FishSniffer Magazine Issue 4007 | Page 17

Solano & Contra Costa Counties

Short or oversized sturgeon must be released unharmed immediately ; note that white sturgeon greater than 68 inches fork length may not be removed from the water prior to their immediate release . No snare may be used to assist in taking sturgeon . Only one single barbless hook may be used on a line to take sturgeon . The sturgeon must voluntarily take the bait or lure in its mouth . No sturgeon may be taken by trolling , snagging , or by the use of firearms . Sturgeon may not be gaffed , nor shall any person use any type of firearm to assist in landing or killing any sturgeon .

Any person fishing for sturgeon shall have in their possession a non-transferable Sturgeon Fishing Report Card and complete it in accordance with California Code of Regulations Title 14 , Section 27.92 .

Green sturgeon ( Acipenser medirostris ) may not be removed from the water , taken , or possessed at any time . Green sturgeon must be released immediately without being removed from the water

Lopes

Sherman

Benicia

Road

Suisun Pont

Road

Benicia- Martinez Bridge

Martinez

Road

Morrow Island

Pacheco

C r ee k

Mothball Fleet

Pt . Edith

Preston Pt .

Seal Islands

Grizzly Bay

Garnet Pt .

Tank Farm

Roe Island

Waterfront Road

Oil Refinery

Pt . Buckler

Clyde

Suisun Cutoff

Ryer Island

Gillespie Pt .

U . S . Naval Res .

Suisun Bay

Port Chicago

Gaging Station

Grizzly Slough

Honker Bay

Van Sickle Island

Railroad Ave

Baypoint Pittsburg

Willow Pass Road

Bailey Rd

Pittsburg Marina

Fishing Notes

• Sturgeon action is best in the fall , winter and spring , although fish are also caught on calm days throughout the summer . The Mothball Fleet , Suisun Cut , Garnet Point and Roe and Ryer islands are among the better sturgeon spots . Fish lamprey eel , salmon roe , grass shrimp , ghost shrimp , mud shrimp and pileworms .

• Striped Bass fishing can be good year round , with the best action taking place in the fall and winter months . Bait fishing with threadfin shad , bullheads and mudsuckers is productive throughout the bay and Montezuma and Suisun sloughs . Trolling with Bombers and Fish Traps also produces fish when water temperatures are still relatively clear and warm . Tossing Rat-L-Traps and top water lures along the shoreline is also a solid prospect at times .

Simmons Island

Grizzly

Grizzly Island Wildlife Area

Island

Hammond Island

Wheeler Island

Road

Spoonbill

Guy , Lara and Donoven Bowen of Jamestown proudly display the keeper sturgeon landed in Suisun Bay on March 23 with Captain Steven Mitchell .

Photo courtesy of Hook ’ d Up Sport Fishing .

to California . Although they are a bony fish ( Class Osteichthyes ), rather than a cartilaginous fish like sharks ( Class Chondrichthyes ), sturgeon actually have very little true bone . Most of their internal skeleton is composed of cartilage , as in sharks . Bone is mostly restricted to plates around the head , the spines of the pectoral fins , and the heavy armor-like scales called scutes that line their body .

Sturgeon have been referred to as living fossils because they retain a number of physical traits that are thought to represent the ancestral condition of fishes . These include a heterocercal tail in which the vertebrae extend into an upper lobe that is longer than the lower lobe , a spiral valve intestine , and electroreceptors similar to sharks . Their mouth is also unique and is thought to have evolved separately from other fishes , forming a toothless , extendible tube that is good for sucking food items up off the bottom . Sturgeon have no teeth as adults , instead food is swallowed whole . Their diet usually includes bottom-dwelling crustaceans such as amphipods , shrimp , and crabs , as well as a variety of worms and fishes . Sturgeon are large , very long-lived and late to mature . All sturgeon are migratory , typically spending most of their adult lives in estuaries , the lower reaches of rivers , or the ocean . They migrate upstream in large freshwater rivers to spawn in cool , deep , swift flowing river reaches over gravel and cobble bottoms . Sturgeon do not die after spawning like Pacific salmon , and the both species are capable of repeated migrations every 2-6 years . Juvenile sturgeon remain in the river for a period of time before migrating to the estuary or bay . Status in California : Worldwide , sturgeon are considered the most threatened group of animals on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , with 85 % species considered to be at risk of extinction . Of the species found in California , Green Sturgeon from the southern population were federally listed as threatened in 2006 . Northern population Green Sturgeon and White Sturgeon are not state or federally listed , but they both are categorized as a state Species of Special Concern . The American Fisheries Society considers the survival of sturgeon to be dependent on conservation measures taken to protect them . Threats : Unfortunately , the life-history traits of sturgeon make them very vulnerable to human impacts . Fish ladders designed for salmon or shad are not effective at passing sturgeon , so dams and water diversions can impede migration and block ancestral spawning grounds . Changes to river hydrology can impact water quality , such as temperature or dissolved oxygen , which may particularly harm sensitive life-stages such as eggs or larvae . Changes to how rivers are managed can also degrade necessary spawning habitat by increasing siltation , covering the coarse

Deckhand “ Tone ” Ruvalcaba , Donoven Bowen , and Captain Steve Mitchell pose with the 46 inch sturgeon that Bowen caught in Suisun Cut on March 23 .

Photo courtesy of Hook ’ d Up Sport Fishing .

gravel and cobble substrates that sturgeon require for spawning . Additionally , pollution from runoff , and predation or changes to the food web from introduced non-native species may impact these fishes . Sturgeon are frequently sought after in fisheries , both for their meat and for eggs for caviar . Because they are so slow to reproduce , they are very sensitive to overfishing and require careful management .