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By: The Fish Sniffer Staff
September 2, 2009
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I thought I would beat the heat from the summer time bass fishing and headed out of Santa Cruz from a rental skiff on the Muni Wharf for some light tackle shallow water fishing. I was rewarded with many different specie's including this Vermillion Rockfish on a 5" swimbait off the Light House. I'm from San Jose. Dave |
Morro Bay/Avila Beach
The Central Coast saltwater fishing scene continues to be dominated by phenomenal rockfish fishing, although lingcod are conspicuously absent on most days. The rockfish being landed are a mix of quality browns, coppers, vermilions and other hard heads.
For anglers departing from Virg’s Landing, limits have been the rule when targeting bottomfish as long as the weather cooperates.
On August 30 two boats departed from Virg’s Landing in Morro Bay in search of rockfish and perhaps a lingcod or two. The Fiesta headed out with 28 anglers aboard on a ¾ day adventure. They landed a grand total of 10 copper rockfish, 220 assorted rockfish and 20 vermilion rockfish.
The Harbor Pathfinder took out 20 anglers on a half-day trip. They busted 15 vermilion rockfish, 92 assorted rockfish, 8 copper rockfish and 60 brown rockfish.
At Avila Beach, the folks at Patriot Sportfishing reported that most rockfish trips on days when the ocean conditions are decent result in limits or near limits. When the seas are rough the scores decline, which is what happened on August 30. That day the Patriot went out with 17 anglers aboard for a half-day trip. They boated 46 assorted rockfish and 9 vermilion rockfish. Ismael Villa of Lompoc won the jackpot with a 3.5 pound vermilion.
Monterey/Santa Cruz
Charter boaters fishing off the Monterey Coast are nailing limits of colorful rockfish on the calm days and near-limits when the wind and swell comes up.
“It was a tough weekend for fishing off Monterey on August 29 and 30,” said Todd Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips. “The weather was sloppy, with rock and roll conditions. The anglers who fished caught limits, but a number of anglers were sea-sick.”
Passengers aboard the Star of Monterey, Caroline and Checkmate averaged 7 to 8 fish per rod over the weekend while fishing shrimp flies, bars and jigs off Carmel. Arcoleo expects the action to rebound with the arrival of calmer weather.
“Our one albacore trip to date this season yielded 5 longfins for 12 anglers – the weather was rough that day,” said Arcoleo. “We have live bait set up, so we’re looking forward to fishing for the tuna as soon as we get some decent weather.”
“Anglers aboard the Chubasco caught near limits of rockfish in the local reefs over the weekend,” confirmed Chrissie Chonacki of Randy’s Fishing Trips. “The fishermen caught mixed bags of yellowtail. Blue and yellowtail rockfish.”
The fishing for rockfish was good in the relatively protected waters at the Mile Buoy, Natural Bridges, and 4 Mile Beach off Santa Cruz on August 30. “ The wind was blowing near Franklin Point, making things hard on anglers who ran that way,” said Todd Fraser of Bayside Marine in Santa Cruz. “The halibut are still being caught on the north coast when the swells and wind allow.”
Half Moon Bay
Anglers departing from the Pillar Point Marina have been enjoying very good success while fishing for rockfish and albacore tuna. While the bite has been great, ocean conditions have turned rough over the past few days, keeping most boats in the harbor.
“We has a great group aboard today and they put limits of nice quality browns, reds and coppers in their sacks, despite a growing swell and building northwest wind,” reported Sherry Ingles of Queen of Hearts Sportfishing . “Even though it wasn’t downright nasty, it was far from nice today and the forecast is call for the swell and wind to increase overnight.”
In addition to limits and near limits of rockfish, folks fishing aboard the Queen of Hearts have recently landed a few lingcod to 15 pounds, cabezon to 10 pounds and handful of halibut to 22 pounds.
At the Huck Finn Sportfishing Center, Peggy Beckett reported solid rockfish action as long as the weather cooperates.
“The rockfish fishing has been pretty good. We had a half day trip today and the anglers pulled in limits while fishing the rocks right out in front of the harbor,” disclosed Beckett on Friday, August 28.
“There are tuna offshore, but it seems like every time we schedule a trip the weather turns bad and we end up canceling. We are going to keep on trying and maybe our luck will change,” quipped Beckett.
Private boaters heading out for tuna when the ocean lays down are reporting from 5 to 30 albacore per outing while trolling.
San Rafael
Halibut fishing slowed down on San Francisco Bay over the past several weeks as the summer nears its end. Nonetheless, anglers caught some hefty halibut while drifting live bait.
“The fishing has been abysmally slow,” quipped Gordon Hough, captain of the Morning Star. “However, the good news is the quality of the fish, averaging 8 to 12 pounds. We’re catching the majority of fish in the deep water at Alcatraz, Treasure Island, Angel Island and Raccoon Strait.”
A trip by the Morning Star on Tuesday, August 25 yielded 10 halibut for 19 anglers, while Thursday’s trip produced 10 halibut and 3 striped bass for 20 passengers. Friday’s venture produced 6 halibut for 16 anglers, Saturday’s trip yielded 8 halibut for 20 people and Sunday’s angling adventure produced 10 halibut for 15 passengers.
Big fish honors go to Gary Savinsky, who nailed a 16-1/2 lb. halibut at Alcatraz.
The Bass Tub, out of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, checked in with 4 halibut and one leopard shark for 15 anglers on Saturday, August 29. Richard Rivera won the jackpot with a 34 lb. halibut. “The rest of the halibut ranging from 10 to 15 pounds, while the shark weighed about 20 pounds,” reported Captain Erik Anfinson.
Point San Pablo
(Anglers departing from the Point San Pablo Marina are having solid success while targeting big halibut and even bigger sharks. Striper action is expected to improve over the next 7 to 10 days.
“Yesterday we had a great day while fishing for halibut in Raccoon Straits,” related Captain Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing on August 30. “A lot of guys struggled yesterday, but we ended up with 7 halibut for 6 anglers. We pulled the fish out of deep water while drifting with live sardines.”
“The fish we got were big. Our biggest four weighed between 22 and 30 pounds. Lynn Sweeny had a pair of halibut that weight over 50 pounds combined,” said Miller.
“We went shark fishing last week at Yellow Bluff and did really well. My guys keep 7 soupfins and sevengills up to about 50 pounds and we released a pair of monster sevengills that ran 125 and 150 pounds,” added Miller.
Miller expects the striper fishing to ramp up at The Brothers when the tides increase in size.
“This is the time of the year when you can do really well on stripers at The Brothers, when you’ve got a good amount of current,” said Miller.
Benicia
Depending on your perspective fishing is Suisun Bay is either slow are extremely good. The tides have been slow, so the action has been productive for sturgeon anglers. Yet striper anglers working off the shore have been landing big numbers of stripers to 36 inches while soaking bait and plugging.
“The striper bite is really good off the shoreline right now,” reported Curtis Hayes at Benicia Bait and Tackle. “Bullheads are the best bait, but they are tough to find most of the time. Blood worms are the numbers two bait and grass shrimp are running third.”
“The biggest striper we’ve seen measured 36 inches and weighed 16 pounds. Jim Osteen caught it while fishing an anchovy beneath the Benicia Bridge. A few day earlier he caught a 10 pound on the same bait at the same location,” said Hayes.
“Sturgeon fishing has been slow with the slow tides we’ve had. I’ve checked out the tide book and I don’t think we are going to see an upturn in the action until minus tides begin on September 14,” predicted Hayes.
Fishing for stripers has been good in the Napa River both above and below the Highway 37 Bridge. Bullheads, blood worms, pile worms, shrimp and anchovies are all tempting keepers.
Bodega Bay
Excitement is the word that best defines the Bodega Bay saltwater fishing scene these days. The rockfish action along the Sonoma County Coast can’t get any better and albacore have now moved inside Cordell bank. At this point the longfins are holding less than 20 miles from Bodega Head.
“The rockfish angling has changed a bit over the past two weeks,” reported Captain Rick Powers of the Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center. “The bite is wide-open for quality browns, blacks, coppers and vermilions and we have been getting limits on every single trip. My last trip yielded 50 to 60 vermilions in addition to mixture of other bottomfish. The lingcod numbers are still down, but we are picking up lings here and there.”
“As exciting as the rockfish bite is, it’s the possibility of catching albacore a fairly short distance offshore that is really getting anglers in our area fired up. One of my buddies went out and got 5 tuna on the inside side of Cordell Bank. He was only about 20 miles offshore,” said Powers.
Powers will be offering tuna trips beginning on the first week of September.
BAJA CALIFORNIA REPORT
(Los Cabos) Cabo anglers had mixed results over the past couple weeks as seasons begin changing along the Baja Peninsula.
“Barbra and Bruce Carter, from Hayward, CA, limited out in the bay on grouper, corvina, bass and two snook,” said Gary Graham of Baja On The Fly in reference to the conditions in the Magdalena Bay Area. “Mark Wisdom, a surfer from Cabo, broke the ice with four wahoo fishing out of the camp on Cabo San Lazaro.”
“It’s been sporadic for dorado,” reported Pam Boyles of the Baja Big Fish Company in Loreto. “The offshore waters have been changing quickly, the air has been unstable and the dorado respond by feeding in much deeper water throughout the day and not being too receptive to the flies.”
“For most of the past two weeks the dorado have been spread out over a large area and mainly being caught by conventional anglers trolling lures or bait. The exceptions though have been impressive when a floating object has been located. Any floating object out at sea right now will attract Dorado and competition among them will likely be good. Fish in these schools range in size from high 20's to high 30's pounds,” continued Boyles.
“To say that the sailfish are numerous would be an understatement. There are so many so as to be considered a nuisance,” said Boyles.
“Yellowtail have been reported being caught off Pulpito, Puerto Almejas, San Bruno and Isla Coronado. They're feeding from the bottom where they fight their strongest, from 150 to 300 feet. Bigeye has been preferred but jigs would work, however the heat and humidity factor would make jigging quite the workout. You'll need from 8 to 10 ounces of lead to get the bait down. Sometimes there are limits and near limits with fish from 23 to 25 pounds,” concluded Boyles.
“We saw lots of big tuna again this week,” reported Eddie Dalmau of Van Wormer Resorts on the East Cape. “The biggest weighed in at 120 pounds. All in all our three hotels report over 400 yellowfin tuna landed by guests this week.
At the Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort, also on the East Cape, anglers experienced very good action over the past few weeks. Over the last two weeks 107 anglers landed 227 dorado, 43 tuna, 19 wahoo and a long list of other gamefish.
“Fishing was so-so at best this week. Something was surely off,” disclosed Jonathan Roldan of Tailhunter International in La Paz. “For the most part, the fish that were caught were a mix of small to medium dorado, some roosterfish, some yellowfin tuna, some amberjack, cabrilla and pargo.”
“I will note, however, that this past week was dark moon time again! I’m not a big believer in the moon phases, but all year, the slowest bites have been on the dark moon phases,” added Roldan.
“We had a two day convention of striped marlin between the beach and five miles offshore up on the inside of the Golden Gate Bank this week,” commented Captain George Landrum of Fly Hooker Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas. “On Thursday and Friday the fish were packed up and almost everyone there was able to release at least one striped marlin, and a few boats released three or four.”
“During the rest of the week the fish were there and along the rest of the Pacific coast as well, but the catch ratio was considerably lower. Also in the area, as well as offshore there were sailfish. They were between 40 and 100 pounds in size and occasionally attacked in packs with two or three lines going off at once. Offshore there were a few blues and blacks found, but not very many were caught. I know of one black that was tail wrapped and came in dead that taped out at 400 pounds,” said Landrum.
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