Summary:  Do you hear what I hear?  The sound of a sturgeon slapping the water in the fog?  Maybe I'll have an
answer to that in a couple of weeks when this report returns.

STRIPED BASS: Bleak for the most part, though there is an occasionally flurry at Eckley Pier.  Still lots of stripers between the Mothball fleet and Antioch, but nothing is being reported from the few shore spots.

STURGEON:  Rumors of great fishing at Montezuma Slough are slightly exaggerated.  Boaters have done fair to well in recent days but shoreliners are still struggling to get a bite that doesn't look like a mitten crab tug.  Crummy tides ahead do not bode well for diamondback angling.  A good strategy might be to seek deep swift water in the early morning, either on the banks of the Carquinez Strait, or along the Alameda rock wall.  Or find the top of in Rodeo through Crockett.  Or chase those rumors...
 

PERCH:  Pretty mediocre for the most part, but a traveling angler can still find a trio or quartet of nice pogies by the rocks.  Striped perch are at both sides of the gate and calico perch are in the rocky zone on the surf.  Pile worms rule.
 

MISCELLANEOUS SPECIES: A kingfish or two, some very small sharks, and that's about it.

FRESHWATER:   Trout plants  this week at Bon Tempe, Lagunitas, Shadow Cliffs, Chabot, and Del Valle.  Trout plants next week at Contra Loma, Shadow Cliffs, Chabot, and Del Valle.  All these back to back plantings will shake things up.  PowerBaits and PowerEggs in chartreuse, rainbow, and yellow are good reliable baits.  So are nightcrawlers.  Catfish are sluggish and black bass are scarce.  Now is the time to go after a limit of trout.
 

DELTA RUMORS:  So far, the classic December striper bite is clenched to next to nothing.  Cold, wind, and murky water--and don't forget the mitten crabs--are making bait fishing a prospect for the hard-liners.  Forget about lures.  Best thing to do is fish for sturgeon or catfish and be pleased if you get a striper.  Check your bait every 15 minutes.  Don't wait; the crabs aren't. Those who've kept an eye on the bait have landed sturgeon or gone home with a consolation prize of whiskerfish.