Originally Posted by
Jeff Putnam
I didnt see any over 6-8 lbs. I kept an eye open for em but the water was pretty murky. Unfortunately, this week the spear fishermen are back on the middle/lower river doing damage to the big hens. I rowed within a few feet of one diver and mentioned how few large stripers I see compared to the 80's/90's he said that's a good thing and that they're helping out the salmon population by removing large spawning stripers. I tried to point out that historical fish counting numbers show healthy salmon populations when stripers populations were also strong. He didn't want to hear and dove back underwater while I was in mid sentence.
I think we need to spend some time and research historical populations of migratory fish from California valley rivers to gain a better understanding of the impact we've had on them in the last 100 years. Fish and Game website has information. Currently, there are less than 1% of historical numbers of fish including salmon and steelhead migrating into CA rivers! That number haunts me every day. This goes far beyond catch and release (which is very important) to matters associated with environmental issues including allocated water flows, impacts of dams, politics and much more. Hopefully we'll change our attitudes from: There is an endless supply of fish for me to instead preserving the last remaining fish stocks. See ya on the water. -JP
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