There weren't many fish brought to the measuring table at McAvoy's Harbor for the Original Sturgeon Derby despite nearly 1000 entrants. There was one boat that fared quite well and saw some incredible action over the weekend. Captain James Smith of the California Dawn ran the boat during the day with his brother Chris Smith running the boat at night with the same group throughout the derby time limits. These anglers were rewarded with the 1st and 7th place fish today for over $8000 in winnings with the top fish coming under Captain Chris's watch. Throughout the two days, the California Dawn landed sturgeon at 63 (Sunday's winner), 58 (Sunday's 7th place), 53, 50 and released a 46-incher. They had another fish at 58-inches which was disqualified due to being bled on Saturday which would have placed in the money. The wide length span between places is evidence of the overall slow fishing where the length span is usually fractions of inches. The Smiths found the fish between the Benicia/Martinez and Carquinez Bridges.
They also had an oversized on for over three hours on Saturday before the hook came out. Larry Butler of San Jose hooked the behemoth while they were anchored off Benicia. Before they could get the anchor pulled and the fish tearing off line (on a heavy 65 pound braid setup) they had to pull out a Smith family trick of hooking the rod to a life jacket and throwing it overboard. Larry must have been asking "your going to do what!?" They caught back up with the life jacket a few minutes later to find the fish still on but tangled in another boat's anchor line. They got the line free and the battle was on... for the next three hours they drifted down, eventually all the way into San Pablo Bay. Ever angler on board including James took at least a 15 minute "shift" of battling the bruiser but no one could turn the fish. At one point as they drifted into the Carquinez Straights and the fish sounded to the bottom in over 100 feet of water two hours into the battle. Every time they gained back line the fish would turn at will and peel off another 100 to 200 feet. Finally after three hours the hook pulled free off Bear Island. While they never saw the fish James said it was by far the heaviest fish they have ever hooked.
Jay Lopes of Right Hook Sport Fishing also had a derby charter, and he was surprised that the sturgeon were sparse with only a couple of bites per tide. They were able to put a 51-inch keeper that was released, a 71-inch oversized and a 40-inch shaker during the four tides fished. He is very optimistic about the coming weeks in Suisun Bay with the water temperature rising to 51.5 degrees and the inflow of fresh water. He will be fishing hard from mid-February until live bait season.
B and S Bait at McAvoy's Harbor in Bay Point was ground zero for the sturgeon derby, and they reported overall slow action with Saturdays winner at 62 and 15/16th inches, paying down to 49-inches with today's winner at 63 and 11/16th-inches paying down to 54-inches. The majority of the fish came out of the South Bay on Saturday. They ordered loads of bait, but the bait sales didn't keep up with the orders.
James Nguyen at Dockside Bait in Pittsburg confirmed the slow action during the derby with only 20 or so total fish landed. They had several reserved orders of bait that didn't show up today, so things weren't as great as they had hoped. He thought Saturday's action was OK, but things were slow today perhaps due to many anglers getting off the water early. Despite the weather reports, the river was very fishable.
Alan Fong of the Fisherman's Warehouse in Sacramento reported good sturgeon action from the banks in Lisbon Slough, as the diamondbacks have moved into the Bypass with the high water. Ghost shrimp and eel have been the top baits. The water has been too muddy for stripers to hit lures.

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The Super Bowl Sturgeon Derby will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday; and in the past, this derby has received heavy interest and participation.  Let's hope participation is high, but this is an opportunity to practice and refine some on-the-water etiquette which has been lacking in past years. The Delta is always crowded with boats during this weekend, and the radio traffic has been filled with profanity, racist diatribes and general immaturity.  For those braving the Delta during the weekend, please be courteous of other fishermen and take this opportunity to treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.
On Thursday 2-4 Pam Hayes at Benicia Bait reported a few sturgeon were landed in the deeper water near Ozol Pier with fish at 65 and 47-inches reported. The larger fish bit grass shrimp with the smaller legal fish on eel. This same angler also picked up a 33-inch striper on eel. She said they are working hard to put up all of the bait reservations for this weekend, and she encouraged anglers to make their reservations by tomorrow if they expect to get bait for this weekend. They currently are in good shape on all of the major baits with the exception of mud shrimp, but fishermen will be sorely disappointed if they don't reserve their bait.
B and S Bait at McAvoy's Harbor in Bay Point reported slow fishing in the past couple of days, but the water is clearing up since the original push of mud and silt. The Sturgeon Derby is keeping their phone ringing for bait reservations in the past couple of days, and they expect to have several last minute entrants tomorrow. McAvoy's is sturgeon general for the Original Sturgeon Derby. Herring, of all things, has been a hot bait in the Pittsburg area. Maybe the fish think they are in the south bay. The waters will be crowded this weekend so  pack along (with everything else) some etiquette and some patience.

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