Lake Oroville
Bass fishing is holding steady on lake Oroville, according to Fil Torres at Oroville Outdoors, "Bass fishing is pretty much the same as last week. Typical winning weights for the Saturday tournament were around seven to nine pounds [for five bass], but on Sunday the winning weights were in 11-pound range. The bigger fish were in the three-pound category."

"You can catch some pretty substantial numbers of slot-size fish. Best bet is dropshotting and jigs at around 30 feet, and there are also some fish holding parallel to the bank at 12 to 15 feet."

Regarding the 150,000 recently stocked seven to nine-inch juvenile coho salmon, Torres observed, "They are like little piranhas- biting almost anything everywhere in the lake. Try to avoid them if you can, but gently release them if you bring one in."

"The larger ???keeper' cohos planted in 2006 are a little deeper. Try mooching with sardine tails on a red hook at 30 feet or deeper."

Waterfowl hunting
As usual, weather conditions were the story for local waterfowl hunters, reported Harry Boyle of Chico. "The shooting has been fair, but did pick up with the weather", said Boyle. "We haven't been a lot of big ducks, it's been mostly teal, widgeon and the like."

"We haven't been hearing a lot of shooting, I think a lot of hunters are waiting before they put in a lot of time in the blind. It's just not winter yet. We have a lot of ducks in the area, but there's no reason for them to move right now.

War on stripers?
Coalition for a Sustainable Delta has filed a Notice of Intention to sue the DFG for violating the Federal Endangered Species Act. The group, backed by the California Water Contractors issued a release saying that state regulations protect the non-native striped bass, a known predator of several native endangered and threatened species including the Delta smelt.

Michael Boccadoro, spokesperson for CSD said, "It is extremely counter productive for the state to implement programs that protect a known predator of federally protected threatened and endangered species at a time when federal courts are ordering significant cutbacks in water pumping operations to protect the same species."

Numerous sportfishing-related groups are hoping that the coalition is unsuccessful in it's efforts. Dave Hurley of the California Striped Bass Association and Dan Bacher of Fish Sniffer Publications said, "The state water contractors are playing hard ball. They now want to blame the striped bass for the decline of the delta smelt, longfin smelt king salmon and other fish in the Delta to divert blame from the state and federal export pumps, even though the striped bass successfully coexisted with native species for over 125 years."

Oil spill
The widely-publicized oil spill in San Francisco Bay has resulted in a total fishing closure in several large areas. At the direction of the governor, the DFG issued a press release defining the fishing closure areas. The order suspended all fishing, including the start of crab season, in the areas impacted by the oil spill.

The closures will affect all San Francisco Bay waters west of the Carquinez bridge, excluding rivers, streams and creeks. The south end of the boundary closure begins at San Pedro Point in San Mateo county, and proceeds due west three nautical miles. It then extends north to three miles west of the Point Reyes lighthouse in Marin county. A map of the closure area can be found at www.dfg.ca.gov/news/fisheries-closure on the Internet.

The suspension is for all fishing in the areas affected by the oil spill until Dec. 1, 2007 or when the DFG and state health officials determine the fishing season can be opened.

BBAC dinner
Black Bass Action Committee held its annual fundraising banquet in Oroville this week. Among the highlights was BBAC's statewide panel honoring the ladies of the Chico Bass Club with a service award.

BBAC's Don Reighley said, "When I first came into contact with the Chico Bass Club many years ago, I knew they were different. There were a lot of married couples, which is pretty unusual in the bass fishing community.

"These ladies have really done a lot for the sport. They take out special needs kids in the Catch A Special Thrill program, volunteer boats for the Pro-Ams, anything you want. And of course anybody who has caught a bass over five pounds in Lake Oroville has them to thank for the club's Florida-strain largemouth stocking program."

Reighley added, "I'm glad we had to opportunity to honor these ladies in front of their peers. They work hard and deserve recognition."

Club members honored were Gail Salca, Amanda Bess, Barbara Church, Toni Corpe, Sharon Hibdon, Cheryl Miller, Judy Niemann, Vi Widman, Bonnie Willis and Cheryl Cavanagh.

Toni Corpe said, "It is absolutely a team effort for all of us, and we are very grateful to be honored in this way."

Refuge scores
The highest daily average scores at the refuges last week were as follows: Sacramento- 1.9 waterfowl per hunter average including 19 geese [14 pheasant]; Delevan- 3.2 including 9 geese [49 pheasant]; Colusa- 2.3 including 3 geese [7 pheasant]; Sutter- 2.9 including 1 goose.