Sturgeon fishing IS open in Humboldt Bay...

Thanks, Mick.  That should settle it...   

They gave me the sturgeon card and confirmed Humboldt bay was indeed under saltwater regs. The only real freshwater outlet in all of Humboldt Bay is the Elk river I don't see how it could be considered freshwater.

See, thats what i mean about the vague crap in the regs... I dont think fresh vs. salt is the issue... I cut and paste this right from the online regs
1.53. Inland Waters.
Inland waters are all the fresh, brackish and
inland saline waters of the state, including
lagoons and tidewaters upstream from the
mouths of coastal rivers and streams.

INLAND SALINE WATERS... so the next question becomes, "what is inland?" just the estuaries around the bay, or the bay itself?  The passage i pasted there goes on to exclude SF/SP bays, but that is it... wouldnt it have said all bays, or specific bays, if they were also excluded?  LOL... what about bodega? does it say anything about crabbing or clamming or shrimp pumping in the freshwater regs? now i have no idea what to do... thats it... im selling all my fishing stuff in the intrest of maintaining my status as a law abiding citizen...

So, you can keep ocean-caught sturgeon? The likelyhood of catching one in the ocean is so slim; kinda like catching a steelhead in the ocean (where do they go anyways?).
PK

I think the steelhead head underneath the polar ice... or they get teleported to a distant world.. thats what I heard on discovery channel...

 Here in Humboldt we elect our Judges and they're always with the people. If this went to court the judge would likely chastise the F&G for being to vague in the Regs. I can just see a warden pulling out and quoting from his war and peace sized reg book while I stand there with my saltwater pamphlet. The Liberal pinko judge will eat him up. The rebel in me wants to test it but I'm happen to hear something more official right here.

The likelyhood of catching one in the ocean is so slim; kinda like catching a steelhead in the ocean (where do they go anyways?).
PK

I think the steelhead head underneath the polar ice... or they get teleported to a distant world.. thats what I heard on discovery channel...

I saw an amazing report on another website, where a big wild steelhead was caught out of Humboldt (I think) while trolling waay offshore for albacore! It was caught on a big plug, like a giant Rapala. The same day, they caught a number of big albacore. There were pics of the steelhead and it looked beautiful. Thats one of the only occurances I've seen of steelhead caught in the open ocean, and they were trolling for albacore nonetheless! Simply amazing creatures.
PK

PK -The only steelhead I caught and landed was in the ocean at Trinidad. I was fishing the last day of rockfish season when I hooked a 7 lber in 12 FOW. At first I thought what is this a mullet or a sea trout but it was a chrome bright steelhead if ever I saw one. It stands to reason that your chances are higher if you fish the coast near streams and rivers. They say there are loads of sturgeon rght outside the mouth of the mad river but there are also loads of Shark.

ive heard that you can get into some good size 7 gills around the mouth of the rivers and humboldt bay up there... any word on that?