Would like to point out that I pretty much called this one back in February here: https://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=101753.msg1138991#msg1138991

The environmentalist left is a giant hive brain. When you see articles by “journalists” making whale entanglements a cause celeb, as I pointed out,  that’s just little drone bees doing their part of the activism. Their counterparts, elected officials in west coast states and the appointees they load regulatory agencies with, are just another part of the same hive brain, doing their part to reduce human interaction with nature.

There’s no need for these people to even collaborate or conspire because they all have the same religion, which consists of proclaiming themselves “helpers” by engaging in their favorite activity, which is controlling others in the name of their earth god.

Obviously I’m using some provocative language to make a point. Fishing and crabbing are under assault, and it’s not because of any fish/crab/whale stocks being in danger. It's not cute anymore for people to be naive enough to trust good intentions. People need to actually figure out how things work.

The people who reduce fishing opportunities do so because that is what gives their lives meaning and makes them feel important. Bargaining or compromising just slows it down a little. Do not assume good intentions or candor are guiding these folks as they do not state their goals plainly; rather they claim they aren’t doing what they are doing, tell you you’re conspiratorial if you notice, then tell you after they are done how grateful you should be.

Vegetable or meat farms, orchards, whatever required clearing forest or grassland of some sort. Commercial fishing produces bycatch and sometimes that's a whale. These have been facts of human life since the dawn of time. Banning human activities and access to resources because the occasional entangled whale makes for a sad story is child-level understanding of the world, but here we are losing a whole  tradition.

Families in Cali enjoyed crabs on Thanksgiving for years, and that tradition has effectively been destroyed. If west coast states keep electing the same kind of people, more nice things that people enjoy will be banned. Cali passes about 1000 laws a year under its current governance, and the hyper-regulatory fisheries management is just following suit. You don't get to pretend you didn't contribute to the reduction in fishing and crabbing opportunities if you voted for the people who've been running the state.

I sent a message too a few weeks back. The buoy is a great help in navigating and not everything is better in electronic form
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Quote from: jp52 on March 29, 2024, 10:25:14 AM

Quote from: tedski on March 29, 2024, 09:39:49 AM

Every party boat I've been on in the past has had a descender on board.  The mates will descend a fish for the angler.  The majority of them use the simple upside down milk crate with 10-15 lbs of lead on it.

I have only been on one party boat in the Bay Area and while it did have a descender (one attached to a fishing pole), it sat unused as the boat left a wake of floating canary and other rockfish. I hope your experience is more typical than mine.

The mates on the Queen of Hearts out of Pillar Point were adamant about descending.  If someone tossed a small rockfish back with barotrauma, the mate would clearly express his displeasure with humans.  I, too, hope that's more typical.

Some years back I remember the captain on the Queen of Hearts scolding some customers on the boat about letting gophers go. It seemed a little harsh when a moment of patient explanation could have accomplished the same thing.

Lots of freshwater folks are raised on catch and release as well as always letting the small ones go, and lots of those people don't realize the issues with barotrauma and floating fish from the briny depths. They are just understandably releasing small fish, since that's the ethic they were raised with, and trying to catch bigger ones.

If you shell out some hundreds of dollars for a rare party boat trip, it's kinda understandable you might not want to keep babies or get yelled at by the staff. Just another perspective.

Looks like the dredge is back in action. Been watching the cams for a few days and looking for an opportunity to sneak out after work. Saw a few kayaks here and there turn back after some consideration at the harbor mouth.

Was checking out the webcams and surf reports today and noticed some waves breaking inside the end of the harbor. Maybe it needs a good dredging. Also saw someone launching their red sailing kayak and enjoyed a moment of excitement as it exited the harbor along with a smaller paddle yak and had to climb a wave or two.

This was around 10:30. Anybody recognize their boat?

A rockfish trip on a party boat out of Half Moon Bay last year was ~$170. Add tips and rigs, fish cleaning, and it’s approaching $200. If party boat limits were cut to 5, that’s close to $40 per fish and hoping you get a ling or two. This expense is part of what drove lots of people from party boats and rentals to kayaks. Then the inshore closures screwed the kayak situation up. Curious what comes next

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=220187&inline

All over the place today and thinking someone put crystal meth in my coffee