Has anyone ever caught sturgeon or striped bass in the Delta or estuary with little round white disks attached?  I'm now working for CDFW and I oversee this program that is attaching these angler reward tags to sturgeon and striped bass.  We did this as a means to estimate abundance through recapture and reporting of the tag, but out of thousands of striped bass tags and hundreds of sturgeon tags, we only get handfuls reported each year. If anyone has these tags as souveniers, I'd really appreciate you contacting me at my CDFW email. 

James.Hobbs@wildlife.ca.gov. 

Our latest estimates of sturgeon abundance are really low, so I'm concerned about the bag limits, BUT I can't get the commission to make changes without accurate data. I'd really appreciate your help. 

On another note, I'm needing tissue and finray samples from sturgeon and striped bass scales and otoliths for updating our information on age and growth, so if you happen to harvest either species I could use those samples.  For sturgeon, any size is great but for striped bass we are particularly needing larger fish.  So few big striped bass left. 

Anway, hope all is well in NCKA land.  Hoping to someday get back in the yak. 

InSeine

Caught 16 stripers in what used to be a dried up salt pan.  This pond is now FULL of big fish. 

Guys

Ok, some of you probably know me.  Been a while since I've been active on the cite.  I've been part of NCKA from just about the very beginning, but my research has kinda dominated any of my fishing time.  I have some research projects in South San Francisco Bay that I could use some volunteers for .  I have posted in the past on this and then dropped the ball.  One project I have coming up in the next month is monitoring steelhead in the Guadalupe River in and around downtown San Jose....yes there a juvenile steelhead, believe it or not.  We will be doing a variety of things including back-pack e-fishing, checking a trap for fish and doing routine maintenance on an antenna that can read tags, like the microchips we put in our pets.  The antennas would need to be checked daily and batteries changed out.  This will be some interesting work and hopefully fun.  If your interested in volunteering, send me an e-mail jahobbs@ucdavis.edu.

Another thing I could use your help with is lodging and storage of me and a couple of my staff.  The project will be starting at the end of the month, and we would need to be in South Bay almost daily.  The project is sorely underfunded and so we don't have funds to cover motel costs.  Anyone in the San Jose area that could put us up, or has any kind of storage space, and RV or what not, that would be super appreciated.  There will be some fishing opportunities associated with the estuary portion of the research.  We will be monitoring Alviso Slough in conjunction with the Steelhead project and also doing a study on Leopard Sharks.  Hook and line has turned out to be the best way to sample the sharks so I could use some anglers.  We will be tagging the sharks as well, so you can't eat them.  So if you have a place for use, a garage space to store some field gear or would like to volunteer let me know.  Later in the summer Chuck-E and I may organize a shark derby to catch tagged fish, so stay tuned. 

Thanks guys,

Jim

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/9128259-leopard-sharks-spotted-in-south-bay-wetlands/

I have a yellow mini-X that I am just not using.  It's in pretty good shape, but needs some work on the handles.  For NCKA brothers $200.  No seat, no paddle just the boat.

It's in my storage in Davis.  send me a pm if your interested.

Friends

It's been a long time since I've posted anything.  I've been really busy with my career.  Which is why I am writing this article.  For that past two years I have been working on developing a monitoring program for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Program http://www.southbayrestoration.org/  We are trying to restore former salt ponds owned by Cargill to managed ponds for ducks and shorebirds and to fully tidal marsh.  Since the beginning of the project, it has just grown and grown, and I am now realizing that this may just be two big for a small group of fish science geeks.  The project has many tasks, but one new one is to monitor leopard shark use of restored ponds.  The restorations have occurred by simply punching wholes in levees and let the tides do the rest.  One thing we have learned is that at the top of the ebb tide leopards shark fishing goes off the hook just on the outside of the pond breaches.  Many of these places are not easily accessible to the public, but of course I have keys to gates and such.  I'm discussing with the program manager a volunteer program for monitoring leopard sharks.  The program uses a lot of volunteer birders, so why not fishers.  I think I a making some headway with this, but it would take some educations, training and of course paperwork.  But I'm wondering (sure) that many of you would love help out.  I'm brainstorming different ways this could happen, from a select group being given access to some of these locations to having a leopard shark derby.  Of course since we are interested in the science it would be catch and release, but with some very simple training you all could do some fun fishing and contribute to our knowledge of the benefits of salt pond restoration to leopard sharks.  The program is also very interested in establishing a benefit to the public by increasing shoreline access and recreational activities, so I am thinking an NCKA team would be an ideal opportunity to meet both of these goals.  So if you  are interested in volunteering send me an e-mail to jahobbs@ucdavis.edu. There are other opportunities to get involved as well, we do many different forms of fish sampling that I'm sure many of you would find fascinating.  I think the restoration efforts are going to be a good thing for fish and fishing opportunities in South San Francisco Bay. 

Hope to see you on the water soon

Jim "Inseine" Hobbs

Guys

Levi "Steeleader" Lewis, Naoaki "Uminchu Ikemiyagi, and I Jim "InSeine" Hobbs, formely knowns as the "Bodega Crew" will be starting off the New Years Eve celebration at the Port of Sac tomorrow-Saturday Dec. 31 for some striper action.  If you're in the neighborhood, come on out.  Plan on hitting the water at 6:30.  See you on the water.

JIm