Whether you like to fish the delta, the bay or the ocean, the wind has kept us all off the water for almost two weeks.

 

The high winds have also caused us to loose two trees here at the harbor, luckily no property damage to speak of.

 

All of this wind has done a pretty good job of pounding the southern shoreline with wave action along the west delta allowing for muddy water and a cooling of the water temperatures. The visibility is not so bad here at our launching ramp area but those who have gone out fishing today (Friday) that have commented how muddy it was out on the San Joaquin River.

 

The wind has kept most of the guys off the water this week except for those that knew about the salmon smolt releases over on Sherman Island this week. I understand that there have been at least two releases from the pen this week. According to my source there will be off and on releases through the month of May. Some releases have been a problem because some of the smolts are not large enough to release yet into the river system.

 

The big attraction with the salmon smolt is that the stripers go after and feed on them. The guys that have the inside track on when there are releases have gotten into some pretty good fishing when the wind has been calm.

 

Kind of a rule of thumb from a weather standpoint is that if it is too windy to fish it is too windy to tow the fish pen with the smolt so there won't be any releases. If it is calm and the fish are the correct size then it could be a release day.

 

I don't think they always release in the same area, I believe they move the pen up and down the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers. The thing you can count on is May will be a very busy release month for releases, weather permitting. I also believe they try to release the smolt when there is a good outgoing current.

 

If you see a fleet of boats in a very tight area, you can guess there has been a release of salmon smolt. Best way to tell what is going on.

 

Reno Garcia and his pop went fishing today (Friday), they had pretty good luck fishing from the Antioch Bridge east along the southern shore of Sherman Island all of the way up to Eddos. They had some great striper fishing on the sand bar just above the house on the levee on Sherman Island.

 

I can tell you that the windmills at Collinsville are barely moving and the water out in front of the harbor is pretty much a mill pond, mirror glass water on Friday April 19^th. That is very much a marked difference from the first part of the week.

 

Now that the wind has stopped and ambient temperatures are suppose to be in the low 80's this weekend water temperatures can start to creep up a little as well.

 

Right now the water temperature range at the old Antioch Boat Ramp on the San Joaquin River is in the range of 59.79 to 61.57 degrees. On the Sacramento River at the Rio Vista Bridge the water temperature range is 60.9 to 62.2 degrees, by the end of this weekend look for the water temperatures to go up a degree or more from the warm weather.

 

For those of you that enjoy salmon fishing, the final regulations for the season have come out. Make sure you go online to find out how those regulations will impact you and your fishery.

 

To make a long story short, if you fish from Point Arena to Pigeon Point the length is 24 inches until August 1 then the length drops to 20 inches for the remainder of the season, November 10^th.

 

Salmon fishing will be closed every Monday and Tuesday in June and part of July. That closure is to give the winter Chinook salmon a chance. The regulations for commercial fisherman are a little different. Again please go online to get a copy of all of the regulations and how they will impact you.

 

See you on the water, Delta Chris, KK6DQE.