OFF THE HOOK: Sturgeon prospects look better with year's first storms

The saltwater fishing scene in northern and central California is in that "limbo" time between the closure of rockfish and lingcod season on Dec. 31 and the beginning of salmon season in April.

While sanddab and crab fishing has been good out of Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and Monterey when the boats are able to get out, the sturgeon fishing improved recently on a series of big outgoing tides on San Pablo Bay.

Gordon Hough, captain of the Morning Star, made a trip on Jan. 18 that produced a lot of action for sturgeon and flounder. Hough is now leaving from the Crockett Marina for sturgeon, bass and shark trips until the live bait season on Francisco Bay begins this spring.

"On a primo outgoing tide and equally primo weather, we headed west on for what we hoped would be a preview of a banner winter sturgeon fishing season," Hough said.

Their first stop was the very shallow water near the mouth of Sonoma Creek.

"You have to keep one eye on the depth finder that far west on a big outgoing tide or you'll find yourself aground," Hough said. "I don't know about you, but the prospect of being stuck on a boat till dark thirty with the Deck Dog (Mike Shimel) is enough to keep anyone on their toes."

A couple of crabs, a few flounder and two shaker sturgeon later, the anglers headed south to slightly deeper water.

"The water was muddy and fishy, and we immediately caught a few more shaker sturgeon and missed several obvious sturgeon bites," Hough said. "They were really biting!"

James Williams was the first to hook something substantial.

"If we were going to throw this one back it wouldn't be because it was too small," Hough said. "His rod was doubled over. Alas, we'll never know, this fish (like so many others on that day) escaped after a brief battle."

John Murray was the first to land a legal sturgeon and it was Murray's first ever sturgeon trip.

"John has caught a legal sturgeon every time he's been out," Hough said.

Walt Fung of Oakland was the next to yell, "Fish on," aboard the Morning Star.

"This fish was wild, repeatedly jumping and dragging Walt from one end of the boat to the other," Hough said. "Truth be known, I was secretly hoping Walt would lose this sturgeon because of the $15 bet I foolishly made with him at the start of the trip."

But alas, Walt's fishing prowess prevailed and the crew finally muscled it aboard.

"Then, seemingly, an act of divine intervention took place," Hough said. "We discovered Walt's fish was 2 inches too big! This was a win/win/win for all concerned."

Why?

Win 1: Walt had the battle of his life with a giant fish.

Win 2: The sturgeon learned a valuable lesson about eating tasty treats with strange entanglements.

Win 3: "Our bet was for a legal sturgeon. Too bad, so sad Mr. Fung," Hough said.

John Murray, Sr. (who like his son, was on his first ever sturgeon trip) was the next to hook up. This fish refused to give up.

"I was not sure who was going to win this battle for awhile, but John prevailed, and this one at 65 inches we could keep," Hough said.

The final count for the trip was two legal sturgeon, one oversize sturgeon, 7 or 8 shakers and "many, many lost opportunities" for the 15 anglers. The anglers also caught one 7-pound bass and 8 starry flounder.

The next scheduled trip aboard the Morning Star, during the middle of a big Pacific storm on Jan. 21, didn't turn out so well. When Hough and deckhand Mike Shimel got to the boat in the morning, there were 16 people there eagerly waiting to go fishing on a day with big, excellent tides for sturgeon.

However, as they were waiting on the boat, the dock past the gangway where the Morning Star is moored broke in half, due to heavy winds.

"The wind was blowing hard and I really don't know how we would have got out of the harbor anyway," Hough said. He, "Deck Dog" and all of the anglers went home.

Hough joked, "When the dock snapped in half, I should have charged them for the excitement of a near-death experience."

The 2012 sturgeon prospects are improving with the arrival of the first big storms that have moved through California. Hopefully, the storms of Jan. 19-23 will be followed by more big storms to raise reservoir water levels and send more water down the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and North Bay rivers and creeks. That will freshen up the salty water of San Pablo and Suisun Bays, creating ideal conditions for white sturgeon.