Coastal Update

Coastal Update Summer/Fall 2023

Summer/Fall 2023

 

Shore fishing update/assessment

 

Image taken from "@Thegreenkane/X" (I have no idea who that is or what it means)

 

Well, with no salmon season and the usual predicted delay to the start of dungeness crab, I'm honestly not sure what to write for a fall update. Let's begin with a bit of griping about the summer...

 

                        The elusive Pacific sardine

 

Maybe if some of my beloved forage fish (surf smelt, or night smelt, or sardines, or mackerel or... ?) had shown up in numbers worth noting I'd be a tad more optimistic. But they didn't and so I'm not. (I should add there have been a lot of jacksmelt around this summer. But I don't eat those wormy basura smelt. So I'm not counting them).

And yes, there have been reasonable numbers of anchovies. But the ones I keep getting aren't even big enough to feed the cat.

Did I mention how many night smelt I caught this year? 30 pounds for 9 trips, with 20# of those caught on a single night in May... so yeah, that's terrible).

And yes, I know about the surf smelt that showed up on local beaches. But again... not worth noting

 

  2/3 of my entire night smelt take for 2023. Ouch.

 

Surf Perch

 

                    Not one calico all year!!!!!!!!

 

And perch.... Wow. I mean honestly, the surf perch numbers this year were truly abysmal (and I had plenty of opportunities!) I think I caught a total of three good sized perch in ten trips down to my favorite (usually very productive) spots along the San Mateo coast. I should add that I have no idea what's going on at beaches north of SF, having lost my two go-to Marin perch operatives in the last year or so. But in SF and points south I've had about as much luck (minus a whole lot of 5 inch silvers and walleyes) fishing for perch as I usually have for sturgeon... which is to say... I've caught a whole lotta nuthin'—or nothing worth mentioning. Even Sea Forager operative #007, Champion de la Banana admits that the perch bite was "not so good, Champion."

BUT... winter is usually excellent for perch. Especially "structure" perch like rubber lips, piles, and blacks. So... a trip to Sea Forager secret location ___________  might be in order. Stay tuned for the video! (More on that below).

Also - did you know that we now have Sea Forager SURF PERCH Hoodies and T-shirts?

Designed by extraordinary local artist Leighton Kelly, illustrator for The Sea Forager's Guide to the Northern California Coast, the back features a composite of our local perch species, and the front features the beautiful barred surf perch. You'll be the envy of every surf fisherman in this fly hoodie or T-shirt! Modeled here by Sea Forager fisherman Niko von Broembsen. Reel it in!

 

Now For Some Good News

 

This turned out to be a great season for stripers on Pacifica Pier and surrounding beaches. Lots of anchovies in the water, pelicans diving and the usual phalanx of pier rods from the breakers out to the end. Hopefully a few of you got out there. I've now spoken to three separate "pier rats" who had multiple consecutive limits over a two month span. One of those was aforementioned Sea Forager Operative #007 Champion de la Banana, who reports: "There was too many, Champion! Too many!" I wonder how the chinook salmon population feels about that. 

 

        The universal lure for Bay Area Striper Fishing: The Hair Raiser (art by Leighton Kelly)

 

Up in the North Bay there have been some insane striper numbers too. Champion shore fisher Jack Luong reports catching 50 in one day! Yes most of these were schoolies, but still... that's a very good day of striper fishing for anybody.

 

Cali Hali

 

The halibut bite this year has been nothing short of stupendous. The small skiffs are still whacking 'em halfway through October! Yikes. If you haven't caught a halibut this year there's still time to book a trip with Adam Sewall of Gatherer Outfitters Happy pics of his customers below:

 

 

BTW I should point out that despite the ridiculous numbers of halibut coming in via small skiff and charter boat, the shore fishing for halibut has been rather mediocre. Shore fisherman par excellence Jack Luong, says succinctly "it's been slow." In 2019 Jack caught 50 some odd flatties fishing from shore. 

 

Photo credit: NBC/Photofest

 

On a side note... this was the year I most regretted selling The Enterprise. I thought the happiest day in the life of a boat owner was supposed to be the day he sells his boat. Not for me damn it! Waaahhh! I miss my boat. I miss catching big fish!  I miss picking up the radio receiver and saying "This is Captain Kirk on the Enterprise." Wah.

 

Monkeyface Eels

 

A-hem. Sorry for that. Whining about shore fishing is kind of ridiculous when one considers how many freakin monkeyface eels I caught this year.

GO POKE POLING!

In fact, it suddenly dawns on me that I caught more monkeyface eels this year than ever before. To anyone who has any knowledge of my strange history with this creature, that should come as a bit of a shock.

So remember, if all else fails there are ALWAYS eels. And you don't need a minus tide to get them. My best day this year came on a +0.8. Nevertheless, there are some big minus tides coming up this winter. And I'm hoping to do a ground breaking monkeyface/horseneck gumbo video soon.

 

                    Lots of big eels this year!

 

Anyway. Poke poling has been awesome all year. With some truly epic grass rockfish days to boot. And not dinks! Big fat freakin eels and rockfish in July-Aug--and they're still biting! Decent tides around Haloween but November to February will see many great negative tides as per usual.

 

            Me poking. Woodblock by Leighton Kelly

 

So bear this in mind. If you are a specialist targeting one type of coastal ecosystem—say, sandy beaches—to the exclusion of others, you will not catch as much ocean protein as the generalist who realizes the bite is dead and moves over to the rocks or tide-pools or mudflats. Just sayin. 

 

Going Forward:

 

                        Doing My Thing

 

I've been catching some truly ginormous bat rays on my tours and classes of late. And tour goers ask me why I don't eat them. Well... I mean as a fishmonger alone I have access to more fish than a herd of sea lions could hope to scarf in a year of scarfing. So I don't really have the need to start bonking bat rays and filleting the wings. However, I should point out that ray wings are quite good. But don't take my word for it. Here's a post about bat ray wings from James Beard award winning blogger/writer/podcaster Hank Shaw:  bat ray wings:

To those of you who don't know about Hunter Angler Gardener Cook... All I can say is, you're missing out.

Oh and here's the interview I did with Hank earlier this year.

 

Fall Run Chinook Salmon: The 600 Pound Gorilla in the Room

Before we dive into this, remember that each run of the chinook salmon is actually managed as a separate and distinct species. In the past there were Winter, Spring and Fall salmon runs. Now the only fishable run left to us is the fall run. The winter run is basically doomed. The spring run is in equally perilous shape. Here's a recent article about it in The Chronicle.

As mentioned at the beginning of this update the usual fall salmon season has been closed this year. Hopefully that changes next year, though that seems unlikely. Here's the thing. Ocean salmon populations fluctuate over time. And good rain years tend to equal big salmon years (see graph below)...

If you've made it this far and you're interested in being better educated on the subject of our precious Chinook salmon resource please drop everything and visit the Golden Gate Salmon Association website. It is important to understand just how tenuous the situation is. It's not just about global warming, as many people seem to think. It's about water allotment, agri-business, money, politics, habitat degredation, predatory species, dams, pumps, siltation of gravel beds, the limitations of hatchery science, and much much more. In fact, at the end of reading “The Problem” page on their website, one marvels that any salmon exist in the central valley system at all.

                Damn I miss my boat

 

However, if you're going to take the time to read that page, make sure you click “the Solution” at the end. Otherwise you may walk away feeling hopeless—when there is always hope! Remember, salmon have been on the ropes and come back before. There ARE ways to help. Either through donation or just becoming more involved.

Here's a graph worth looking at. The correlation between big rain years and good salmon numbers is irrefutable.

 

... So in other words, we should have a decent season in two years!

And on that hopeful note... goodbye! 

Kirk-out

P.S. I'm thinking of changing the format of these updates. I'd rather do these things as videos. The two I have in mind are a perch fishing video and a coastal gumbo (catch and cook video). So hopefully the next time you hear from me you'll have something to watch, rather than read!

P.P.S. Last TOUR DATES of the year: One spot left in S.F. on 11/4 and four spots on 11/25 in Half Moon Bay (Thanksgiving weekend.)  See you out there!

Anyway... hopefully I'll see you out there in the mudflats!

 

Coastal Update Spring 2023

It's time for the spring coastal update... but where to begin?

First: Tours and Classes!

3 new tour/class dates for July and August. (April, May and June are all sold out).

I've got Mega Lowtide Clam Tours (in HMB) going on Fri July 7th at 08:30 and Thurs Aug 3rd at 07:30 (yeah, that one's for the early birds!)

Also... we've got one City Fishing Class Sat July 22nd @ 08:30 (in SF)

PLUS A CHARTERED HALIBUT FISHING TRIP: Special day trip with Captain Adam and Kirk the Sea Forager aboard the F/V Gatherer Outfitters. Just 7 spots on Thursday, April 27th sign up HERE and enter "sea forager" for 15% off!

Second: SMELT OBSESSION

First description of a "Columbia River Smelt" Feb 24th 1806. From the expedition journals of Meriwether Lewis. Chief Coboway {of the Clatsop} came to the fort to sell hats, sturgeon, and “a species of small fish which now begin to run, and are taken in great quantities . . . by means of skimming or scooping nets.”  

As many of you may know, I am a bit obsessed with the osmeridae—or true smelts. The two local (market available) smelt species in our part of California are the surf smelt and the night smelt (though the endangered longfin and delta smelts also belong to the osmeridae). The more fishy, scaley, behemoth known as a jacksmelt, or it's equally fishy and scaley cousin the top smelt are not true smelts but silversides—think flying fish or grunion.

I first learned about surf smelt while working for the CA DFW's CRFS program. I was stationed at Martin's Beach one Saturday and got to witness a full on surf smelt spawn there—Martin's was famous for smelt spawns back in the day, as anyone who has seen the mural on the wall there can attest. Anyway, I have fished both night smelt and surf smelt commerically and recreationally. And I have spent no small amount of time obsessing over the state of true smelts all over the planet. From the beleaguered and fast disappearing inland smelts of northern Europe to the “eperlans” of the Baltic, to the capelin of Newfoundland, Labrador and points north. The true smelts need clean cold water (even more it seems than salmon) and they perish without it. The fact that we actually have two fishable populations of osmerids in California has always struck me as a bit of a miracle.

But there was once a third. The king of all smelts. A fish deeply important to the native people who hunted and gathered on the West Coast of North America (and less so to the people who arrived here later). That fish, the “super smelt” is called a eulachon. Also known as “hooligan.” Or candlefish. Legend has it that the candlefish was so full of fat and oil it could dried and burned like a candle. Native Amerians in California once prized the oil of the eulachon, and it was so popularly traded amongst the tribes of the interior that east-west trails on the west coast were called “grease trails.” (See video below for eulachon oil extraction in Ak)

In any case, after a long absence, candlefish have (over the last few years) been returning to the Columbia River—and various smaller rivers near it—especially the Cowlitz. This year the Washington Fish and Wildlife Dept decided they didn't see enough smelt in the river to open it to fishing, (even for a few hours). But the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department reported a massive return to the Sandy River, just outside Portland. So last Tuesday they announced that there would be a 7 hour eulachon dip net fishing window from 12pm to 7pm on Thurs 3/30. In short: a seven hour season.

So what's a smelt obsessed fish-head to do? Well... fly to Oregon on a moment's notice, I guess! 

Never thought they'd let me on the plane coming home with ten pounds of smelt as my carry on, but kudos to Alaska Air (“We're very tolerant of fish” said one of the TSA checkers). The rest is, as they say, history. I made the little video below, so you can see what it was like.

FYI: the smelt were decent grilled and pan fried, but smoked they were insane (oily fish do well with smoke, of course). I believe there is still a commercial fishery in Alaska for these fish, and I am looking into how we might get some shipped down here for Sea Forager customers. More on that as it develops.

Night Smelt

Went out last week for night smelt (about two months later than my first trip in a normal winter) and ended up with a net full of yuck. The rivers are still raging up and down the coast and the water quality was like chocolate milk. Chocolate milk with all kinds of insane detritus mixed in. I still managed about 6 pounds, so the wife and I had plenty. Hopefully, as the rains die down and the rivers return to normal, there will be a lot of nightfish around. Smelt tend to react favorably to high rain seasons.

More Smelt

Heard enough about smelt? Ha! Didn't I mention I'm obsessed? I've been looking for surf smelt every single day. Got all excited to see a tern diving near my local beach. Only to discover a few anchovies in the swash. Haven't caught a surf smelt in three years. They seem to have vanished from local waters. May need to take a pilgrammage in June to Humboldt. Ah, for the old days! (Or more like wah, for the old days).

Striped Bass

The Brisbane Tubes, lagoon side (From the RecFin Website)

What can really be said? The last striper I caught was 6 years ago—and that day I was fishing for perch. In truth, I don't even try anymore. Champion de la Banana reports some good striper numbers near Ashby (Frontage Road) in the East Bay. All I can say is if your idea of a good time is fishing for striped bass on the shoulder of I-80 all day, go crazy. Me, not so much. Likewise 101 North. I actually pulled over to watch a guy land a small bass on the east side of the Brisbane Tubes at the end of March. He was throwing swimbaits as they tend to do there. The striper in question was maybe 23 inches.

Halibut

 

The commercial fleet is starting to whack 'em in ernest. And reports are coming in of some shore caught fish in the Oyster Point/Burlingame area. I think as the water clears up there should be quite a few hali around. One thing to bear in mind... when we have a salmon closure, everyone and his brother starts targeting halibut. I've received numerous phone calls from new fishermen looking for markets (why is it that these guys tend to be so surprised when I tell them I have all I need?) Anyway, I always think that the halibut are going to start declining due to increased fishing pressure. And yet they never do. Not sure why they are so resilient (is this just phony optics?) Maybe there are way more local hali than anyone even knows. Seems to me like a 2-fish limit for the sport fishery wouldn't be a terrible thing. Or maybe they should close the commercial fishery to anyone who hasn't averaged at least a thousand pounds over the last five years... or something... anything. But just ignoring the potential problem seems insane to me. That's my two cents anyway. 

Surf Perch

            Exhibit A: Redtail surf perch                                            Exhibit B: Calico surf perch

Probably a good idea to be able to tell these two apart. Redtail (left) min size 10.5 in... calico (right) any size will do.

This just in:  Champion de la Banana reports limits of perch in Pacifica and HMB. With a good number of redtails mixed in with the barreds. The reason I am including this picture is that I saw a fisher-woman over the weekend with a whole lot of 9-10 inch redtails that she was calling "california perch." I assume she meant "calico." Or maybe she was just totally clueless. In any case she had a over a thousand dollars worth of violations in her bucket. Don't be that person. Study the two pix above!

Salmon

For those of you that haven't heard the news. Here's all you need to know about the upcoming non-salmon season:

Tours and Classes: Spring dates sold out fast, so I added a few more for Summer. Join me out there (or give one as a gift) BOOK NOW! 

3 new tour/class dates for July and August. (April, May and June are all sold out).

I've got Mega Lowtide Clam Tours (in HMB) going on Fri July 7th at 08:30 and Thurs Aug 3rd at 07:30 (yeah, that one's for the early birds!)

Also... we've got one City Fishing Class Sat July 22nd @ 08:30 (in SF)

And if you're still looking for a sustainable seafood source for your weeknight supper, you know where to find me! We had some fun doing live crab pop-ups, and while the crab season is basically over there's a lot more tasty, sustainable, seasonal seafood for you. 

And that should do it! Hopefully we'll see ya out there.

Kirk-out

 

 

Coastal Update Winter 2023

Coastal Update Winter 2023

        The Spawn is On! (note the foam) Spinnaker, Sausalito. 1/20/23 1pm)

 

Wow. I've been praying to Poseidon for rain for about a decade and now we've had a decade's worth of rain in one month! Careful what you ask for, I guess. I gave my two cents in this story: On Your Mark, Get Set, Spawn: The Annual SF Bay Herring Run Is About to Begin. If you're tempted but don't know how to cast a herring net...I'll plug my new coastal foraging class dates HERE. 

Anyway here's the skinny on the storm of the decade:

1. Yes we need the water. No it isn't the end of the drought (though every bit helps). If you have any interest in our current water predicament, Alastair Bland, (great writer and brother in the herring), recently published this informative piece in Cal Matters... please check it out: Is California’s drought over? Here’s what you need to know about rain, snow, reservoirs and drought

2. As if the—now normal—delay to the crab season wasn't hard enough on the crab fleet, the fishermen, having lost Thanksgiving and Christmas (historicallty the two biggest market days for local crab) have been utterly pounded for the last month. Huge seas and driving winds do not treat crab pots gently. Bear in mind that a fully rigged crab trap costs the fisherman approx 300-400 bucks. And a lot of the guys dropped pots in shallow water this year (as there were some crabs inshore) and many of these poor souls lost a lot of pots. I'm hearing about long time veterans putting their boats up for sale, having heart attacks... this kind of stuff. Bear in mind what happens when a pot gets sanded in. One guy described to me having to put a large car engine-driven-pump on board the boat, feeding the ejection tube down the length of the rope and power blasting the sand out of the trap. This takes hours. Many hours. In rough seas. Imagine that you've got 100 pots to clear. Eee gads. No thanks.

3. The crab dock price has fluctuated wildly. The only consistent thing has been inconsistency. Some buyers are paying pennies (the largest seafood company on the west coast opening at $2.00 per # was like a dagger in the heart to some guys--seriously). Small “truck buyers” paid more and weekend dock sales down in HMB have been around 12 bucks per pound (that was two weeks ago, on the two boats I checked). Some buyers at the wharf are reporting that they can't get rid of their crabs and some can't get enough. So WTF? Honestly, I can't make any sense out of it.

4. But since we're on the subject of crab I want to announce that I've never been happy with the way we do crab at Sea Forager. The reasons are as follows: 1. everyone wants live crab, 2. I can't keep crabs alive in a cooler filled with ice. 3. Cooking is expensive, time consuming and a general pain in the caudal fin. Plus which half the fun of Sea Forager is cooking the stuff yourself, right? 4. In the old days we used to split the crabs into pieces and deliver them raw, dead and halved. As much as I like crabs this way, not everybody does. So...

5. WE'RE GOING TO TRY AN EXPERIMENT. Some day soon we're going to do a Sea Forager crab pop-up! Stay tuned for details about live crab delivery. I will make 3-4 strategic stops where people can come and get live crab (I mentioned this up above so no need to repeat it all here). Camilla will fill in the details in a few days. If it works out, if you guys actually buy enough to make it worthwhile, I'll continue doing it... anyway, more on this later.

HERRING!

Important: I am no longer sending text blasts and tweets about herring. If you want to know details about the 2023 herring spawns check out the The Herring Report on thelostanchovy.com

Winter for this particular sea forager could more aptly be called herring season. (Most of you probably know this). I start getting the itch in late November and by mid January if I haven't been on a spawn I start getting grumpy. Like I want to knock people's hats off grumpy. Which is about where I am now.

 

                                                                            Spinnaker 01/20/23

 

Third hand reports from various biologists inform us that we've got an epically huge biomass inside SF Bay right now and because there has been so little gill netting the last few years (commercial pressure has been almost zero) lots of larger (read: older) fish—the likes of which we haven't seen in decades—are showing up in the DFW test trawls.

Anyway we've all been ready for the herring to spawn since Christmas but the herring have had other ideas. So much fresh water has been pumped into the system since December that the “silver darlins” seem to be holding off on their procreative behavior. Word has it that some fish showed up by the Ferry Pavilion in Sausalito the last three nights (1/17-1/21) around high tide, but despite crazy midnight texts from people I don't know :( there hasn't really been a proper spawn. Most of the nets pictured in these texts had a max of 5-6 fish. In any case Sausalito is sure to blow up any day now (in fact it's wide open at Spinnaker as I write this 1:10pm on 1/20/23) so keep an eye on thelostanchovy.com. And please don't send me texts unless the netters are averaging at least 5 pounds per throw!

Peninsular Herring & Etc

Last year was the first time in a decade that the fish skipped Coyote Point/Burlingame entirely—which is just as well for me since HWY 92 remains closed. So I'm really hoping for a big spawn along the old China Basin area between the stadiums or maybe Candlestick Point again (like last year) but numerous drive-bys have yielded zero signs of imminent spawns in those areas.

                                     Fish Guttin Lassie

For those Bay Area residents who have never witnessed a herring spawn, I encourage you to get out there and see one. How do you know when it's happening? (See thelostanchovy.com) Look at the bay and pay attention to birds! In winter months, if you see huge flocks of cormorants, or pelicans diving in the bay, or sea lions chasing fish in the shallows, or thousands of gulls waiting for the tide to go out so they can hop down the rocks and feast on eggs—then you are witnessing an inshore herring spawn. A magical event that has been happening for hundreds of thousands of years. Hopefully the timing works out this year and there is actually some commercial herring available on the days our deliveries go out, how nice would that be? Only problem is there's only two boats fishing and as far as I know they haven't even dropped nets yet. Fingers crossed. (And if you're new here, you can find some vintage Sea Forager herring entertainment here.)

BTW former employee of Sea Forager Will West is planning to start his tinned herring biz this year with the San Francisco Herring Company. Godspeed!

 

Night Smelt

Last year started well and ended badly for the night smelt—not gonna lie. I can't imagine all this rain is going to improve that. But one thing to know, if it turns out to be a decent year I may be inclined to start up my night smelt tours again. We'll see how it goes by the end of February.

 

Salmon News

 

 

The news out of salmon nation is... words escape me... Dismal? Dark? Depressing? Choose your D word. I'm going to try to summarize this in as few words as possible. So please excuse the lack of nuance here. Salmon returns to the Sacramento Basin are monitored closely by DFW. In order for DFW to open the Chinook salmon season they want to see 122,000 salmon returns to the Sac Basin at a base minimum. This year's count.... drum roll please... somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000. But wait, it gets worse! Every year DFW makes fairly accurate estimates of ocean abundance based on jack counts. Jacks are two year old fish that return to spawn early in their life cycle. They comprise a small subset of spawning salmon but the formula by which ocean populations can be predicted via jack count has proven to be fairly accurate over the years. Suffice to say, the jack count this year was terrible. As bad as 2007's jack count which lead to complete closure of the salmon fishery in 2008.

 

Want some good news? Too bad, there isn't any!  Due to the fact that anchovies have been super abundant the last few years, salmon are feasting on anchovies in great profusion. What this means is that they aren't eating krill and other foods that give them the nutrients they need to make healthy babies. To summarize, many baby salmon are suddenly being born with a Thiamin (Vitamin B1) deficiency. These small fry are so deformed and weak they don't even make it to the ocean. Last year the DFW actually administered Thiamin to hatchery salmon and guess what? It worked (your tax dollars going to something worthwhile). But what about all the fish that don't spawn in hatcheries? What about the native spawners? The wild fish? Well... to summarize a conversation with a fisheries biologist... “they're fucked.” If you are a true glutton for punishment, here's another article by ace reporter Alastair Bland: Thiamin deficiency.

 

 

Ok so now it's time for good news, right? Ha ha. Not so fast! It actually gets worse. Remember last year when the season was broken up into multiple open/closed days so that fisheries managers could more closely monitor commercial catch? The number they had projected at the beginning of the season was 87,000 some odd commercially caught fish. But despite all the head aches associated with last year's start n' stop season, the official count is now in. The commercial fleet caught somewhere around 215,000 chinook salmon. Ugh. Way over the projected number. But here's the thing... there were a lot of fish from other areas (non Sacramento Basin fish) mixed in with the catch. This is, after all, a mixed fishery. So the question is... what percentage of that large catch number were Sacramento fish? And what percentage came from non Sac hatcheries, Oregon and Washington? Or conversely, is that 215,000 caught salmon number the reason why only 60-70,000 fish returned to the spawning grounds? The big DFW salmon meeting happens in early March. There fisheries managers will crunch the numbers and come up with some answers. But hopes for a California salmon season in 2023 look bleak.

Look, I realize this all seems very doom and gloomy. But honestly the best thing you can do is support the sustainable fisheries that we do have. Blackcod, rockfish, herring, halibut, albacore. Salmon will rebound, just like they did from 2009-2022. The advantage to having a state-run hatchery system is that we can figure out how many fish are out there and when they need a break. I will keep everyone posted when the meeting happens in March. Until then... that's it for my coastal update winter 2023. Looking forward to meeting some of you guys on the new crab delivery day (haven't decided yet what day of the week that's gonna be, but stay tuned).

NEW TOUR DATES: I just added more dates for my coastal foraging classes HERE. Join me! Outside magazine

LIVE SEA SHANTIES: Raise a glass of grog with The Fishwives on Saturday, February 4th (2-6pm, 21+) at a pirate party in support of the Pacifica Resource Center. DETAILS.

Hope to see you out there!

Kirk-out

 

Winter 2022-23 Coastal Update

Coastal update 

Hi all! Kirk here with your Sea Forager Winter update.

Crab

Depending on who you ask, local dungeness crab fishing has been terrible to fair to excellent to disturbing. For instance John “Champion de la Banana” Bebelos, everyone's favorite son of Hellas, and the guy who makes all the crab snares for Sea Forager, informs us that this is “the worst year ever” in Pacifica. A random sampling of jetty wall crabbers heading back to their cars with empty buckets last weekend in HMB seemed to confirmed this... While Sea Forager shore fishing master (and beach picker) Jack Luong says: “actually it's been pretty good.” Speaking to one of the DFW fish checkers who works the docks and party boats, we learn that the sporties returning to boat ramps around the bay area are “doing well” and the party boats have been “whackin' em.”

But a slightly unerving stream of consciousness 45 minute diatribe from master naturalist Josiah “Radagast” Clark, organizer of the yearly SF Crab Derby at Linda Mar, a guy who has logged more fishing hours onboard a kayak than anyone in the last 200 years (seriously), reveals these interesting tidbits...

1. This year has been sub par. But better than last year. Thank god!

2. Lots of sickly weird looking “hospital crabs” and ugly “skip molts” with missing limbs and black spots.

3. Water levels seem to be higher than ever, even on tides that shouldn't be particularly high. “Is this a by product of melting glaciers?” (asks Josiah)

4. Weird clusters of yellow rock crab (a species usually associated with Southern California).

5. Almost no jumbo sized crabs at all. And way fewer crabs than there used to be.

So now that you've read all this, here's the take away: “go crabbing.” The season is open. Some folks are getting crabs. Some folks aren't. It's why they call it fishing not catching!  One thing for sure: you won't get any crabs sitting here reading this. And you definitely stand a better chance getting out there before the commercial season opens. And if you're looking for the perfect snares that are handmade and badass, 2 per order, look no further: *SHOP* 

 

Sturgeon

Me with one of three dinks I've managed to catch in the last 35 years!

 

Winter ambition: I plan to catch a keeper sturgeon this year. I don't care what it takes. It's ridiculous that I've never done this. I've caught a total of three in my entire life. All three were under the size limit. I've also hooked and lost two: one when the bozo I was fishing with bonked it with the landing net. And one that took me on a very enjoyable kayak sleigh ride south of the Dumbarton Bridge--only to break my heart after about 20 minutes by rolling in the line as I was clumsily attempting to get it alongside the kayak. They say my screams can still be heard echoing around Alviso Creek. In any case I'm done with this failure. I'm on the hunt. Hear that sound? It's the sound of scutes shaking. This year, I will not be denied!

 

Sea Forager Operative #007 Champion de la Banana with a sturgeon caught near Coyote Point fishing ghost shrimp ten years ago.

 

For those who are new to the idea of fishing for our infamous dinosaur catfish, there are some great options. In the North Bay China Camp, Loch Lomond, McNears Pier are great sturgeon fishing spots in the winter. In SF/South bay: Candlestick Park, Burlingame, Coyote Point Jetty and Dumbarton Pier are excellent locations. East Bay, you've got Bay Farm Island near the ferry dock. The advantage of fishing public jetties and piers is that you get to fish two rods. Which makes a huge difference in sturgeon fishing... which is a low action, multiple trip type of deal.

 

Surf Perch

Not sure about bay perch like "pogies" (see above), rubberlips and piles but the beaches have been completely devoid of barred perch, calicoes and redtails. At least in the SF Bay Area Beaches. So stay home or go for crab the perch fishing has been terrible all year, and continues to be. Check out my surfperch ceviche recipe here. 

 

Herring

 

Yippee! Herring season is now upon us. Big schools are showing up under the north tower of the GG Bridge, in the shipping lanes and back in the Sausalito Channel as I write this. Woot. The last few years have been very weird. With some of the usual areas getting zero spawns and other areas not “going off” till late Feb or early March. One would think with the general lack of commercial interest in our local herring these last few years, that the biomass would be insane. Hopefully we get a monster season. If you are interested in herring follow me on instagram @seaforager. I am known to occasionally offer clues as to where the bigger spawns are happening. And don't forget it's a two bucket limit, and a single bucket will take you all freakin day to process. Call Gus's discount tackle for herring throw nets! Oh and BTW Sea Forager alum Will West is starting his own local herring company - check it out here!

Also join me at this upcoming EVENT: IN PRAISE OF SMALL FISHES! 12/8, 5pm. Bernal Cutlery SF hosts an evening celebrating small fish with me, Kirk, and acclaimed SF chef Stuart Brioza of the Anchovy Bar. Join us!

That's gonna do it for Winter 2022... Till spring, fish on!

Kirk-Out

Fall 2022 Coastal Update

Coastal Update

Hi everyone! Kirk here with the Sea Forager Fall update.

Red Tides

                                                                                                   Yucky water                                                     

(Photo by Darwin BonGraham, The Oakside)

I've lived in the Bay Area for 30 years and I've never seen anything like this. Basically what's happening is a sort of perfect storm of conspiring problems. It's actually reducible to a very simple equation:

a = naturally occurring phytoplankton bloom (red tide)

b = abnormally high temperatures (global warming, maybe?)

c = too much nitrogen (from treated human excrement) in the water

d = dead fish everywhere (DFE)

So...

A + B + C = DFE

SF Chronicle Algae Bloom, Tara Duggan explains this equation in detail, with nice infographics too. It makes sense that the die offs seem to be highest in shallow areas (that's anecdotal, btw). But it seems obvious that in a wide shallow flat or a contained shallow area like Lake Merritt, you're gonna see a lot of dead fish. In the case of Lake Merritt, there's no place for the fish to go, no swimming down deep to get more oxygen.

The most striking photo I saw was not the one with dozens of dead sturgeon (talk about depressing, sturgeon live over a hundred years, and their populations are already a tad thin. Ugh.) but the photo of thousands of dead yellowfin gobies. Yellowfin are commonly called mudsuckers in SF angler parlance. They are an invasive species from Asia—having arrived here via ballast water in the hulls of tankers. In any case, if there were ever a hardy species honed by evolution to endure pretty much anything that nature can throw at it, it's the yellowfin goby. To see a photo showing many hundreds if not thousands of dead gobies is pretty mind blowing and it underscores just how severe this particular problem is. 

Sign this Baykeeper petition if you'd like to do a little something about the problem.

Above Photo: Darwin Bond Graham

Salmon

Well... we were all jazzed for the Sept 1^st commercial salmon opener and then it happened and... (sound of deflating balloon). Which is weird because we've been seeing so many (hundreds) of sport boats off of Montara and Devil's slide and Pacifica. Thing is, commercial boats aren't usually interested in fishing in the midst of so many sport boats. Makes trolling next to impossible. Also, sport fish tend to be smaller than the 28 inch commercial minimum. Also, you have to figure all this hot weather is pushing the salmon way down low where it's cooler (and they're harder to get). Stay tuned. The season is open all of September (the only full month of fishing allowed this year—great it's finally open when there are almost no fish around! #thanksDFW. Word is circulating that there may not even be a salmon season next year. I guess we'll have to wait to see how the jack count goes... oy veh.) I wrote this and then managed to find some salmon this week. Who knows maybe it picks up over the weekend. September is usually a great month. Time will tell.

Halibut

Warm weather isn't all doom and gloom. California halibut like it. They like it a lot. For those willing to brave the waters just outside the gate the ocean is literally teaming with local hali. Ian on the Greylight, told me he caught 700 pounds (hook and line) in one day (I got half of those). There are drag boats who don't typically catch that much. It's actually quite astonishing to me that there are so many halibut this year. I thought it would start to fade in September, as it usually does, but this may be the biggest month of the year. Go figya. Most of the fish are outside the bay but a few are still being caught on all the local piers.

Striped Bass

What can be said, this year has really sucked as far as stripers go. I mean, I haven't even seen one let alone caught one! Although if we're counting dead ones floating belly up in the bay, well yeah, I've seen quite a few. Ugh.

Surf Perch

The surf perch bite gets a C for 2022. I almost said D+ but it's actually starting to pick up a bit on my local beach so C it is! I'm wondering if the larger perch are all congregating somewhere on a long lost beach I've never fished. I'm really jonesing for the days when I routinely caught my limits of calicoes and barreds... are those days over? Or is it just another negative detail courtesy of the hottest and driest summer on record? I dunno. It isn't for a lack of sand crabs. I'm seeing zillions of the little buggers every time I'm out there. Last minute update: Ace perch man Champion de la Banana reports a hot bite in HMB (yeah that's a big area so I'm not burning the exact spot!) He caught 20 monster barreds and redtails on Monday 9/12. Plus two stripers! I will check it out tomorrow. Hopefully he didn't catch 'em all!

Small Fish

Well if you're into small schooling mid water species like anchovy and sardine you're in luck. This is the summer you've been waiting for! I stopped by Pier 7 on my way home from the wharf yesterday and it was really something to behold. I saw one angler fishing two sabikis end to end (the Sea Forager editorial machine does not condone breaking DFW laws) with a bucket about 2/3 full of mixed sardines and anchovies. The fish were all right at the surface. Dude would dip his sabiki in the water, jig it two or three times, and lift it out loaded with fish. I mean every hook. That's just nuts. Anyway, if you want to go legal, you can only use three hooks and it's gonna take you a lot longer to fill that bucket. The sardines were mediums, no large ones, but
the anchovies were toads... I mean big fatties! Yes the water was red with algae bloom. But I spoke to several people who told me it's been red for over a month and they have been eating anchovies every day.

Molluscs

Likewise... the usual throng of clammers doesn't seem to be particularly perturbed by the red tides. This is a bit odd. You would think someone would warn these people. Or maybe they don't care? Of all the things you might want to avoid during a massive algal bloom, clams would have to be number one, right? Mussels are, of course, off limits till the end of October due to the annual quarantine. Call this number for updates 800-553-4133.

Seaweeds

The area where I tend to see nori, just simply didn't produce at all this year. Which is odd. And slightly disturbing. Too much hot weather? I've been able to score a few big pieces of bullkelp tho. Yes, just floating in the waves. The secret with bullkelp is of course finding the stalks that aren't rubbery... or in the words of the great Peter Howorth: “If it bends like a rubber hose it'll probably taste like one.” Look for bullkelp on beaches after a storm or high winds. Make sure it doesn't look like it's been lying there for a week. Cut the stalk into rings and pickle them in your favorite pickling solution, no need to brine them first, they have plenty of salt as is.

That'll do it for this lovely Summer of 2022. Hopefully things cool down in the next few weeks. ALSO:

1. NEW TOUR DATES! I added new dates for my Fall/Winter coastal foraging classes in San Francisco and Half Moon Bay.
2. WE'RE HIRING! Join the team, and/or tell your fish-loving friends. Singing not required.
3. BIRTHDAY GIFT: Sea Forager is 9! Share Sea Forager with your friends & neighbors and enjoy a free share ($28) when they sign up. Plus, they'll get a $10 web store bonus! Just have them write your name in the referral field. Existing CSF members only, through 9/30/22. 
4. PARTY WITH US! Celebrate Coastal Cleanup Day and the Migrating Oceans Mural Project with The Fishwives at Hop Dogma Brewery, Half Moon Bay 9/17, 4-6pm.
5. NEW LOCATIONS: Reel in your seafood supper at Driftwood (SOMA, S.F.), Vin Vino Wine (Palo Alto), and Kensington (Berkeley Hills). And if there's someplace else you think we should be, drop us a line!  

Alright, that's it. Hope to see you out there!

Kirk-out

(Anchovy pix by Sea Forager CSF members Anne Lopez, top, and Hope Henderson, bottom. Bull kelp drawing by Leighton Kelly.)

Spring/Summer 2022 Coastal Update

Coastal Update Spring/Summer 2022                                                                                                                        

                                                             I'm back!

After a two + year Covid-induced hiatus from doing walking tours and on-shore fishing classes, I will be offering (limited) tours this year! But here's the thing. I want to take fewer people and prioritize private groups. I'm offering a single chartered halibut trip with Adam on Thursday, May 12th, plus new dates for my San Francisco coastal fishing & foraging walking tour and a couple Mega Low Tide tours in Half Moon Bay. Book those here: Sea Forager Tours and read details below!

I also want to take a moment to alert you guys to a couple of people you should know about. Cap'n Adam Sewell and Todd "King of Mushrooms" Spanier.

Adam and co. (left) and..... Todd Spanier (right)

 

First: Adam Sewell of Gatherer Outfitters. I've mentioned Adam quite a few times before. At the start of covid I was his main halibut buyer. But we've known each other for years. Remember this article? Homeschool Fishing Family

Anyway, Adam says he wants to expand beyond his usual clientele and pointed out that every time he has a Sea Forager member on his boat, he wonders... how do I get more people like these to sign up?

So we've hatched a plan: Adam is offering a 15% discount to all Sea Forager members for any halibut trip in SF Bay. In addition, I will be accompanying Adam on Thursday, May 12th for the Kirk And Adam Double Whammy Sea Forager Members Only Hali Adventure. So if you want to spend a day listening to me rail on and on (as I am wont to do) about fishing and coastal foraging, bay ecology, history, fisheries, sustainability and etc, while Adam puts you on the fish, then sign up now!

 

The other guide that I'd like to introduce you to is new friend Todd Spanier. Todd does his guiding in the forest. The founder of California Truffle Orchards and King of Mushrooms, Todd can teach you how to safely and happily hunt and gather your own mushrooms. But more than that, he will inspire you with the magic and wonder of our foggy northern Cali forests. As much as Todd may be the “King” of mushrooms, he's really more like the 7-foot tall “Yoda” of mushrooms! His weekend mushrooming expeditions target whatever types of mushrooms are in season, and the price includes room and board for the two days. You can read more about it by perusing the flier below. (You'll notice his phone # is on the flier if you have questions). There are still spots left for the May 14-15 Morel adventure.

          

                                    Click the image for the larger, readable version.

 

Todd also does wholesale mushrooms and we look forward to providing some of his bounty in the next few weeks. Here's what a box of oyster mushrooms and wild fiddlehead ferns looks like below. They'll go great with our shrimp, cured salmon roe and sustainable fish sauce on our store! More add-ons available soon...

 

Let's Talk About The "S" Word

 

     Lance Nacio (Pic from conserve fish.org)

For the first time in our existence, Sea Forager is offering shrimp in our store! Most shrimp farming and trawling is heinously unsustainable, but fisherman Lance Nacio goes through insane effort to sustainably harvest shrimp and minimize his impact, so we can finally enjoy shrimp!

We are thrilled to offer one pound blocks of plate-frozen-on-the-boat (!) deveined and de-headed medium sized gulf shrimp. Lance is exactly the type of fisherman we want to support. How many fishermen on the planet volunteer to adapt their gear types, to actually catch fewer fish and prevent endangered animals from getting killed, when they are not required by law to do so? Seriously. Bravo Lance, happy to finally be selling your shrimp. In fact I ate them for dinner last night. Yum. Read about Lance Nacio here. We  can feel great about these domestic, highly well-regulated, and delicious shrimp. 

Now, for the update!

 

Chinook Salmon

This is it. Get on it now. The salmon bite has been wide open everywhere since the opener. DFW told us there were massive numbers of salmon off the coast this year—and for once they were right!!! ;) Drop everything get on a boat now! The best big charter boat for salmon is The Outer Limits out of Sausalito. The Outer Limits is now captained by former deckhand Christian Kavanagh. Tell him I said, “Hi!” Drop everything and sign up now! No kidding this is the moment we've all been waiting for. My other favorite big charter is New Captain Pete out of Half Moon Bay. There's a 5 day commercial salmon opener beginning Sunday, all the people I know will be out for all 5 days, so it's unlikely we'll have any salmon for next week. 

 

Cali Hali

             Sea Forager's Jack Luong

 

The early season halibut bite has been epic. Just make sure if you're going, you look at your tide book and select gentle gradients (not a huge difference between low and high tide). Some newbies out there have been learning the hard way about the wind in SF Bay. Honestly it's no joke. If you're on a kayak way out in the middle of the bay, and the wind picks up, you've got problems. Hug the shore, don't skimp on the radio, and pay attention to the tide and wind. Yada yada... I'm mentioning this because I spoke to someone who almost died out there last week—don't make dumb rookie mistakes. Windy.com is a good place to check on local wind conditions.

(BTW the picture of Jack above is from a couple of years ago... the shore bite for hali has been slow, you really need to get out on the kayak or boat for the good numbers right now).

 

Striped Bass

 

 

Some decent striper action has been happening in the bay. Especially around Coyote Point. Also small just-legal schoolies (honestly, the only ones you really want to eat as far as methyl mercury goes ) have been showing up on the beaches from Pacifica south. (Champion de la Banana—agent 007—reports catching several bass last week on ghost shrimp—while fishing for perch).

 

Surf Perch

 Buddy Jerry sends this pic of his wife Jennifer with a hawg redtail! Good work guys!

 

The perch bite has been good/great on all the local beaches esp. when high tide coincides with late afternoon... (admittedly none of my perch guys are early birds so as far as early morning tides... who knows?)

I've gotten several nice reports of huge redtails from Bolinas to Bodega. And some huge calicoes and barreds on the beaches in Half Moon Bay. Sand crabs and gulp worms are working well. Champion de la Banana who catches more perch than anyone, uses ghost shrimp exclusively--unless there are soft-shelled sand crabs around--just sayin.

 

Forage Fish

Above pic by Leighton Kelly (who did all the art in my book). Click here for his catalogue.

 

Sardines (!)

Glad to report sardines in the bay right now. Mostly these have been little ones--anchovy sized. But sardines nonetheless. My commercial hali crew says they don't last very long as a drift bait but the shore guys love 'em. Not to mention the culinary potential of small sardines (!) Best spots have been all the piers on the north end of the city (Fort Pt, Muni Pier, Ft Mason and The Piers around Fisherman's Wharf). The Sabiki contingent tells me white-feathered minimalist rigs in the day and the gaudy sparkling chartreuse tinted ones in the evening/night. Low tide has been better than high. Here's a little video I shot behind the Sea Forager nerve center at the wharf to show you what you can expect. I shot this yestereday. (Thanks Lee).

 

 

One other interesting thing. I noticed that the guys catching the sardines also appeared to be catching a bunch of medium/small herring. Seemed a bit late for herring to still be hanging out in the bay, but closer inspection revealed that the small "herring" I was looking at were a diff type of clupeid! Immature American shad. Not the first time I've seen this, but I've never seen so many in one spot before. Hopefully it portends a big shad year. Can I just say for the record that I would very much like to go shad fishing this year? Seriously. I never seem to time it right... And I always go to the wrong flippin' spot (the reason for this is that I hate combat fishing, so when I see fifty guys elbow to elbow I go to a lovely, uncrowded, scenic location--where there aren't any fish!). Anyone who wants to be my defacto shad guide, taking into account my distaste for combat fishing is welcome to email me at [email protected]. Yes this is a plea.

Jacksmelt. Well... if you don't care about parasitic nematodes there are plenty of jacksmelt around. Heh heh. I saw a guy on pier 14 (near the Klaus Oldenberg bow and arrow) opening a can of wupass on the stinky, scaly silversides last week. So, I'm assuming there are a lot of them around right now--as per usual in April. Top smelt? I have no idea.

There sure are a lot of anchovies in the bay right now—as there seem to be every year now. But most of these are borderline pin-heads (too small for bait or boquerones). I should also point out that I have been finding quite a few night smelt lately, though I will say nothing about how far I've got to drive (and walk) to get to them. It has, nevertheless, been very exciting to see them in good numbers again! As far as their diurnal cousins go. I only have one report. Howe, everyone's favorite E-Z Mart guy, got a few day fish back in early March (!) They evidently got trapped behind a small sand bar in the harbor in HMB. But that does not so much qualify as a "run" as a one in a million lucky day. In any case  I've spent many hours staring like a crazy man into the frothy waves hoping beyond hope that my favorite little fish (H. pretiosus) might come back to my local beaches... but signs look bleak... one can dream, no?

 

Coastal Foraging

 

 

Your big minus tides in April are from Monday the 18^th to Friday April 22...

May is looking good from Sunday May 15^th to Saturday May 21

Poke poling has been great—as per usual. With a lot of cabezon lately for some reason, even though it's April. And clamming is always good on the mega tides--despite massive pressure on the weekends in Princeton Harbor. I'm happy to point out there's a group of volunteers out in the mussel beds instructing people on the more sustainable way to go about gathering stuff (ie: please leave the crow bar at home!) 

There's been a fair cop of nori lately. At least on the San Mateo coast two weeks ago. Remember it's usually high up in the intertidal zone.

 

All of this brings me back to... my new tours! Find your dates and tickets HERE. Makes a great Mother's Day gift, or better yet give her a gift certificate for Sea Forager Seafood! And if you want to get on that charter boat with Adam and I, sign up now.

Ok. That about does it. Hope this finds everyone well. Now get out there and catch a halibut! Or a salmon! Sheesh, we haven't had it this good in years!

Kirk-out

Fall Coastal Update: September 2021

Coastal Update 2021 (It's Not All Bad News)

The hazy scrim of smoke lingering in the skies over our ever-burning California seems to have mingled with the resident fog and produced an eery post-apocalyptic red-grey cloud bank which hovers about 60 feet above sea level at all times of the day.

And that's your coastal update for 9/21. Thanks. And good luck out there!

Kirk-out

Heh... just kidding. But given the state of the world—and California—right now, it seems odd not to mention that our figurative house is on fire. So if you're looking to get out into some cold, wet (ie: non-burning) coastal areas. Here is what's going on. And BTW: it's not all bad news!

Forage Fish

Anchovies

Evidently no one has informed the local anchovy population that the world is on fire. Huge schools of anchovies seem to be propping up everywhere. And many of these are not the usual schools of minuscule pin heads, but proper boquerones-sized anchovy lunkers. Before writing this I drove to my local harbor and spoke to a few strangers (yes, I do this sort of thing in order to research up-to-date, ground breaking reports like this one;). They confirmed what several of my top notch Sea Forager operatives have been telling me: “lot's of bait.” By bait, they meant anchovies. They also told me that the water temp was fluctuating around 63 degrees at the channel buoys. That's warm. Too warm to make a salmon happy but right about where anchovies like it to be (you know the water's warm when you see people body surfing without wetsuits on at local beaches). Years after my TEDx Talk on the subject and the voluminous chapter on Forage Fishes in my Sea Forager Guide, the local citizenry still insists on undervaluing anchovies. Oh well. I saw a guy doing quite well with a small-hook Sabiki at Fort Mason a week ago. Not sure if they're still there. But the jetty in HMB has been a good place to bag anchovies on calm days when they move close to the rocks—but the principle challenge in that location is pelicans. My suggestion: if you can't get the sabiki into the anchovies without risk of snagging birds, better to try a different activity for the day. Here's the some recipes from the fishwife's files. And here's Zak Noles rocking the boquerones:

 

 

False Smelt

 

I don't fish for jack smelt (Champion de la Banana's “basura smelt”) but I know quite a few people who do, so here's what they tell me: jacksmelt have been spotty in the bay this year. Spotty with some great days and some poor days. In other words fishing for jacksmelt this summer has been... well... fishing. There have been some decent jacksmelt days at Candlestick, but one of my old Monkey Face News operatives says that the chance of someone breaking into your car there is about 60% these days. As opposed to 10% a decade ago. Not sure why that would be, but maybe it has something to do with the coming apocalypse (I've never heard so many people using this word, and now look at me, I'm one of them!) My favorite area to get jacksmelt is Robert Wooley Pier next to the Embassy Suites. I do this occasionally for the kids. There's ample room there for them to run around in the grass and at high tide in the summer months there's almost always a few jack smelt around. Watching the styrofoam bobber go down seems to be something most kids find fun. They've also been getting them at Coyote Pt and Fisherman's Park. Yesterday I stopped by Pier 14 and saw a few lunker jacksmelt in a bucket. Thus concludes my jacksmelt update.

True Smelt (Chasing The Sarcasm)

“I go out walking after midnight

Out in the moonlight

just a hoping...”

… that I will get some frickin nightsmelt. And in truth, I always do. The problem is that it takes like 3 hours to get 15 pounds. But at least I get 15 pounds. The rumor mill in my neck of the woods informs me that this has been the best night smelt season in ten years. All I can say is that I must've missed it. I started fishing nighties in February this year and averaged 10-15 pounds per trip. I went once in Feb. Twice in March, twice in April and once in May. But evidently, quoth the rumor mill, “it was wide open” in July. Well, what can I say. I was too early to the dance.

Still it's been better than it was three years ago! Remember this? The most depressing fishing video ever:

Something about the rumor mill: last year I fished nighties all season. At one point a friend of mine who knows very little about nightsmelt (yes, he's barely human) asked me how it went. I said, (I thought with dripping sarcasm) “oh christ I whacked em. I must've got 7 pounds!” About a week later. I ran into another fisherman who knows that I'm a passionate nightsmelt guy. He says to me, “Oh shit Kirk I hear they're whackin the night fish on _________ beach.” So I wait for the next moon, go down to the beach and guess how many nightsmelt I caught in three hours walking the beach like a maniac? That's right 7 pounds. Suspecting where the rumor started, the next day I called my friends and traced the origins of the faulty info. Sure enough, it was me. I was chasing my own sarcasm.

Surf Smelt

I found some surf smelt in the waves

They were golden and supreme

But that is all I'm going to say

Perhaps it was a fleeting dream

Actually it wasn't. They were there. So was I. Wasn't looking for day fish. I was on a rare Lana Turner trip (see below) to a beach I rarely ever fish. The smelt were not spawning. They were not even behaving like smelt. They were hanging in the trough--on an incoming tide (go figya!) I had a net in my back pack, which I had debated leaving at home. I saw some fish. I made two throws and got ten pounds. Went back the next day and got another ten.

And then they were gone.

But at least I saw my favorite fish again! Had a killer dinner and got my kids hooked on 'em. The last time I found day fish was 6 years ago when my boy was 2 years old. Damn, at this rate they'll be back when he's 14.

The Mainstream

Striped Bass

Back in my blogging days all the mainstream big game fishes went by the code name of a classic era hollywood movie starlet--one of my offbeat passions being film noir and B movies. So that when I'd say, "ran into Lana Turner down at Fort Point" there was a lot of confusion from the riffraff and a lot of knowing winks from the MFN fans who were in on the code. Thinking about it now "Barbara Payton" would've made a better code word for striped bass. Being that she chased some real mudsuckers (Tom Neal? Yuck!) and swam in even dirtier waters than Lana did.

               This is an amazing book

I'm so over this fishery. And I am ashamed. I mean, my gawd. How many thousands of casts do I have to make in order to catch one of these brutes? I think my last one was two years ago. Of course, I don't fish them where their concentrations are heaviest: in the bay and delta. I fish them on all the local beaches. But seriously, this fishery is like some form of penance for me. The only encouraging thing is that master bass-man Champion de la Banana (who probably fishes 325 days a year and usually catches 40-60 stripers in that time) has caught a whopping total of two fish. I can state this without hesitation. If “the champion” catches 2 striped bass in a given year, I'm definitely not going to catch any. Word has it that the ocean has been dead for stripers this season, but there are some fish in the bay specifically in the Burlingame area. Haven't checked at Ft. Point in months. All I can say is good luck... you're going to need it!

Salmon

The good salmon numbers have been up north of Bodega. But even there I'm getting mixed reports. The commercial fleet did find the fish a few times since the opener. So there have been a few weeks where boats were averaging well over 100 fish per day. But most of the local sporties I know have been disappointed—or have travelled up to Point Arena to get their fish. Some hawgs in the mix though. Or so they say. 

Halibut

Despite the fact that I'm getting lots of hook and line hali from two of my favorite small boat commercial guys this season, the shore bite in the bay has deeply sucked. In fact the bay in general has been terrible. I've also heard the same thing up the coast in all the small bays and inlets where hali tend to congregate in the summer. Meanwhile I'm picking up 400 pounds of local hali for Sea Forager tomorrow morning—caught by one guy over the last two days. Said “guy” does not tell anyone where he fishes... but this much I know... it ain't in the Bay.

Sea Urchins

Fall is usually the best time for urchins. So do your part in helping end the deforestation of California's kelp groves. Eat uni—especially from local purple urchins!!!!!

Sea Weed

It sure seemed like there was a lot of nori around this summer. Despite thousands of people on the shores. I didn't get around to formally looking for it till a few days ago and the stuff I found was snail eaten and raggedy looking—as it always is this time of year. Waiting for next year I guess.

Kelp (Update on the purple urchin infestation and end of the life as we know it).

I spoke to a spear fisherman friend A.B. (field agent 009) this morning and after bemoaning the lack of halibut in his favorite spot, he informed me that he is seeing signs of kelp forests rebounding. Certain sections of the ocean floor that were stripped bare last year, he said, “are definitely coming back.” Since this information did not sit well with my end of times narrative, I called the one commercial urchin diver I know... or rather I texted him. Here's his (heavily edited) reply:

“Dude, it's true. I'm seeing it too. But it's early. And there are still tons of {purple urchins} everywhere. I'm not sure how the kelp is breaking through. But it's too early yet. If the water temp goes up another 1 or 2 degrees will it all die off again? An el Nino right now would kill us. And will the the {purple urchins} eventually just eat all the new growth? Check back with me this winter.”

Maybe this is not the ringing antidote to my apocalyptic leanings... but it could be worse, right? Maybe there's a bit of hope? A wee bit? A kernel? A smidgin? Maybe the kelp will "keep breaking through" and our kelp forests will come back? (yeah, and maybe the L.A. Dodgers will move back to Brooklyn; and maybe they'll find a breeding population of thylacines in the forests of Tasmania and maybe... you get the point)... I mean, hope springs eternal right?

Sorry. Truth is, things seem bleak right now and I'm just not fishing enough. Hopefully that all changes by the next time I write one of these. 

PS: To those people wondering when I'm going to do tours again, there are two things in the way 1. The delta variant. 2. the vast numbers of people foraging stuff on the coast during these Corona times. Not really excited about the prospect of adding more people to the mix. But stay tuned, there may be hope yet!

P.P.S. AN OUTRAGEOUS REQUEST:
Do you work in publishing? I'm sending out a message in a bottle, so to speak. Since the publication of The Sea Forager's Guide, I've written a novel. And before I dive into the turbid waters of cold-calling agents and publishers who have no idea who I am, I figured it couldn't hurt to cast my line out into the school of Sea Forager friends and see if I get any nibbles. Are there any agents or publishers out there, or friends of said folk? The novel is about a doomed river. The heroes are an orphaned boy, a very mean raccoon, a brown bullhead and a trout. As you may have guessed, fishing figures prominently. If you liked the humorous anecdotes and the writing style of The Sea Forager's Guide, you will most likely enjoy this book. If you have comments, suggestions or leads please give me a shout, thank you!

 

P.P.P.S.

 

NOW ON AUDIOBOOK: THE SEA FORAGER'S GUIDE! After months of reading my own book in the hall closet, the audiobook is now live! I can serenade you with fish tales anywhere you want to go. 

Okay, that's it. Until next time, fish on! 

Kirk-out

Summertime fishing, Father's Day & more....

Happy Father's Day! Time to hit the water. Summertime and...a few fish are jumping. At least salmon season is opening soon…read on! And if you're looking for the perfect Father's Day gift, get him a Sea Forager Seafood gift certificate or book, available in the store. 🎁

Chinook Salmon

Thus far salmon fishing has been limited to the ocean waters south of Pigeon Point, with a dizzying array of openings and closings, and long boat rides for most people. This state of affairs is set to end on June 26th

when the season opens in earnest between Point Arena and Pigeon Pt. Anecdotal info (ie: rumor) has it that there will be a lot of fish out there. We’ll have till Oct 31st to find out. When the season opens locally, the best boats are 

1. The New Rayann and the Outer Limits (Sausalito)
2. The New Cap’n Pete (HMB)
3. Gatherer Outfitters (Captain Adam mostly fishes halibut, but also does salmon trips and happens to be an awesome human being)

Striped Bass

Mixed messages on bass. I keep seeing guys carrying large fish off of all the Bay Area coastal beaches, but when you ask these guys how the fishing has been, they just shrug and say “so-so.” 

Maybe, they don’t want the word to get around? Or maybe they’re just being honest. 

Cali Hali

The halibut season has more or less sucked this year. The shore bite has basically been dead. The small boat commercial fleet has caught a fraction of it’s usual numbers. You had to figure, with 4-5 good years in a row, we were due for a down year or two. If you want to have a good chance at catching halibut… go with my friend Adam at Gatherer Outfitters. 

Night Smelt/Surf Smelt

Night smelt fishing has been poor. I’m talking about walking 2 mi at the wee hours of the night for a couple of pounds. With a typical dip producing 0-3 fish (not pounds!)

Surf smelt are rumored to be showing up in the distant northlands. If you spot any locally keep it to yourself. This species has been on the ropes the last few years, and the last thing it needs is Instagram.

Surf Perch

I have to say this is the worst perch season I’ve ever experienced. I mean I’m seriously like 1 for 12 or something, on surf perch this year. And although I’m not at the high end of perch fishers, I’m no slouch either. 

Sardines

Yesterday on my way home from the wharf I stopped at China Basin to chat up a few old salty pier rats I haven’t seen in a while. They happily informed me that sardines have been showing up around the Agua Vista to Mission Rock shore line. Big ones too. I also saw some guys getting them off the Islais Creek (aka: Shit Creek) bridge on Third Street. Kind of a roll of the dice as to whether eating inner city, Shit Creek sardines would be a net positive or negative… I made a video about this conundrum some years ago… Maybe the Sea Forager archivist can find it. 

Mussels

Mussel season is of course closed for the summer. But I noticed something recently. A few years back when we actually had a rainy season, I noticed a massive die off of mussels on the SF shore line. Fresh water from the Sacto flushing out of the gate was the culprit. This was extremely noticeable in the area where I used to do my City Tour (St Francis Jetty), where the mussels were still at about 10 percent of their normal level up until three years ago. But a recent stop at that location confirmed that the mussels have completely returned there. Nice big clusters of medium sized mussels. Which confirms what I’ve read over the years about mussels growing quickly. 

Clams

A friend of mine in Princeton, who has been working on plans to dredge the harbor, showed me a report on the sediments there. Suffice it to say, I was shocked! Shocked to discover that Princeton harbor is not that polluted! How is that even possible? I know not. Haven’t had a chance to look at the report mpore deeply but that’s whatnot seemed to indicate.

Urchins

Given the current kelp crisis which is linked to over abundance of purple urchins, I’ve noticed an ever growing number of people bagging urchins on minus tides—these well meaning uni enthusiasts are trying to put a dent in the echinoderm population one urchin at a time. I’m not really sure if this intertidal foraging helps our beleaguered bull kelp forests in any appreciable way. The problem is not purple urchins per se. But rather purple urchins in subtidal waters. Nevertheless, it seems like it can’t hurt. And as long as you’re staying legal (35 per person per day), it’s probably a good thing to do.

Pictured left is the father and son team aboard the F/V Dreamer out of Mendocino, who has been providing some diver-caught uni for my Sea Forager CSF members. 

Ok… well that’s it. I’m heading out to once again attempt to spot the fleeting shadow of a smelt somewhere… or maybe catch my first perch in three months! and oh yeah - 

Happy Father's Day! Give dad the gift of Sea Forager this Father's Day with sustainable seafood gift certificates, books, hats, fish guides and more in the STORE. We'll email you a gift certificate that you can print and give to him at your Sunday celebration, or email it to him to use at his leisure. Big thanks to all the fishing and fish-loving dads out there who nurture our love of nature, food, and conservation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Forager kids pictured above left to right: Hazel's halibut (@gatherer_outfitters), Hudson's trout (@karlamei), Divya's whole trout (@diojenez), Django's rockfish (@seaforager), Zio's albacore (@swanpez) and Penelope's herring (@dilla77).

Sea Forager Seafood Turns 7! & Your Fall Coastal Update...

Photo: Sky News SF 

It may surprise you that despite the dystopian smokey skyline, covid-19 pandemic, social unrest, pre-election anxiety, wildfires, heatwaves, economic collapse and climate change, the fish are still doing their thing. More or less. Here's my take on what's going on locally this season:

 

Salmon

September brings with it the distant hope that salmon will start showing up closer to home as they move closer to the Golden Gate en route to spawning grounds on the Sacto. I say distant hope, because this year's season has been rather underwhelming. There were essentially two good weeks. And a lot of scattered fish and paltry numbers. Or confounding weeks where one boat did very well and 15 boats did terribly. Or even more confounding weeks when the boats came in too late or too early for our weekly orders. Suffice it to say, we have another month and are hoping for more salmon. That's Nico "Sharky" von Broembson F/V Golden Girl bringing in some fish from outside Half Moon Bay.

 

Albacore tuna

The sudden arrival of albacore off of Fort Bragg has at least to some extent ameliorated the paucity of salmon. I am supposed to get a big shipment in tonight and another next week. So hopefully those of you reading this will be able to partake of it.

 

Halibut 

Local hali numbers are still fairly good. Even inside the bay! But they will be moving offshore later this month and will most likely be out of hook and line depth by October. That's Adam Sewall with his daughter on the Gatherer - be sure to reach out to him if you're looking for a great charter fishing experience. https://www.gathereroutfitters.com

 

 

Rockfish

Thanks to Sean and F/V Smeagol we will have local rockfish in abundance till crab starts in November. That's the hope anyway. Looking forward to offering more of thsoe perfect for steaming 1.2 - 2.2 pounders whole.

 

Sablefish 

Sablefish is pretty much the only fillet fish available all year. And frankly the Pacific Bully has made it the go-to option for us when bad weather keeps all the smaller boats off the water. 

 

McFarland Springs Rainbow Trout

The trout farm has had a truly brutal summer. And it is imperative that we at Sea Forager keep buying their fish to keep them going. Fires in the Sierras burned a substantial portion of the farm including the hatchery(!) To those new customers who wonder why a company called Sea Forager sells farmed trout, please review the stuff on our site about them. But here's a synopsis: Fish farming is a huge problem globally because few fish farmers do it the right way.
Looking ahead to the future of seafood, the human race is going to have to come up with more sustainable methods of fish farming, plain and simple. McFarland Springs should be the banner child of the movement. They use soybean feed pellets, a closed system, and release fish waste out onto a meadow in the Sierras. The trout produced taste more like salmon than trout. And have the same if slightly higher amounts of Omega 3's. I just bring this up in case we take those trout for granted. They come in the day before delivery and are less than 24 hours out of the water when they get to your kitchen. Just sayin.

 

Shellfish

Most ND people will wonder why there's been so little shellfish this summer. There's a reason. The quality, since the virus hit, has been less than what I'm used to. Small batches have been fine because we can sort through them. Which is why clams and oysters are still on the store every week. But large orders have been absolutely brutal to sort through. I think what's happening is that demand is down (due to restaurant closures). And shellfish farms are sitting on inventory. Then I send out an order for 1,000 pounds and I get a huge shipment of mostly dead shellfish. It's also been extremely hot in various areas of the country (including here) and hot weather and shellfish do not go well together. Hopefully as fall approaches the quality will improve and we can get more butter clams, manillas, mussels and oysters.

 

Beyond that, I'm happy to announce that the crazy fishmongery adventure that I started with The Fishwife (Camilla Lombard) is now 7 years old! Holy mackerel. We're celebrating with a NEW WEBSITE, so please have a look and let me know if you like it, if there are any glaring errors, and share it with a friend.

 

Typically we'd invite you to a San Francisco bar to celebrate with beers, oysters, sea shanties and a few local fishermen, but since the world appears to be melting down around us we'll toast to the adventure from home.

If you're a member of Sea Forager CSF or just a reader of the Coastal Update, thanks for your support! In the spirit of birthday gratitude we're donating to the Fire Response Fund Grants to help those who have been affected by our local wildfires. Feel free to join us! 

 

And that will do it for now. I hope everyone is hunkering down, staying safe and not getting too freaked out by the insane end of times air quality. With any luck you can put on a mask and get outside for a bit, walk the coast and maybe even do a bit of fishing yourself. 

 

Tight lines!

Kirk-out

Your May Coastal Update: New Music Edition!

Hear ye! Hear ye! For those about to rock...we salute you! Your quarterly coastal update is a little different this time, and to our new members, allow me to welcome you and assure you that henceforth your regular coastal update will be chock-full of news about our seasonal fisheries, coastal foraging tour dates and fun fishy events (when the time is right), and other coastal happenings. But this coastal update is different. Special. Quite possibly life-altering. Not content to limit myself to the wonders of the sea, I have embraced the animal kingdom in its entirety and created a strange and magical creature in the depths on my garage. Which is to say, I HAVE A NEW BAND, ALBUM, AND TICKET TO MUSICAL DELIVERANCE! And if that's not your cup of tea, no harm done, I promise, and my next email will be about fish. Named for the smallest antelope on earth, Kirk's Dik Dik consists of two guys: me and my neighbor and Fishwives guitarist Cary Kirk (who some of you might remember from San Francisco acoustic-punk outfit, Kemo Sabe). Turns out Cary and I share an affinity for old blues records and the song The Wizard by Black Sabbath. For the past 15 months we've been rocking out in Cary's garage (yep, right up to the beginning of the quarantine) and now have an album to show for it! Under normal circumstances we'd be out performing the album to share it, but since we're all sheltering in place...here's an email. With any luck you have time to give it a listen! Kirk's Dik Dik: Bestiary, is a collection of songs examining the fraught relationship between man and beast, brought to life with Ethel Merman-meets-Paul Robeson vocals, tuba, harmonica, stylophone, one-string electric slide guitar (fashioned out of an old Louisville Slugger), face melting electric guitar, drums and the occasional mandolin and banjo. Dig the colorful cover art by Leighton Kelly (“the Leonardo of Oakland” who did all the illustrations in The Sea Forager's Guide to the Northern California Coast from Heyday Books). Download the album for a nominal $7.00 download fee and enjoy the whole Bestiary, plus free Harry Smith-style liner notes (which, honestly, are worth the price of admission!) But this isn't a pitch for cash in the ol' tip jar. I really just want people to hear the healing madness that Cary Kirk and I invented in the garage. And tell your friends! In these dark times the power of rock and roll might just save us. Until next time, fish on! Kirk-out   Photo by Yvonne Cornell