Alosa sapidissima

Fish in the Bay – March 2025. Baby Fishes & Interesting Oddballs

The Shaduary Shad population explosion ended by early March.  Only a small remnant of stragglers remained in the area.  Unfortunately,...

Fish in the Bay – Special Report: Lower South Bay Broodstock Trawls, Jan 2025 – Return to Oz.

Longfin Smelt Broodstock trawls continued over numerous days through January, February, and even into the first weeks of March.  I...

Fish in the Bay – Special Report: Suisun Bay Broodstock Trawls, December 2024.

I accompanied the UC Davis crew on a “Longfin Smelt Broodstock” trawling expedition in north San Francisco Bay in December...

Fish in the Bay – February 2025. Shaduary Continues.

Good news? Or Bad News?  Shad population explosion has spilled over into February.  January counts broke previous records: 533 American...

Fish in the Bay – January 2025. Crappie Shaduary!

January 2025 was a very disappointing month for Longfin Smelt.  Longfin spawning season started well enough.  November and December numbers...

Fish in the Bay – Merry Fishmas, 2024!

Merry Fishmas everyone!  I fell horribly behind in my fish reporting, so I am combining Fishmas with the November blog. ...

September 2024 Part 2: Goby Faces, Halibut Eyes, Clupeiform Colors, etc.

September report continued … 1. Gobies & Sculpin. Something odd is happening in Goby World.  All numbers were down compared...

Fish in the Bay – Summer 2024. Clupeiform Color Special – Riddle of the Guanine Crystal.

This is a special report to consolidate recent observations and discoveries regarding light refracting-properties we see so often in Clupeiform...

Fish in the Bay – June 2024, El Nino Watch.

El Nino officially ended in May, but effects on fishes linger.    Overall fish totals remain low – with one...

Fish in the Bay – April 2024, Part 2, Every Fish has a Season.

This is part two of the April report.  Part one covered “Baby Fish Month” which mainly pertains to the April...

Fish in the Bay – February 2024, Freshwater Flush & a Later Red Tide.

February trawls were conducted on 10 and 11 February just after two atmospheric rivers dumped a good amount of rain. ...

Fish in the Bay – January 2024, Part 2 – A January food chain.

Part 2 of the January 2024 report: 1. Green water & some reddish fish in Artesian Slough. Clear green water...

Fish in the Bay – December 2023 – Merry Fishmas!

This is a pelagic fish holiday special. Longfin Smelt and Pacific Herring have arrived in preparation for mid-winter spawning.  Young...

Fish in the Bay – November 2023, Part 3 – Bat Rays to the Rescue?

We caught 36 Bat Rays in November.  It was unexpected to see so many this late in the year.  With...

Fish in the Bay – November 2023, Cool season.

Winter fishes arrive as weather cools.  This creates a complicated picture in November.  Many summertime fishes linger as Longfins, Herring,...

Fish in the Bay – March 2023, Freshwater Flushing & Spawning Fishes!

Atmospheric rivers and rainwater flushing continued through March.  This extended rainy season is a very welcome change after at least...

Fish in the Bay – February 2023, Freshwater Flushing Continues.

Cold rain continued to fall as Atmospheric Rivers blew in from the ocean throughout January and February, and even through...

Fish in the Bay – January 2023, Part 2 – The Rest of the Fishes.

Part 2 of the January report covers all the other interesting fishes and bugs.  Seven atmospheric river storms that swept...

Fish in the Bay – December 2022 – Rain & Brown Water

We trawled in cold and intermittent rain on December 10th and 11th.   This seasonal weather change is a very good...

Fish in the Bay – November 2022 – Sturgeon Alert!

The disastrous San Francisco Bay Red Tide of August 2022 is now fading into memory.  The most crushing long-lasting effect...

Fish in the Bay – Special Report, Color Change Experiment #7

Belated report:  This Clupeiform color change experiment was conducted in December but never reported.  This is part of my longstanding...

Fish in the Bay – June 2022, Supplemental Report, Fishes & Other Critters.

By Luca Sartori, California State Maritime Academy Class of 2025.   https://www.csum.edu/ Editor’s note: Luca is spending his summer internship developing...

Fish in the Bay – May 2022, Part 2: Leopard Shark Baby Boom.

These are additional notes from the May trawls.  As always, there are so many critters to discuss and so little...

Fish in the Bay – February 2022: Another Record Catch.

February was another great month if you like small pelagic bait fishes. … And, who doesn’t? The February Longfin Smelt...

Fish in the Bay – December 2021: End of the first Dry La Nina Year.

2021 was a very good year in Lower South SF Bay (LSB) – for most fishes.  Many records were broken,...

Fish in the Bay – November 2021: Winter Fish Transition.

Happy New Year 2022. I am thinking about 2021 in review, but at the same time, I am still catching...

Fish in the Bay – September 2021: Operation Guadalupe, Part 3.

Operation Guadalupe trawl stations. Operation Guadalupe. Continued.  For this third and last installment, we surveyed the upstream tidal end of...

Fish in the Bay – May 2021: Finishing off the La Nina spring.

Trawl map. May Trawls.  May is typically a low-fish transition month between “Baby Fish Month” of April and summertime Anchovies. ...

Fish in the Bay – April 2021: More baby fish.

Trawl map. April is “Baby Fish Month.”  We caught almost 1,900 unidentifiable baby fish.  Most of these tiny babies were...

Fish in the Bay – January 2021, part 1: Winter Fishes = Longfin, Shad, Herring, & Anchovy(?).

Trawl map. Good news first:  1126 Anchovies! That is the biggest January catch of Anchovies since 2014.  465 Longfin Smelt...

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