Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3611 May 12-26, 2017 | Page 35

BERKELEY & EMERYVILLE

Full Menu Of Species On Tap For Charter Boaters

EAST BAY— Halibut, striped bass, lings, rockfish and salmon are all being caught by East Bay charter boat enthusiasts and the fishing is improving weekly.

“ I’ ve been splitting my time between running the Happy Hooker and my six pack boat the Defiant,” reported Captain Chris Smith of Captain Hook Sportfishing.“ The live bait season has been great so far. Last week we smacked the stripers pretty good during a big set of tides. Next week I expect the halibut action to ramp up in both the south and central bay. To book a trip on either of my boats give me a call at( 510) 322-0493.”

“ We did really well on stripers early this week,” related Captain James Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing.“ The bass were holding off Alameda and boiling on bait. Our anglers did well with live anchovies, but plastic swimbaits rigged on half ounce heads killed them too. Next week is going to be a great halibut week since the tides are getting smaller. There are lots of halibut in the bay right now.”

Berkeley’ s New Easy Rider with Captain Joey Gallia at the helm has been on the hunt for salmon beyond the Golden Gate in recent days and they are doing well. Their most recent trip yielded more than one fish per rod on kings ranging into the high teens. Rigged anchovies were the most productive offering. The biggest challenge confronting salmon anglers recently has been the up and down weather conditions.

The Sea Wolf out of the Emeryville Marina has been enjoying fantastic results while fishing outside the Golden Gate for rockfish and lingcod. For example, on April 29, they took out 25 anglers are returned with 250 rockfish and 41 lingcod to 16 pounds.

With rough weather outside the gate, Emeryville’ s Sundance and New Salmon Queen have both been focused on striped bass and halibut fishing inside the bay. Last week they scored limits of stripers on most trip and added quite a few halibut. They are hoping the ocean lays down next week so they can resume salmon fishing. he is planning on heading out on combination trips once the weather settles down. There is some good news with the winds as Mike Aughney of USAFishing. com said,“ The water temperature has dropped to 49 degrees at the Bodega Weather Buoy, and the colder water and upwelling will set the stage for favorable salmon conditions in the weeks ahead.” So far this season, private boaters have been not showing up‘ en masse’ to this port, but with the reopening of salmon season and the excellent launching facilitie at the Westside Landing launch ramp, all we need is the salmon to show up for the traffic to back up to Highway 1.

- by David Hurley

FISHERMAN’ S WHARF

Live Bait Drifters Lay Into Halibut, Stripers

SAN FRANCISCO— Live bait fishing for halibut and striped bass on San Francisco Bay has been very good, according to Aaron Anfinson, captain of the Bass Tub.

“ The 14 people fishing on the Bass Tub on Saturday, April 29, released around 65 undersized halibut and landed 6 keeper halibut and 4 keeper stripers on Saturday, April 29,” said Anfinson.“ The halibut averaged 8 to 10 pounds each and went up to 18 pounds, while the stripers weighed up to 5 pounds. We drifted live anchovies in 10 feet of water in the south bay off Alameda.”

“ On April 30, the 6 fishermen aboard the boat had a great day, catching 13 keeper halibut and 7 bass,” said Anfinson.“ The biggest halibut weighed 25 pounds. They fished live anchovies in the Alameda area.”

– by Dan Bacher

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

This angler was pretty happy after boating this hefty San Francisco Bay halibut during a live bait adventure aboard the Happy Hooker on April 15. hoto courtesy of HAPPY HOOKER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley

These anglers rounded up limits of lingcod and rockfish while fishing offshore of Bodega Bay on April 15.

Photo courtesy of FISH ON CHARTERS, Bodega Bay

BODEGA BAY

Rockfish, Lingcod and Crab Fishing Is Great

BODEGA BAY— The salmon season came to its first and only closure period on Sunday, April 30th, and it will reopen on May 15th.

Salmon fishing has been spotty at best out of this port, but Captain Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sport Fishing and the New Sea Angler had a great day in the last week with 10 big salmon to 22 pounds along with limits of Dungeness crab for 10 anglers. He said,“ It has been a slow pick this past week, but we found good action below Elephant Rock, and all of the salmon were big at 15 to 22 pounds.”

Powers cancelled on Saturday due to high winds, but he was back out on Sunday, April 30, for 33 limits of rockfish consisting of vermilions, coppers, Bolinas, and some mixed school fish to go with 36 lingcod to 13 pounds. With the salmon season closed, Powers will be running rockfish / ling cod trips along with the occasional crab combination for the next two weeks. There is optimism for the re-opening of salmon season on May 15th since the size limit drops to 20 inches.

The recent high winds kept Captain Jeff Carmella of Miss Anita Sport Fishing off of the water over the weekend, but

This young man caught his first ever ocean salmon when he battled this big Golden Gate king from the decks of the New Easy Rider on April 22.

Photo courtesy of NEW EASY RIDER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley

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