It was the vote heard around the delta.

By a 4-0 margin, California’s Fish and Game Commission rejected a proposal to start the legal procedure needed to allow more striped bass to be caught.

It seemed like a simple, straightforward vote for the body that the sets fish and wildlife policies.

But as anglers, academics and resource managers know, nothing is ever simple when it comes to the complex and politically charged issues involving the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The vote was a setback for Gov. Jerry Brown’s efforts to craft a workable plan for protecting endangered fish in the delta.

The regulation was designed to reduce the population of striped bass, which eat the minnows of a variety of threatened and endangered fish.

On behalf of the governor, Charlton “Chuck” Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Game, led the effort to start the procedure for raising the daily bag limit on striped bass from two to six, lowering the minimum size from 18 to 12 inches and creating a “hot spot” near the delta pumps where the daily bag limit would be increased from 20 to 40 fish.

Bonham’s proposal called for permission to study the environmental impact and hold a series of public hearings on the new regulations, which would be formally adopted at the end of year.

His recommendation to change the regulations was part of an attempt to settle a four-year-old lawsuit by water agencies that made the argument that striped bass were “harming” native species, such as the Central Valley chinook salmon, steelhead trout and delta smelt, whose populations are plummeting.

The suit was filed by the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, which is made up of several influential and politically connected San Joaquin water districts, which rely on delta water.

Environmental and angling groups have argued that the decline in the endangered fish is due more to increasing pumping of water out of the delta, rather than striped bass eating the minnows. Members of the Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers, which includes the fly fishing club in Davis, presented a stack of signed postcards opposing the proposal.

“This proposal would violate the department’s and the commission’s obligations to hold the public’s fish and wildlife resources in trust and manage them at sustainable populations levels,” said Berkeley’s John Beuttler of the Allied Fishing Groups, which is made up of 40 organizations and businesses.

Beuttler’s group and most of the 100 or so people packing the Feb. 2 hearing opposed the change, preferring to keep the current bag limits. They argued that the striped bass have coexisted with the other fish for 130 years.

The DFG focused on what the department could easily control in solving the delta problems — the striped bass, rather than water flow — at the commission hearing.

“The striped bass predation is not the only factor or even the most significant factor in the decline of salmon or other listed species,” said Bonham, who had worked for Trout Unlimited before heading the DFG. “But it is the controllable factor.”

The commission didn’t agree and sent the director back to the negotiating table to try to settle the lawsuit and probably off to federal court, where a judge will decide the relative impact of water diversions, striped bass and other factors in the delta’s decline.

Outgoing commission president Jim Kellogg said he had first-hand knowledge of the pumps in the south delta. He said he worked on the issue of the pumps and attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony when then-Gov. Ronald Reagan allowed the seven large and three smaller pumps to be turned on.

In a very personal speech, Kellogg said he witnessed many fish being pumped out of the delta and into the canal that leads to Southern California.

“There is more to this than striped bass predation,” Kellogg said. “It’s about water pumping.”

Here are some other outdoor news tidbits:

* Davis Fly Club dinner — The Fly Fishers of Davis annual dinner will be held on Feb. 18 (6 p.m.) at Lillard Hall at the West Plainfield Fire Department, 24901 County Road 95, West Plainfield. The event includes a barbecue dinner, raffle and video presentation of fly-fishing activities by club members. Information is available at www.dcn.davis.ca.us/go/ffd.

* Wine-tasting — Mike Copithorne of Off the Hook Fly Fishing is teaming with area wineries to host a fly-fishing and wine-tasting event from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Canyon Creek Resort, 22074 California Highway 28, at Winters.

* Putah Nature Center — Folks at the nature center, just across from Lake Solano Park, are seeking donations to raise $7,000 to buy 100 folding chairs and 25 tables to be used for educational programs. The $2.8 million, 5,000-square-foot center is an impressive, ultra-modern, environmental model of a building that houses many interpretive displays about Putah Creek and its watershed. Donations can be made at the center or at http://putahcreektrout.org.

* Hollywood helps the delta — Actor Ed Begley Jr. has agreed to narrate a new documentary on the delta. The film is called “Over Troubled Waters” and is being produced by Restore the Delta, a Stockton-based conservation group. It will be released in the spring.

* Fly-fishing show — Fly fishers from Northern California will gather Feb. 24-26 for The Fly Fishing Show at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. Complete details are available at www.flyfishingshow.com/Pleasanton.htm.

— Tom Martens is a Davis resident, whose “The Wild Life” column appears monthly. Send tips for fishing, hunting and wildlife issues for future columns to [email protected]

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