Did anyone else hear a loud "pop!" this morning? That was Gage's head exploding when he received this photo in a text. Don't worry, he's as functional as he ever was. This fellow, though, had a pretty good morning. Tom Thornley caught this 20 pound striper this morning from the beach (I'd say surf but there wasn't any). As I wasn't there this morning when he told the story I may get some of these second-hand facts incorrect, but as I've said before, please correct me if I stray from the facts at lawsonslanding@gmail.com. The story as I heard it was that Mr. Thornley and his son had been talking about striper fishing in the surf at Dillon Beach. They had been talking about it for a while, and then Mr. Thornley's son passed away. My two boys are the twin suns my world orbits (like Tatooine!) and I can't imagine the feelings of his loss. When he came to his house in Dillon Beach he saw two rods leaning near the door, ready to go striper and surfperch fishing. This morning he decided to go. Second cast with a live pileworm on the hook and he hooked a fish that took him over half an hour to land. A damn nice fish, as photographed. He says it's his son's fish and that's fair, as it seems that it was his idea. What can we learn from this? First, as a fishing report, let's note that there's a reasonable chance at catching a striper in the surf right now. Not good, as nobody else came forward with one today, but it happened to one fellow, so, maybe? Gage tried. See the picture of his fish? No? That's because he, I, and many others tried and failed. Second point? Don't put off fishing or otherwise spending time with your loved ones. Or friends. Or fishing with people that haven't fished before. Any of these things are things worth spending time on. Even if you don't catch a fish. It pains me to say it, but truly, catching fish is secondary to the experience with friends or loved ones. 

     But it's better if you catch.

     Oh, by the way, it's official: No salmon this season: "

PFMC Recommends Closure of 2023 Ocean Salmon Fisheries 

Today, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) acted unanimously to recommend a full closure of California’s commercial and recreational ocean salmon season. Options put forward by the PFMC last month for public review, which were developed by industry representatives, all proposed closure of both commercial and sport ocean salmon fisheries off California. This action follows recent projections showing Chinook salmon abundance off California is at historic lows.

After reviewing the Council’s recommendation, it is expected that the National Marine Fisheries Service will take regulatory action to enact the closure, effective in mid-May. In addition, the California Fish and Game Commission will consider whether to adopt a closure of inland salmon fisheries at its teleconference on May 17.

“This decision, while difficult, is intended to allow salmon to recover in order to provide future fishing opportunities, said California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham. “Salmon are an iconic species in California. We treasure them for their intrinsic, cultural, recreational and commercial values. The state is committed to ensuring long-term survival of our salmon runs and supporting our struggling fishing communities. We are looking into all possible options to bring relief as soon as possible to fishing businesses to addresses costs incurred to maintain their commercial licenses and lost revenue when the season is entirely closed.”

Prolonged and historic drought, severe wildfires and associated impacts to spawning and rearing habitat, harmful algal blooms, and ocean forage shifts have combined to result in some of the lowest stock abundance forecasts on record for Sacramento River Fall Chinook and Klamath River Fall Chinook. The low ocean abundance forecasts, coupled with low 2022 returns, led the PFMC to recommend full closure of California’s commercial and recreational ocean salmon fisheries.

In part, the low returns and abundance forecasts are due to difficult environmental factors faced by these salmon on their initial journey out to the ocean three years ago. Following a drought sequence, the 2016-2017 Sacramento and San Joaquin numbers were less than 135,000 returning fall-run Chinook. Three years later, after rains, it was over 200,000. Similar rebounds happened after 2010 had above average rainfall. Salmon returns three years later more than doubled from around 163,000 to around 448,000. These patterns indicate that salmon returning three years from now will benefit from the ample precipitation California has experienced this year.

“This closure is painful,” said Director Bonham. “We deeply appreciate the fishing community in California voicing support for this serious step to help these stocks recover. We have worked with our commercial and recreational partners over the years to rebuild other fisheries following closures and now some of those, like some groundfish populations, are providing opportunities for fishing for the first time in years.”

More information regarding the PFMC actions can be found on the PFMC website at www.pcouncil.org."