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
- The New Rayann and the Outer Limits (Sausalito)
- The New Cap’n Pete (HMB)
- 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).