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16 sturgeon in two days

Fishing and hunting

Sturgeon fishing in the Bay, just east of the Pump House, was really good this week. Kevin Wolf, at Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael, said that one angler caught and released 16 sturgeon in that spot this week using mud shrimp for bait.

Other anglers are also having success off the Marin Shoreline near China Camp and McNear's Pier.

Valerie, at the Leonard's Bait Shop at Port Sonoma, has similar reports with grass shrimp being the bait of choice leading to most success. She also got  report of a large striped bass caught at the mouth of Sonoma Creek this week.

We need rain to take the sturgeon fishing to even a better level, but for now, the calm weather makes fishing on the Bay very comfortable. If you don't own a boat, call Kevin or Keith Fraser, at Loch Lomond, at 415-456-0321. They will book you onto one of several party boats who offer Bay sturgeon and striper trips.

Saturday is the last day of rockcod season off the Sonoma Coast. The fishing for these tasty critters has been fantastic with full limits every trip, said Capt. Rick Powers, at Bodega Bay Sportfishing. Rick's party boats are also bringing in lots of lingcod and limits of big, fat dungeness crab. Rick will be running rockcod and crab combo-trips through Saturday, and then will switch to giant Humboldt squid and crab combo-trips from Jan. 1 on. Call him at 875-3344 to book a trip.

Lake fishing around the area has been very slow this week, although the Department of Fish and Game did plant rainbow trout in Lake Ralphine near Santa Rosa last week.

If it is trout or steelhead you're after, then your best bet is the Sacramento River, Klamath or Trinity rivers, where water conditions are low, but trout and steelhead are biting. If you want even better action, call Jim Andras, of Andras Outfitters, who is still guiding clients for excellent fishing on the Rogue River. Jim's phone number is 530-722 7992.

Bob Grace, at the Ted Fay Fly Shop in Dunsmuir, fished the upper Sac this week and had good fishing through town. The weather is cool and the water is low. Most of the fishing is during the mid-morning to mid-afternoon hours when there is a little sun on the water.

I ran into Bill Fernandez this week, who fished the East Walker River near Bridgeport recently. Bill said the big German browns are biting in the stretch of the river that comes out of the Bridgeport Reservoir. It is his favorite stretch of river and said it is worth the five-hour trip over the Sierras to get to there.

Bay Area anglers are being urged to write letters to the California Fish and Game Commission expressing their opposition to a proposal to eradicate striped bass from the Bay and Delta. This proposal, apparently in response to a lawsuit by water contractors of San Joaquin and Kern County, could wipe out a major recreational fishing resource. For more information on this go to water4fish.org.