BODEGA BAY

Bottom Dwelling Rockfish Fill Opener Sacks

BODEGA BAY – The rockfish and lingcod season opened off Bodega Bay with great fishing . The 19 anglers aboard the New Sea Angler on opening day , April 1 , caught limits of bottom-dwelling rockfish and 6 lingcod to 12 pounds . “ The weather and fishing was phenomenal ,” said Captain Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sportfishing . “ We were in early by noon on April 1 , 2 and 3 with quality copper , brown , vermilion and canary rockfish . The shallow water school fish were absent with the brown water off the Coast . The water was flat calm and there was no swell .” “ The fishing is as good as it gets ,” he said . “ We fished south of the harbor down to Point Reyes all three days . We had 19 limits of rockfish and 6 lingcod Thursday , 14 limits of rockfish and 5 lingcod Friday and 14 limits of rockfish and a handful of lingcod Saturday .”

- Dan Bacher

HALF MOON BAY

Limits of Salmon and Rockfish Reward Anglers

EL GRANADA – Both the rockfish opener off the San Mateo County Coast on April 1 and the salmon opener below Pigeon Point om April 3 produced superb fishing . “ The opener took us down south of Pigeon Point , and after some scouting we landed on the Mother Lode ,” reported the Queen of Hearts on Saturday , April 3 . “ The fish sure were hungry ! All fourteen customers limited out within two hours of arriving at the fishing grounds . The largest fish on board today was 15 lbs ., while the average fish was around 10 lbs .” Captain Tom Mattusch , Captain of the Hulicat , reported great rockfish action on calm seas on first three days of the season . “ The rockcod opener out of the Deep Reef in 270 ft . of water produced some quality fish ,” said Matttusch . “ Ken Wood from Pacifica caught a 3 lb . green spot on shrimp flies . Raymond Chand

from South San Francisco landed a 3 lb . vermilion while using a bar . Ken Lau from San Francisco caught a 3 lb . copper on a bar . 9 limits for 9 anglers were taken for the day . Ocean conditions were flat with a light breeze ”. The Huli Cat went to the Deep Reef again on April 2 , fishing in 240 ft . of water . George Gavallos from Burlingame used a bar to catch a 3 lb . vermilion . Mason Costa from Burlingame reeled in a 2 lb . copper caught on shrimp flies . 7 limits for 7 anglers were taken for the day . Ocean conditions were flat with a slight breeze , according to Mattusch . Anglers bagged some more quality fish at the Deep Reef in 240 ft . of water on April 3 . Scott Gram from Daily City used shrimp flies to catch a 3 lb . flag rockfish . Michael Schley from Livermore brought in a 4 lb . copper caught on shrimp flies . “ We hooked lots of bottom dwellers with a few school fish mixed in . Ocean conditions were flat with a slight breeze ,” Mattusch concluded .

Continued on Pg 27

This angler holds up a beauty that he caught on a recent trip while fishing with the California Dawn . The halibut and striped bass bite has been solid with some halibut weighing in around the 18 pound range .

Photo Courtesy of California Dawn Sportfishing