Great city fishing adventures

For something a bit out of the ordinary, Koller suggests going after carp on a fly rod. “Within the city of Phoenix proper there are dozens or urban lakes and community lakes that offer good carp fishing, both with a fly and conventional gear,” he says. “Fly fishing carp has become a huge deal within the fly-fishing community, due to their availability, and brute power when hooked.”

Koller points to two stresses on the health of the Phoenix area’s fisheries. The first is the possibility of overfishing and depleting fish populations. “Catch and release practices and conservation are happening at grassroots levels,” he says, but adds there is a need for more wide-reaching efforts promoting the catch-and-release ethic.

The other major threat facing Phoenix fisheries is, not surprisingly for bodies of water in the desert, water levels. “We’ve battled through droughts constantly, and have seen some very low waters and even completely dry lake beds,” he says. “However, currently all of our reservoirs and lakes are at full capacity, so the outlook is good, as long as the water usage downstream doesn’t dramatically change.”

Water usage has impacted city fishing opportunities in San Francisco differently, via the law of unintended consequences. Demand for water in the state has been met by diverting water from the Sacramento River, with disastrous consequences for salmon in the region.

“The failing ecosystem, lack of feed, and minimized brackish water in the estuarine system gives less support to the salmon smolts and other juvenile fish that use the estuarine area where River meets Bay,” says Allen Bushnell, owner of Santa Cruz Kayak Fishing, fishing writer for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, and co-host of "The Let’s Go Fishing" radio show.

“With less fresh water coming into the Bay, the brackish area is shrinking, and with less acreage in brackish a percentage of young fish likely find themselves in salt before their systems are up to the task.” Translation? For the first time, there is no salmon season this year in California.

There’s a silver lining in this cloud. With more salt water to inhabit, and thanks to regulations forcing commercial dredge boats farther off shore, this is a banner year for California halibut. “This year especially the skippers in San Francisco Bay have noticed halibut in a broader area than in years past,” says Bushnell. “’The halibut are everywhere!’ is a quote I’ve heard often this year.”

Smaller than their 300-pound Pacific halibut cousins, these California halibut offer an excellent fishing challenge and, some would argue, are better table fare.

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Numerous guide services operate out of the San Francisco Bay, on both head or party boats and more intimate four-to-six person charters. But for a truly unique afternoon, and to get up-close and personal with your prey, join Bushnell hunting from a kayak. Fishing from sit-on-top kayaks, his trips typically begin before dawn and are half or full day excursions depending on water conditions and the weather.

Movement and live bait are two essentials to fishing for flatties, says Bushnell. Drifting with the current or paddling when there is none, he recommends fishing live bait, typically anchovies and sardines, close to the bottom.

James Quine / Alamy Miami’s proximity to the Gulf Stream means that you really can have it all. Just a few miles by boat from the city, these rich waters are home to a host of gamefish.

One other tip after boating your fish: “Be very sure the fish is tied down,” he says. “Flatties have a tendency to go ballistic long after you thought they were dead.” And that’s a dicey proposition when you’re sitting six inches above the water.

In addition to getting in some exercise and fishing in an ecologically responsible way, hunting the San Francisco Bay for halibut offers a view that can’t be beat. “It is indeed possible to catch the barn door while enjoying a view of the Golden Gate Bridge,” Allen says.

Bushnell is quick to remind that the expanded range of halibut in the Bay area is at the expense of the health of the region’s salmon fishery, the restoration of which will be no simple task. “For salmon recovery we need less water diversion, shutdown of the agriculture pumps that kill millions of salmon fry and smolts, and a general clean-up of the Sacramento River system,” he says. “Primary is more water and less pollution.”

Ultimately, the restoration of salmon is going to depend on the sort of cooperation between public and private stakeholders that has revived the health of fisheries elsewhere in America, and has made it possible for an enterprising angler to find a little bit of adventure and wilderness right in his or her backyard.

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