Fishing local streams, or streaming online

The sunny weather recently is a little bit of good news for anglers eager to go fishing, but if we don’t get more rain soon, our lack of water may hurt us later on.

Right now, the best fishing close to Sonoma is in San Francisco Bay, where you can find halibut, striped bass and even a sturgeon if you know where to go.

The guy to tell you where is Keith Fraser, the guru of bay fishing. You can find him at his Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael. Keith has the only live bait in the area and can give you directions to the best spots.

His fishing story of the week was about a guy who bought some of his live smelt and fished off the rock wall near Alameda. He caught a couple of nice keeper halibut to 10 pounds, plus a 50-pound white sea bass.

Keith says sturgeon tides will be good this weekend. Call him at 415-456-0321 for the most current reports.

Capt. Hogan Brown, who guides fly-fishers on several northern California rivers including the Yuba, Feather, and the Sacramento, says the Yuba east of Marysville has been producing good action for trout anglers. He expects steelhead action on the Feather to be pretty good during the first weeks of March as well. Call Hogan at 530-514-2453 to book a trip with him.

Fly-fishers are finding good action for trout on the Sacramento River between Redding and Anderson. And steelhead action has been pretty good on the Trinity River recently.

* You can also choose to stay home and watch a good fishing film or two. The 15th annual Fly Fishing Film Tour begins streaming on March 10. The stories span the globe from the remote wilds of Eastern Russia to the Guyana rainforest, the flats of French Polynesia, and all the way to Utah’s Flaming Gorge and the down-home waters of Wisconsin.

You can watch it all via an online connection between March 10 and April 4, at your convenience, any time within this window. As long as you are accessing from the linked computer or laptop that you initially logged in from, you may start/pause/restart/rewatch at any time through April 4. The festival officially begins streaming at 4 p.m. PST on March 10.

Tickets vary from $10 for single watching to a $40 family/household pass. There’s also an “active pass” for $69 that includes a multiple list of benefits, including discounts, Warren Miller films, a magazine subscription and other benefits.

After you purchase tickets you'll get instructions and a link to attend the event online. The complete lineup of films has not been finalized. For tickets and more information, go to flyfilmtour.com.