According to the regulators salmon fishing may be materialize here next year. The state Department of Fish and Game said that 2010 opening date for recreational salmon fishing south of Humboldt County’s Horse Mountain, which would allow Monterey Bay anglers to catch two fish per day of any salmon species other than coho. Dana Michaels, a Fish and Game spokeswoman, said there is cause for some optimism, calling the announcement of the planned season “an educated guess.”
Michael Mohr of the National Marine Fisheries Service, who heads the agency’s Santa Cruz-based Salmon Assessment Team, agreed, while cautioning it’s too early to tell for sure. He added that there are some encouraging signs, but it really depends on the number of fish returning to rivers in September.
Mike Baxter, a longtime Santa Cruz fisherman and sometimes charter captain of the Velocity, said most people he talks with are thinking there will be some limited recreational fishing of salmon next year. Tom Faulk of the Paloma, a commercial salmon boat, said the lack of salmon has taken a big chunk out of his wallet.
It is said that ocean conditions are “incredible” for salmon this year. It is also noted that the water use in the Central Valley is killing them. A large system to keep the salmon out of deadly San Joaquin River pumps was recently installed, though. The Central Valley problem was echoed in May by the Santa Cruz-based director of the Fisheries Ecology Division of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Churchill Grimes.
