With the rotary fish counter in action for its third year, initial results are promising and exciting. Through Monday, 86 steelhead smolts and 347 young Chinook have been captured (and released).
Senior biologist Jonathan Koehler of the Napa County Resource Conservation District (NCRCD) says the real counts are much larger because many fish swim around the fish trap.
He estimates that they miss nine steelhead for every one caught and five Chinook for every one caught. This makes the apparent totals at the fish counter 774 steelhead and 1,735 Chinook (king salmon).
In addition, considering that we miss 40 percent of the total steelhead streams in the Napa River watershed — because streams like Redwood, Milliken and Carneros all come into the river downstream of the counter site — the real volumes of the two fish can be something like 1,290 steelhead and 2,892 Chinook.
That blue water you see in the river will continue to improve the striper bite. Find yourself some live bait like mudsuckers or bullheads and take the kids fishing.
Keep your sturgeon gear ready if you’ll be plying the south river. Many giants are still on the chew.
On Saturday, April 23, the Napa Valley Fly Fishers Club will be hosting a river cleanup site at Kennedy Park from 9 to 11 a.m.
Bring the kids and join in to help keep our county waters clean. This annual event is sponsored locally by the Napa County Resource Conservation District.
You can obtain more details at www.naparcd.org .
Steve Orndorf saw Clear Lake at its worst last week.
In a couple of cold, windy days, he only boated two bass. However, his nice 6-pounder came on a Magic Stik.
I know you have heard this before, but live jumbo minnows are the trick here in the winter and early spring.
Grace Kistner of St. Helena and I are set to go on the lake with pro guide Bob Myskey (349-4460) today.
Stay tuned for a first-person report.
Sturgeon keep biting in the bay. The go-to baits have been Loch Lomond Bait’s own live mud shrimp, followed closely by their ghost shrimp and pile worms.
The weather has not been kind to the early salmon season so far. However, the bite is improving. Even with high afternoon winds Monday, Captain Vince on the Miss Anita (875-3474) scored limits all around for his six clients.
The fish were small at 6 to 8 pounds, but the big one was 14. Look for improvement as the weather softens and warms up.
Vince is going to book some salmon and salmon/crab combo trips through May, and start salmon/rockfish in June.
Whale watching is just plain off season right now.
I’ll try to post you on the next round of whale migrations.
With a lake level increase of only 4.5 inches in the week ending April 11, Peter Kilkus (Lake Berryessa News) says he feels that it won’t improve much more this year. However, it stands at just 4.97 feet from the glory hole.
With this more stable condition, it’s time to go bass fishing there. Over the years, we have had good success around the April full moon (April 17 this year).
Stop in at Sweeney’s Sports on Imola (255-5544) to get the latest lures and scoop before heading out.
I’ll bring you a first-person report on black bass in the Delta after my day there on April 22 with master angler Fred LeDrew.
Two weeks ago he boated and released his personal best 12.1-pounder.
Meanwhile, Captain Barry Canevaro on the Fish ’n’ Fool IV called me to say that the spring run of stripers has started. An incoming tide clears the waters for an effective troll.
There’s still some colored water around on the outgoing tides, but bait fishing can be productive. He’s looking for an equalization of tides that will make plenty of good days of spring striper fishing.
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