Posted by Dave Hurley
on 4/19/2009, 9:12 pm
76.20.97.22
I had the opportunity to fish the Delta with Jay Sorensen of Jolly Jay's Guide service yesterday for the second consecutive Saturday. Last Saturday we went out on the San Joaquin River to allow Jay to be interviewed for a documentary being produced by my step-daughter Marisa Hudlin and her friend, Megan Bielich, for a graduate level class at California State University, Chico. The focus of the documentary is the proposed "alternative conveyance system". Marisa and Megan spent the previous day interviewing a number of representatives from the Department of Water Resources who were more than happy to provide a wealth of information on the "benefits" of the project. Their presentation is well-organized, and to the average person, the focus appears to be on saving endangered species such as the delta smelt. They were able to interview Jay, who was the fo under of the California Striped Bass Association, and Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sport Fishing Protection Alliance, on the following day. Once their film is completed, we will make it available for viewing.
Jay took the opportunity to review the progressive demise of the San Joaquin River in the past 60 years, particularly in relation to the striped bass. He has guided on the Delta for nearly 40 years, and is generally considered to be the best bait fisherman on the Delta. However, the past two weekends we have only been able to round up a couple of 22 and 23-inch fish. Sorensen said,
"Being April 18th, the fish should just be thick in both of the river systems", as he shook his head over the lack of fish in the river. He confided that he is very despondent over the progressive destruction of the Delta and the fishery.
I have had the opportunity and the perspective to think about this over the past couple of weeks, particularly in light of the media blitz by the Governor's office with the cooperation of valley farmers to convince the public that a peripheral canal is needed. This coupled with AB1253 to deregulate striped bass and the bill to establish a hatchery for Delta smelt are clear indicators of the depth of the organization developed to implement the peripheral canal.
I also thought about our role as "weekend anglers". There were two striped bass derbies held over the weekend at Brannan Island and at Viera's Resort. I don't have any problems with the derbies and with fishermen getting together and enjoying a good time, but in order to save our fisheries, we have to be more than "just a good time". With the over 100 fishermen in the derbies and with the other hundreds on the water over the weekend, there was a significant amount of money spent on: entry fees, launching fees, bait, tackle, gas, food, refreshments and all of the other incidentals that come with heading out for a day.
If we don't channel some of these monetary resources to organizations such as the California Sport Fishing Protection Alliance, we will never have the power or the organization to compete with the well-oiled machine that is geared up for water for high profit/low necessity agriculture with concerns for fish as only something to be worked around only as an obstacle to getting more water (See AB1253 and
Once these resources are gone, they won't be coming back any time soon. All you have to do is to look at the past two years with the salmon closure in order to use this as a model. I would ask all fishermen to sacrifice one trip per year to donate to the California Sport Fishing Protection Alliance. I know that every time I go fishing, it will cost between $50 and $150 per trip, depending on the location. If we are unable or unwilling to sacrifice one trip a year, those of us who love to fish the bays and Delta, may be sacrificing all of our future trips. Bottom line, it is up to us.
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