THE FISHING REPORT

The bays

San Francisco: There doesn't seem to be much in the way of fishing interest and/or activity this week, maybe because of the cold, or the wind or football on the mind. It's just the lull of the water and the low hum of traffic crawling over the bridges, and neither will do much to bring you fish. There are the same boats, if slightly fewer, working between the Dumbarton and trestle bridges, and down toward Alviso Slough, and the action, as word drifts north, registers a meek "fair." The shallows were producing last week; this week, it's a game of "scatter and find." Slightly better results up toward San Leandro and off the Oakland Airport, where all the shrimp baits are working, along with chunks of eel. Berkeley Pier offers an assortment of perch, kingfish, flounder and small shark, and such an offering will always gather at least a few souls. Moving west, Oyster Point Pier is a popular spot, with flounder being landed on a semi-steady basis, along with small shark, the rare sturgeon and even some rubberlip perch from the rocks above and below the pier.

San Pablo: The wind came out of the east Tuesday night at what seemed like a 40-knot clip, aimed at the Gate, and blew the dark into dawn. It let up, as it rarely does, with the light over the main bay, easing on through the Golden Gate and out over the Pacific. All that's fine, unless you were fishing above the Sisters Islands on Wednesday, where the east wind has been a steady presence since Sunday. The great Armand Castagna, for one, was out, wearing his Executive Charters cap. He had a client on a half-day trip, and they were anchored in tight to Rat Rock, first in 13 feet of bay, then 11. The wind kept on, and it was coastal California cold ("It must be down into the low 50s. I can't feel my feet.") They had grass shrimp soaking, and when the pump came, the hook was set, the minor epic of man against fish eventually won. David Pauli of Larkspur had his first ever sturgeon, 63 inches, thick through the belly, stuffed with grass shrimp. Executive Charters: (415) 515-3474 ... The party boat Predator ran with four anglers Monday, and fished through the outgoing tide with nothing to show but chilled anglers and a cavernously empty fish hold. They toughed it, though, and as the tide turned in, the wind settled, the bay flattened out, the action began. They eventually landed three sturgeon to 58 inches and kept one bass, a 20-pounder, after releasing "many, many others," according to our source, who's as suspect as most sources, and proud of it ...Up at Port Sonoma, the boats all seem bound for the Pumphouse, from the shallows west of the rickety marker to the deeper water to the east. Leonard's Bait Shop has been measuring and weighing two to three sturgeon a day, including a 68-inch, 70-pounder Tuesday. Seems grass shrimp is working best in the shallows, eel in the greater depths. There also are bass being caught, some of them on the jumbo side of today's scale, but this time of year our beloved, linesided foreigners are relegated to "and we also caught" status. If you're boatless, you could do worse than soak shrimp baits, eel or even mudsuckers for sturgeon and striped bass from the banks of Sonoma Creek ... Other shoreline opportunities: China Camp, McNear's Pier, Loch Lomond rockwall, and the rockwall down at nearby Paradise ... If you do have a boat, and are looking for some relief from the wind, some claim there are sturgeon in the traditional deep-water holes just below the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge ... Finally: Keith Fraser's increasingly popular "Sturgeon Fishing Bay Area Waters" seminar, with Mike McNair working the cutting board and grill, is Saturday at 7:15 p.m. at the Corte Madera Recreation Center. Tickets ($7) will be available at the door. Info: (415) 456-0321.

Suisun-Delta: OK, it really is cold (the day at Pittsburg started at 44 degrees, never got above 47 on Wednesday). It's forever overcast. It's mercilessly windy. And, just to warm the spirit, the fishing is fairly close to lousy. Barry Canevaro fished Tuesday and Wednesday but preferred to talk about Tuesday, the reason being thus: Between he and wife, Diana, each running a charter in Suisun Slough (40 feet of murky bay water), the catch totaled four bass to 7 pounds and a 52-inch sturgeon. They had the clients baited up with eel, salmon roe and shad. They probably missed four, maybe five other chances at a sturgeon. Overall, a solid day of action. Tuesday, if we weren't so nice as to remind, was utterly forgettable. On a tip, Canevaro motored up to the Powerlines at Decker Island. He said there must have been 50 boats in the general area. He said he didn't see a single sturgeon boated, not even in his own ... Steve Talmadge: Zip on Tuesday, and nothing but cold Wednesday. Same issue, thinketh the skipper: cold water (45 to 47.2 degrees) and its effect on the sturgeon metabolism. Complex conclusion: They don't eat. He marked fish at the Big Cut on Wednesday. And he marked fish in the deep water near the Benicia Bridge at Buoy 2. He just ... couldn't make them eat.

Freshwater

Rivers: The sky was blue over the Smith and Chetco rivers Wednesday, the daytime temp somewhere up toward 60, basically throwing the meteorological world as we know it on its pasty scientific ear. Guide Harvey Young (541-469- 2422) said both rivers are fishing well, but opted for the Smith on Wednesday, his decision based mainly on water clarity. Where the Smith was a clear green, the Chetco was running from mint to moss, as you moved downstream. Anyway, he made the Forks-to-Ruby run with two clients, and they each caught a steelie, 8 and 11 pounds, both wild. Today, Young planned to fish the Chetco, which was clearing nicely ... Related item from the Smith: Capt. Armand reported that a friend of his, out with guide Kevin Hicks (707-457-9684) last Tuesday, landed a steelie that pulled the scale at 25 pounds, 2 ounces ... Trinity: Still better than decent here, with steelhead caught from driftboats and from shore between Lewiston and Junction City. Roe is working, and plugs, and the fly fishers are scoring with egg patterns and small nymphs drifted under an indicator ... Russian: The river is dropping into shape, and guide Bob Sparre (916-863-5866) has four days booked here, starting today. He generally puts in at Cloverdale and, depending on river conditions, will drift nearly to Geyserville. The river was at 4.7 feet at Cloverdale on Wednesday, and pushing along at a manageable 903 cubic feet per second. Some of the smaller coastal streams, the Gualala, Navarro, Garcia, etc., have dropped toward "low." Best bet would be to work the lower reaches of the rivers, near the mouth, where the steelhead are holding in the deeper runs and pools.

Trout plantings: The lakes are muddy with runoff, full of leaf litter and sundry detritus, plus the fishing isn't much good. Still, the trucks have trout and a schedule to keep, and this week's stops include ... Lake Chabot (Castro Valley), 750 pounds; Horseshoe Lake at Quarry Lakes Regional Park (Union City-Fremont), 750 pounds; Shadow Cliffs (Pleasanton), 500 pounds; and Del Valle Reservoir (Livermore).