For a really big traffic jam last weekend, forget the Los Angeles freeway “Carmageddon,” — try Noyo Harbor.
Boats lined up in the early morning hours to take turns going out to hit the ocean. Pickups jammed the big boat launch parking lot in the South Harbor and there was no parking from the barbecue grounds all along the mooring basin — all morning, noon and late afternoon.
Salmon fishermen”s boats bobbed in big clusters on the calm seas, enjoying sunny and warm weather.
What brought so many anglers to Fort Bragg?
Steve Love of Sacramento and Ed Schrader of El Dorado Hills were among those who said they had heard reports that the expected salmon rush had finally arrived.
The two men caught one salmon each, but they were smiling and happy at the end of H Dock on Sunday. One of the big kings weighed 15 pounds and the other 23.
“We had hoped for more but these were beautiful fish and this was a beautiful day,” said Schrader.
Schrader said some friends got their limits on Saturday; others came back empty handed. The rumors of a massive salmon rush may have been exaggerated.
The two men have been coming to the North Coast for more than 20 years and are glad the bleak years of 2008-2009 are history, but they remember better fishing in bygone days.
“It was a lot better back then, far more fish,” said Schrader.
Most of the Chinook (or king) salmon caught off Fort Bragg return to the Sacramento River system, studies have shown.
The federal government has just classified Sacramento River system king salmon as “overfished.” The new federal report is based on low numbers in previous years, not this year, when numbers have resurged and fishing reopened.
Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its 2010 Status Of Stocks Report, which shows that several important Atlantic fisheries have been rebuilt. The news isn”t quite as good in the Pacific.
Of the 207 stocks checked nationwide in the report for 2010, 77 percent were not considered to be overfished, when their numbers are driven too low to sustain the population at targeted levels. NOAA”s sustainability index for 230 species continued to rise.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council estimates that about 750,000 adult, fall-run Chinook salmon will ply the coastal waters this season. Even if the full estimate of 250,000 were caught at sea and in the rivers, that would leave nearly half a million fish to spawn the returning class of 2014.
Until very recently, the big predictions haven”t meant massive catches out of Noyo Harbor. Fishing has been spotty, with some boats hitting the pink gold and others coming back empty all year.
Yet, it is all a heartening reversal from three years ago, when only about 72,000 king salmon total returned to the Sacramento Valley rivers from their three-year ocean sojourn. The terrifying crash in Sacramento River numbers created fears of a total demise of the Bay-Delta”s environmental system. The revival of a hatchery program is thought to have had a major impact on this year”s numbers. But studies also found that hatchery fish, being more closely related to each other than wild spawners, are more vulnerable to ups and downs.
Not all fishermen came based on the rumors of a great salmon rush. Stephen Pinckney of Redding escaped the heat of the Central Valley for fishing after his son called and reported the ocean was flat.
The combination of perfect weather and seas as calm as a pond were capped off by catching a single king for Pinckney.
“It was a great day? there were a lot of boats out there,” Pinckney said.
Preston Salmans and Lance McGrath, came from Ukiah to fish with Fort Bragg friends. They went for bottom fish after seeing all the boats. Their boat”s catch included a lingcod, crabs and a cabazon but no salmon.
McGrath said he watched about 50 boats and saw half a dozen salmon landed.
“We had a great time,” said McGrath.
Just the rumors of salmon were good for business in Fort Bragg. Many family members walked the streets while others fished. Several restaurants were unusually crowded on both Saturday and Sunday nights.
In the newly minted 2010 Status of Stocks report, 23 percent of the group of 207 were considered overfished, including seven species on the Pacific Coast. They were among 48 fish stocks considered overfished nationwide.
Another 40 out of 213, or 16 percent, were listed as “subject to overfishing,” including bigeye tuna and bluefin tuna in the Pacific. Some 84 percent were considered not subject to overfishing.
Both categories — those considered subject to overfishing, and those considered overfished — increased by two stocks compared to 2009.
Fishermen also reported abundant coho or silver salmon off Fort Bragg this weekend. Coho, once the staple of local commercial fishing, have long been a protected species with no catch allowed but have been making a comeback. All the rivers and streams along the Mendocino Coast once teemed with coho and the occasional king.
“Those didn”t even get near the boat, we release them in the water,” said Schrader.
The 2010 Status of Stocks report, complete with maps and charts can be viewed at;
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/statusoffisheries/SOSmain.htm
Carmageddon, the predicted gigantic traffic jam due to closure of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles this past weekend, never came to pass.
Email Frank Hartzell at frankhartzell@gmail.com.
