Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3822 Oct 11-25 | Page 30

28 SALTWATER Oct 11 - 25, 2019 VOL.38 • ISS. 22 SALTWATER REPORTS BERKELEY Crowds Get Smaller, Fishing Still Great! BERKELEY- October is always a strange month for S.F. Bay/Golden Gate charter boats. The fishing is typically outstanding, yet crowds are light as anglers turn their attention to river salmon, Delta stripers and fall hunting opportunities. These days East Bay charter boats continue to report excellent action on bottomfish. In addition, there are still solid numbers of salmon showing and there is a decent number of stripers in the north bay. Captain Jonathan Smith of Happy Hooker Sportfishing had a great trip inside the bay this week. “We had a successful day of halibut fishing in the bay today. Almost 2 fish per rod on halibut up to 18 lbs. We had a keeper striper mixed in too,” said Smith. On the California Dawn, coastal mixed bag fishing has been the focus in recent days. “We had some decent weather today so we took advantage of it and made the trip up to Point Reyes. The rockfish was spectacular, reds, coppers, browns, all the usual suspects on the rocks. The lingcod bite was good, fish and a half per New Easy Rider Sportfishing Departures from Berkeley Marina 3712 N ow B ookiNg SALMoN, HALiBUT, BASS LiVE BAiT TRiPS Rock & Ling Cod and Sturgeon Reservations & Information (707)422-2050 captainjgallia@neweasyrider.com www.neweasyrider.com rod on them with some good sized lings in the mix,” said Captain James Smith. On the salmon fishing front anglers fishing outside the Golden Gate continue to hook kings that average 15 pounds and range up to and beyond 30 pounds. Operating out of Berkeley the New Easy Rider trolled up 8 salmon to 18 pounds for their 8 anglers on September 27. BODEGA BAY Albacore Tuna Strain Offshore Rods BODEGA BAY - All species are available out of Bodega Bay with big spawner salmon on the beach, rockfish and lingcod holding in the reefs, and albacore relatively close offshore. To top it off, Captain Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sport Fishing hooked and lost a massive bluefin tuna on an 18-inch Rapala on a recent pelagic bird trip to the Cordell Bank area. Powers has been waiting for a weather window to repeat the 131 albacore trip of the previous week with only 7 rods working, and he found a slight window on Friday, September 27th. He said, “I called up my regular client, Dean McCoy, and he showed up with one fishing partner so we ran out 38 miles west southwest of Bodega Head for a total of 22 albacore to 24 pounds. We were able to pick up our last fish at 20 miles out in 56-degree water, and the best action came at 27 miles out in 61-degree water. This is the first time we have been able to catch albacore south of Point Arena in six years, and we will be getting out there for the tuna when the weather allows. Most of our fish on Friday came on the troll as it was windy, but the previous trip saw plenty of action with swimbaits and jigs.” “In addition to albacore, we have Tiffany and Antonio teamed up to land this big king salmon during a September 13 trip beyond the Golden Gate aboard the New Easy Rider. Photo courtesy of NEW EASY RIDER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley. These anglers took an S.F. Bay live bait potluck trip aboard the Happy Hooker in mid- September and boated these quality halibut while fishing the North Bay. Photo courtesy of HAPPY HOOKER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley. been loading up with limits of big bottom-dwelling rockfish along with an excellent ling cod count and a few large salmon on our super combination trips. Our last trip resulted in limits of rockfish, quality ling cod, and 5 big salmon with an 18- to 20-pound average out of 10 hookups. The ling cod bite has been exceptional, and we have plenty of room on our combination trips right now. This is some of the best time to be along the coast with the best weather during the month of October. There is still plenty of room for the opening of the Dungeness crab season, and I believe it is going to be a great crab year,” Powers stated. Captain Merlin Kolb of Reel Magic Sport Fishing took his first albacore trip in recent memory, and fortunately, he was under the essential tutelage of Captain Vince Orsini, one of the CONTINUED ON PG 30 Monster lingcod have been on tap for anglers plying waters beyond the Golden Gate aboard the Pacific Dream this September. Photo courtesy of PACIFIC DREAM SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.