Fish in the Bay – April 2025, Traditional Baby Fish Month.

Spring is here – technically it arrived on March 20th.  Returning warmth is slowly awakening the marshes … just in...

Fish in the Bay – April 2025: WRMP – Eden Landing Trawls.

The UC Davis OGFL lab was contracted by the Wetlands Regional Monitoring Program (WRMP) to perform fish monitoring surveys at...

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-Feb 2025 – Pictures at an Exhibition, A Fish Opera.

This is a third and final report on 2025 Longfin Smelt Broodstock Trawls.  I was not present at most of...

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 – 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 Part 2. Other Bugs & Fishes.

This second part covers additional fishes and bugs that were not included in the January report.   1. Colorful Clupeiforms.  Wintertime...

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 – May 2024, El Nino?

Relatively few fish overall.  May totals were generally not the lowest ever, but these numbers were reminiscent of low fish...

Fish in the Bay – April 2024, Traditional Baby Fish Month.

Once again, it is that time of year: Baby Fish Month!  Hundreds to thousands of tiny baby “unidentified” gobies traditionally...

Fish in the Bay – February 2024, Part2. Freshwater Flush, continued.

This is part two of the February blog.  The February flush and the resulting salinity drop scattered most of our...

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, 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 – July 2023, Record Starry Year

Record Starry Year!  As reported earlier, the year-to-date Starry count had already exceeded the previous record year as of June,...

Fish in the Bay – June 2023, Is Summer here yet?

More baby fishes showed up in June!  This included 60 baby Longfin Smelt and 178 baby Starry Flounder which is...

Fish in the Bay – May 2023, Extra Baby Fish Month.

More baby fish showed up in May.  For want of a better term, this was an “Extra Baby Fish Month.”...

Fish in the Bay – April 2023, Traditional Baby Fish Month

April is “Traditional Baby Fish Month.”  The tradition is fairly new in Lower South San Francisco Bay.  New for us,...

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 – 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 – January 2022: Anchovies and Longfins, yes! But, no Crangon brooding.

Good News!  Our streak of phenomenal finfish production continues.  This time last year, we were marveling over the uncharacteristic boost...

Fish in the Bay – June 2021: Summer Fishes.

Trawl map. June Trawls.  The summertime Anchovy spawn commenced in June: see previous Anchovy Alert blog post – http://www.ogfishlab.com/2021/06/05/fish-in-the-bay-june-2021-anchovy-alert-spawning-anchovies-have-returned-to-lower-south-san-francisco-bay/.  This...

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 – March 2021: La Nina Baby Fish Bomb.

Trawl map. We caught a lot of baby fish in March; more shrimp than normal as well.  The Pacific Ocean...

Fish in the Bay – February 2021: Tales from the Coral Reef and the Spawning Ground.

Trawl map. Good news, a new season of spawning fish arrived!  Read on.   Bay-side stations trawling results. Rare, odd-ball...

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...

Fish in the Bay – March 2020: Spring Spawns – Part 1

I am social-isolating and self-sheltering to maximum extent possible. Yet another naturally-mutated virus popped up and potentially threatens to mow...

Fish in the Bay – February 2020: Comb Jelly Explosion!

No rain = fewer fish!  An unseasonable winter dry spell continues.  Lower South Bay continues to get saltier.  Based on...

Fish in the Bay – October 2019, UC Davis Trawls – Winter Fish Arrivals & a goby surprise.

I joined the UC Davis trawls on both days of this October’s trawling weekend.  … Fish are on the move! ...

Fish in the Bay – September 2019, UC Davis Trawls – Exopalaemon Blow-Out plus more Anchovy Color Investigation.

I did not join the September trawls, so the photo record is a little sparse.  It was an interesting month...

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