The albacore have been quality fish with big numbers in the 30 to 40 pound class. "We had 15 fish in the 30 pound class and several more that were over 40 pounds," said Harbarth. "Brian Burrows of Sacramento and Nate Butler or Foresthill both landed 45 pounders. Jessica Quigley of Guerneville boated a 41 pounder and Gary Howard of Sebastapol landed a 42 pounder. All of the fish were taken on live bait."

The New Sea Angler out of Bodega Bay Sportfishing has also been producing some phenomenal scores during the past two weeks. A recent call from Captain Rick Powers confirmed the outstanding action. "We're about 50 miles west of Bodega right now and the bite has been wide open for over two hours," exclaimed Powers. "We have over 200 fish for 18 anglers. They're anywhere from peanut-size to 40 pounds."

Powers said this was the best albacore bite he had ever experienced in his long history of fishing out of Bodega Bay. "We had 156 albacore for 8 anglers on our previous trip," said Powers. "We had a three hour stop on a big school of albacore. It was the longest I have ever seen. Some of the fish were caught on the troll, but most were taken on darts and Fish Traps. The average size has been 15 to 20 pounds with a lot of bigger fish running 30 to 40 pounds."

The bite is holding together as of a last minute call just before the press deadline.

"We ran for albacore yesterday and brought in 149 fish to 40 pounds for 19 people," reported Jason Herum of Bodega Bay Sportfishing. "I just heard from the New Sea Angler about a half hour ago and they're into a wide open bite again today."

"The warm water has now moved in even closer to about 35 miles west of Bodega Bay," he said. "On our last four trips, we've brought in a total of 508 albacore for 59 anglers. The average fish yesterday was 20 to 30 pounds and we had reports of fish as large as 44 pounds. They were trolling feathers to locate the fish, then switching over to tossing Fish Traps, darts and Crippled Herring spoons once they were on top of a school."

The New Sea Angler will be running albacore trips every Tuesday and Thursday as long as the bite continues. Trips depart at 2:00 am and return at approximately 10:00 pm. For more information on a trip aboard the New Sea Angler call (707) 875-3344.

The New Aggressor doesn't have a set schedule for albacore, but they will be putting together trips every week as long as there's fish in the area. "We're running for albacore Wednesday and Friday this week and we already have one day set up for next week," said Harbarth. "You can give us a call at (707) 829-4728."