CDFW Seeking Public Input on Proposed Slot Limit for Striped Bass

https://calfish.ucdavis.edu/Non-Native_Fish_Species/?uid=46&ds=241

I'm gonna go lock my doors real quick.

Candygram...

UNICEF

Pro-choice for this one

Should be able to throw the non native fish back if you want or keep them if you want. I can see a slot limit for sturgeon who’s females aren’t sexually mature until 10-15 but a striper can reproduce at 4-5 years and then they don’t die after they spawn like salmon so they can pump their big dog genes up to 4 or so more times. They grow fast and there’s plenty of them out there.

Makes no sense to protect these fish just because the sport fishermen like to target them. Gunna end up with a bunch of big girls belly up because they aren’t even a hardy fish after a fight.

Commercial harvest in a slot limit would be more like it but defeating the central valley guides lobby won't be easy. No reason in my mind to not allow a commercial fishery for this populous, delicious, non native fish

https://calfish.ucdavis.edu/Non-Native_Fish_Species/?uid=46&ds=241

I'm gonna go lock my doors real quick.

Locking your doors won’t do any good, it will just impersonate your favorite person or a Girl Scout selling thin mints, you’ll open the door, game over.

……it’s always the ones you least suspect.

The spring striper runs on the Central Valley rivers are arguably the last decent money-making fishery for guides these days. A lot of recreational anglers also take part in the fishery. Strong striper runs generate revenue among the local motels, tackle shops, restaurants, etc. I see this slot limit proposal as the guides' effort to help protect their incomes. After all, what else would clients be willing to pay to fish for in the spring? Shad?

Slot limit makes sense to me. The CV rivers' water and habitat quality for Chinook is trash. It's so bad, that the best "returns" now come from trucking the salmon smolts all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge for release. The further you truck the smolts from their natal rivers, the higher the stray rates of the returning adults, hence the crummy adult salmon returns to the rivers.

Taking current climate and water use/storage trends into account, imagine what those rivers and their fisheries are going to look like in 2050. Do you see them as bastions of robust Chinook runs akin to those from days of old? I don't. But I can envision them supporting a decent striper fishery...maybe even a pretty good one. If we want our future generations to have some kind of fishery in those rivers at all, it might be worth proactively managing them according to what the habitat is likely to support decades from now.

Not to mention, topwater stripers are fun as Hell  .

The spring striper runs on the Central Valley rivers are arguably the last decent money-making fishery for guides these days. A lot of recreational anglers also take part in the fishery. Strong striper runs generate revenue among the local motels, tackle shops, restaurants, etc. I see this slot limit proposal as the guides' effort to help protect their incomes. After all, what else would clients be willing to pay to fish for in the spring? Shad?

Slot limit makes sense to me. The CV rivers' water and habitat quality for Chinook is trash. It's so bad, that the best "returns" now come from trucking the salmon smolts all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge for release. The further you truck the smolts from their natal rivers, the higher the stray rates of the returning adults, hence the crummy adult salmon returns to the rivers.

Taking current climate and water use/storage trends into account, imagine what those rivers and their fisheries are going to look like in 2050. Do you see them as bastions of robust Chinook runs akin to those from days of old? I don't. But I can envision them supporting a decent striper fishery...maybe even a pretty good one. If we want our future generations to have some kind of fishery in those rivers at all, it might be worth proactively managing them according to what the habitat is likely to support decades from now.

Not to mention, topwater stripers are fun as Hell  .

This is what giving up looks like.

I mean, you might well be right and maybe a striper fishery is more certain than a robust salmonid supporting ecosystem. 

I'm not there yet.

The spring striper runs on the Central Valley rivers are arguably the last decent money-making fishery for guides these days. A lot of recreational anglers also take part in the fishery. Strong striper runs generate revenue among the local motels, tackle shops, restaurants, etc. I see this slot limit proposal as the guides' effort to help protect their incomes. After all, what else would clients be willing to pay to fish for in the spring? Shad?

Slot limit makes sense to me. The CV rivers' water and habitat quality for Chinook is trash. It's so bad, that the best "returns" now come from trucking the salmon smolts all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge for release. The further you truck the smolts from their natal rivers, the higher the stray rates of the returning adults, hence the crummy adult salmon returns to the rivers.

Taking current climate and water use/storage trends into account, imagine what those rivers and their fisheries are going to look like in 2050. Do you see them as bastions of robust Chinook runs akin to those from days of old? I don't. But I can envision them supporting a decent striper fishery...maybe even a pretty good one. If we want our future generations to have some kind of fishery in those rivers at all, it might be worth proactively managing them according to what the habitat is likely to support decades from now.

Not to mention, topwater stripers are fun as Hell  .

This is what giving up looks like.

I mean, you might well be right and maybe a striper fishery is more certain than a robust salmonid supporting ecosystem. 

I'm not there yet.

I wish I shared your optimism.

Damn those guides. Just find another job.

I'd like to see the data myself because I've only heard the results second hand, but I understand that there are recent trawl studies showing a marked decrease in both striped bass population and average size in the Sacramento River system. It's an interesting juxtaposition to my personal experience because I've caught more stripers with a much larger average size in the last five years than before. And I know it's not because I've become a better fisherman.

OK, so the guides want the slot limits to protect the fish and their pockets.  Or they would like to release fish, but need some laws to justify it to their clients.