Tom Velken, owner and
principal at Viking Real Estate in Lafayette, California since 1995, is an experienced
real estate professional. A full-service organization, Viking provides real
estate investment and finance services. When not working, Tom Velken enjoys
fishing and especially for Striped Bass.
California offers arguably
the best striped bass opportunities anywhere in the country. Stripers can
be readily caught by recreational anglers during the spring and summer months
in the San Francisco Bay and California Delta as well as the Central Valley
rivers. They are widely known as one of the strongest fighting fish found
anywhere.
There were originally no
striped bass in California. They were introduced from the East Coast, where
they are found from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Alabama. The initial
introduction took place in 1879, when 132 small bass were brought successfully
to California by rail from the Navesink River in New Jersey and released near
Martinez. Fish from this lot were caught within a year near Sausalito, Alameda,
and Monterey, and others were caught occasionally at scattered places for
several years afterwards. There was much concern by the Fish and Game
Commission that such a small number of bass might fail to establish the
species, so a second introduction of about 300 stripers was made in lower
Suisun Bay in 1882.
In a few years, striped bass were being caught in California in
large numbers. By 1889, a decade after the first lot of eastern fish had been
released, bass were being sold in San Francisco markets. In another 10 years,
the commercial net catch alone was averaging well over a million pounds a year.
In 1935, however, all commercial fishing for striped bass was stopped in the
belief that this would enhance the sport fishery.
