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Recreation
Finding fish with remote control assistance?
Question: I've seen several remote fish finders that I'm interested in and I'm curious as to whether they're legal in California. I read the regulations about computer assisted fishing, but it talks about using weapons/aiming systems to harm/kill fish. I have four questions to run by you:
1. The fish finder I'm interested in is the Humminbird RF15. It basically is a bobber that doubles as a sonar and transmits wirelessly back to your receiver. It has two holes ... one for the line leading to your rod, and another for your hook. Is this legal in California?
2. Can I attach this sonar to an electric remote-controlled (RC) boat and use the RC boat for positioning the sonar? In this configuration, no hook/rod/reel would be used - it would strictly be used as a fish finder.
3. Can I use an RC boat to carry my lure to deeper water (about 300 feet from shore), then once in position, drop the lure and reel it in as normal with a rod/reel? The only thing the boat is doing in this scenario is taking the lure out, then dropping it. In this configuration the lure would be out of the water until it's dropped. I would then bring the boat in and repeat the process.
4. With the exact setup as described in No. 3 above, can I have the sonar attached to the RC boat?
In all the questions above, the RC boat will never troll – once the hook/bait/lure is released, the RC boat would no longer have any control of the fishing line/hook/bait. (Chris H.)
Answer: Well, I hope you have a patent on these ideas and/or are selling these contraptions because they sound promising and all of the configurations you present appear to be legal.
Are the new Winchester XR turkey loads legal in California?
Question: Winchester has introduced new turkey ammo that is getting good reviews and I would like to try them out but they use a system that encapsulates the shot and therefore the shot is not “loose in the shell.”
Does this make this type of ammo illegal? What is the purpose of having the shot loose in the shell? (Jim C.)
Answer: This ammo is not legal because the law requires that all shot must be loose in the shell. So if the shot is encapsulated as you describe, then it is considered a slug. The specific section says, “Shotgun shells may not be used or possessed that contain shot size larger than No. BB, except that shot size larger than No. 2 may not be used or possessed when taking wild turkey. All shot shall be loose in the shell” (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 311(b)).
While this product violates the letter of the law today, this language was put into place originally for another specific purpose. It was to address a problem in the days of lead shot where buck shot would be wired together with piano wire and to prevent people from coming up with a way to turn shot into a slug (e.g. melted lead, rusted steel, etc.).
In the future, these regulations may be rewritten to allow this type of ammunition, but as of now it is still a violation of the law and so you could be cited for using it.
Taking sea cucumbers for personal consumption
Question: Is it legal to take sea cucumbers via SCUBA for personal consumption? (Kenneth T.)
Answer: Yes, you may take a maximum of 35 sea cucumbers while SCUBA diving as long as you are at least 1,000 feet seaward from the mean high tide line on shore.
You must also be south of Yankee Point (Monterey County) to take sea cucumbers with SCUBA (CCR Title 14, section 29.05).
Trout for crab bait?
Question: I have some old freezer-burned rainbow trout in my freezer. Is it legal to use trout for crab bait? (Adam B.)
Answer: Yes, as long as the trout in your freezer were legally taken and of legal size, then you can use it as crab bait. Be sure you do not have more than the legal trout possession limit and that all fish meet legal size requirements.
Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at
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- Written by: Carrie Wilson
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is reminding sturgeon anglers to return their 2013 sturgeon fishing report cards, as required by law.
Although the deadline to report their catch was Jan. 31, so far only about 8,000 (or 15 percent) of the 55,000 report cards sold have been returned.
The sport fishing regulations require that all sturgeon anglers return their report cards, even the sturgeon anglers who did not encounter sturgeon and who did not fish for white sturgeon.
Without the necessary data gleaned from the returned report cards, CDFW’s scientific understanding of the two sturgeon populations is incomplete.
This makes it harder for scientists to recognize overfishing of the diminished white sturgeon population and to document accidental catch of the threatened green sturgeon. In this case, addressing the uncertainty could mean new harvest restrictions.
“Anglers who do not return report cards are complicating efforts to protect the fishery and rebuild both sturgeon populations,” said Marty Gingras, CDFW Sturgeon Taskforce member. “We’re asking anglers to send the information to us now, even though the deadline has passed. In this case, it’s truly better late than never.”
California’s white sturgeon and green sturgeon populations were substantially reduced by commercial fishing in the 19th century and the recreational and commercial sturgeon fisheries were (with minor exceptions) closed from 1901 through 1953.
Only recreational fishing for sturgeon has been allowed since 1954, and that fishery has become increasingly restricted over time in an effort to rebuild the populations and protect the fishery.
Without accurate reporting of the catch, additional sturgeon fishing restrictions may go into effect in the future.
In hopes that substantially more report cards will be submitted and to avoid possible duplication of effort, CDFW staff will postpone analysis of 2013 report card data.
Anglers can use the CDFW Web site to login and report at www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/CustomerSearch/Begin , or can return the cards by mail to the address printed on the card.
Recreational fishermen may harvest white sturgeon between 40 inches and 60 inches and are required to purchase and return their report cards.
Green sturgeon is a federally threatened species and may not be harvested under any circumstances.
White and green sturgeon are anadromous, meaning they move from the salt and brackish water to freshwater to spawn. They are both native California species and can live to be more than 100 years old.
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- Written by: Editor
HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – The HVL Men’s Niners Golf Club held a two-man team (3X3X3) Tournament on March 20.
The results were:
- First flight: The team of Ed Brooks/Bob Chesnut took first with combined net 27. Bill Eagleton/Kerry Flynn was second, 28. Bill Brewster/Randy Brown and Rick Erickson/Wayne Schneider tied for third, 29.
- Second flight: Tom Marshall/Brian Rudy took first, 30. Jim Brown/Tim Greer second, 31. Al Burrows/Phil Tyler, Gary Faulkner/John Gastineau, and Bill Lyon/Jim Cary tied for third, 33.
- Third flight: Jeff Markham/Jim Dvorak came in first with 27. Jim DeRosa/Pete Gumina second, 28 and Paul Peterson/Gary Foote third, 29.
Closest to the par 3 pins were Paul Peterson and Rick Erickson.
Chip-ins were scored by Jim Brown and Ron Clark.
Sixty-four men (32 teams) participated in this event.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The high school swim team made up of swimmers from Kelseyville High School and Clear Lake High School competed against St. Vincent High School on Thursday in Petaluma.
The girls’ team won by a large margin and the boys, missing one swimmer, lost another close one – by just two points.
The girls won every race except one with Rudnick, Fricker and Hanson winning both their races and Merodio and English finishing first in each of their races.
According to Coach Agustin Merodio, “We formed a new relay team for this meet made up of Kaylie Williams, Kim English, Noe Urquiza and Amelia Tejeda. They did a great job and finished just 2 seconds behind the first-place team in the 200 Free Relay. They were swimming together for the first time, but they swam strong and helped the team secure another victory.”
The well-established relay team of Sarah Merodio, Lauren Rudnick, Allison Hanson and Liz Fricker scored another victory in the 200 Medley Relay and the 400 Free Relay.
“This is the relay team to watch for in the championships,” said Merodio. “They have only been beat once and are improving their times at every meet.”
The boys were outnumbered but still clocked some first-place finishes. Connor Disney extended his winning streak in the 200 Free and the 100 Free events. Andres Tejeda won the 50 Free event and Owen Lawler won the 100 Breast.
The relay team of Tejeda, Lawler, Disney and Peterson won both the 200 Free Relay and the 400 Free Relay.
Merodio added, “Our team is motivated to win and is working hard in practice to improve their times. We worry about our future – given the uncertainty surrounding the Westshore Pool – but the swimmers are keeping a positive attitude and their efforts are rewarded by their victories at the meets.”
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- Written by: Editor