Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3825 Nov 22- Dec 6 | Page 27

Nov 22 - Dec 6, 2019 VOL.38 • ISS. 25 Kayaking is becoming more and more popular, and the sport is expanding exponentially. Kayak fishing and hunting will be prominently featured at this year’s International Sportsmen’s Exposition in Sacramento, and Nagel will be conducting seminars at the Kayak Theater as one of the top kayak anglers on the West Coast. - Dave Hurley HALF MOON BAY Dungeness Crab Season Going Strong off San Mateo Coast Cod Tourney, and he said, “We had a good day on the lings with 13 ling cod along with 26 limits of rockfish and 27 limits of Dungeness crab including crew. We were down at the Deep Reef for the rockfish, and we have had an excellent week with limits of both rockfish and crab on every trip.” “The lings really jumped on today. The weather has been fantastic. The weather was a bit rougher on Saturday, November 9th, but they scratched out limits of rockfish along with limits of crab for 21 anglers,” he stated. Mattusch is finding loaded pots from varying depths from 95 to 245 feet. The private boat parade has been steady for Dungeness crab seekers, and as in further up the coast out of Bodega Bay, kayak fishermen are getting in on the action. - Dave Hurley EL GRANADA - The recreational Dungeness crab opener out of Half Moon Bay has been nothing less than with limits CONTINUED ON PG 26 of commercial-grade crab along with rockfish limits. The Queen of Hearts and New Captain Pete out of Half Moon Bay Sport Fishing are providing the popular rockfish/crab combination trips, and the commercial pullers on the Huli Cat and the New Captain Pete make for a quick pull. Limits of crab have been the rule since the opener, and Baxter was out in 200 feet of water for up to 20/crab per pot while also out of his shop, the Queen of Hearts dropped their Danielson pots in 160 feet of water for 13/ crab per pot. Baxter said, “This was a very good sign to have these numbers of crab only 5 to 6 miles out of the harbor as normally the crab are not in this close this early in the season.” He was out with the Coastside Fishing Club-sponsored Veteran’s Trip on Big lingcod have been on a good bite along the Marin Coast for Saturday, November 9th, on a crab-only trip, Golden Gate anglers taking combo crab and bottomfish trips. Photo courtesy of HAPPY HOOKER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley. and they posted limits before he ran a second crab-only trip later in the afternoon. Captain Tom 2912 Mattusch of the Huli Cat was out on Thursday with for the Peninsula Fishing Club Ling SALMON • - ROCKFISH ROCKFISH • - ALBACORE ALBACORE SALMON 831-633-2564 831-633-2564 Get to the fishing grounds Get fast on to our charter grounds boat in Moss fast Landing-Monterey the 50’ fishing on our 50’ Bay charter boat in Moss Landing - Monterey Bay WWW.KAHUNASPORTFISHING.COM www.kahunasportfishing.com Now Booking POTLUCK SHARK AND SALMON FISHING TRIPS! ~ Berkeley Marina Departures ~ With Capt.Chad Aho Aboard The Ms. Marin Experience 6-Pack Fishing At Its Best. Call Today! 3822 BAY CHARTER BOATS (510) 850-2285 • www.baycharterboats.com 4.23.10 Death of the Death Rig W ay back in 2009, local captain two separate lines off of a single line, and buddy Don Franklin of but it also had a sliding egg sinker to help keep the bait near the Sole-Man Charters gave me a bottom. When Captain Don phone call. He came up with stopped by to pick them up, an interesting challenge. He he was cautiously opti- said, “I have this idea for a mistic, saying he would sturgeon rig. I want it to have need to use them before two hooks, but not on rendering judgement. the same loop (like Later that week, I two-hook wire sturgeon received a phone call leaders at the time), and I from Captain Don. From don’t want to have them in the background sound of tandem. I was thinking I want wind, I could tell he was them on separate leaders, but calling from the water. I don’t know what knots to “HIPPOOOOO!,” he use. Since you are the knot by Steve enthused, “This is it! I love master, do you think you can “Hippo”Lau it! Tie me some more!” help me out?” And with that bit of affir- I gave him a half hearted mation, the Sturgeon Death Rig was commitment saying I would think about born. it and left it as that. Honestly, I had no idea that my That night, I had a hard time sleeping simple sturgeon leader would cause as when presented with challenges like such a commotion in the local fishing this, it is hard for me to “let it go” and world. think about it on a later date; so I got Word spread like wildfire about a out of bed, took pen and paper in hand, killer sturgeon rig and after a while, I and sketched out a preliminary design. was tying them using different colored The next day, I tied up three such lines just for the fun of it; colors leaders that not only had two hooks on included black, red, green, yellow, blue, camo, and clear. In 2011, Sharkman 650 asked if he could video me tying the leader and I agreed to do so. After he posted the video on YouTube, the video went viral and has since registered over 300,000 views. I was getting emails with pictures of sturgeon 3807 filling my inbox. Apparently, stories of the success of the Sturgeon Death Rig reached the Depart- Fish The Delta In Style Aboard ment of Fish and Capt. Hayden Mullins’s Game and in 2013, 60’ Luxury Yacht! the DFG put a halt to the Death Rig by proposing a single barbless hook regu- lation for sturgeon leaders. With that single act, the Death Rig 925-766-7350 www.dragonsportfishing.com was no longer legal for sturgeon fishing. CALIFORNIA'S While no MARINE PROTECTED AREAS longer sturgeon legal, when tied with other MOBILE WEBSITE & INTERACTIVE MAP hooks and CDFW approved mobile leader lines, resources for MPA boundaries and regulation information. the rig is still killer when bait CA FISHING MOBILE APPLICATION fishing for other fish including Free mobile app with MPA boundaries, regulations maps, trout, catfish, and species information. halibut, striped bass, and MOBILE APPLICATION & MARINE CHARTS sharks. Mobile app with charts showing Complete MPAs available for download. instructions are still found on YouTube under “Sturgeon *Navionics & FishLegal are not sponsored by the State of California. Please visit wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing for current regulations. Death Rig.” FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY Want Sturgeon? Trophy Stripers? Call Dragon Sportfishing! • BODEGA BAY cont. 25