Fishing report: Week of Oct. 7

Published online on Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009

Compiled by Dave Hurley and edited by Roger George, a central San Joaquin Valley native and local fishing expert.

BEST BETS

Nacimiento bass fishing ”wide open,” Will Hesch said. Bigger stripers showing up in the big lake at San Luis, Ly Tu said. Pine Flat bass wake up, James Mize said. McClure bass lighting it up, Manny Basi said. Delta stripers feeding, Randy Pringle said.

ROGER'S REMARKS

I got a phone message from a friend, Dana Kahler, who was on his way to Merced the day they started the San Joaquin River releases. He left a message telling me that as he was crossing one of the bridges downstream, he noticed that the salmon were already moving en masse toward Fresno and that he gave it at least a 3-fish rating! Funny message, but it got me thinking about the possibilities as well as some of the unforeseen consequences that might come from the river restoration.

If the salmon run works, it's possible you could see a good striper run as well, with even some sturgeon making it up to Friant. We could be trolling Skaggs Bridge for big stripers or soaking some shrimp for a huge sturgeon. We might have to learn how to use pitchforks, like they did in the 1940s to take salmon from the river -- but this time it might be to ward off pesky sea lions as they learn about the good "fishing" upstream.

When they figure out that the salmon actually went a lot farther up the San Joaquin River system than Friant, we may see them install fish ladders -- maybe a series of them going up to Lower Millerton Lake, Upper Millerton Lake, Kerkoff and Redinger. Yes, I said Upper Millerton -- that's the lake that would be formed by the dam they've talked about putting at Temperance Flat.

New commercial enterprises might also be created. For example, if the mitten crabs and zebra mussels ever get into our area, we might need to learn how to raise them to a point where it's economically feasible to export them to Japan.

If we have several more bad water years, and global warming strikes, carp will become our top game fish. They can survive in hot conditions, thrive in very little water, get big, and fight well. We just need a good recipe for cooking 'em. (Here's the best I've seen: Skin the carp and nail it to an old cedar plank. Bake covered at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, then cool. Remove nail, throw fish away, and eat the board!)

Think these are silly projections? Just look back 30 years and think how preposterous it would have sounded to say, "We gotta go to Lost Lake, it's got a 4-fish rating for salmon to 25 pounds!"

- Roger George

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PHOTO GALLERIES

Check out catches from local anglers that have submitted photos from their outings ...

Gallery #32 (new September 23)
Gallery #31
Archived Galleries

Take your digital camera with you so you can send us your pictures for our galleries. Please send your photos to fishpictures@fresnobee.com. Please include the following information: Your name, city, type of fish, length and weight of fish, when and where caught, and what type of bait used. Large photos work best — we can crop and reduce a picture, but we can't expand a small picture and make it look decent. You can also send photos to rogergeorge8000@sbcglobal.net.

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