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The northern California coast offers a variety of rockfishing opportunities from Crescent City all the way down to Monterey Bay and very few compare to the secluded waters off of Fort Bragg. Whether you prefer shallow water action with light tackle or targeting big reds and lingcod in deep water, Fort Bragg has something to offer for everyone. My father Paul Myer and I try to make it out on several rockfishing trips every year and Fort Bragg has become a regular stop on our yearly schedule. We had the opportunity to fish with Brandon Van Dine aboard the Lady Irma on Sunday, November 14. Despite a fairly large swell and windy conditions, we still managed limits of rockfish and the other passengers enjoyed similar success. Two of the best reasons to fish out of Fort Bragg are the light loads, especially if you can make it out during the week and the short run to the fishing grounds. On this particular day, we were joined by only four other passengers, Roy Wachsmuth of Arbuckle, Julie Impech of Sacramento, Roy Moore of Sacramento and Dan Peck of Sacramento. Our trip was scheduled to leave at 8:00 am and return at 1:00 that afternoon. This is another advantage to fishing out of Fort Bragg, no 5:00 am or 6:00 am departures. Most trips are normally scheduled to depart at 7:30 or 8:00 am and they return early in the afternoon. With short runs of 15 to 30 minutes to the fishing grounds, you get in as many or more hours of fishing time as you would on a 10 hour run to the Farallons and you have the rest of the day to take in the sights of Fort Bragg. |
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With an impending storm on the horizon, Brandon decided to make the short run south to the Jughandle to get in as much fishing time as possible before the weather changed. This decision paid off because the storm front moved in ahead of schedule and we had a strong wind building from the south. Our first stop was just outside of the kelp line in 90 feet of water about 5 miles south of the harbor. I started off tossing a 5 ounce black and chrome bar and my dad used a similar bar in brown and chartreuse. On previous trips, we had no problem catching limits of quality rockfish and the occasional lingcod on these jigs, but today was a different story. Thirty minutes into the trip we had only managed one small blue rockfish and it was time to make a change. I rigged a 4 inch white gitzit on a 2 ounce lead head and nailed a nice China cod on my first drop. My dad switched over to a plastic squid imitation and was quickly into his first fish of the day. The rest of the passengers were fishing shrimp fly rigs above a 5 ounce bar and most of them were scraping a few schoolie sized blues. By 10:00 am, we had about 5 fish a round and the bite actually improved as the wind picked up and the speed of our drift increased. Brandon held the boat in close to the kelp line, targeting large schools of rockfish suspended 40 to 80 feet deep. Over the next two hours, we had steady action running into a new school of fish every 15 minutes or so. By 12:30, most of us had our limits or close to it and we headed in. My dad and I ended up with mixed limits of blues and china cod along with a couple nice vermilions. The other passengers were targeting suspended fish with shrimp fly rigs and their entire catch was comprised of blue rockfish in the 1 to 3 pound class. Roy Wachsmuth caught the only lingcod of the day, a jackpot winning 6 pounder. Crab season opened off Fort Bragg on Saturday, November 27. Anglers have the opportunity to target limits of dungeness crabs and rockfish on the same day. For more information on booking a trip with aboard the Lady Irma or the Trek II, check out the Anchor Charters website. |
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