Let’s Go Fishin’: Salmon season still a mystery

To fish for salmon or not to fish is the question we are all asking.
The question is bouncing back and forth from the California Department of Fish and Game to the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. And the rumors continue to ricochet around the harbor docks and bait shops. No one is sure whether we will fish for salmon this season, but there is more information that could lead in any direction.
At the end of 2009, Fish and Game came out with a press release that sounded optimistic for a salmon season in the ocean for sport anglers. Some were skeptical that this could be a false alarm in an attempt to boost license sales at the beginning of the year.
The state had done a survey of “jack” salmon in the Sacramento River system and extrapolated a positive return of adult salmon for 2010. The state’s science, combined with the input of the Pacific Fisheries Management Counsel, estimates 245,000 salmon will return to the Sacramento watershed in the fall. Those estimates leave 123,000 for escapement or to be caught by anglers.
However, the estimates have been flawed in the past. Last year’s estimates were 122,000 fish, and only 39,500 returned!
Ken Stagnaro recently said, “I just talked to Roger Thomas of Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association, and they believe there will be a season in state waters that will start April 3.”
While this is informal information, when you consider the source and its relationship to the management council, some anglers are getting ready to fish. State waters include the entire Monterey Bay and 3 miles from shore along the open coastline.
Last year, sport and commercial fishing revenue brought in $17 million — an exceptionally low total, due to the restricted salmon season.
The lack of salmon can be attributed to many factors: water diversion, poor ocean conditions and mismanagement.
Both sport and commercial fishermen abide by the laws that are set at the state and federal levels, with a very small number of fish caught as “by catch” or poaching. Most sportspeople appreciate the laws that govern the recourses, and many hope that proper management will be put into place to shepherd these stocks back to what they had been in the past.
The Department of Fish and Game will meet with the Pacific Fisheries Management Council in April to make a final ruling regarding a possible salmon season in California.
• Mike Baxter has fished in the Monterey Bay Area since he was a boy and has been a licensed charter boat captain for more than 15 years. Contact him at

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. He also hosts a fishing show on radio station KSCO (1080) from 7:06 to 8 p.m. Thursdays, April through September.