By: The Fish Sniffer Staff October 7, 2004 Last Issue Deborah, Here is my friend's 17 year old son, Giles Murphy, who is working at the Baranof Wilderness Lodge in Sitka, Alaska this summer, with a beautiful king salmon. Photo submitted by Bill Kiene, Kiene's Fly Shop

MORRO BAY
If you want to catch a limit of rockfish, you need to do it before October 31, the final day of this year's rockfish season.

The inshore rockfish action continues to be very good, with limits of assorted rockfish the standard fare. The week's 308 rockfish passengers caught 11 lingcod, 775 red rockcod, 230 rockcod and 2075 assorted rockfish, according to June Davis at Virg's Landing.

"We continue to offer long range trips on Fridays and Sundays from 6 am to 4 p.m.," she stated. "Anglers will fish shrimp flies, bars, jigs and live bait in shallow water in the Cape San Martin area."

The landing hasn't made any albacore trips for several weeks, since the warm, blue water that tuna prefer has been over 100 miles from the harbor. Big fish honors go to Steven Weis of Atwater, who nailed an 18 pound lingcod aboard the Admiral. David Lyons of Descanso took the week's second biggest fish, an 11 pound lingcod, aboard the Admiral.

Evan Beckett of Morro Bay ventured aboard the Pathfinder to nail a 9 pound red rockfish. Randy Ulmer of Paso Robles bagged an 8 pound red rockcod aboard the Pathfinder.

MONTEREY
Point Sur and Carmel Bay are the hot spots for fall rockcod action along the Monterey County coast.

Anglers fishing with Randy's Fishing Trips scored full limits on Saturday, October 2 aboard both the Sur Randy (30 limits) and Chubasco (42 limits)."We fished shrimp flies, Super Flies and Mega Baits for the rockfish," said Sal Riso of Randy's Fishing Trips. The bottom fish were taken from Carmel Bay.

On a follow up trip on October 4, the Chubasco checked in with limits of rockfish for 7 passengers. "We haven't caught any lingcod over 30 inches, but we are throwing back dozens of lings measuring 29-1/2 and 29-3/4 inches," he added.

Running out of Chris' Fishing Trips on Saturday, October 2, the Star of Monterey boated 25 limits of rockfish and 3 legal lingcod, according to Chris Arcoleo. The Tornado brought in 18 limits of assorted rockfish the same day, while the Checkmate took 20 limits of cod and 3 legal lings.

"The rockfish hit shrimp fly jigs, while the lings bit bars," explained Arcoleo. "Some anglers also tipped the flies with squid."

SANTA CRUZ
Private boaters fishing off Año Nuevo and at South Rock are nailing vermilion and black rockfish, while live bait drifters are taking a few halibut off Davenport

"On October 3, the best score I heard of was 4 halibut near Davenport," said Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. "Anglers also nailed some quality halibut near the Harbor and Natural Bridges in 45-60 feet of water."

Albacore fishing has been hit and miss. "The winds were down today and there were some reports of albacore at 37'01/123'20," noted Fraser. "The one boat I spoke with caught 3 fish, but said the other boats were doing well with scores of 10 or more fish. "

On October 2, Frank "Sea Angel" reported in with 22 albacore at 36'26/123'26. The water was nice all day long.

"The salmon season was great this year, but the last day (October 3) was slow with 2 fish reported near the Soquel Hole and one in shallow water," added Fraser.

Joe Stoops of Chartle Charters reported solid fishing for halibut and rockfish on recent trips "Glenn from Fisherman's Warehouse brought out a great group of halibut anglers on October, 3," said Stoops. "They boated 6 nice halibut to 15 pounds, 30 brown rockfish to 4 pounds and a 7 pound starry flounder. They released a nice 12 pound king as well. The water was excellent, with good clarity and no swell with a good drift."

Previous trips by Stoops yielded easy limits of vermilion and black rockfish to 4 pounds and some halibut.

The Sea Stag III is experiencing great rockfish action on trips to Davenport and other spots along the Santa Cruz County coast, according to Captain Ken Stagnaro. The 21 anglers aboard the Sea Stag III on Saturday caught limits of assorted rockcod and 1 legal lingcod. The 25 fishermen on the afternoon trip returned with limits of rockcod and 2 lingcod.

HALF MOON BAY
Party boat anglers fishing out of Half Moon Bay are bagging limits of assorted rockfish as the rockfish season nears its final day, October 31.

Captain Tom Mattusch of Hulicat Sportfishing took a light load of 10 anglers for a coastal rockfishing trip at the south end of San Gregorio on Saturday, October 3. The group used shrimp flies and lead head jigs with lime green worm tails to capture limit of blues, black and vermilion rockfish. The boat also landed 11 cabezon.

As Tom was targeting rockfish along the San Mateo Coast, three private skiffs - Fishing Luhrs, Lisa Ann and Majek - made a run between 100 and 115 miles from shore to fish the blue water for albacore tuna. "The three boats scored anywhere from 40 to 70 fish each," he added.

On Sunday, Tom tried his own luck for tuna 51 miles from the harbor. "The five guys boated 12 tuna to 38 pounds by trolling Mexican Clones 60-100 feet behind the boat," he said. Mattusch fished along the northwest corner of The Guide.

During a recent "fish and research" trip to Montara for bottomfish, Bill Shelton of Shelton's Products and friend Bill Gygax caught their limits of assorted rockfish and then found time to target king salmon at Egg Rock.

"After we bagged our limits of rockfish, it took us an hour and fifteen minutes to catch our salmon limits," noted Shelton. The kings hit FBR's trolled at 35 feet down, he added.

Anglers fishing out of Huck Finn Sportfishing on Saturday, October 2 fished both Montara State Beach and San Gregorio for a mixture of rockfish, cabezon and lingcod.

On Saturday, Ankeny Street checked in with 220 assorted rockcod, 8 lingcod to 22 pounds, 12 cabezon to 15 pounds and one halibut for 23 guys. On Sunday, a group of 19 people caught limits of rockfish, 10 cabezon and 3 lingcod off Montara.

Also on Saturday, the New Captain Pete boated 8 fish per angler, and 4 legal lingcod. On the following day, a group of 10 anglers brought in half-limit sof rockfish and 9 lingcod.

New Mary S II finished off their weekend with 4 limits of rockfish and 1 cabezon, while Queen of Hearts came back with just near-limits of rockfish, 36 cabezon and 12 lingcod for 33 anglers.

SAN FRANCISCO
King salmon fishing outside of the Golden Gate was great on Saturday, September 18 and very slow the following day. Although the ocean was nice, the sudden drop in air and water temperatures apparently caused the fish to go off the bite.

"The fishing was fantastic on Saturday," said Jacky Douglas, captain of the Wacky Jacky. "The Captain Joey and New Ray Ann both took limits of salmon. My 17 passengers caught 17 salmon to 35 pounds, but we lost just as many fish."

The fish ranged from 8 to 30 pounds. Anglers trolled anchovies and lures off Rocky Point, Duxbury Reef and Muir Beach.

"We were all pepped up for fishing on Sunday after such a good day on Saturday, but the fishing was disappointing," said Douglas. "The boats ended up with anywhere from 1 to 8 fish. They fished all over the place from the north side to the south side."

The bite rebounded on Monday. The New Easy Rider and the New El Dorado each returned with 8 early limits of salmon to 18 pounds after trolling off Mussel Rock, according to Douglas.

Douglas noted that the water temperature outside of the Golden Gate dropped from 65 degrees to 55 degrees over the past week.

SAN RAFAEL
The striped bass fishing in San Pablo Bay has been great just about every day except Saturday, October 2, when the bite tapered off.

Boaters are drifting live shiners on the moving tides from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to the Hamilton Flats, according to Keith Fraser of Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle. Trolling with wormtail jigs is your best bet on the top and the bottom of the tides.

"Most of the fish are 4 to 8 pound schoolies," said Fraser. "However, anglers are catching an occasional fish in the twenties and a few fish in the teens."

Charter boat anglers are experiencing excellent action while trolling and drifting. "Jim Cox, captain of the Touch of Grey, reported over 20 fish per rod on his trips over the past few weeks," he noted. "The fish were a mixture of keepers and shakers."

King salmon action at California City remains hot and cold. "What happened one day has no bearing on the next," he noted. One angler weighed in a 38 pound chinook that he caught while trolling at California City.

Gordon Hough, captain of the Morning Star, finished his potluck season out of Loch Lomond Marina on Sunday, October 2 with limits of blue and red rockfish, along with some keeper greenling. "We fished off Baker Beach, Mile Light and Seal Rock," he noted. "The anglers also released over 20 sub-legal lingcod."

Saturday's charter produced 1/2 to 3/4 limits of rockfish and 4 halibut to 29.5 pounds. Thirteen anglers on Friday's live bait adventure landed 11 halibut, 2 bass and 1 leopard shark inside San Francisco Bay, according to Hough.

Hough will be booking striped bass, shark and sturgeon trips out of Crockett marina starting Friday, October 15.

EMERYVILLE
Bottomfish anglers fishing out of Emeryville Marina scored easy limits of assorted rockfish, along with some halibut and keeper lingcod, over the past two weeks.

On Friday, October 1, the C-Gull II ran a charter for 16 passengers to the Farallon Islands and scored full limits of rockfish and 5 keeper lingcod, noted Craig Stone at Emeryville Sportfishing Center. "Anglers are catching the rockfish on a mixture of live anchovies, rubber worms and shrimp fly rigs," he explained.

Meanwhile, the salmon fleet is catching near-limits to limits of salmon running 10 to 20 pounds. Also on Friday, the New Seeker checked in with 19 king salmon for 10 anglers.

On the following day, 85 anglers on a total of four chartered boats caught limits of assorted rockfish, 5 lingcod to 15 pounds and 3 halibut to 16 pounds, noted Stone. "Most of the salmon boats are trolling bait and lures for the kings off the Marin coast near Duxbury Reef," he added.

To finish off the weekend, the Captain Hook brought in 31 limits of rockfish and 6 lingcod, while New Salmon Queen landed 7 limits of salmon on Sunday.

BERKELEY
Anglers fishing aboard the Berkeley fleet continue to bag limits of assorted rockcod and king salmon off the Marin County coast.

"Throughout the week our rockcod boats came in with full limits of blue and black rockcod, along with a few lingcod and cabezon," said Chris Nelson of the Berkeley Marina Sports Center. "Most of the fleet is sticking to the Marin Coast, but a few boats are fishing the Farallon Islands for bottomfish."

According to Nelson, anglers are scoring fish on feather jigs tipped with squid, chrome bars and live bait.

Captain James Smith aboard the California Dawn continues to bring in limits of assorted rockcod. Smith is fishing the Marin Coast with live bait and jigs. During his most recent trip. James and his 18 passengers boated limits of rockfish, 3 keeper lingcod to 13 pounds and 16 cabezon.

As for the salmon fishing, boats are doing well trolling the Marin Coast from Duxbury to Rocky Point, noted Nelson. "The salmon average 10-20 pounds, with fish in the 30 pounds showing in the limits" he said. A trip aboard the New Easy Rider on Sunday, October 3 yielded 12 limits of salmon to 28 pounds.

On October 2, Captain Jim Smith of Mr. Bass Sportfishing ran the Happy Hooker to the Farallon Islands to capture 30 limits of assorted rockfish and 15 keeper lingcod. On the way in, the anglers bagged two halibut at the North Bar. "We used live anchovies to get the rockfish and halibut," he added.

The charter boat Happy Hooker is now booking striper and sturgeon trips out of the Martinez Marina.

On Saturday, September 18, the El Dorado took out 13 passengers to fish salmon at Duxbury and returned with full limits. The following day, a light load of 4 guys on the New Golden Eye caught limits in a few short hours of trolling bait.

POINT SAN PABLO
Weak tides put striped bass off the bite in San Pablo Bay, although anglers fishing in Paradise Cay experienced better results.

Captain Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing ran several trips for bass in San Pablo Bay to no avail. "I think the bass moved out of the area due to the weak tides, but they should be moving back up with the arrival of stronger tides this coming week," noted Miller.

On a recent trip for bass off China Camp, Miller and passengers scored a handful of halibut to 15 pounds, but no bass. The group fished live bait in 30 feet of water for the halibut.

Fury has shark trips to Yellow Bluff scheduled for the coming and will continue using live bait through the end of October so long as it's available.

RICHMOND
Salmon trips to Duxbury Reef produced easy limits of big chinooks for those trolling lures and bait over the past two weeks.

Captain John Badger of Barbarian Sportfishing put his five clients into limits of salmon weighing 8 to 23 pounds on a recent venture north of the Duxbury Buoy. "We trolled crowbars, watermelon Apexes and RSK lures at 11 to 34 feet down for the kings," he noted.

Badger has also run successful trips to the Farallon Islands for rockcod. "We boated easy limits of assorted rockfish and released nearly 100 lingcod that were short of the 30 inch requirement," said Badger. "All of the fish were caught on live bait and shrimp fly rigs."

In between salmon and rockfishing, Badger found time to run to the South Bay for halibut and bagged five quality fish to 20 pounds. "We caught the halibut by trolling anchovies and dodgers at 15 to 20 feet deep," he added.

Meanwhile, Captain Mark Delnero of Fin Addict Sportfishing is now booking trips out of the Pittsburg Marina for sturgeon and striped bass on the California Delta. "About halfway through my final shark trip of the season to Candlestick, my motor began running hot so we had to turn back in, cutting the trip short with five sharks," he explained.

BODEGA BAY
Fort Ross continues to be the hot spot for rockfish and lingcod off the Sonoma County coast.

"The New Sea Angler returned with limits of rockfish and 2 to 10 lingcod on every trip over the past week," reported Sophie Powers of Bodega Bay Sportfishing. "The weather over the weekend of October 2-3 was very calm."

Saturday's trip to Fort Ross and Salt Point yielded 20 limits of rockfish and 9 lingcod to 16 pounds. The rockfish are a mixture of blacks, blues, browns, coppers and vermilions. "The lingcod are hitting 8 ounce chrome bars, tipped with squid strips, while the rockfish are falling for shrimp flies," she explained.

Salmon fishing continues to be slow in the Bodega Bay area. "Although we've tried salmon trolling for a couple of hours after rockfishing on trips this week, we haven't landed any chinooks," she noted.

The New Sea Angler will continue to book rockfish/lingcod combos though the end of rockfish season on October 31. After the crab season opens in mid November, the Sandy Ann will begin crab only trips on the weekends.

FORT BRAGG
If you want to catch rockfish and lingcod this year, you don't have much time left, since the rockfish season closes after October 31. Party boaters have returned with limits of rockfish and a few lingcod on their latest trips.

The 8 passengers aboard the Trek II bagged limits of mostly blue rockfish and a few big vermilions during a trip to Cleone Reef on Sunday, October 3, according to Captain Rick Thornton of Anchor Charters. The anglers also nailed two lingcod to 17 pounds while fishing shrimp fly teasers and 6-ounce hex bars in 90 feet of water.

The 8 anglers aboard the boat also landed limits of black and red rockfish during a trip on Saturday to Westport.

The latest trip aboard the Lady Irma II produced limits of red, copper and other rockfish and 5 legal-sized lingcod, added Thornton.

"The salmon fishing is surprisingly decent for the few private boats trying for them," said Jim Martin, West Coast Regional Director of RFA. "Anglers are nailing one fish per rod and less while trolling off Pudding Creek. Most of the fish are 8 to 12 pounds."