Central Valley Anglers - Lodi

07/08/2026

🐊

For most anglers, the worst thing that can happen after the first cast is a snag, a backlash in the reel, or watching the fish of a lifetime throw the hook. For 71-year-old North Fort Myers angler James Grayson McMicken, his first cast turned into a fight for survival. Just moments after his lure hit the water, an alligator exploded from the canal.

“I started reeling, and it jumped out of the water and grabbed me,” McMicken recalled in an interview with WINK News.

The alligator clamped onto his right leg and dragged him off the bank into the canal before he had time to react.

For Florida anglers, sharing the water with alligators is part of the outdoors. Most encounters end with little more than a cautious stare from a distance. This one became a life-or-death struggle.

Fortunately, McMicken wasn’t facing his first gator. Having hunted alligators in the past, he knew the eyes were one of the few vulnerable targets available. His fishing rod became more than a tool to catch fish, it became a defensive weapon.

“He rolled me down off the bank into the water. I stuck my thumb in one eye, and I just took that fishing pole and jabbed him in that other eye and jabbed him and jabbed him and jabbed him,” he told WINK News. ”It seemed like forever, but it wasn’t that long. But then, he turned loose.”

After the alligator let go, McMicken was left with severe bite wounds to his right leg. Unable to crawl all the way home, he called his dog for help.

Continue reading: https://bit.ly/4p859q5

✍️: Joe Albanese

07/04/2026

07/04/2026

🎉 Big win for California's salmon and the Delta! 🎉

Today, AB 2215 was pulled from committee and will not move forward in the California Legislature.

This bill would have helped the Delta Tunnel by making it easier to extend water rights without going through the normal review process. Thanks to all the people who spoke up, that didn't happen.

We want to thank everyone who contacted their legislators and stood up for California's salmon, rivers, and fishing communities. Your voices made a difference.

We also want to thank the Yale Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic for its strong legal work, which helped lawmakers understand what was at stake.

A special thank you goes to Chairman Josh Becker and the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee for their leadership and for making sure the Delta Tunnel must follow the same rules as everyone else.

At GSSA, we believe the Department of Water Resources and the State Water Contractors should follow the same water rights process as every other water user in California. No one should get special treatment.

Today's victory is worth celebrating, but there is still more work to do.

We'll keep fighting for better water solutions through the Water Renaissance Plan—investing in water recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup, conservation, and water efficiency, rather than building new projects that take even more water from salmon rivers.

Today shows what can happen when anglers, conservation groups, Tribes, and local communities work together.

Thank you for standing up for California's salmon! 🐟

07/04/2026

Nothing says Independence Day quite like a rod in hand and a line in the water, and this year California is making it easier than ever to get out there.

Read more 👇

07/04/2026

Happy 4th of July 🇺🇸

06/03/2026

From the DFW here are the plant numbers for Kokanee and Inland Chinook. First comment has the DFW commentary.

06/03/2026

05/20/2026

CVA Derby Saturday, June 20, 2026
https://centralvalleyanglerslodi.org/

04/09/2026

(FOX40.COM) — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife last week released approximately 100,000 Chinook salmon fingerlings into Lake Berryessa as part of a statewide effort to expand inland f…