Most bizarre fish stories

[seamonkey]

9/26/10

Strange Fishing News: Weird Disc-Shaped Opah Fish Washes Up on San Diego Beach! (http://bluewaterjon.blogspot.com/2010/09/bizarre-opah-fish-washes-ashore-in-san.html)




http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-noIR4lsI/AAAAAAAAAoA/EyPrgQqoHb4/s400/opah.fish.photo.jon.schwartz.1.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-noIR4lsI/AAAAAAAAAoA/EyPrgQqoHb4/s1600/opah.fish.photo.jon.schwartz.1.jpg)
Jon Schwartz of http://www.bluewaterjon.com/ (http://www.bluewaterjon.com/) with some incredible fishing news: a large, strange looking Opah fish washed ashore in San Diego, in perfect shape! These bizarre brightly colored sea creatures are only rarely found by recreational anglers in this region, let alone in the surf; they're usually caught by longliners in distant waters, or incidentally by anglers fishing great depths. With the strange water conditions and cooler water temps brought about by La Niña this year, some commercial boats have been netting them at night miles off the Southern California Coast. But why was it here in such shallow waters? Moreover, how did it get to shore untouched by the sharks, sealions, and other predators that exist here? Opah are delicious and go for over 12 dollars a pound!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-n08SUKwI/AAAAAAAAAoE/GrjPaB3ZBtM/s400/opah.jon.schwartz.beach.1.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-n08SUKwI/AAAAAAAAAoE/GrjPaB3ZBtM/s1600/opah.jon.schwartz.beach.1.jpg)
Surfer Scott Williams was on a cliff overlooking his favorite surf spot at 9:00 am Friday 9/24/10 when he and his friends spotted a manhole-sized red object floating in the water 50 yards offshore. They took out a pair of binoculars to get a closer view. Whatever it was, it may have been moving slightly. According to Williams, a 50 year old surfer who has surfed the area for 41 years, "Once we realized it was a fish, we ran down there as fast as we could!"

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-n-HZG5EI/AAAAAAAAAoI/mLWFB8JsGH8/s400/opah.fish.photo.jon.schwartz.3.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-n-HZG5EI/AAAAAAAAAoI/mLWFB8JsGH8/s1600/opah.fish.photo.jon.schwartz.3.jpg)
Scott is a veteran waterman, and surfs internationally. In the four decades he'd spent surfing this same spot, he'd never seen anything of that shape, color, and size. Soon the large disc-shaped object had washed up on shore. Scott took pictures of it on his cellphone.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-o0ILTZpI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/wmet0AhNatI/s400/opah.fish.photo.jon.schwartz.4.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-o0ILTZpI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/wmet0AhNatI/s1600/opah.fish.photo.jon.schwartz.4.jpg)
A crowd gathered around the unique animal; some suggested they might try putting it back in hopes that it would swim off, but it became obvious that the fish was now either dead, or on it's last gasp. As you can see from the photos, their unusual shape wouldn't help them move much on land. "It was a beautiful fish, and looked very healthy. We were in awe because in all the time I have spent there, I usually only see dead seagulls or pelicans washing up. Once in a while a small decomposed fish washes ashore, but this was huge, bright red and silvery with white spots. It looked like it was from another planet!"

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-oJvl8HlI/AAAAAAAAAoM/ZTZdov9nZ5M/s400/opah.fish.photo.jon.schwartz.2.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-oJvl8HlI/AAAAAAAAAoM/ZTZdov9nZ5M/s1600/opah.fish.photo.jon.schwartz.2.jpg)
Indeed, of all the fish in the ocean, the Opah, also known as Moonfish, are one of the wildest looking. I first saw a mount of one at Rancho Leonero Fishing Lodge in Baja Mexico, and ever since then I have been fascinated by them. They are not the type of fish that you target casually and no one I know has ever fished for them on purpose. The only non-commercial angler I personally know who has ever caught one is Captain Dale Leverone who skippers a popular charter operation called the Sea Strike in Kona, Hawaii. Here is Dale below with a 138 pounder. We know this was exactly 138 pounds because it was weighed on a certified scale at the Kona Charter Desk.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-p5bL-1wI/AAAAAAAAAoU/E5EyuYhKUiM/s1600/opah.fish.5.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fELYEmU6ntI/TJ-p5bL-1wI/AAAAAAAAAoU/E5EyuYhKUiM/s1600/opah.fish.5.jpg)
Judging by that picture of Dale, knowing his size, and comparing that to the photos of the beached Opah, I'd say the San Diego specimen is at least 80 pounds. In fact it could well be over 100. Dale happens to be one of the foremost experts in fishing at great depths for unusual fish. The Kona Coast of Hawaii where he lives is the perfect place to fish the abyssal depths, because it gets incredibly deep very close to shore. It was during one of his "deep dropping" jaunts, when he dropped a whole squid down to 1200 feet, that he landed his Opah, a catch so rare that it made the cover of Hawaii Fishing News.
I actually spent time accompanying Leverone this summer in Kona on the Sea Strike, and had a great time swapping strange fish stories. I sat listening most of the time as we motored along the Kona Coast because Leverone is an expert and I am merely an enthusiast. We made plans to hook up later this year and see if we can't fish for some other deep water oddities.

http://bluewaterjon.blogspot.com/2010/09/bizarre-opah-fish-washes-ashore-in-san.html

[dogfish]

Brilliant color, it looks like a giant orange bream.

[bababooey]

How about this -anyone ever hear of fish rain?

'Last century, much evidence was collected of fish rains in the US including floods in Boston, Massachusetts, Thomasville, Alabama. Early December 19, 1984 a fish rain pelted on Santa Monica (the freeway near Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles ) thus causing an emergency situation on the road. Next year in May 1985, a great portion of fish fell down from the skies near Luis Castorino?s house in Fort Bort, Texas. Later, Castorino confessed he had believed the rain was a supernatural phenomenon. Fish rains are so habitual in some countries such as India and Australia that local media seldom report them. Australian naturalist Gilbert Whitley made a list of fifty fish rains registered on the sixth continent within the year of 1972."

It may never rain cats and dogs (http://stripersandanglers.com/dictionary/dog.html), but fish (http://stripersandanglers.com/dictionary/fish.html), shells, and frogs (http://stripersandanglers.com/dictionary/frog.html) have indeed fallen from the sky on rare occasions.In 1984, live six-inch [15 centimeters] flounders (fish) fell on a London neighborhood. It is thought that a waterspout had lifted them to cloud level from the Thames River, then later dropped them several miles away. The fish (http://stripersandanglers.com/dictionary/fish.html) were probably as surprised as the people who saw them fall.
More recently, the fishing port of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England experienced a shower of fish on August 6th, 2000.


Similar stories are told of remarkable ?showers? from other locations near open water. In one memorable storm in England in 1844, people held out hats to catch dozens of falling frogs (http://stripersandanglers.com/dictionary/frog.html). Such small creatures, once airborne, might be carried aloft for an hour or more within the strong updrafts of a thunderstorm.

http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/ednks007.html

[voyager35]

I had heard of that but thought it was a wives tale.
Here's one




Sports







http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_25194377/fish-wrap-trucking-salmon-bay-keeps-numbers-up

Fish Wrap: Trucking salmon to the bay keeps numbers up but comes with a cost
By Alastair Bland
IJ correspondent Posted: 02/20/2014 04:00:22 PM PST# Comments (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/#dfm_disqus_comments)



Related Stories


Apr 9:
Salmon hitch ride for safe passage to Tiburon in hopes of improving survival rates (http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_25533293/salmon-hitch-ride-safe-passage-tiburon-hopes-improving?source=pkg)
Mar 27:
Fish Wrap: Fish and Wildlife Service go to Plan B to try to save young salmon (http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_25435112/fish-wrap-fish-and-wildlife-service-go-plan?source=pkg)
Mar 7:
Salmon win court ruling that 'sets aside' Marin countywide plan (http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_25297628/salmon-win-court-ruling-that-sets-aside-marin?source=pkg)
Jan 2:
Marin Voice: Marin needs a strong stream ordinance to protect its salmon (http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_24836469/marin-voice-marin-needs-strong-stream-ordinance-protect?source=pkg)
Dec 12:
Salmon eggs perish in Sacramento River (http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_24713445/fish-wrap-salmon-eggs-perish-sacramento-river-due?source=pkg)




The Chinook salmon that Bay Area anglers catch and cook each summer aren't exactly the natural miracles we like to believe all wild salmon are. In fact, most were likely delivered from their birth streams to the sea in a tanker truck on Highway 80.

Trucking hatchery-born salmon to San Pablo Bay for release has become standard practice with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The department produces about 16 million juvenile Chinook salmon in several Central Valley hatcheries each year. Most of them are given a free ride to San Pablo Bay, where they spend a brief time in floating acclimation cages before they are finally released. This system gets the small fish safely past the Delta, where giant water pumps have killed millions of small salmon and smelt over the years and have certainly played a role in the long-term decline of salmon populations. In fact, trucking baby salmon to the bay is widely recognized to be the key life-support effort that maintains the commercial and recreational salmon fishing industries of California.

"We know for a fact that the fishery depends on the trucked net pen salmon," said Stafford Lehr, chief of fisheries with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
However, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service does not truck its hatchery salmon to the bay. The agency runs the Coleman National Fish Hatchery, on Battle Creek near Redding. Each fall, thousands of adult salmon swim into this hatchery. The fish are processed by hand and their eggs and sperm commingled in tanks. Eventually, about 12 million fall-run salmon are born and, in April, released directly into the river.

Most of them die ? many before they even reach saltwater. Only 100,000 or so reach adulthood, and a scant fraction of survivors eventually return to Battle Creek to spawn.

Now, before this April's hatchery release, fishery advocates are asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to truck its baby salmon to the bay. This, they say, would boost survival rates dramatically and increase the odds of a bumper fishing season in 2016.

Trucking, fishermen have argued, is especially critical this year. The drought has reduced river levels to mere trickles in some places, which could make baby salmon released into Battle Creek easy prey for birds, striped bass and other predators.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized that trucked salmon see higher survival rates. In fact, from 2009 to 2011, when salmon numbers were at all-time lows, the agency transported about a million baby salmon per year to the bay as an effort to restore numbers.

But there's a reason the Fish and Wildlife Service prefers to release its baby salmon directly into Battle Creek: Wild, naturally born salmon that migrate to the sea on their own develop an olfactory impression of their birth streams in their brains. Later, when their time comes to spawn, these fish are able to literally smell their way back upstream to the place they were born.

However, salmon that are transported to the bay are denied this "imprinting" process, as scientists call it. Thus, when spawning time arrives, they enter streams at random. Battle Creek salmon may spawn with fish in the Feather River, or in the American, or in the Mokelumne. This is called "straying" and can cause distinct regional variations in the species to be blended together in a genetic melting pot. The Central Valley's many runs of Chinook salmon have become largely homogenized through this process. What's more, if too many Coleman-born salmon strayed to other streams, the hatchery might not receive enough eggs to work with and keep the facility operating.

Fishermen who want salmon in the sea and on the table may care less about genetics of the species than about sheer abundance, and the issue ? to truck salmon to the bay or not ? is likely to become a major subject of debate in the coming years.