Chemical-free striped bass for the dinner table?

Dilution is the solution to pollution. Haven't you heard?

Ive never caught ocean Stripers so Ive never been burdened by the decision to eat or not to eat them. However, speaking of the Monterey Bay area, I can say with confidence that they are in Salinas and Pajaro water sheds year around; especially the smaller juvenile fish. Local large ocean going stripers have defiantly spend considerable time in these river systems. I spend a lot of time working knees deep in these waters know first-hand how dirty they are. Personally, if I caught one (even in the ocean) I would not eat it. Just my 2c

Napa River Delta.  Very little industry there and ag runoff is minimal. 

Napa River Delta? Yikes!  Even though I heard (maybe on this forum) that a salmon had been seen in one of the Napa creeks and that was a sign the water was getting cleaner, I have very old, but distinct, memories of backing a truck up to the water's edge south of Napa and dumping just about every bad thing into the river - that was the public dump for decades.  That and the shipbuilding and pipe manufacturing in south Napa, and the now gone Sawyer Tannery in Napa.  To say nothing of what the tide brought in from the industries along San Pablo and Suisun bays (oil, dynamite, etc.), and what the was in the rivers flowing from the Central Valley and Sierras: ag, industries, and (now) meth lab dumps.
  But that stuff eventually made it to the ocean to add to what was deliberately dumped off ships and pipelines. 
   

As an environmental engineer I definitely have my work cut out for me....

18-20" stripers are the best and cleanest to eat.they are migratory fish so even if you catch one on the coast at one time or another it swam thru the bay and delta.I don't like eating delta stripers cause they taste too muddy the bay stripers actually taste a little better believe it or not.but if you keep it between 18-20" you shouldn't have anything to worry about.vaqueros does have stripers but the stripers in that lake came/comes from the delta.the water there is also pumped from the delta they filter it before it enters the lake but im sure there is a certain amount of contamination that sneaks by.I say if you dont eat it that often I wouldn't loose any sleep over it