BODEGA BAY / TOMALES BAY

Crabbing Main Attraction Until Rockfish Season Begins April 1

DILLON BEACH – So the fishing report: Slow. One of the locals has a few pots in the Outer Bay and has been averaging around five Dungeness per day of soaking. His last pull was thirteen crab for two days soaking, so maybe better? It’ s probably fresh bait pulling more crab early in the soak, but one can dream. Maybe they’ re coming in!( Spoiler: They aren’ t, yet. Soon they will, but the clutch is likely in session, and soon traps will likely be closed as the whales return with April showers.) Shore snarers are getting a few but far from limits. It is the seasonal slow time, but it should get better as we approach the end of the season in June. The last I checked, of the final options the PFMC came up with for salmon season in their March meeting, only one is no season! The other two options have very limited seasons with short four day windows and a maximum number of fish allowed to be caught. If one of these two fishing options is approved, there’ s a good chance that all the fish will be caught during the first window. 6500-7000 fish for the whole state in four days seems totally doable when there’ s a pent up desire to catch some of these fish that we’ ve been having to let go. If the weather is good, there will be hundreds of boats hitting the water at Santa Cruz, Moss Landing and Monterey and they will catch them all, as the fish usually haven’ t made it up here yet. But, early June usually sucks, so we have a chance at a second opening. I’ m getting a bit ahead of myself, though, as I hear the chance for any season is 50:50 and secondly, there has never been a year in which sport guys fished and commercials sat it out, and the commercial offering is only 10 fish per boat per week. I don’ t think any commercial could afford to do that, and if they did they’ d need to high grade like heck just to break even. I don’ t think the commercials will go for it, and if they don’ t go fishing there’ s a good chance we won’ t go fishing. So, halibut and rockfish take it for the team again. The rockfish and lingcod season begins April 1. The recreational groundfish regulations in the San Francisco Management Area( from Point Arena to Pigeon Point) are available here: https:// nrm. dfg. ca. gov / FileHandler. ashx? DocumentID = 185056 & inline On the rockfish subject, it appears that the PFMC has approved a plan to open up the deep water around Cordell Bank. It will become official when it becomes official, and that day might be a while. Someday we can fish around Cordell, and as someone that has fished at Cordell before( I’ m old enough that it was legal) it is awesome. Or was, at least, and after making a pass over it while trolling for bluefin last year my fish finder says it looks super good now. Let’ s hope that we get to find out this year. On the deep water rockfishing subject of“ can I make it out there in my boat?” Well, if you’ re not sure, then no. And if you’ ve never been out there but you’ re totally sure, then no. Go with someone who has been before. Charter a trip on a sixpack or make a run with Rick on the New Sea Angler and see what it takes. The six-pack option

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Ownership status a possibility for the right individual. would be closer to your situation, so probably that. Make sure of your forecast before you go and be prepared to bail and run home with nothing if the forecast goes south. The worst weather I was ever in was on the second day of a three day run of“ winds light and variable to 5 knots” when the wind came up to 30 knots and 1 foot seas were breaking 15 to 20 feet high 25 miles out and I was in a 16 foot Whaler. The forecasts are usually right, but if things start looking questionable, don’ t be an ass like me and stay. Run Home. I wish I had. I’ d sleep a lot better with less nightmares. I saw the 20.5 foot boat in front of me broach twice in white water on the way in. I thought I was going to be picking bodies out of the water. Tom Gerbi and Bob King were making a small patch of calm water in their wake right behind the boat and I was staying in it until a breaker would come in from the port stern quarter and I’ d back off( as they have the right of way). I thought I was dead. I didn’ t die, but pick your days better and give up and go home earlier. Or just go with a guy that knows. On surfperch, the wind that I have been whining about has actually done what it is supposed to do and not just added sand to the beach in front of the Boathouse but added some structure to the beach. I haven’ t heard any catching reports of surfperch but the structure in front of the beach looks good on the north end of Dillon Beach. You have to cast around a bunch of surfers, but there’ s bars a go-go there. Fish? Maybe not yet, but if you build it, they will come.

- Willie Vogler, Lawson’ s Landing

FISHERMAN’ S WHARF / BERKELEY MARINA

Trollers Target Stripers and Halibut

SAN FRANCISCO – Charter boat anglers are catching good numbers of striped bass and a few halibut on trolling adventures on San Pablo Bay. Fishing in the south and central bays has been tough so far this season.“ We’ ve been trolling with anchovies 6 to 20 feet off Pinole,” said Captain Mike Rescino of the Lovely Martha.“ The stripers have ranged from 18 to 25 inches, with a few in the 9 to 10 lb. range. The halibut have been averaging around 26 inches long.” On his best trip to date, the 9 anglers aboard the boat landed limits of stripers and 2 halibut. On his latest trip, the 10 anglers finished up with 6 bass.“ We’ ve seen the fish scores increase today with the early arrival of spring.,” reported James Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing after his trip on March 21.“ We ended up with over a fish per rod and a handful of halibut. The score was 17 striped bass and 5 halibut for 15 anglers.” A previous trip by Smith yielded 26 striped bass to 10 pounds and 1 halibut to 10 pounds for 18 anglers. Smith has also been trolling for the stripers and halibut.

- Dan Bacher

Internet Marketing Specialist

Contact Paul Kneeland at 530-346-8696 or paulkneeland @ fishsniffer. com

MONTEREY BAY

Sanddab and Petrale Sole Trips Offer Top Fishing Until Rockfish Season Starts

MONTEREY – The rockfish season will begin in Monterey Bay starting on April 1. Until the season begins, charter boat anglers are focusing on sanddabs and petrale sole. The latest trip aboard the Checkmate on March 21 produced lots of sanddabs and 20 petrale sole for 13 anglers, reported Chris Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips. The previous trip aboard the Checkmate produced lots of sanddabs and 12 petrale sole for 11 anglers. The rockfish season will run from April 1 to Dec. 30: April 1 – April 30: 50 fathoms offshore only fishery May 1 – Sept. 30: 20 fathoms inshore fishery Oct 1 – Oct. 31: 50 fathoms offshore only fishery Nov. 1 – Nov. 30: 20 fathoms inshore only fishery Dec. 1 – Dec. 31: 50 fathoms offshore only fishery Ken Stagnaro of Stagnaro’ s Fishing Trips also reported solid sanddab fishing on Monterey Bay.“ We have been getting 20 to 30 sanddabs per rod on our trips,” said Stagnaro. The Santa Cruz Wharf reopened to the public on Saturday, 1 / 4 / 25 at 7 AM. Please follow all posted signage and warnings to ensure public safety. The area of the wharf that was closed for construction will remain closed to the public. The affected wharf section has been closed since January 2024 due to damage from intense storms in late 2023 and early 2024. Construction began in fall 2024 to reinforce the area, including the demolition of the Dolphin Restaurant, necessary to effect the repairs. For more information on the partial collapse, go here: https:// www. cityofsantacruz. com / community / city-newsroom / city-incident-reports

- Dan Bacher

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