Delta Fishing Report

James Smith on the California Dawn had his brother Chris lead a night triplast evening for sturgeon out of Martinez. They ended up with one 63-inch keeper and a couple of legal stripers with at least a half-dozen missed opportunities on "good bites, missed oppertunities" fishing upriver near Pittsburg. James is putting together a night trip for this Wednesday 11-4 with plenty of room on the Dawn. The trips run from 5:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and include a steak dinner from the galley for $125.00. He will be running combination trips for sturgeon and stripers over the weekend. James thought the sturgeon would be holding up in Pittsburg for some time until we get a couple of good shots of rain.
One person that has plenty of bullheads, anchovies, and live sardines is Jim Smith on the Happy Hooker out of Martinez but locating interested anglers has been another story. He is taking a light load out for stripers on Thursday and is open all weekend long.
Bill at B and S Bait at McAvoys Harbor in Bay Point reported continued good striper fishing with live or dead bullheads at the Firing Line and Garnet Point. Sturgeon fishing is picking up in the deep water near the Pittsburg PGE Plant and alongside Chain Island.
It's hard to keep the "Best Bait Fisherman on the Delta" down for very long. Jay Sorensen of Jolly Jay's Guide Service rebounded from Sunday's slow action with 4 limits to 8-pounds taken on fresh shad sans scents or dyes in False River on the San Joaquin or near Decker Island. The best fishing was on the incoming tide at Decker Island Sorensen has been picking up an excellent quality of shad from H and R Bait on Charter Way in Stockton.
I was driving home this afternoon when I noticed a beautiful Design Concept boat with a couple of fishermen unloading gear about a quarter-mile from my house. I live out in the country, so I was astounded when I saw this beautiful boat I had never seen. I stopped and talked with the owner, George McGill, who reported limits of small schoolie stripers on fresh shad near Light 21 in the Sacramento River just west of Rio Vista. Most of their action was on the incoming tide with fresh shad.
Randy Pringle, the Fishing Instructor, reported an excellent striper bite in the San Joaquin River for schoolies to 5-pounds on the Berkley Red-Eye Mullet or white Hollow Belly Swimbait just under the surface. 3/4th oz. Hopkins Smoothies in green has also been spooning up the stripers. He reported catching and releasing 30 stripers on Monday with around 50% of the fish of legal size. The stripers are chasing the abundant shad from the Port of Stockton into the southern portion of the Delta. The calm water without wind this week has slowed the reaction bite with crankbaits or spinnerbaits, although the IMA Flit is starting to turn on. Berkley Chigger Craws or PowerWorms on a Zappu head or drop shot in 6 to 15 feet of water is working best.
Once the wind starts to ripple the water, the crank and spinnerbait bite will turn on. There have been some disturbing reports of poaching of stripers by bank anglers along the San Joaquin River south of Stockton to the confluence of the Stanislaus and in the Grant Line Canal. Wardens have pulled up a few of the poachers, but there are reportedly plenty more takingtheir place in line on the banks. In addition to the poaching taking place along the San Joaquin River south of Stockton to the confluence of the Stanislaus, add the Grant Line Canal out of Tracy to this hot bed of poachers. Trollers working the area reported bank anglers keeping undersized stripers throughout the bank access areas.

On Monday 10-26 Curtis Hayes at Benicia Bait reported lots of sturgeon around Chain Island and into the channel, and he expects these fish to move down into the Big Cut, Little Cut and around Buoy 9 within the next couple of weeks. He said there have been several big fish marked in deep water in the main channel at 80 feet into San Pablo Bay, but the water was too deep to fish for the skiffs that marked the fish. He added that stripers to 20-pounds have been taken on live bullheads around Buoy 23 and the Firing Line. They sold 55 dozen bullheads over the weekend, and he expects to get more bullheads in within a couple of days.
James at Dockside Bait in Pittsburg reported good striper action out in front of the harbor in deep water for limits to 18-pounds. He limited out with fish of 18 and 16-pounds the previous day on live bullheads in front of the PGE Plant. Bullheads, mudsuckers and fresh shad have been the top baits.
Mark Delnero of Fin Addict Sport Fishing took the same group out on Friday and Saturday in search of stripers on the Lucky Strike. He said the striper bite on Friday was very slow with few reports of success in the area around the Middle Grounds and Seal Island. The small tides were certainly a factor in the slowdown. He switched plans on Saturday, and they came loaded with ghost shrimp, bullheads and fresh shad to work upriver on the Chain Island Flats. They were able to boat two limits of stripers from 5 to 7-pounds and release numerous shakers. The majority of action came on the incoming tide which is the larger of the two daytime tides. Things were much slower today as they fished the same area and into Broad Slough for only shaker stripers. Delnero said, "There must have been hundreds of boats out here today, and I didn't see a net brought out all day.=" He added, "I must have seen a hundred sturgeon jumping, and there were loads of sturgeon on the meter around Chain Island, but getting them to bite was another story".
Kevin Yost of Lucky Strike Fishing found his best action on the evening outgoing tide with ghost shrimp for legal sturgeon of 53 and 48-inches with a 67-inch oversized and numerous shakers released over three nights of fishing in the Pittsburg area. There was a private boater who reported catching and releasing legal fish at 47 and 46 inches and a 44-inch shaker on both tides in 55 feet of water on salmon roe or grass shrimp.
Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker put together a light load of regular customers and crew for a shot at the bass on Saturday 10-24. He brought down the last of the live sardines out of the Berkeley receiver, in addition to live bullheads and anchovies. By early afternoon, they had boated 10 quality bass to 10-pounds with the majority of the action on live bullheads. The fish may be confused as to why a sardine is so far upriver, and they didn't see much action today, although they have worked in the past. Bob Wright, the second captain, put in the first Delta bass of the season on a bullhead with Dave Marquardt, aka Pale Ale, actually landing a fish on a live anchovy. The majority of the action came on the incoming tide, but only once the tide started to roll. Smith was going to hit the Carquinez Bridge to finish off of the day with schoolie bass on the outgoing tide before coming in to the harbor. The majority of stripers appear to be congregated around the Carquinez Straits and into Suisun Bay, but overall action was slow throughout the weekend, particularly the farther upstream you traveled.

On Friday 10-23 Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker is putting in a load of live sardines for a trip to Martinez for this weekend. He will be fishing the live bait until it is gone, and the sardines won't last very long because tomorrow is the last of the live bait receiver in Berkeley for the season. He will run on Saturday and Sunday if the phone starts to ring with interested passengers. Based on the local reports and the good tides over the weekend, the striper fishing has the potential to be great, particularly with the larger fish holding around the Martinez area.
Curtis Hayes at Benicia Bait and Tackle reported good striper action on the large bullheads near the Fleet and the smaller bullheads along the shoreline on Thursday. He is getting a supply of bullheads for the weekend as the demand has been high. He advised anglers to reserve their bullheads for the weekend. In addition to the striper bite, there have been a few sturgeon landed in the Big and Little Cuts and around the Fleet with grass shrimp.
B and S Bait at McAvoy's Harbor in Bay Point said the striped bass bite is wide open from the Fleet downriver to Sherman Island. The Middle Grounds, Seal Island, Honker Bay and the Firing Line are all producing quality stripers on bullheads or mudsuckers. Sturgeon fishing is showing signs of life with a few fish landed on ghost or grass shrimp.
Jay Sorensen of Jolly Jay's Guide Service put on another butterflied shad clinic today with easy limits of stripers to 10-pounds on the San Joaquin
River. They ended up landing 10 fish with a couple taken on the Lower Shoals on the incoming tide with the remainder of fish in False River on the outgoing tide. Jay said the outgoing was strong initially, but it petered out rapidly. The stripers were tapping the bait, then picking it up and beginning with a strong run. Sorensen uses the long noodle rods and balance beams to detect the bite. He is a master of letting the fish run, loading up the rod and setting the hook.
Allison at Hap's Bait in Rio Vista said the area around Decker and Sherman Islands near Lights 12 to 14 have been the top area, but there was also a cluster of boats near the Rio Vista Bridge this afternoon. A few stripers to 14-pounds have been brought into the shop in the past couple of days. There was a 14-pounder landed off of Sandy Beach. There have also been reports of sturgeon up in Cache Slough. Haps is stocked up with all of the baits: bullheads, mudsuckers, fresh shad, ghost and grass shrimp.
Sylvia Viera at Viera's Riverside Bait near Isleton said there was a rush of fish coming to the cleaning tables on Wednesday, and, said "This was the first real shot of fish so far this year". There was a 35-pound caught and kept by a troller over the weekend on the Old Sacramento near Long Island. The majority of the action has been in the Deep Water Channel with shallow-running lures due to muddy water on the main river and in the Old Sacramento.

The Coast That Sean Hannity Forgot

by Sarah Randall

As many of you are aware, Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations(http://www.pcffa.org) and the Institute for Fisheries Resources (http://www.ifrfish.org), was on the Sean Hannity Show on September 17 when Hannity broadcast live from the Central Valley to bolster the "fish vs farmers" argument being promoted by agribusiness.

The truth is that the Delta ecosystem is collapsing through years of excessive water withdrawals -too much water has been taken out of the Bay Delta estuary for too many years to support its biological self-cleaning and self-renewal systems. To function, estuaries require fresh water inflow to mix with tidal flows. This mixing creates rich brackish water that is full of nutrients and is so important for many marine and anadromous fish species. The multi-billion dollar west coast salmon fishing industry is now suffering 100% unemployment rate today because of ecological problems in the Delta created by years of water overdrafts and drought.

To watch the video of Zeke on the Sean Hannity Show click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOf-11wmlY

On September 29, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart covered Hannity's broadcast from the Central Valley. To see what Jon Stewart has to say (starting at the 2 minute mark and completing at 6 minute mark) click here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/99122/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-tue-sep-29-2009

Please go to http://www.salmonawaternow.org to learn more about the CA water crisis. At http://www.salmonwaternow.org, we have a series of videos illustrating the problem that can be shared and embedded on different websites. Salmon Water Now! was founded to raise public awareness of the plight of wild California salmon, fishermen, and coastal communities dependent on healthy freshwater delta flows. Salmon Water Now! sheds light on the inadequacies of the current water allocation regime and champions the restoration of the Bay-Delta’s legacy of strong salmon runs.

COMPLETE DETAIL OF MISINFORMATION ON HANNITYʼS CENTRAL VALLEY BROADCAST:

(courtesy of Bruce Tokers and Salmon Water Now!)

False: Hundreds of laborers appeared in the background, backed up for miles, holding signs and screaming chants in support of Hannity.

Truth: These are the same workers with the same signs that have been hired by large farm growers for the past couple of rallies. On April 14, 2009, the same organization sponsoring Hannityʼs visit held a march that the United Farm Workers called a “grower- sponsored march, a grower-organized march, for water for growers....not a farmworkers' march." The New York Times reported "many of the protesters were paid by their employers to march in lieu of harvesting crops.”

False: The unemployment rate in the San Joaquin Valley is over 40% because farmers cannot grow crops due to a lack of water.

Truth: The State of Californiaʼs most recent employment data reports that Fresno County, the county in which Hannity ﬁlmed, has only 15% unemployment, compared to a 12.1% state average. Furthermore, farm jobs increased by 5.3% in the months immediate following the NMFS environmental ruling. Even before the global recession, the Western region of the county historically had the highest unemployment rate in the state. In 2000, before the drought and environmental restrictions, unemployment in the Western region was 32%.

False: The federal government has shut off the water pumps.

Truth: Most water is ﬂowing through the valley. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that nearly 80% of the water from the ailing delta continues to ﬂow directly into the valley. The local water district has a surplus of hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water that it is not distributing.

False: The water restrictions were issued to protect only a 2” smelt.

Truth: A number of species threatened with extinction in this region are being protected by this regulation, including salmon, sole, crab, herring, steelhead, sturgeon, bass, and killer whales. The collapse of one of these ﬁsheries alone is costing the state $5.7 billion and 94,000 jobs.

False: The federal government is choosing ﬁsh over people.

Truth: Protecting regional ﬁsheries creates numerous jobs. Both ﬁsh and agriculture can prosper if growers adopted simple, cost-effective irrigation techniques. More responsible farming practices would save 18 times the amount of water being diverted for salmon.

False: The price of processed tomato goods and almonds are going to skyrocket across the nation.

Truth: This year is predicted to be a record-breaking harvest of processing tomatoes due to ideal weather conditions. Tomato production is up 15% from last year, with 11% more acres planted. Mike Montna, president and CEO of the California Tomato Growers Association, said this yearʼs processing-tomato harvest — now at the halfway point — is heading toward a record for the state. Almonds are in record-shattering surpluses as well, and a decrease in production would actually save the industry.

False: The NMFS ruling will require us to import more food from China.

Truth: Seafood is already the most imported food product in the United States. The NMFS estimates that 83% of all seafood consumed in America last year was imported from another country. Driving ﬁsheries out of business will only increase food imports. On the other hand, 75% of Californiaʼs almonds are exported out of the United States.

False: This decision was made by a handful of environmentalists.

Truth: Restoring water to ﬁsheries has been ordered for over 15 years, beginning in 1992 with a Congressional law (Central Valley Improvement Act). A recent independent review was “ﬂabbergasted” that the law has been ignored. A team of government scientists in the Bush administration ordered for water to be rerouted to save ﬁsheries as well, although that order was shelved by the Secretary of the Interior. An additional report was recently released and approved by the new administration.

False: Local residents are ﬂocking to food banks and waiting all day for food.

Truth: The local CBS station reported that only "dozens of families" showed up to the food bank.

False: The area of Fresno County in which Hannity reported is a ʻnatural breadbasketʼ where agriculture ﬂourishes.

Truth: Huron, CA receives an average of only 6.7 inches of rain a year, far less than what is

needed to sustain agriculture.

For stories on the broadcast and more information see:

Hannity stumbles upon cause of west side water issues

Fresno Bee - Fresno,CA,USA: http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/mcewen/story/1644349.html