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Mitten crabs stymie pursuit of sturgeon
Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle
January 12, 2003
We call the pesky, bait-robbing mitten crabs "Little Percy," and the big sturgeon, "Samuel P. Sturgy" or "Sammy" for short.
In the mission out on the bay and delta to hook the elusive Sammy, the annoying and ravenous Little Percy has a way of driving you loony. At times Percy will practically climb into your bucket in search of even a morsel of your bait.
The battle thus is joined. Can you avoid the rampant mitten crabs in the pursuit of a world-class sturgeon or a big striped bass?
So it is as the winter fishing season takes hold in the Bay- Delta, jump- started by December's monsoon rains. In the past 25 years, the success of sturgeon fishing is matched almost exactly by the amount of rain, and in turn, the freshwater push from delta to bay to ocean.
"This is the start of what could be one of the great sturgeon years in our lifetime," said Keith Fraser, the sturgeon general of the Bay Area. By boat or bank, the prospects have started out the best in many years, crowned by early season success in San Pablo Bay.
But not all comes easy. That's because of Little Percy.
The mitten crabs are like an alien invasion, traveling in hordes like aquatic tarantulas. They have dark bodies just three to four inches across, long, spiny legs and hairy claws that look as if they are wearing mittens, hence the name.
Unlike native Dungeness crabs, after spawning in the saltwater of San Francisco Bay, mitten crabs migrate into fresh water. Because there are few patterns to their migration, they are impossible to count, control or follow with any degree of reliability. State biologists believe they number in the millions, however, and their insatiable appetites could disrupt aquatic food chains.
They can show up anywhere. In November, a mitten crab somehow made its way through a sewer pipe and climbed out of a toilet in a home in Sonoma. In the South Bay, they have been found in all the small streams feeding the bay, with the highest numbers in Alviso Slough. In the Sacramento Valley, they have been found at the Delevan National Wildlife Refuge near Maxwell, taken up residence near Sacramento in Sutter Bypass, and bored holes into the levees of the San Joaquin delta.
They were first found in the United States in 1993 in San Francisco Bay in the traps of commercial shrimpers. Game wardens have said privately that the mitten crabs were most likely introduced to the bay illegally by individuals who had been denied permits to raise them locally for sale in Asian markets.
When looking to hook up with a sturgeon, the only strategy that makes sense is to find places where you can elude Percy and his greedy little mitts.
The best area so far has been in San Pablo Bay, with the best spot from shore at China Camp near Rat Rock (in Marin near San Rafael). In one 90-minute period this past week, Phung Nguyen of San Rafael landed three sturgeon from shore, using grass shrimp for bait. Percy? Nowhere to be found. Nearby, in a boat anchored near the Pumphouse, field scout Ross Peterson and a pal hooked eight sturgeon, all 40 to 70 pounds, and landed four, releasing them all. "World class," Peterson said.
In the lower Delta, guide Diana Canevaro and her husband, Barry, have found areas devoid of crabs on the Sacramento River from just below Horseshoe Bend at Decker Island on downstream to the entrance of Sherman Lake (the confluence of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers). On a trip last weekend, the Canevaros' Fish'n Fool IV had five people aboard who caught two sturgeon, including a 6 1/2-footer estimated at 120 pounds, and two striped bass, all on shad for bait.
Then there are the problem spots, nightmares where your bait can get wiped out in seconds. The worst is at Light 34 in the Lower Delta in front of the Pittsburg Marina, where the crabs will practically climb up your anchor rope like an invasion force to get your bait bucket. It's not much better at the Mothball Fleet and nearby Grizzly Bay.
When surrounded by Percy, you must either move at least a quarter to half mile, or use the only known antidote, lamprey eel for bait. Lamprey costs $20 per eel, but it stays on the hook even when the little buggers are picking away at it. If you don't want to pay the high cost, lamprey eels can be easily caught from mid-March to mid-April on the Klamath River near the Highway 101 Bridge from shore (best on the south side, a half mile west of the bridge).
To use eel for bait, cut it into two-inch chunks, and then cut those chunks into four strips, like a pork rind for bass. You then hook the bait so it flutters on its side in the tide. There are times it seems to drive both Sammy Boy and Little Percy a little insane.
All it takes is to hook one big sturgeon and your life will be forever altered. Big sturgeon are capable of 250-yard runs and tremendous jumps and splash landings that look like somebody is dropping Volkswagens out of a helicopter.
And, of course, they reach mind-boggling sizes. I was told one story where divers were laying cable on the bottom of Carquinez Strait and said they came across a giant object on the bottom of the bay. Suddenly they figured out that it was a sturgeon. They paced it off at 12 feet long, nearly three feet longer than the existing world record.
Perhaps your next nibble will be that record fish. Or then again, perhaps it will be Little Percy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to go
-- Best tides for sturgeon: Jan. 12-19; Jan. 25-Feb. 2; Feb. 11-17; Feb. 22- March 2; March 12-19; March 25-April 1; April 5-13; April 16-23.
-- Piers and shoreline: McNear's Pier, San Rafael; China Camp, San Rafael; Point Pinole Pier, San Pablo; Antioch Pier; Sandy Beach, Rio Vista; Candlestick Point Recreation Area; Dumbarton Pier, Fremont.
-- San Pablo Bay: Touch of Gray, San Rafael, (c/o Loch Lomond Live Bait), (415) 456-0321; Executive Charters, San Rafael, (415) 460-9773; New Keesa, Point San Pablo, (510) 787-1720; Loch Lomond Live Bait, San Rafael, (415) 456- 0321; Western Boat, San Rafael, (415) 454-4177; Western Sport, San Rafael, (415) 456-5454.
-- San Francisco: Bass-Tub, San Francisco, (415) 456-9055; Hi's Tackle, San Francisco, (415) 221-3825; Gus' Discount Tackle, San Francisco, (415) 752-6197.
-- Berkeley: Berkeley Marina Sports Center, (510) 849-2727.
-- Emeryville: Emeryville Sportfishing; Huck Finn, Rapid Transit, New Seeker, Captain Hook; all at (510) 654-6040.
-- South Bay: Oyster Point Bait, Brisbane, (650) 589-3474; Coyote Point, San Mateo, (650) 573-2592.
-- Suisun Bay: Happy Hooker Sportfishing, (510) 223-5388; Koreana, Martinez,
(925) 757-2946; Morning Star, Crockett, (707) 745-1431;; Martinez Marina Bait,
(925) 229-9420; M&M Market & Bait, Vallejo, (707) 642-3524; Tackle Shop, Benicia, (707) 745-4921.
-- Lower Delta: Barry & Diane Canevaro, Fish Hooker Charters, (916) 777- 6498; McAvoy Bait, Bay Point, (925) 458-1710; Hap's, Rio Vista, (707) 374-2372.
E-mail Tom Stienstra at tstienstra@sfchronicle.com.
Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle
January 12, 2003
We call the pesky, bait-robbing mitten crabs "Little Percy," and the big sturgeon, "Samuel P. Sturgy" or "Sammy" for short.
In the mission out on the bay and delta to hook the elusive Sammy, the annoying and ravenous Little Percy has a way of driving you loony. At times Percy will practically climb into your bucket in search of even a morsel of your bait.
The battle thus is joined. Can you avoid the rampant mitten crabs in the pursuit of a world-class sturgeon or a big striped bass?
So it is as the winter fishing season takes hold in the Bay- Delta, jump- started by December's monsoon rains. In the past 25 years, the success of sturgeon fishing is matched almost exactly by the amount of rain, and in turn, the freshwater push from delta to bay to ocean.
"This is the start of what could be one of the great sturgeon years in our lifetime," said Keith Fraser, the sturgeon general of the Bay Area. By boat or bank, the prospects have started out the best in many years, crowned by early season success in San Pablo Bay.
But not all comes easy. That's because of Little Percy.
The mitten crabs are like an alien invasion, traveling in hordes like aquatic tarantulas. They have dark bodies just three to four inches across, long, spiny legs and hairy claws that look as if they are wearing mittens, hence the name.
Unlike native Dungeness crabs, after spawning in the saltwater of San Francisco Bay, mitten crabs migrate into fresh water. Because there are few patterns to their migration, they are impossible to count, control or follow with any degree of reliability. State biologists believe they number in the millions, however, and their insatiable appetites could disrupt aquatic food chains.
They can show up anywhere. In November, a mitten crab somehow made its way through a sewer pipe and climbed out of a toilet in a home in Sonoma. In the South Bay, they have been found in all the small streams feeding the bay, with the highest numbers in Alviso Slough. In the Sacramento Valley, they have been found at the Delevan National Wildlife Refuge near Maxwell, taken up residence near Sacramento in Sutter Bypass, and bored holes into the levees of the San Joaquin delta.
They were first found in the United States in 1993 in San Francisco Bay in the traps of commercial shrimpers. Game wardens have said privately that the mitten crabs were most likely introduced to the bay illegally by individuals who had been denied permits to raise them locally for sale in Asian markets.
When looking to hook up with a sturgeon, the only strategy that makes sense is to find places where you can elude Percy and his greedy little mitts.
The best area so far has been in San Pablo Bay, with the best spot from shore at China Camp near Rat Rock (in Marin near San Rafael). In one 90-minute period this past week, Phung Nguyen of San Rafael landed three sturgeon from shore, using grass shrimp for bait. Percy? Nowhere to be found. Nearby, in a boat anchored near the Pumphouse, field scout Ross Peterson and a pal hooked eight sturgeon, all 40 to 70 pounds, and landed four, releasing them all. "World class," Peterson said.
In the lower Delta, guide Diana Canevaro and her husband, Barry, have found areas devoid of crabs on the Sacramento River from just below Horseshoe Bend at Decker Island on downstream to the entrance of Sherman Lake (the confluence of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers). On a trip last weekend, the Canevaros' Fish'n Fool IV had five people aboard who caught two sturgeon, including a 6 1/2-footer estimated at 120 pounds, and two striped bass, all on shad for bait.
Then there are the problem spots, nightmares where your bait can get wiped out in seconds. The worst is at Light 34 in the Lower Delta in front of the Pittsburg Marina, where the crabs will practically climb up your anchor rope like an invasion force to get your bait bucket. It's not much better at the Mothball Fleet and nearby Grizzly Bay.
When surrounded by Percy, you must either move at least a quarter to half mile, or use the only known antidote, lamprey eel for bait. Lamprey costs $20 per eel, but it stays on the hook even when the little buggers are picking away at it. If you don't want to pay the high cost, lamprey eels can be easily caught from mid-March to mid-April on the Klamath River near the Highway 101 Bridge from shore (best on the south side, a half mile west of the bridge).
To use eel for bait, cut it into two-inch chunks, and then cut those chunks into four strips, like a pork rind for bass. You then hook the bait so it flutters on its side in the tide. There are times it seems to drive both Sammy Boy and Little Percy a little insane.
All it takes is to hook one big sturgeon and your life will be forever altered. Big sturgeon are capable of 250-yard runs and tremendous jumps and splash landings that look like somebody is dropping Volkswagens out of a helicopter.
And, of course, they reach mind-boggling sizes. I was told one story where divers were laying cable on the bottom of Carquinez Strait and said they came across a giant object on the bottom of the bay. Suddenly they figured out that it was a sturgeon. They paced it off at 12 feet long, nearly three feet longer than the existing world record.
Perhaps your next nibble will be that record fish. Or then again, perhaps it will be Little Percy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to go
-- Best tides for sturgeon: Jan. 12-19; Jan. 25-Feb. 2; Feb. 11-17; Feb. 22- March 2; March 12-19; March 25-April 1; April 5-13; April 16-23.
-- Piers and shoreline: McNear's Pier, San Rafael; China Camp, San Rafael; Point Pinole Pier, San Pablo; Antioch Pier; Sandy Beach, Rio Vista; Candlestick Point Recreation Area; Dumbarton Pier, Fremont.
-- San Pablo Bay: Touch of Gray, San Rafael, (c/o Loch Lomond Live Bait), (415) 456-0321; Executive Charters, San Rafael, (415) 460-9773; New Keesa, Point San Pablo, (510) 787-1720; Loch Lomond Live Bait, San Rafael, (415) 456- 0321; Western Boat, San Rafael, (415) 454-4177; Western Sport, San Rafael, (415) 456-5454.
-- San Francisco: Bass-Tub, San Francisco, (415) 456-9055; Hi's Tackle, San Francisco, (415) 221-3825; Gus' Discount Tackle, San Francisco, (415) 752-6197.
-- Berkeley: Berkeley Marina Sports Center, (510) 849-2727.
-- Emeryville: Emeryville Sportfishing; Huck Finn, Rapid Transit, New Seeker, Captain Hook; all at (510) 654-6040.
-- South Bay: Oyster Point Bait, Brisbane, (650) 589-3474; Coyote Point, San Mateo, (650) 573-2592.
-- Suisun Bay: Happy Hooker Sportfishing, (510) 223-5388; Koreana, Martinez,
(925) 757-2946; Morning Star, Crockett, (707) 745-1431;; Martinez Marina Bait,
(925) 229-9420; M&M Market & Bait, Vallejo, (707) 642-3524; Tackle Shop, Benicia, (707) 745-4921.
-- Lower Delta: Barry & Diane Canevaro, Fish Hooker Charters, (916) 777- 6498; McAvoy Bait, Bay Point, (925) 458-1710; Hap's, Rio Vista, (707) 374-2372.
E-mail Tom Stienstra at tstienstra@sfchronicle.com.
