My Tips
Take Them, or Leave Them
[Main Page] [Fishing Reports] [Things I've Seen] [Tips] [Awards] [Fish Pix] [Links] [ Quiz]
I got my present boat 5 years ago. Room to walk around, a small head, lots of storage space, big engine, and electronics. Boy, was I in seventh heaven. Before this 25 footer, I was fishing the San Mateo coast line in an 11 foot Zodiac, with a 15hp. motor. No room to walk around, had to stay fairly close to shore, no storage space, a coffee can for a head, and no electronics.
I had a blast in the small Zodiac. Caught a lot of fish. Never missed not having a fish finder. Why? The birds. As I was bobbing on the ocean like a cork, or overinflated basketball, I would constanly scan the water for signs of bird activity. The birds could find the bait, the fish could find the bait, and by following the birds, I could find the bait.
There is nothing as exciting as being in the middle of dive bombing pelicans, screeching sea gulls, and a flock of small penguin-like Common Murres.
As the bait fish would go deeper, the pelicans would stop dive bombing, the gulls would stop screeching, and things would quiet down. But the murres would stay. They do not depend on surfacing schools of bait, because they can dive to over 200 feet down. When there was a group of murres on the water, there was sure to be bait below, and most times salmon. Like fishermen for countless ages past, I came to depend on the common murre to lead me to the fish.
With the new boat and it's electronics, I would scan the monitor, like I used to scan the horizon. I came to depend on the fish finder like I used to depend on the birds. Why not? The birds couldn't tell me how deep the water was, what the bottom structure looked like, or how big the fish under my boat were. My catch rate fell.
My electronics, not the best in the world anyways, couldn't see salmon, and couldn't tell the difference between a school of jelly fish or a school of anchovies. But I was stubborn. Modern technology verses...birds? You bet. My catch rate fell even further.
It wasn't until "she who must be obeyed" (my wife), asked why I was spending so much time fishing, yet coming home with less fish than before. (must have thought I was having an affair with the bait dealer) I had no explanation. I had learned more, was spending more time on the water, and I had electronics.
It wasn't until my son (out of the mouths of babes) asked why we didn't follow the birds like before, that I realized what I had done. I had come to depend on modern technology instead of mother nature. I began fishing near the birds, especially the murres, and began to catch more fish. Now I depend on my fish finder, only to tell me the depth and appearance of the bottom. I follow the birds, who follow the bait, which is followed by fish. My point is, the birds have to find the bait to survive. Their very existance depends on it and they have adapted to it well.
Watch for the birds, the murres and the pelicans, and you'll find the fish.
Just a small note. The common murre was almost wiped out along the San Mateo coast by a 1986 oil spill. You can find out more about it by following the murre link above or by following this one.
I sent an e-mail to Mike Parker, head of the murre restoration project, asking him if there is anything we, as fishermen, can do to help out. The following is his response:
Hi Dan:
Thanks for your e-mail note. There are probably quite a few things
that you could do but it sounds like you already have quite a bit on
your site. That's great. One issue that I heard about last year, in
regards to murres, is that party fishing boats were catching quite a
few murres on their lines. The increase in the number of birds caught
was attributed to a change in the placement of the hook on the lures
that are being used. Do you know anything about this? If so, could
you send any info along to me. If there is a problem you could warn
other fisherman about this.
I will say that the biggest issue that we see on the murre project,
next to oilspills, is that boats get too close to breeding coloinies.
Murres are extremely jumpy birds and tend to flush from their colonies
when people get too close. This doesn't hurt the adults but if they
have chicks and/or eggs and the adults leave a lot of eggs and chicks
get eaten by gulls or knocked off the colony. When fishermen ask me
how far they should stay from a colony I always answer about 1 mile to
be extremely safe. A 1/2 mile distance is safe in most cases.
However, I have seen birds that have had a lot of activity around the
colony flush when boats are more than 1/2 mile away. A 1/4 mile is
definitely too close. The birds always get jumpy when people/boats
are that close. So, if you could give fisherman a heads up to stay
away from the breeding colonies along the coast that would be a great
help. At the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge we have closures
around the island during the breeding season to help protect the birds
but we do not have the same restrictions at nearshore colonies. So we
do get disturbances from time to time and it only takes one to ruin a
successful breeding season for a murre. Last year there was a boat
disturbance at Double Point (Stormy Stack) off Marin County, and the
murre numbers were down all year. I am sure that many murres lost
their eggs and chicks from this one event.
Any way, I have been babbling. If you have any more questions please
do not hesitate to write me again or call me at (510) 792-0222. We
have people watching the murres at Devil's Slide Rock (Egg Rock)
nearly everyday. If you are driving by, stop and introduce yourself
and see if they have time to let you look at the murres.
Our web page on the murre project is connected to our refuge website
at:
http://www.r1.fws.gov/sfbnwr/sfbnwr.html
feel free to vist the site and link your site with this one.
Cheers,
Mike Parker
I'll be adding more tips shortly, but this one was the most important, in my opinion, than any other one that I could give.