Sunday, June 11, 2017

    This fellow and his friend braved the wind today to catch these perch. I'm not sure what kind of voodoo they were using to get their lines out into the gale, but it worked. The weather was better yesterday and some rockfish hit the decks but I didn't hear about any salmon. The crabbing got even slower this week. The best bit of news I heard was that a commercial crab fisherman pulling gear off of Morro Bay heard some skip over the radio of a boat catching albacore. If true, it would seem to indicate that the theory of a post-El Niño reset on the albacore is real. We could actually have albies here in August. I may even feel well enough to try for them myself, by then. The worst bit of news I've heard is that, due to the recent warm water years a disease killed off all of the starfish which allowed the urchins to overpopulate and graze the coast bare. The abalone are starving to death in such numbers that we are almost sure to have no season for several years if we are lucky. I like the albacore story better.
     

4 comments:

  1. I have seen the situation underwater myself as a rec diver. I also fish commercial. I don't commercial fish urchin, but all the sport divers should take their limit of urchin every day you go out.

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  2. Where are you guyscatching these perch? On Dillon Beach? By the big wooden chair on the point? What are you guys using?

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  3. They used to have starfish derbies back in the 60s. It's what brought the population up to levels we are used to. Dive companies should sponsor an urchin kill

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  4. Looks like the fish killing "Parker" has arrived for the season. Let's all check our gear and make it competive this year for him. sounds like the whole gang is showing up mid July.

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