MONTEREY

The Richmond Hunting Club is a not for profit sportsmen organization. The club has four clubhouses and over 18,000 acres of some of the finest upland game and waterfowl  property in the Princeton / Colusa / Williams triangle. Annual family memberships start at just $500. per season. For more information about the "RHC" please contact us at (707)-451-1690.
 

February 08, 2010    Headlines
Crab Limits, Squid on the Shelf
For anglers looking to get out and enjoy some good weather and fishing this past weekend provided both. Todd Arcaleo of Chris's Landing at Old Fisherman's Wharf said, "its all you can get on the giant squid here". They went out on Superbowl Sunday 2-7 for 80 squid and "as many sand dabs as you want". They haven't pulled the crab pots the past couple of days due to the swell, and the white sea bass seem to have moved up the coast, so they have been targeting the squid and dabs. There is a good video on KSBW.com on a recent squid trip on the Checkmate. They are running Monday and Wednesday through Sunday of the current week.
Ly Tu of Ly's Fishing Goods in San Jose said one of his regular customers had a great day off of Pajaro Beach on Friday with a 40-pound white sea bass and a 30-pound halibut, both taken on dead squid. He weighed in a 1.5-pound barred perch from Sunset Beach on grass shrimp on Saturday.
As far as the future of salmon or better put the chances of us having a salmon season this year or next looks to be slim and none. The returns to the Central Valley rivers this past fall were worse than that of 2008. While some of the state hatcheries saw a slight uptick in counts the federal hatchery on Battle Creek came in far lower. The PFMC will be meeting this month and next but given the complete collapse of fall run of the past three years we don't see any future for salmon. Until the Delta is fixed and water diversion is brought back down to pre 2002 levels there is little hope of us ever seeing a California ocean fishery (beyond a short far north coast season) ever again.

There have been only a few opportunities for boats to venture out over the past three weeks but between storms there is some calmer periods with white sea bass, good squidding and crabbing to be found. The Checkmate out of Chris' Landing reported a continued fantastic squid bite with 82 Humboldt squid on Thursday 2-4 for 14 anglers to go with 55 Dungeness and 23 rock crab from the pots. The wind was coming up, so they didn't fish for sand dab or mackerel today. Tinker said there were several boats out today working about a mile from the Monterey Beach Hotel that reported picking up 3 or 4 white sea bass and 6 halibut drifting dead squid on the beach. These were the first halibut of the year to date. The white sea bass are still hanging around the bay with a nearly a half-dozen landed per day in the last three days. They will be staying inside the bay tomorrow with the weather conditions, but they plan on fishing for squid again on Saturday and Sunday.
Ly Tu said the swell has brought in a load of seaweed into the south Santa Cruz beaches, making things tough for the shore anglers. Be sure to check conditions before you go!


Politics and 2010 Salmon
Next year we don't expect to see a salmon opener due to the far less than expected returns on the Sac Valley rivers this fall. Given the lack of angler support to help out the groups fighting the Govenator's canal plan, 2007 could well be the last year of ocean salmon in Central California in our lifetime.
Maybe the next generation will get it right but we sure F&*%@! it up for them. YOU aren't fishing  salmon this year because the politicos in Sacramento and Washington DC decided it was better to grow cotton in the California desert and put a subside check on a millionaire cotton farmer's pocket (and a contribution to their campaign) than keep fish swimming in our rivers. Anglers are the last line of defense but we are so unorganized that  we are going to get blitzed by the water contractors.
There is only one way out of this mess and it's through the courts and the hard work of
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance Please consider supporting them as they are pushing the lawsuits that will ensure a future or at least a hope of us ever salmon fishing in California again.
Our salmon runs didn't die, they were stolen from us by a 40% increase in water diversions from the Delta beginning in 2002. Unless water diversions are rolled back (through court order and the litigation of CSPA) salmon don't have a chance of making it to sea or you or your children to ever fish for them.
No group has done more over the past two decades to protect fisheries than CSPA. In the past two months USAFishing readers have raised nearly $10,000 for the CSPA but much much more is needed. Please visit their website and learn more about all the great work they are doing.
Become part of the solution and support the
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance today!

 


Upcoming Events:
USAFishing proudly supports the many fishery and wildlife organizations that benefit anglers and hunters throughout Northern California. Does your organization have an upcoming event? Contact us at fishsite@aol.com and we will gladly post the information on our reports pages.

California Waterfowl 2009 Dinners and Youth Events Calendar

The BAY AREA SPORTFISHERS CLUB meets the second Wednesday of each month. The club has monthly local fishing events and trips each month and supports the Monterey Salmon and Steelhead hatchery and Fishing in the Cities for Kids programs.  See: www.bayareasportfishers.com for more information please call us. 408-263-5488


Be sure to check out the California Fish and Game regulations before you go. Regulations vary and you need to pay attention to bait and hook restrictions.  

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5-day plot - Wind Speed at 46042

5-day plot - Wave Height at 46042

 

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