The PFMC meeting is over, but not before another change to the options for salmon. As contentious as salmon is, the options will likely change again (and then again) before a decision is made.  But if you're making plans for this summer, here's the best, current info:

Option 1: June 5-9, July 3-7, August 1-6, September 1-3, 27-29, October 18-20.  There will be a maximum harvest limit of 10,000 salmon during June through August, and 5,000 salmon from September and October. 

Option 2: July 4-7. August 1-4, 29-31. Maximum harvest of 6,500 salmon.

Option 3: Pound sand

  Please note that in the non-sand-pounding options, quotas for maximum take will be in effect. If fishing is good, the season will close early. Option 1, if fishing is good in Santa Cruz and Monterey in that early season open, as it often is, well, forget August when the fishing would be best here. September ain't the best, but trying is better than not fishing. But, hey, that's only if the "best case" option gets chosen. Option 2 seems like a proper compromise, where everybody is unhappy. My guess is still that we something 2-ish. 

   No new crab or surfperch stories, but the salmon season options have changed. They will likely change again, at least slightly, before the adoption of one of the options. Contentious is the proper descriptive word. The options:

June 6-9, July 3-7, August 1-4, 29-31, September 1 to October 15

or

July 4-7, August 1-4, 29-31

or

pound sand.

My opinion? I think that sand should be pounded. That opinion is unpopular, and the CDFW and PFMC are aware of that. so there's pressure to allow some fishing, hence the two out of three options having fishing. IMHO, we're getting a season. But not much of one. Chances are best for something resembling option 2, the 11 day season option, or something resembling it. NOTE: If an open season is chosen, there is a likelihood of a quota being in place, A probability, actually. So don't count on the later dates. My guess is that there will be a lot of pressure. I will be fishing , given the option. If I'm going to get blamed for not enough salmon returning this fall, I'm going to earn it. Head held high and acknowledging it. Yup. Freezer full of extermination. Or, at least, attempted extermination. Just doing my part.

    The low tides have a few folks out digging clams and that's going pretty well. The clams can't really go anywhere The crab have other options, and right now they're mostly in the middle of "the clutch", when they're more interested in things other than your bait. At least one boat today broke the law of crab sex and caught a limit of Dungeness in the bay in a few hours around the top of the tide. It can be done, but probably not by you or me. But maybe...Nah, who am I trying to kid. Maybe you.  Crab really isn't my game.

   So, the salmon season alternatives for here, as of this evening, vary from  crappy to no season at all. Best case to worst, depending on what you want:

May 25-28, July 4-7, August 29-31, September 1 to October 15

or...

July 4 to 10

or...

pound sand.

  So, your options are either to try to go fishing on holiday weekends with literally everybody else (ignoring weather; just GO!) or not fish. My brother had an indelicate expression (actually, he had many of them; here's one)' "It's like a sh*t sandwich, and everyone's invited." I didn't really get it at the time, just wrote it off to the Kessler flu he was suffering, as it were, but I think I'm starting to understand it in a different way now. Some future video:

 

   I'm not going to subject you to all three of the "hand and perch" photos I received today, but just know that there's some surfperch out there. Gage fished to outgoing this morning, so the fact that he caught anything is a pretty good indicator that there's some fish out there.  December's big surf did a pretty good job of erasing all the structure and, really, any reason for a fish to close enough to shore for us to catch it. Since then, the beach has been trying to rebuild. Storms have slowed it, but the beach persists. And apparently, so do the surfperch. It ain't wide open, but judging by the number of bites (that mostly didn't stick) that Gage had, there's probably a lot of small ones out there. Gear up accordingly, or wait for growth. 

   Crabwise, well, things are slow. We had a guy recently that spent his day working traps inside the bay for a grand total of two Dungeness. As he was pulling the boat out he saw a crab snare guy landing a double of legal crabs. After the boat dropped off he went over to the snare guy and asked him, how many others? The snare guy said, none. Only keepers of the day. The moral of the story is, when fishing or crabbing, the important thing is less about how many you catch but more about how many other people see you catch. Extra points to the fellow that. while only tying with him, made a boater feel like he wasted his time. I know, as I was told by an old fisherman, "it's not a competition, unless you're winning." Snarer +1. Also, I wish I was winning. Maybe next time. As far as crab in general, it kinda sucks all over as this is the tail end of what the commercial guys call "the clutch", that special time when a boy crabs and girl crabs decide food isn't as important as as making the next generation of crabs. And God love 'em for it. Except for when you're trying to catch them. It only gets better from here.

   So, everybody (with boats, or with friends with boats) is wondering about salmon and rockfish seasons this year. Both are TBD. Salmon returned in numbers slightly more than anticipated, so there's a slightly better than no chance of a salmon season this year. There may be no season, but chances of a season this year are slightly better than zero. SLIGHTLY BETTER. Chances are we'll be, yet again, pulling barbed hooks from numerous anadromous fish's jaws. But maybe not, for a damn short time.  Also, for rockfish, our seasons are also yet to be determined by the PFMC and the CDFW. From the tiny bit I've heard, it may be dramatically broken up between shallow (<120') and deep (>300') on a month-by-month basis. It is still TBD, but expect confusion. Hey, good news! There's still a place for for tackle shops ."What's the rules today?" "What day is it?" We have good calendars.

 So, salmon season 2024. What will it be? Well, it turns out that you may be able to determine that. I'm not going to tell you what I think, because what I think shouldn't influence your choice, in my opinion. So, that's my opinion. The Golden State Salmon Association got some info from the Oregon meeting yesterday. Here's some knowledge:"Fishery managers, in a presentation given to the salmon industry in Oregon on February 28, forecasted 213,622 adult Sacramento Valley fall-run Chinook salmon in the ocean off the West Coast. This compares to 169,800 estimated in 2023 and 396,458 in 2022 at this time. The same information will be delivered to the California salmon industry on March 1 (see below for meeting details).

Normally, fishery managers allow fishing that will still deliver a minimum of 122,000 salmon to spawn in the Sacramento Basin. In recent years, they’ve increased that target number. In 2022, fishery managers limited fishing in order to see more than 180,000 fall run salmon return to spawn but less than 62,000 showed up.    

Two weeks ago, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) released its review of the 2023 salmon fisheries and reported a total of 133,638 (revised on February 28, 2024 to 139,500) hatchery and natural area adult spawning fall-run Chinook were estimated to have returned to the Sacramento Valley last year. The 2023 number of returning adult salmon fell short of pre-season expectations and continues to highlight the lack of returning salmon from 2020 and 2021 broodstocks–a direct result of state water management decisions that dramatically increased the impact of the drought. 

Salmon eggs faced overheated water because of the failure of the State Water Resources Control Board to adequately control temperature pollution from Shasta Dam. Lethally high temperatures in the Sacramento River were caused by excessive deliveries to the Bureau of Reclamation’s unsustainable industrial agricultural customers that allowed the draining of cold water from Shasta Dam prior to the spawning season. The few juvenile salmon that just happened to survive were then exposed to dangerously low flows during their outmigration down the Sacramento River, as well as through the Delta.  Further, Governor Newsom waived the weak salmon flow standards that are currently in place, allowing conditions for salmon to be degraded further.  

In the month ahead, the PFMC will use the latest ocean abundance forecast to determine if there will be a 2024 season for both sport and commercial ocean salmon fishing. In April of 2023, the PFMC was forced to finalize the season’s closure due to low returns–a drastic step that affected and continues to negatively impact all of California’s marine and inland waters as well as ocean salmon fishing off most of the Oregon coast.   

“This forecast will be used to determine whether or not salmon families in California and Oregon will be able to go to work, pay their mortgages and feed their families in 2024. Tens of thousands are still suffering from last year’s closed salmon fishing season,” said Scott Artis, executive director of Golden State Salmon Association. “The buck stops with Governor Newsom and his environmentally destructive and salmon fishery-decimating water policies. And as bad as this situation is, Governor Newsom is fighting to make life even harder for fishing families by building the massive Delta tunnel, Sites Reservoir and promoting the salmon killing and science-free water user ‘voluntary agreement’ proposal.”

" So, of the estimated 33,000 salmon, ocean sport fishermen will perhaps be allowed a portion. 33,000 fish on it's own isn't a decent season, and a portion of that is just sad. I have fished in sad conditions before, and as long as I don't have to make eye contact, well, all is good enough. It doesn't need to be good for me (but is sure as heck helps). Here's a link for your opinion, to someone it may influence : Do you want an opportunity to  fish for salmon in 2024? 

Then you MUST make your  views known!! 

Complete the survey put out by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Deadline  Sunday March 3, 2024. Say that you want an opportunity to fish consistent with conservation  objectives. 

Speak up at the meeting. You must sign up in advance (starting on Wednesday, March 6). Input  on salmon season options begins Thursday morning, March 7, agenda item C.2.

Speak your truth but probably don't be a dick. I am of both sides. I miss salmon fishing (and eating) but I don't want to get blamed for their extinction. However, if I'm going to get the blame, I'm fishing, and fishing hard.