Fish Sniffer Staff Encounters Rockfish Action Aboard The Resurrected Fish 'N' Fool IV   By: Cal Kellogg September 20, 2007 More Articles by Cal

Captain Barry Canevaro is one of northern California's most prominent skippers and his name is a familiar one to most Fish Sniffer readers.

For the uninitiated, Canevaro is the Delta's foremost striper skipper. Canevaro started Fish Hookers Sportfishing back in 1975 and these days his exploits, as both an angler and a skipper are legendary. Clients fishing under his tutelage have taken the top spot in the much celebrated Rio Vista Striper Derby on four separate occasions.

Over the years his clients have landed two stripers over 50 pounds and several fish in the 40's. Canevaro has personally landed and released three massive stripers ranging from 50 to 50.10 pounds in addition to a number of fish in the 30 and 40 pound class.

Between fall and spring Canevaro operates out of the Pittsburg Marina and his red Design Concepts six pack boat, dubbed the Fish 'N' Fool IV, is a fixture in Montezuma Slough and other west Delta locations where he consistently provides his clients with close encounters with hard fighting stripers and husky sturgeon.

During the summer months when fishing in the Delta generally slows down, Canevaro moves the Fish 'N' Fool IV down to the Richmond Marina. From there he targets halibut, stripers and leopard sharks within San Francisco Bay along with salmon and occasionally bottomfish outside the Golden Gate.

In addition to his work as a skipper, as a board member of the California Striped Bass Association, Canevaro takes an active role in fisheries conservation issues relating to the San Francisco Bay and Delta and the striped bass population. On the afternoon of July 4 I happened to be on the phone, interviewing Canevaro about the drawbacks of a recently proposed striper slot limit.

About halfway through the interview Barry got a call on his cell phone and asked me to hang on while he answered it.

"Hey Cal, we're going to have to pick this up later. I just got a call from the Richmond Marina. They told me that my boat is listing badly," Barry blurted out when he got back on the phone.

"What would make the boat list," I inquired.

"It sounds like it's taking on water. I'm going to get down there as quick as I can and see if I can figure out what the problem is," he replied.

About 9 o'clock that night I got a call and it was Barry. He told me that his boat had sunk. I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe that a well maintained boat like Barry's could sink at the dock.

"I have no idea what caused the boat to go down. I can't wait to get the boat raised so I can find out what the problem was and access the damage," Barry told me.

When I spoke with Canevaro a few days later the boat was out of the water and he had trailered it back to his home in Isleton.

"Well, we know why the boat sank," said Canevaro. "A pump malfunctioned and started pumping water in. The saltwater knocked out the batteries that power the bilge pump. At this point the boat looks like a total loss except for the hull, the motors, the electronics and the interior are all shot."

"I'm going to have to strip the boat down and rebuild it from the bottom up. If everything goes well, I should be back on the water in 4 to 6 weeks," Barry disclosed.

Over the following weeks I checked in with Barry periodically on his progress with the boat. I told him that as soon as he got back in business, I wanted to take a trip with him and check out the newly refurbished Fish 'N' Fool IV.

By the time the boat was operational in late August, a number of folks at the Fish Sniffer office including our managing editor Dan Bacher, our publisher Allen Bonslett, our graphic artist Alexandra Frith and our advertising director Paul Kneeland had all expressed their interest in accompanying me on the trip with Barry. What started out as me fishing with Barry and a few of his clients turned into a full blown Fish Sniffer Staff trip!

The five of us met up in West Sacramento early on the morning of August 28, piled into Allen's Suburban and set a course to meet up with Barry at the Richmond Marina at around 7 o'clock. Just after we'd arrived and unloaded our gear we spotted Barry and Captain Frank Miller of the Fury. Miller was to join us on the trip. I've been getting reports from Miller over the phone for a few years now and it was great to finally meet him in person.

Prior to the trip, Barry had asked what type of fish we wanted to target since halibut, leopard sharks, lingcod and rockfish had all been providing solid action. I told him that relaxing and having fun was our primary consideration, so I suggested that we try for bottomfish outside the Golden Gate. Barry agreed and said that if the ocean conditions were good we'd go outside for bottomfish and if the ocean was rough we'd stay inside the bay and fish for sharks.

Boarding the Fish 'N' Fool IV the boat was much as I remembered it from the trips I'd taken with Barry last fall, except everything from the paint job to twin Honda 150's and from the cushions on the seats to the wide screen Lowrance sonar/GPS unit at the helm were brand new. The boat had risen from the depths and after five weeks of hard labor from Barry, his family and friends, it appeared better than ever!

After picking up live anchovies in San Francisco we headed under the Golden Gate Bridge and found the ocean to be pleasantly calm. Barry maneuvered us along the Marin County coast toward a series of rock piles offshore of Double Point and Rocky Point.

After seeing some promising marks on the sonar, Barry killed the motors and we got down to the business of fishing. Everyone, with the exception of myself, opted to use Barry's Fenwick rods adorned with P-Line rockfish rigs sweetened with live anchovies. I went with my standby 8' Lamiglas Big Baits Rod teamed with an Abu Garcia 7000 Pro Rocket reel and proceeded to dance a 7 ounce Megabaits jig just above the bottom.

I whacked the first fish of the day, a small blue rockfish and Alexandra followed up with a hefty brown rockfish. As the day went on a who's who of rockfish came over the rail. I busted a pair of big brown rockfish that weighed in at 4.5 pounds each. Dan subdued a handsome China rockfish and a big 15 inch sea trout. Paul and Allen seemed to have the hottest hands when it came to boating blues.

The rockfish were not on a hot bite and we were marking a lot of fish that just didn't seem interested in feeding, yet a steady procession of tasty bottom dwellers were deposited into Barry's fish box and of course the laughs and heckling went on almost nonstop. While we landed several shaker lingcod, keepers proved to be most elusive as Dan, Alexandra and I all hooked and lost heavy hard fighting fish that were almost certainly handsome lings.

When all was said and done, we returned to Richmond with 37 quality rockfish and a pair of keeper sea trout (greenling).

Paul had the distinction of landing the most exotic fish when he reeled in a cabezon that was a half inch short of the legal minimum. I got the reward for the heaviest catch when I cranked up a rock that must have weighed 6 or 7 pounds!

It was great to see the Fish 'N' Fool IV back in action, we all had a great time and once Barry and I got done cleaning fish there were plenty of beautiful white fillets to go around. I'm sure all of us will join Barry later this fall for a staff striper trip once he returns the Fish 'N' Fool IV to Pittsburg.

For information or to book a trip with Captains Barry and Diana Canevaro give the Fish Hookers a call at (916) 777-6498 or visit their website at www.fishhookers.com.