Prehistoric monsters prowl bay

By Bill Lynch
Posted: Thursday, January 10, 2008 6:08 PM PST

Recent rains and the resultant flood of freshwater into San Francisco and San Pablo Bays have stirred up our resident "sleeping giants," Acipenser Transmontanus Acipenser, aka sturgeon, the largest freshwater fish in North America. They can live for 100 years and grow to 20 feet in length and 1500 pounds.

While they are freshwater dwellers, they spend a good part of their lives in our saltwater bays feeding on shrimp and a host of other prey that dwell on or near the bottom.

When freshwater flushes into the bay from local streams, the sturgeon begin to feed aggressively in many bay locations. Local anglers can find themselves hooked to a monster with the size and strength to tow their boat around for several hours.

Keith Fraser of the Loch Lomond Bait Shop, is also author of the book "Sturgeon Fishing in Bay Waters." He has already had some exciting hook-ups on the bay between storms this week.

Fishing primarily in the "sturgeon triangle," marked by the Pump House, Buoy 5, and China Camp, Keith has caught and released some fish that were over 7 1/2 feet long. He's gotten several other good reports from anglers who've had equally exciting days, including a pair who hooked seven fish in one trip, four of which they got to the boat and most of which were too big to keep. The DFG slot size limit this is year is 46 to 66 inches, which means any fish under 46 or over 66 inches must be released.

Keith books reservations for several different party boats for bay sturgeon and striped bass trips. Call him at (415) 456-0321.

Debbe Vinje, at Leonard's Bait Shop at Port Sonoma, has gotten some good reports on sturgeon fishing near the Pump House, and at the mouth of the Petaluma River and near Marker Three on the Napa River. She says that the sturgeon seem to be biting in all of the usual places.

She has plenty of live grass and ghost shrimp, pile worms and eel for bait. Call Debbe at 762-7818 for more information.

And speaking of monsters in the water, giant squid are still prowling off the coast. With clearing weather Capt. Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sportfishing has a daily schedule for his party boats to go out after this huge calamari. Scott Cassell, who has made several different video shows for television showing his dives into the middle of these aggressive predators, will be on Rick's boat Sunday (and possibly Monday) to dive under the boat and videotape the squid while angles are catching them. To read more about Cassell and his adventures go to: http://diver.net/seahunt/fend/f_scottc.htm. To book a trip on Capt. Rick's boats, call him at 875-3344.
The big International Sportsmen's Exposition is now underway at the San Mateo County Event Center through Sunday. This is a great fishing and hunting event with lots of seminars, booths, exhibits, guides, resort owners and outfitters. You can get directions to the Expo at www.smeventcenter.com. For more information on the Expo itself, go to sportsexpos.com.

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is requesting assistance from the public in slowing the spread of New Zealand mud snails. The tiny invasive aquatic snails were confirmed last month to live in Lake Shasta and previously have been discovered in numerous bodies of water in California. These non-native invasive species didn't get here by swimming from New Zealand. To help prevent further spread of the snails, anglers and others who frequent California waters are asked to thoroughly clean all gear that comes in contact with the water, prior to moving to another location.