By: The Fish Sniffer Staff
January 15, 2010
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Monterey/Santa Cruz
Fishing on squid/crab combinations continues to be superb off Monterey. Anglers are nailing lots of jumbo (Humboldt) squid, along with some tasty Dungeness and red rock crabs.
The three-day period of January 8-10 featured great squid action for the Chubasco out of Randy’s Fishing Trips. The 7 people aboard the boat on Friday caught 120 squid, while 7 people on Saturday landed 70 squid.
Then on Sunday the 11 anglers landed 70 squid, along with catching 21 Dungeness crabs and 8 rock crabs. “The fishermen are catching an average of 10 squid per rod,” said Chrissie Chonacki of Randy’s Fishing Trips, “and the squid are hitting at only 20 to 30 feet deep.”
The 20 anglers fishing out of Chris’ Fishing Trips on Saturday found super fishing on Saturday, January 10. “The 20 passengers caught 250 squid, 15 to 20 sanddabs per rod and 55 crabs,” said Chris Arcoleo.
On the following day, the 12 guys on the Checkmate landed 100 squid , 15 to 20 sanddabs per rod and 60 crabs, according to Arcoleo.
Ken Stagnaro of Stagnaro’s Fishing Trips in Santa Cruz is booking half-day sanddab adventures. The latest trip aboard the Velocity returned with about a 35 fish per person average.
Half Moon Bay
Pillar Point anglers are encountering plentiful squid holding on the edge of Pioneer Canyon. In addition to the squid, limits and near limits of crab are on the menu for private boaters working in 40 to 100 feet of water.
According to Captain Tom Mattusch of Huli Cat Sportfishing, the jumbo Humboldt squid are holding in 500 to 600 feet of water, but will move up near the surface once you begin hooking them. Anglers fishing aboard the Huli Cat have been averaging more than 10 squid per person.
Peggy Beckett at the Huck Finn Sportfishing Center didn’t have any recent fishing to report, but related that crab and whale watching trips will likely be offered soon.
The Queen of Hearts remains out of action at this time as the crew enjoys some much needed time off.
Private boaters crabbing offshore of Half Moon Bay are finding that squid heads and tentacles make for great crab bait. The crabbing has been very consistent when the weather cooperates with anglers scoring 4 to 6 crabs per trap.
Perch enthusiasts working off local beaches are nailing 3 to 5 perch per outing while employing pile worms and shrimp baits.
Berkeley
No Report
San Rafel
The fishing was by no means hot, but anglers experienced substantially improved sturgeon action with the arrival of better tides in San Pablo Bay over the weekend of January 9-10.
"Most of the skiff anglers reported one to two sturgeon hook-ups and a couple of boats reported limits of keepers," said Keith Fraser of Loch Lomond Bait and Tackle. "Fishermen experienced the top action while soaking mud shrimp at the Pumphouse and China Camp."
Bob Berger of San Francisco showed his fishing skill by catching a 61 inch sturgeon and releasing an oversized diamondback. Like the others, he fished mud shrimp in San Pablo Bay.
The bass fishing is extremely slow in local waters. "I've heard of less than a half dozen keeper stripers being caught over the past three weeks," noted Fraser.
Brisbane/South San Francisco
Sturgeon fishing is the name of the game for most South Bay anglers at this time, but good numbers of perch are being caught too. As you would expect boaters are catching most of the sturgeon, but bank anglers have hooked keepers too.
“A few days ago a guy fishing from a boat caught a nice keeper while fishing right out in front of the pier,” reported John Akina of Oyster Point Bait, Tackle and Deli. “I’ve heard about a few sturgeon being caught off the shoreline, but only one of them was a keeper.”
South Bay sturgeon enthusiasts are employing a number of different baits. Mud shrimp are probably the best bait, but they are very tough to come by.
Herring has been responsible for a high percentage of the keepers caught recently, but grass shrimp, ghost shrimp and pile worms are good choices too. To cover all bases most guys are teaming herring fillets with ghost or grass shrimp. Whatever baits you take, take plenty, since trash fish have been a consistent problem.
The sleeper bite in the South Bay comes in the form of perch fishing. Good numbers of large perch are now crowding the shoreline and saltwater panfish enthusiasts are hooking them with grass shrimp, pile worms and white prawns fished with the shell on.
Martinez/Crockett
There are good numbers of sturgeon holding in Suisun Bay and charter boaters are hooking them. Relatively few anglers are fishing at this time, so there has been plenty of elbow room on most boats.
“There are a lot of fish spread out in Suisun Bay and the lower end of the Sacramento River all the way up to Collinsville,” reported Captain James Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing. “On our last night trip we caught a pair of keepers and we got a few keepers while fishing during the daytime last week too. Our top baits have been eel and roe. Grass shrimp are working too. We are having the most consistent results while fishing in about 30 feet of water.”
Sturgeon fishing was slow on the weekend of January 9 to 10. A trip on January 9 by the Happy Hooker produced a 41 inch sturgeon and a few shaker striped bass off Collinsville, but no keeper sturgeon or bass, according to Captain Jim Smith.
The Morning Star, operating out of the Crockett Marina, has been focusing on fishing in San Pablo Bay with good results. On Saturday January 9, anglers aboard the Morning Star had a keeper sturgeon, several shakers and 10 flounders.
Suisun Bay - Benicia
No Report
Bodega Bay
The fishing has been great this winter all around Northern California. However, if you want to experience the hottest action possible, do yourself a favor, head over to Bodega Bay and book a Humboldt squid trip aboard the New Sea Angler. Huge numbers of the tasty battlers are holding at Cordell Bank and anglers board the New Sea Angler are slugging it out with them on every trip.
“We are averaging up to and beyond 10 jumbo Humboldt squid per angler on the New Sea Angler,” reported Captain Rick Powers of the Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center. “The squid we are catching average around 35 pounds and routinely range up into the sixties and larger.”
In many locations around the state, Humboldt squid are pulled out of exceedingly deep water most of the time. What sets trips out of Bodega Bay apart is the fact that skippers are almost always able to tease the squid at Cordell up into the top 50 feet of the water column. Often the squid will come right up to the surface.
Anyone that has ever reeled up 1,000 feet of line, with or without a squid attached to it, knows that getting the squid up near the surface is an important advantage.
San Diego (Long Range Report)
(San Diego) The fishing is great for anglers venturing south of the boarder on long range adventures with ample tuna and good numbers of wahoo showing.
“We departed today on our annual New Years 10-day trip, picked up a nice load of bait, and cleared the point by 9:30 am. It is nice to see so many of our friends return on this trip every year,” related Justin Fleck of Excel Sportfishing on December 26.
“We were fortunate enough to stumble upon an area of birds, dolphins, whales, and bait just outside the ridge near Mag Bay where we had excellent fishing on 40 pound tuna. At times, we would locate a school that would really charge the boat and everyone would have one on. A majority of these fish were in the 40 pound range but there are several 60 to 90 pounders mixed in. This is exactly what we were looking for to start off our trip,” said Fleck on December 29.
“We have had excellent tuna fishing for the last two days on fish ranging from 40 to 220 pounds. At times these things really bit good and everyone had one on. This is the perfect set up for a winter 10-day trip with a lot of action and a chance at a cow. The weather has also been unbelievable with calm seas and no wind,” reported Fleck on January 2 as the Excel prepared to head back up the line to San Diego.
“Happy New Years,” exclaimed Frank LoPreste of Royal Polaris Sportfishing on January 1. “Another year down, and now it's time to start another year catching cows. We departed Fisherman's Landing at 5:30 pm on our annual Taka's 16 day adventure.”
“We arrived at our destination at 11:30 am. The weather was pleasant, with a slight breeze out of the northeast. We started trolling, and it didn't take long for the wahoo to start biting. We had an excellent day of wahoo fishing, with most in the 30 to 40 pound range, and a few going over 50,” disclosed LoPreste on January 5.
“Fishing continues to improve on yellowfin, with most of the fish in the 90 to 130 pound category. We did get our first 200 pound yellowfin today. The lucky angler was Peter "Calico" Mirelez. Pete's fish weighed in at 215 pounds. This was Pete's first duce. It was a mixed bite today, with about 50% coming on the kite, and the rest on sardines,” said LoPreste on January 7.
“Joe D’Aquisto docked Red Rooster III at H&M Landing January 5 after a ten-day trip with 15 anglers, who bagged four cows along with a good catch of other tuna,” reported Bill Roecker.
“Michael Rosenthal won first place for a 231.7-pound tuna that bit his sardine on a 3/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He said he fished with 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 30 reel and an "Armbreaker" short rod of five feet made by Calstar,” added Roeker.
Baja California
(Loreto) Light crowds were the norm in Baja California ports over the past week. Anglers that did travel to the Baja Peninsula were treated to a variety of action with everything from massive blue marlin to sierra showing in the catches.
“Roosterfish have been pretty frequent in several locations: San Bruno, Isla Coronado, Punta Colorada, Nopolo to Juncalito and Punta Tintorerra to Punta Lobos,” reported Pam Boyles of the Baja Big Fish Company.
The roosterfish prefer a mixed cobble sand bottom structure. Smaller roosterfish are schooling and are easier to catch for the lure and fly fishermen. Slow trolling a live sardina, mackerel or mullet is working for the larger roosterfish. Conventional anglers are getting roosterfish by fishing live bait as opposed to lures. Right now sardinas are the bait of choice. We suggest that all roosterfish be released due to their poor edibility and high value as a sport angler's target,” tipped Boyles.
“The tuna came back solidly for our Las Arenas boats as the New Year dawned, pushing out of Muertos Bay,” reported Jonathan Roldan of Tailhunter International in La Paz. “We found fish as close as Punta Perrico and then scattered out towards the south end of Cerralvo Island with some larger fish at the north end of the island. Most of the fish were fun-sized 15 to 25 pounders, but some larger 30 to 35 pounders were taken and a few large ones were lost.”
“Dorado are still in the area. School-sized 10 to 15 pounders are not uncommon with some larger 20 pound bulls cruising along the drop offs. The most action comes off the beaches and rocky areas with literally unlimited sierra fishing. You can pop almost as many of these as you can stand. It’s the same with the roosterfish. Several dozen roosterfish in the right school are not uncommon and happily most fish are getting released,” disclosed Roldan.
On the East Cape the fish continue to bite, but anglers are few and far between. The Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort only hosted a handful of anglers over New Years, but they caught plenty of fish. Most of the fish caught were dorado and tuna, but a variety of inshore species were encountered too.
“Once again there were a few decent blue marlin and black marlin reported this week, but nothing as large as the 800 pounder that was caught last week,” reported George Landrum of Fly Hookers Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas. “The fish I saw and heard of were in the 400 pound class and were found on the Pacific side close to the beach, feeding on dorado in the case of the blue marlin, or on the Outer Gorda Bank feeding on bollito in the case of the black marlin.”
“A few decent sized sailfish were found as well. The striped marlin bite just shut off. A few stripers were caught every day, and the best results I saw were three fish in one day. At least the stripers were close to home, almost on our doorstep. The action was between the lighthouse and the Solmar Hotel. Deep drifting with live bait or slow trolling them on top produced the best results. Most boats were getting shut out on the striped marlin this week,” said Landrum.
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