September 1st of each year means that it is the first day of dove season. Some guys wait all year for that season to open. Others just shrug their shoulders and wonder what the big deal is all about.

I can remember going dove hunting with my dad fifty years ago and it was a big deal then.

It is the hunter’s way of easing into fall which this year the Fall Equinox is on September 22nd at 10:21 EDT. That is when there will be an equal amount of light to dark about twelve hours each way.

By September 1st there is a higher expectation that there are a few more salmon running up the river for the catching. On a drive along the river road from the City of Sacramento down to Rio Vista on Highway 160 there were a few fishermen trolling under and around the Walnut Grove Bridge. There were a few boats trolling from the Walnut Grove Bridge to Ryde Bend on the Sacramento River and there were fewer boats trolling near Vieira’s Resort. I did not see anyone trolling from the Rio Vista Bridge to the Three Mile Slough Bridge on the Sacramento River trolling for salmon or stripers the day I was driving on the river road.

This week the weather has been pretty typical September 1st weather. It was 102 – degrees the first part of the week then it blew a couple of days and kept everyone off the water then on Friday September 9th it’s a very nice almost fall day.

As we role into Thursday September 15th it’s a very nice almost fall day cool in the morning but you can still wear shorts and feel comfortable and then it warms up during the day.

Guys that have been launching from our harbor site are targeting both salmon and stripers right now. I have not heard of anyone trolling around the San Joaquin River looking for stripers it just means they are not talking. I have no salmon reports guys are just looking.

The striper bite has been very strong since the Labor Day Weekend both in Sherman Lake and in the Dutch Slough big Break area. Pat Jones and a buddy have fished the past two weekends in Dutch Slough and Big Break and have been averaging over sixty stripers per outing.

Most of the stripers are undersize but every so often Pat catches a striper in the 10 – lb range.

Pat has been fishing mostly with swim bait.

For those of you who regularly use our fish cleaning station I want to apologize to you for your inconvenience of not having the use of that cleaning station.

The bearings were shot and there was a lot of shaking going on when the grinder was running. The cost to repair a ten year old unit was almost the same cost to purchase a new unit.

We have spent the cost of a college tuition at a Junior College to have a brand new 10 hp three phase grinder installed at the fish cleaning station that is operational now.

On the Bodega Bay fishing front the past few weeks it has been hot one or two days then it dies. As a reminder the West Side Launching Ramp is closed for dock repairs until November 4th. As you may or may not know the only other launching ramp in Bodega Bay is also owned by the Sonoma County Park System and that launching ramp is at Doran Beach.

Be very careful where you park your car and trailer after you have launched at Doran Beach, I have been told by a third party that folks have been getting tickets by the park system of parking in unapproved areas so beware.

The ramp is very poor at best and the dock is even worse.

If you are going to fish the Bodega Bay/Tomales Point area you might consider launching at Lawson’s Landing off their sand beach. The Lawson’s have a tractor launch service at their beach launch site. On a minus tide especially but any tide I strongly recommend the tractor launch and retrieve service. It beats getting stuck in the sand for hours.

The only other place to launch in the area is at Nick’s Cove which is a ways up in Tomales Bay. The Nick’s Cove site is a public launch I just not too sure how much water you have getting out at a low tide.

Even though there are still a few salmon out in the ocean and we have another month or so of bottom fishing I starting to look at the Dungeness crab season. In my heart of hearts I don’t think that it will open as planned on Saturday November 5, 2016.

I think the domoic acid issue is still out there as it relates to the rock crab closure. I think our opening will be pushed back several months.

With that said I will start rigging some new lines in October getting ready for a season that may or may not open stay tuned.

Additional there are some new regulations that will impact all of us sport boat skiffs this year.

State and Federal officials have opened up a fund to raise the sunken paddle wheel boat that sank and then rolled over (turtled) in False River. Divers and two crane barges are suppose to roll the boat over and then pump it out and then tow the boat away. The next couple of days should be very interesting in False River.

Speaking of crane barges, we have had a yellow and green crane and support barges out in front of our harbor for the past four or five weeks. That equipment will be there for another four or five weeks going back and forth between our shore line and Sherman Island.

The crane will be here for another four or five weeks. There are a total of three different buried P. G. & E pipelines that that been abandon. The crane barge has been hired to pull out one pipe line out of the water at a time in 150 – ft sections so it takes a while. Watch out for the white anchor mooring balls that keep the crank barge in place. At night the mooring balls are supposed to have a white flashing light on them to show where they are.

In closing I just want to apologize to all of you for not putting out a fishing report the past four weeks. Turning sixty five got in the way as well as fishing in Mexico this past week with buddies from Bodega Bay.

I will make every attempt to do better.

See you on the water Delta Chris