longfin smelt spawning

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 – December 2024. Happy Longfin New Year!

Happy New Year!  This post mainly focuses on the latest return migration of spawning Longfin Smelt – a now an...

Fish in the Bay – October 2024, Hot October – Invasions Continue.

October was a hot weekend.  Air temperature was beastly.  Water temperatures in October were close to 2 degrees C warmer...

Fish in the Bay – March 2024, Spring Flush Continues.

As of March, we were still experiencing a welcome extended rainy spring.  In theory, the additional rainwater flushing should be...

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 – October 2023, Fall Begins.

Several October spoilers were given in the previous post.  Much more remains to be reported. We will only cover a...

Fish in the Bay – September 2023, Summer’s End.

A belated September fish report:  I missed September trawls, but Sami, Niko, and Janai sent me some photos. I got...

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 – 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 1 – Atmospheric River Blowout.

Heavy cold rain drenched us on January 14th and 15th.  We were under at least the sixth Atmospheric River that...

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 – March 2022: A Crazy & mixed up month!

March was an unusual month that we still have not completely figured out.  We are in the start of a...

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 – December 2021: Longfin Alert! Longfin Smelt have commenced Spawning in Lower South San Francisco Bay!

The first spawning-ready Longfin Smelt of the 2021/22 spawning season have been detected.  This typically happens in December, but only...

Fish in the Bay – October 2021: Longfins Returned. Non-native Silversides & Shimofuris were still out of control.

Trawl map. The results from October trawls were a mix of good and bad news on several levels.   Bay-side...

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 – 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 – January 2020: The Longfin Chronicles, Part 3.

Longfin trawl results from January 2nd & 3rd. Operation “Save Our Smelt” 2020/21, week three.  By this point, over 100...

Fish in the Bay – December 2020: The Longfin Chronicles, Part 2.

Longfin trawl results from December 27th& 28th. Longfin Smelt Broodstock Collection. Operation “Save Our Smelt” 2020/21 continued through the last...

Fish in the Bay – December 2020: The Longfin Chronicles, part 1.

Longfin trawl results from December 20th. Operation “Save Our Smelt” 2020/21 has begun.  This is the third year that researchers have...

Fish in the Bay – December 2020: Longfin Alert! Longfin Smelt are Spawning in Lower South San Francisco Bay!

Trawl map highlighting the December Longfin Spawning Zone. 1. Background. In 2017, UC Davis researchers first confirmed Longfin Smelt spawning in...