first hand.

This link is to a preliminary data report one of the Biologists in the Program I manage did on striped bass from creel surveys in what we call 'marine waters' extending upstream to Carquinez Strait:

ftp://ftp.delta.dfg.ca.gov/Adult_Stu...%20Surveys.pdf

Summaries of the length and location data appear fine but we need to do more work with relative abundance (CPUE). The Program I manage very-rarely works with this data because it's sparse, somewhat complicated, and usually not particularly important, so we plan to work with Marine Region a bit more on it.

[Darian]

East coast Stripers make annual treks (migrations down the Atlantic Seaboard from maine through at least South Carolina, if I'm not mistaken. The main reason for the migration may be to follow migration of baitfish that do the same....

My anecdotal knowledge of anything of this sort for Pacific stripers is limited to experiences of mine, others I've talked to and what I've read. The only recent mention in newspaper reports of Stripers along the Oregon coast in the last 5 years was taken from the surf near Brookings. Of course, that fish could've come from north or south of that point. But it has always made me curious why Stripers didn't migrate out here like they do on the east coast. No migratory baitfish

Hmmm,.... Maybe they do and we don't know about it....

At any rate, I was hoping to hear from some of the ol' timers who up the north coast about their experiences/observations.

[Marty Gingras]

At any rate, I was hoping to hear from some of the ol' timers who up the north coast about their experiences/observations.

I found a couple of reports on Oregon striped bass a while back. Pardon the gigantic file size:

ftp://ftp.delta.dfg.ca.gov/Adult_Stu...gon%201950.pdf

ftp://ftp.delta.dfg.ca.gov/Adult_Stu...gon%201979.pdf

Then there is this, which includes information about striped bass in both California and Oregon. Pardon the gigantic file size:

ftp://ftp.delta.dfg.ca.gov/Adult_Stu...ast%201980.pdf

Anglers fishing in Monterey Bay have reported catching striped bass we tagged in the Central Valley, including as I recall at least a couple in the last few years.

[Darian]

Marty,.... Thanks for the links. The document from the 50's is really interesting, if for nothing else, the history involved.... Hard to read tho. I'm digesting the rest of 'em now.

[SHigSpeed]

Not sure if it's an answer to your question, but if you watch Rivers of a Lost Coast you see stripers mixed in with a lot of the hero shot limits of fish from a many of those north coast waters.

_SHig

[Notch]

There's supposedly a spawning run of stripers in the Pajaro river early in the spring. Not sure if this happens every year due to low water, but from what I've heard there is a resident population of fish in Monterey Bay. If there are fish spawning in the Pajaro, there's no reason to think they don't at least try to spawn in the Carmel or Salinas Rivers. I talked with a biologist who seine netted a ~15lb striper out of Waddell while conducting a juvenile steelhead survey, and said it was stuffed with smolts after they bonked it for further inspection. I don't think stripers can spawn in that small stream, but it shows that they do utilize the coastal lagoons on occasion, probably to feed for the most part.

[Marty Gingras]

I talked with a biologist who seine netted a ~15lb striper out of Waddell while conducting a juvenile steelhead survey, and said it was stuffed with smolts after they bonked it for further inspection. I don't think stripers can spawn in that small stream, but it shows that they do utilize the coastal lagoons on occasion, probably to feed for the most part.

Classic reference:

ftp://ftp.delta.dfg.ca.gov/Adult_Stu...lov%201936.pdf

Most-recent reference that I know of:

ftp://ftp.delta.dfg.ca.gov/Adult_Stu...DFG%202010.pdf

[Darian]

Notch,.... I've found a website that has a bunch of info on it about Stripers from locals in the Monterey Bay area. A lot of these guys appear to be gear fishers and have some great info to offer. At least one person who posts there says that Stripers do spawn in the Pajaro River. He says he's a works for a water district in that area and has seen and caught them down there.... Lotsa good photo's, etc.

Check it out:

http://fishingboard.gruk.net/index.php