FORT BAKER
- Thread starter DSRTEGL
- Start date
Met Redfish at the pier and we hung out for a few hours until the wind picked up.....He managed some shiners and smelt on rod and reel and with his cast net......I really need to get a new one.....Based on the buckets I saw the crabbing was ho-hum...….I think I caught the biggest perch on the pier on a a flesh colored Gulp Sandworm...….a nice Black Perch that will be lunch tomorrow....Deep Fried Whole....Skin on but scaled....With a Side of Onion Rings......Highlight of the trip was snagging a damn near brand new crab ring with my perch rig and being able to bring it up with a grappling hook that Redfish had with him.
I really think we need some real rain before the perch start to move into the Bay
Gave Redfish a package of Gulp Sandworms and some of the weights I poured for the save with the grappling hook......I really needed a new crab net
I really think we need some real rain before the perch start to move into the Bay
Gave Redfish a package of Gulp Sandworms and some of the weights I poured for the save with the grappling hook......I really needed a new crab net
-Thanks again for the invite. Had a great time regardless of the limited fish action. I hadn’t been on that pier since I caught dabs on the last decent run about 3 years ago.-There were enough baitfish around but didn’t feel the presence of any real gamefish.
I believe as well that the first rain will trigger the action to come with perch, herring, sturgeon, and striper in their migratory areas.
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I used to drag that pier all the time with a grappling hook for lost crab rings and even commercial crab pots...….The more Sea Lions were around.....The more rings I ended up with...….Learned the trick from a friend by the name of Tim Bauer. I also cleaned up a LOT of lost gear that way, but it would often cost me at least one lost grappling hook a month. I made my hooks out of rebar that would bend out and release if one of the hooks got snagged.....But if you got tangled up with more than one of the hooks you were screwed.
You bring up an interesting question...….I have to wonder if the Back Perch and Striped Perch in the area are more resident and thus pick up the off flavor because of their diet, whereas the Pile Perch and Rubberlips are perhaps more migratory and are therefore not as strong tasting? I used to hit the Jetty HARD for Monkeyface.....But I think I pissed off the spirits by keeping 4 HUGE ones, just one time, and they just shut off for me after that. Not to mess with the Fish Gods, I have not been poking there for years. I also used to use squid for my poking at the Jetty and I look at the price of a 3# box of squid these days...…$16.99 at Safeway right now....WHEN THEY CARRY IT......and I just WINCE......
I am not a scientist and know nothing about sea smells — other than that I have taken in many over the years. However, I would think the monkeyface eel are much more sedentary and resident that the various perch.
As for the perch, they move around. I remember the big runs of pileperch in the winter months at the old Red Rock Marina Pier in Richmond. And springtime always seemed a good time for blackperch and rubberlip perch at the Fort Baker Pier and the Sausalito Pier. Spring also seemed to be a good time for perch in the piers along the south part of San Francisco down to Oyster Point.
Remember this quote from PFIC, 2nd. Ed. — "A clue to one of the great mysteries of marine life—the migrations of fish—may be found in the behavior of one of the clam's near relatives, the mussel. The bay mussel, a black-shelled mollusk which clamps itself firmly to rocks or pilings, is a species distinct from those outside the Gate, and its spawn forms one of the most important food sources for the bay's fish. In the spring, influenced by unknown forces-possibly changes in the bay's salinity or temperature-it throws out vast quantities of cells called gametes, which combine to form the mussel larvae. Biologists speculate that this great seasonal larva production of the mussels may determine in some degree the migrations of the fish which depend upon on it for food."—Harold Gilliam, San Francisco Bay, 1957
I think there are several such events that provide impetus for the movement of perch and other fish around the bay and those events would tend to negate the feeling that these fish (blackperch and striped seaperch) are strictly resident to the Fort Baker area. I do not believe they are migratory like many species but I think their residence is larger than than just along the Sausalito area. If those two species do show a more pronounced bad taste then I think there must be other factors at work.
We need the scientists in our midst to attack the question.
As for the perch, they move around. I remember the big runs of pileperch in the winter months at the old Red Rock Marina Pier in Richmond. And springtime always seemed a good time for blackperch and rubberlip perch at the Fort Baker Pier and the Sausalito Pier. Spring also seemed to be a good time for perch in the piers along the south part of San Francisco down to Oyster Point.
Remember this quote from PFIC, 2nd. Ed. — "A clue to one of the great mysteries of marine life—the migrations of fish—may be found in the behavior of one of the clam's near relatives, the mussel. The bay mussel, a black-shelled mollusk which clamps itself firmly to rocks or pilings, is a species distinct from those outside the Gate, and its spawn forms one of the most important food sources for the bay's fish. In the spring, influenced by unknown forces-possibly changes in the bay's salinity or temperature-it throws out vast quantities of cells called gametes, which combine to form the mussel larvae. Biologists speculate that this great seasonal larva production of the mussels may determine in some degree the migrations of the fish which depend upon on it for food."—Harold Gilliam, San Francisco Bay, 1957
I think there are several such events that provide impetus for the movement of perch and other fish around the bay and those events would tend to negate the feeling that these fish (blackperch and striped seaperch) are strictly resident to the Fort Baker area. I do not believe they are migratory like many species but I think their residence is larger than than just along the Sausalito area. If those two species do show a more pronounced bad taste then I think there must be other factors at work.
We need the scientists in our midst to attack the question.
"We need the scientists in our midst to attack the question. "
Does a B.S.Degree in Fisheries Management count??..........LOL
"I am not a scientist and know nothing about sea smells — other than that I have taken in many over the years. However, I would think the monkeyface eel are much more sedentary and resident that the various perch. "
Very True......But they also have a significantly different diet than the perch do. What I have been wondering is whether Black Perch....Which in my experience are somewhat sedentary in their habits, more so than many other species.....Taste like they do in the Fort Baker Area because of their diet of crabs and other invertebrates, and the local water quality......Which as Glen wisely pointed out.......Can lead to a very Iodine like flavor in some fish.....It is also interesting to me that Striped Perch......Even the Huge ones at Trinidad....Tend to have flesh that is often mushy.......While other species Like Pile Perch and Rubberlips can often be hit and miss........A recent report I received from a Crescent City local reported his catch of Redtail Surfperch were mushy and had a "strong fishy taste" which is not my experience with Redtails for that far North at all. I have to wonder if this HORRIBLE pattern of Unseasonable Weather combined with some really messed up coastal currents and water temperatures could be part of the issue.....
We need RAIN....Before this whole damn state turns to ash
Does a B.S.Degree in Fisheries Management count??..........LOL
"I am not a scientist and know nothing about sea smells — other than that I have taken in many over the years. However, I would think the monkeyface eel are much more sedentary and resident that the various perch. "
Very True......But they also have a significantly different diet than the perch do. What I have been wondering is whether Black Perch....Which in my experience are somewhat sedentary in their habits, more so than many other species.....Taste like they do in the Fort Baker Area because of their diet of crabs and other invertebrates, and the local water quality......Which as Glen wisely pointed out.......Can lead to a very Iodine like flavor in some fish.....It is also interesting to me that Striped Perch......Even the Huge ones at Trinidad....Tend to have flesh that is often mushy.......While other species Like Pile Perch and Rubberlips can often be hit and miss........A recent report I received from a Crescent City local reported his catch of Redtail Surfperch were mushy and had a "strong fishy taste" which is not my experience with Redtails for that far North at all. I have to wonder if this HORRIBLE pattern of Unseasonable Weather combined with some really messed up coastal currents and water temperatures could be part of the issue.....
We need RAIN....Before this whole damn state turns to ash
Ran across this Email from nearly 20 years ago — same problem with the odor of the black perch from Fort Baker. I wonder who Glen was?
March 15, 1999
To: Ken Jones
From: Glen
Subject: Fishin’
Nice going on the rubberlips. As for black perch at Fort Baker, do they still smell heavily of iodine? For the longest time they’ve been quite odiferous. I made the mistake of trying to cook a large one, but nothing I did could reduce the stench. Sort of like bleach or chemicals. I’m told by marine biologists that this is a natural phenomenon due to the fish ingesting local kelp or the crabs that eat the kelp. Red crabs are especially redolent; you catch a whiff of iodine right away when you hook into them and have them halfway up. Weird. Doesn’t seem to affect the striped perch resident in the area.
March 15, 1999
To: Ken Jones
From: Glen
Subject: Fishin’
Nice going on the rubberlips. As for black perch at Fort Baker, do they still smell heavily of iodine? For the longest time they’ve been quite odiferous. I made the mistake of trying to cook a large one, but nothing I did could reduce the stench. Sort of like bleach or chemicals. I’m told by marine biologists that this is a natural phenomenon due to the fish ingesting local kelp or the crabs that eat the kelp. Red crabs are especially redolent; you catch a whiff of iodine right away when you hook into them and have them halfway up. Weird. Doesn’t seem to affect the striped perch resident in the area.