60,000 salmon released at SC Harbor

I am wondering what the release of these salmon fingerlings will do for fishing. Looks like the halibut would be nailing them as they leave the harbor. Maybe it would be a good idea to troll the mouth of the harbor with salmon colored swimbait.

Might catch a fat flatty this summer..

Stoggie


Santa Cruz harbor's newest tenants: 60,000 salmon

By Jason Hoppin - Santa Cruz Sentinel
Posted:   05/10/2012 08:18:48 PM PDT



SANTA CRUZ - Still just a week old, this year's commercial salmon fishing season may turn out to be the best in years. Bob Anderson is already looking ahead.

As part of the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project, Anderson is happy to set a local record this year for the number of fingerling Chinook salmon released into the wild, fish he hopes grow and eventually find their way onto commercial fishing boats.

"We're real excited about it. This year we get to do 240,000 of these guys," Anderson said.

No bigger than anchovies, the first 60,000 were released into a holding pen at the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor Thursday. They will spend the next few days there before being let into the open ocean. It's one of many state-supported plantings across California aimed at bolstering fisheries.

Transported from a state-run hatchery on the Feather River, the fish's normal migration to the sea is short-circuited via a tanker truck and Highway 17. That allows more to reach the California Coast intact, without having to make the treacherous run down river.

"We keep them here about four or five day to acclimate, until they start eating a bit. When they start eating ... then we turn them loose," Anderson said.

The Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project has run similar programs around the bay since 1992, though a fish release in Moss Landing was abandoned after the sea lions there became too determined to use the fish as a snack.

As part of its planting program, the state will stock Loch Lomond with trout later this month, returning with replenishments for the first time in several years. Salmon were released into the San Francisco Bay and, for the first time this year, in Half Moon Bay as well.

The Chinook take about three years to mature. They are pumped into the holding pen through a large pipe, and when they hit the saltwater react like it was a hot bath - by jumping and skittering across the surface.

Once settled, it is apparent most of the fish made the transition. The beneficiaries eventually will be the fisherman who rely on the state's shaky salmon fishery for their livelihoods

Very cool read, thanks Stoggie.

On a semi-related note, I'll be releasing my classroom steelhead in a little over a week into the San Lorenzo.  The kids are super excited.

Awesome read. I remember when they used to release them in Crockett. Oh man at 11 o clock the bird would circle and the stripers could come hungry. Any rainbow trout pattern would catch fish. Very exciting stuff. I would strongly recommend fishing around there if you can. A Hali would be A Hell of a Catch. Good luck and thanks for the Bringing up good memories

I checked out the dfg website today and they are going to be planting trout this week(between 5-21 and 5-25).  Looking forward to good fishing up there.  I'm going to take my daughter up there so that she can hopefully catch her first trout.   

Great story.  Thanks for sharing.