Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3801 Dec 22-Jan 4 | Page 25

SALTWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 1 25 Dec 21, 2018 - Jan 4, 2019 SALTWATER REPORTS BERKELEY/EMERYVILLE Crab Combo Action Hot When Weather Cooperates EAST BAY - With Thanksgiving looming things couldn’t When the weather is decent, crab and rockfish combo trips beyond the Golden Gate have been yielding fantastic results. The best rockfish results have been coming from the Farallon Islands, while the north and south bars are both producing solid numbers of crab. The story has been the same for Captain James Smith of the California Dawn, Captain Quan Vo of the Goldeneye 2000 and Captains Chris and Jonathan Smith of the Happy Hooker. All three boats have been pulling in full limits of 10 crabs each for their anglers along with limits of rockfish and near limit numbers of lingcod. The rockfish and lingcod season is slated to run through the end of December, so if you want to score some fillets and crab now is the time to hit the water! Once the rockfish season ends, the Happy Hooker will be headed up to the Martinez Marina for winter sturgeon and striper action, while the California Dawn and Goldeneye 2000 will be taking some time off for rest and repairs. BODEGA BAY Recreational Dungeness Crab Limits Hold Up Despite Commercial Opener BODEGA BAY - The commercial crab season is now open in Sonoma County, but it appears that similar to the open commercial seasons in the Golden Gate or Half Moon Bay, the limited number of commercial crabbers will not make a significant dent in the recreational fishery. The Department of Fish and Wildlife opened the area from the north to the Sonoma/ Mendocino county line as public health agencies determined that domoic acid no longer poses a significant risk to public health in this area. The commercial fishery opened at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018 preceded by an 18-hour gear setting period. Despite the opener, Captain Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sport Fishing and the 65-foot New Sea Angler is still batting 1000 on rockfish and crab limits since the recreational crab opener on November 3rd. Powers said, “We took 21 limits of quality rockfish along with 14 ling cod to 16 pounds to go with limits of crab on Sunday, and we were tied up by noon. We were only ½ hour from the harbor, and we still came up with a good number of chinas, coppers, Bolinas, and black rockfish. On Saturday, we went south to Point Reyes for 43 limits of rockfish with a fair number of lings to go with crab limits. “The weather has been good, but it has been cold. There was an east wind off of the beach, but this is never an issue since the east wind pushes down the swell. We have limited out on rockfish and crab on every trip, and when the swell is down, the ling counts are decent.,” he noted. “The crab are all big commercial-grade to jumbo size, and I expect the trend of limits all around to continue through the rockfish closure on December 31st. The big commercial boats from Washington and Oregon that work 24 Dan Wulff and his fishing partner took a trip on the Happy Hooker on November hours straight are absent here this year, 26 and they limited out with four big lingcod. Here Dan holds up three of those fish. The duo also got limits of rockfish and crabs! and this has made a huge difference for the Photo courtesy of HAPPY HOOKER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley. recreational crab fishery. We have had room every day on our combination trips, and I expect that there will be some more interest during the week after Christmas Day,” Powers concluded. Small Groups • Great Rates - Dave Hurley Predator Sport Fishing Excellent Sturgeon, Bass and Shark Fishing! HALF MOON BAY Rockfish and Lingcod Season Enters Final Stretch The Bay’s Best Crew! 3408 707-342-8481 • www.crocsport.com EL GRANADA - Limits of rockfish remain the rule along with decent lingcod counts when the swells are down out of Half Moon Bay. You don’t have much time left to fish for rockfish and lingcod this year, since the season closes on December 31. Sherry Ingles of Half Moon Bay Sport Fishing said, “The Queen of Hearts and Riptide will be fishing for rockfish until December 23 when CONTINUED ON PG 25 CONTACT THE FISH SNIFFER (833) 347-4661 FISH SNIFFER DIGITAL!!! Digital subscription now available to the Fish Sniffer. Download the app from iTunes or Google Play. Check us out on magazine.fishsniffer.com Captain Cameron Beck traveled down to Costa Rica for Thanksgiving and caught several blue water species including this amazing dorado. Photo courtesy of CAMERON BECK, American River Charters. or Email digital_subscriptions@fishsniffer. com This monster vermilion rockfish hit the deck of the California Dawn during a November 26 Farallon Island adventure. Photo courtesy of CALIFORNIA DAWN SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.