Fish Sniffer Readers Rope Rockfish And Lasso Lingcod Aboard The New Easy Rider   By: Cal Kellogg September 9, 2008 More Articles by Cal

The tide had weakened a good deal, so I swapped my 10 ounce diamond bar for a lighter, livelier 6 ounce anchovy colored P-Line Laser Minnow jig.

Grasping the jig in my left hand and manipulating the rod with my right, I pitched the bait out about 40 feet in the direction the boat was drifting and free spooled the jig to the bottom. As soon as the jig ticked the bottom, I started yo-yoing it just above the rocks while simultaneously retrieving line to compensate for the movement of the boat.

I'd been working the jig for about 15 seconds when the line suddenly went slack. Cranking the reel frantically, I quickly picked up the loose line and came up against the solid resistance of a fish.

Slamming the hook home, the stiff Lamiglas Big Baits swimbait rod drew into a satisfying arch and braided line started pulling off the spool of the Abu Garcia Pro Rocket reel, despite the fact that I had the drag nearly locked down.

Working the reel and pumping the rod against the exhilarating head shakes of the enraged fish I successfully worked it away from the bottom's treacherous snags.

"I've got a good ling over here," I shouted. A beat later, Woody, our deckhand, was standing next to me with his gaff in hand.

The fish fought all of the way to the surface, but it only took a couple minutes to work the hefty fish to the surface. As soon as the brown mass showed in the clear water, Woody readied the gaff and moments later, my first lingcod of the day, a beautiful 13 pounder, came over the rail.

The annual Fish Sniffer reader bottom fishing trip had kicked off with an air of uncertainty. The forecast called for jagged waves whipped up by 15 to 25 knots of breeze. Out at the Farallons those conditions were likely a reality, but we weren't at the Farallons.

The New Easy Rider's savvy young skipper, Captain Joey Gallia, had evaluated the weather forecast perfectly. Instead of heading out to Farallons and fighting sloppy conditions, he opted to take the 27 anglers aboard up to Point Reyes. Point Reyes projects well off the coastline and provided us with a patch of sheltered water dotted with fish rich rock piles.

When we first arrived the ocean conditions were good with a moderate swell and a steady breeze. As the day progressed the breeze steadily decreased, the water went flat calm and many of us spent the late morning and afternoon hours fishing in short sleeved t-shirts.

When most Bay Area saltwater enthusiasts think of rockfish and lingcod fishing they inevitably picture the foreboding Farallons. Certainly the Farallons provide topnotch sport for bottom fishers, but for me no spot dredges up more expectation and excitement than Point Reyes.

Point Reyes is a long run from the San Francisco Bay and Bodega Bay. This means that the reefs extending offshore from the point receive relatively light fishing pressure and the areas bottomfish have the opportunity to grow old and fat.

As Captain Joey pulled the boat to a stop for our first drift of the morning, I took a peak at his Furuno sonar unit and it revealed large clouds of fish, yet as we soon learned they were not in a feeding mood. We caught fish on our first few drifts, but it was a slow pick at best, but I was confident that if we stayed at it the fish would eventually bite.

As the morning progressed and the tide slowed down the bite started to build and soon a handsome assortment colorful bottom dwellers were being stuffed into sacks all around the boat. The action we experienced was particularly exciting because we were working in shallow water from 30 to 90 feet deep. At these depths, the rockfish don't bloat up with the bends and as a result they fight all the way to the surface and many are lively enough to make thier escape right next to the boat.

The menu of items that the fish would hit was pretty much wide open. I caught all my fish on metal jigs in the 3 to 8 ounce range. Other anglers did very well with live anchovies, some guys hooked up with strips of filleted herring and of course the venerable double shrimp fly rig racked up its share of enthusiastic victims.

Toward the end of the day when we nearly had full limits of rockfish, Joey broke out several packages of large frozen sardines. When mooched just over the bottom, these baits produced a number of quality lingcod.

Our score for the day was pretty impressive. The 27 anglers aboard nailed full limits of rockfish, consisting primarily of plump hardheads such as browns, coppers and Chinas, but some awesome blues and blacks showed as well. I caught a nice 3 pound black, while Terry Gorr busted a black that was over 4 pounds and likely pushing 5!

Our lingcod count didn't approach limits, but was still a very respectable 33 fish. Most of the folks that focused on lings got their limit and more. For example, my jigs accounted for four keepers.

Perhaps the most notable catch of the trip was the massive 10 pound cabezon that was landed by Jimmy Ng. Cabezon get much larger than 10 pounds, but they are seldom seen on charter boats. Ng's fish was the largest I've seen in more than a decade.

As anyone that has attended a Fish Sniffer trip knows, the day always ends with some cool prizes being awarded and this August 12 trip wasn't an exception. Ronnie Longoria's big ling edged mine out for the cash big fish jackpot. In addition he took the top prize consisting of a Lamiglas rod and other gifts.

Cedric Tabanera nailed down the second place prize with his husky ling taking home a goodie bag and a Lamiglas rod, while Terry Gorr also took home some gifts including a Lamiglas rod for his third place ling. Jimmy Ng got the honorable mention rod for his impressive cabezon.

All the passengers and crewmembers had a great time on the trip and shared plenty of laughs! If you'd like to share in the excitement of a Fish Sniffer reader trip, join us next month on the Morning Star and the Bass Tub for the Battle of the Bay. See the ad in this issue for details!