Save
Our Stripers!
www.saveourstripers.org
We need our chamber members help to defeat proposed legislation to deregulate the striped bass. A Kern County assembly woman has introduced legislation to open them to unlimited take, no size limit, commercial fishing, etc. as retaliation to our efforts to protect our delta water. If you feel this will affect your members businesses please visit the site and sign on in opposition: www.saveourstripers.org.
If you have more questions, write or visit the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance at www.calsport.org. Note that all fishing organizations in our region and our state oppose this legislation. Our Department of Fish and Game disagrees with the premise of this legislation and is currently fighting a similar attack on our striped bass fishery in court. Your support in opposition is CRITICAL in helping to crush this legislation before it has a chance to ruin our fishery and harm your business!
FishDelta.Com - Fish Reports
FishDelta.com is a new Delta Chambers member. We will now be adding the link to their fishing reports each week on this page. Some of the reports are duplicates. CLICK HERE to read the FishDelta Reports.
Also, for those missing the old Delta Chambers Fish Forum, you can now go to FishDeltaBuzz and participate in their fishing forums. Click Here
Delta
Bank Fishing
by Roland “Innovate”
Aspiras
Just when I thought I would have some time to do some fishing, it turns out I'm shipped away to the bay area for work duties.
This past Sunday my Dad and I attemtped to squeeze in a sturgeon trip to Sherman Island, but decided to turn around and head back to Sacramento after trying to wait out the whitecaps. NOAA forecasted mild weather that day, however they were totally wrong! We opted to sit at home and watch the 49ers game which also went totally wrong!
The only thing good right now is the rain. We've had some phenomenal rain counts the past couple of days and that only means one thing - a jump start in the fall sturgeon and striper run.
Anglers that were targetting sturgeon before the storm were doing very well from Suisun Bay to Sherman Island in various depths. Captain Kevin Yost of Lucky Strike fishing saw excellent action fishing both day and night, with several keeper fish for his clients as well as a good number of caught and released shakers.
Striper fishing from Sherman Island to the Rio Vista Bridge is currently rated fair with bait fishing doing well on shad, sardines, and mudsuckers. Depths 15-25 feet have been productive. Trollers have been out in full force, however the bite is still only fair at best due to the witches hair. Constant cleaning of lines and lures are to be had, especially for those trolling deeper-running plugs.
Bank fishing for anglers at Sherman and Decker Islands is fair for those tossing mudsuckers and shad. Be on the lookout for debris floating downriver after the recent downpour.
That's it for this week. I wont make any commitments, but I sure do hope that I can fish when I get back into town. It really is time to do some striper and sturgeon fishing!
To all, have a fun time on the banks and as always, make sure you pick up after yourself so the next person can enjoy the spot you just fished.
Roland
“Innovate”
Aspiras
Roland's Fishing Blog
Email
Isleton
Area
by Can Nguyen -- Bob's Bait Shops
No report this week.
Antioch-Oakley
Area
by Chris Lauritzen -- Lauritzen Yacht Harbor
It’s seems there were a lot of people out using their boats this past weekend as there was lots to choose from.
There was the Rio Vista Fish Festival in the Delta, there was the Blue Angles in the Bay, and you had flat water for bottom fishing out of Bodega Bay.
There were lots of boats at all three venues our place was packed from early Friday afternoon until the wind started coming up about 10:00 am Sunday morning then everyone started coming in at once. By one o’clock our place was started to look like a ghost town.
This past weekend happened to be the weekend to celebrate my 40 year high class reunion from Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa so I was not around as much to get the full scoop. While driving to Santa Rosa I did hear a report from boat to say that they had caught fifteen legal stripers don’t know how large but based on where I was I would bet they were in the Broad Slough/Suisun Bay area.
I did hear a report from one boat on catching several sturgeon as well. I would bet they were in the same general area based on how clear they were coming in on the VHF radio.
The one complaint that I did have this weekend was all of the trash talk on the VHF radio. I’m no prude but the bad language needs to stop if the women on the boat are offended and if you have small kids out for the weekend with dad the last thing the dad wants his kids listening to is potty mouth on the radio.
When I went across the Benicia Bridge on Friday afternoon there were quit a few boats fishing from the west end of the Moth Ball Fleet to the Benicia Bridge. The largest concentration always seems to be just about where the Glomar Exployer was anchored all those many years. I don’t have a report if they are catching any fish there but if the fishing fleet is there chances are fish are being caught.
Two weeks ago when we had the real hot weather we still had 70 – 72 degree warm water on the San Joaquin River in and around the Antioch Bridge. This past week that same water had dropped to the 60 – 62 degree range. Until we get some frosty morning I think we are ok for the time being. Remember Barry Canavaro swears by 56 degree water is when the stripers start to get a little sluggish.
About a month ago there was a local black bass fisherman who came into the harbor office to launch his boat during the middle of the week. We started a debate about the decline of blue gills in some areas of the West Delta and how there are places in Franks Tract where there used to be lots of black bass and now in his words the water was like Death Valley.
This angler went on to blame the Department of Boating and Waterways for the chemicals they were putting in the water to kill the egerea densea (the glass you put in your aquarium to keep it clean).
I now have a better answer for him and something that you may be able to put your arms around and something to consider when you are fishing in areas I am about to describe.
I sit on the Ironhouse Sanitary District Board which is the sanitary district for the City of Oakley and unincorporated Bethel Island and property in between. At our board meeting a week ago we had a guest speaker who is a retired high school science and math teacher I’m sorry I don’t have my notes with me but his first name is Tom. Tom and a number his former students have been working in the back (south end of Big Break) where the new pier was built several years ago. That pier is party of the Delta Science Learning Center. Tom and his crew have been going out in kyacks taking water samples near the pier and surrounding areas where all of the algae bloom is.
Based on very preliminary information his hypothesis is as follows. In the area around the pier in Big Break the water is like Death Valley for the following reasons there is no water movement due to all of the water that is being sucked by the pumps. The D/O dissolved oxygen is very low that certain times during the UV cycle the water can not support life because there is not enough oxygen in the water to support fish life because of the algae bloom. The Ph in the water is way too high to support life. Tom and his team are getting readings at 9.5 according to his report fish can not survive when Ph is above 8.7 (I’m doing this from memory now).
If Tom had his way he would have a team of students gathering this info in real time in very shallow water to that we could get a snap shot of what is really going on with our fish and our water in the Delta and how the state water plan is not going to work because of the D/O problem and the other issues I just described to you.
If you want to fish the Delta in the future you’re going to have to have a fish finder that is able to measure D/O, and Ph in the water to determine if this is a place where you want to fish in the near future.
I really think that Tom and his crew are on to something and the reason I say that is at a recent meeting I attended at the Ryde Hotel about the Delta Water Plan or lack of there was a fish guy hired by the Southern California Water interests to looks at some of the fish issues. As he was talking he described a problem at the Port of Stockton where they are having a similar problem with D/O and how they were thinking about putting fans in the water to get circulation in the water to create water movement so that there would not be such a bad fish kill up there.
If you’re in an area where you see dead fish in the water you may want to make a mental of that location and stay away from there because they may have a D/O problem.
On a lighter note I am in Utah getting ready to go ATV riding with buddies I have hunted with for over thirty years. Last Monday night there was a very large low pressure system that came through and dumped lots of rain followed by a little thunder and lightening. There is a little snow on the very top peaks but no new snow. Hopefully we will get a foot or two before Saturday morning. See you on the water.
Chris Lauritzen
Lauritzen's
Yacht Harbor
Website