by JD on January 29, 2008
As you know, I was involved with the spawning gravel restoration work California’s Stanislaus River tis past fall. The Cliff’s Notes version is we rehabilitated a mile and a half stretch of river with 118,000 tons of gravel and close to 200 boulders to provide wild Chinook a place to spawn. We got the work done just in time for the fall run to begin and eagerly awaited the return of our fish to see how the liked their new diggs.
Well, California’s Chinook runs completely tanked this year and only 408 kings were counted at the weir on the lower Stanislaus (compared to 3,500 the season before). We saw a few fish in our stretch of river and some dug redds like the one in the photo above. Overall, however, there just weren’t enough kings in the system to get any solid feedback on our designs. A total bummer!! And the future doesn’t look a whole lot better at this point…
You can see all the before and after photos from the project here: Stanislaus River Restoration
by JD on January 29, 2008
Looking for an awesome do-it-yourself Alaskan fishing trip this summer? Look no further than Cordova and it’s sick, off-the-charts coho fishing — most of which can be easily accessed by car! Trusty side-kick Reilly and I explored the Cordova road system thoroughly last fall and found 60-plus fish days without much trouble at all…on chrome, snowbelly silvers. Read the full report in the January issue of FISH ALASKA Magazine.
by JD on January 28, 2008
by JD on January 26, 2008
Okay, folks, we’ve got to act now to save the steelhead season on the American! As I noted a couple days back, a mis-informed fly fishing club has submitted a proposal to the CA Fish & Game Commission to get the river closed for the next 2 months.
The only way to stop this lunacy is to send a quick email or fax to:
Mr. Richard B. Rogers, President
California Fish & Game Commission
FAX 916-653-5040
email: [email protected]
AND
[email protected]
Please take a quick moment to write a short letter explaining why you think closing the river is a bad idea. Maybe something about how the real problem is enforcement (lack thereof) and mis-management of water by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (the same guys that brought us the Prospect Island debacle).
GET THOSE LETTERS IN PRONTO — WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL MONDAY!!
If we all do this, we’ll get this thing turned around.
Thanks!
by JD on January 26, 2008
The Queen of Hearts, one of the best party boats fishing the greater San Francisco Bay area, has been offering a pretty cool new type of charter lately — Maverick’s Surf Contest viewing trips.
And man, does Capt. Bob (who’s a great guy and fisherman, by the way) get in there close to the action. Apparently, there’s a way that a super expert sea skipper can get a boat close to the break without actually getting into it. Bob can get you into position that you can look straight down the tube of a 30 footer and see the surfers in there.
Heck, he says you’ll even feel the push of air when the wave closes out.
Sounds cool and not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach (me). Check out their link above for schedules and rates.
by JD on January 25, 2008
I just caught wind of this one, but Dave Ford and the Northern California Council Federation of Fly Fishers is asking the California Fish & Game Commission to close the American River to fishing if the flows fall below the current 1,100 cfs to protect spawning steelhead from poachers.
Unfortunately, I find Mr. Ford’s stance arrogant and mis-informed. Aren’t fishing groups supposed to fight for fishing, not seek to ban it? So, I get it, let’s punish the thousands of law-abiding anglers who fish the American so that we can keep a handful of loser poachers from doing what they’re going to do anyway! If you want to attack somebody, try the Bureau of Reclamation for the mis-management of the water! How about getting on the Gov. for deciding not to allow the hire of new Game Wardens??
Closing the entire river is an asinine solution. Let me explain:
[click to continue…]
by JD on January 24, 2008
Two days into the FLW Eastern Series event at Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, Big Fred Contaoi has stayed true to his pre-season gameplan, and weighed in 5 fish on each of the first two days of the tourney. The result is he’s holding his ground and is in a position, with a solid day on Friday, to earn a paycheck.
On the first day, his 5-fish bag weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces and then he added another 11 pounds, 8 ounces today for a total of 18-14.
by JD on January 23, 2008
