Golden Gate Report 3/10/06

[Wahoo!]

Golden Gate: It's all clouds and wind now, or clouds and rain and wind
and everything else that keeps you home and away from the water. More
than that, it's a growing sense that something unpleasant is happening
in a bland conference room in Seattle, two states and many tanks away,
where the ocean fishery powers have gathered this week to decide most of
what there is to decide about our prized fish and your right to pursue
it. So far, you can hear the quiet all the way down here. No word. No
news. Not so pleasant ... Getting up high in our leaden state, into
redwoods and cedar and out to the open face of a small harbor, the Fort
Bragg Fleet from Noyo is as busy as it can be with salmon, given the
time of year and what's available to catch. The season has been on a few
weeks, now, and, all told and all expected, all's quite fair. They don't
make it out much, with Saturday being the last shot at it. That day they
did find fish at the buoys, no more than three-quarters of a mile
offshore, and one count had six salmon for six anglers. After that, the
boat stopped at the crab pots for limits of Dungeness (10 around). There
have been worse days on the water, no question.