*NORCAL Saltwater Reports

Monterey/Moss Landing/Santa Cruz
by Dan Bacher
King salmon fishing appears to be rebounding after several tough days in Monterey Bay, according to Carol Jones of Kahuna Sporfishing.
“The 18 anglers aboard the Kahuna caught 15 salmon while mooching anchovies on the south side of Monterey Bay on Monday, April 30,” said Jones. “The fish were up high feeding on krill. The kings averaged 15 to 16 pounds.”
“We don’t plan on doing any rockfish trips until the salmon action tapers off,” she noted.
Chris Arcoleo of Chris’s Fishing Trips in Monterey said, “We have been staying on this side of the canyon, and the boats came in with under a ½ fish per rod, with the Checkmate having the best score at 7 salmon for 14 fishermen on April 30. The Caroline returned with 5 fish for 15 anglers, while the Star of Monterey had 7 fish for 20 passengers the same day.”
Chris’s will be booking rockfish trips daily in addition to the salmon trips, and they will be heading south to Point Sur for the quality rockfish, interest and weather permitting.
Halibut are beginning to show off Santa Cruz. “One boat fishing near the Mile Buoy ended up with 2 quality halibut,” said Todd Fraser of Bayside Marine. “The anglers were drifting dead sardines in 70 feet of water.”


Half Moon Bay
by David Hurley
The salmon bite was on fire on Thursday, April 26, but a northwest blow put the action on hold over the weekend of April 28-29.
Prior to the high winds, Captain Dennis Baxter on the New Captain Pete was in by 11 a.m. with 18 limits of fish to 18 pounds. The fish are pushing up the bottom edge of the Deep Reef just 8 to 10 miles southwest of the harbor. Party boats ran from as far north as Sausalito to post quick limits of salmon to 20 pounds. Baxter works out of the new Bait and Switch shop, which also books for the New Gravy, Connie O, Tigerfish, and Salty Lady.
Baxter thought the fish are moving north five miles per day, and he plans to aim up higher once the weather clears, as he suspects the fish are moving up the line. Baxter added, “Find the humpbacks and you will find the krill; find the krill and you will find the salmon.”
Half Moon Bay Sport Fishing cancelled on Saturday and Sunday due to weather conditions. They were going south below Pigeon Point on Tuesday and Wednesday for the rockfish opener south of this location. “The Queen of Hearts had off the hook, wide-open salmon fishing on April 26, with 52 salmon to 20 pounds by 11:30 a.m.,” reported Sherri Ingles.
Sheryl Jimno of the Rusty Hook in Pacifica reported good action for school-sized striped bass in the 22/23-inch range for surf fishermen tossing blood worms, pile worms, or hair raisers.

Oyster Point/South Bay
by Roland Aspiras
Halibut continue to be scattered in the South Bay, while sharks have returned with decent action for anglers working the pier.
Larger halibut are starting to show for anglers trolling frozen baits, but the action continues to be fair at best, according to John Akina of Oyster Point Bait and Tackle.
“Fish at 21, 28 and 25 pounds all came into the shop in the last week,” Akina said. “A lot of the guys are working the A-Crane.”
“There’s been quite a few sharks coming in off the pier by guys fishing frozen anchovies, sardines and squid,” Akina noted. “Smelt and perch are also coming in.
Squid strips and pile worms were Akina’s pick for smelt, while grass shrimp and pile worms are working well for the perch.

Emeryville/Berkeley Marina Report
by Cal Kellogg
(Berkeley) Charter boats from Berkeley and Emeryville traveled south last week and end up scoring well on salmon, but wind and rough conditions over the weekend kept boats inside the bay. Hopefully once the conditions calm down, skippers will find the salmon holding closer to the Golden Gate.
Captains Joe and Joey Gallia have been scoring near limits of salmon while traveling south. The fish are being caught on rigged bait and many of the fish boated have weighed in at over 10 pounds.
Cal Kellogg will be hosting a salmon fishing focused School of Fishing trip aboard the New Easy Rider on May 30. If you’d like to book a trip on that trip and perhaps take home one of the prizes Cal brings on his sponsored trips, give Captain Gallia a call at (707) 422-2050.
With salmon fishing out of the question, charter boats like the Happy Hooker, Lovely Linda, C-Gull II and New Huck Finn all worked the bay for halibut and sharks.
Captain Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker put his clients on 11 halibut with several in the 12 pound class while drifting with live smelt, shiners and anchovies.
Captain Jack Chapman of Lovely Linda Sportfishing tried his hand at halibut drifting with frozen tray bait. When that only resulted in a couple bites he turned his focus to shark fishing and his clients ended up bringing 6 leopards and a sevengill to the boat. Three leopards were kept and the rest of the sharks were released.
On Saturday the C-Gull II and New Huck Finn combined for 6 halibut to 14 pounds, 12 stripers to 7 pounds, a 21 pound leopard shark and a 44 pound soupfin shark.


San Rafael
by Dan Bacher
Jim Cox of Touch of Gray Sportfishing is now booking live bait halibut and striper trips on San Pablo and San Francisco bays out of Loch Lomond Marina. He will be drifting with live shiner perch until live anchovies become available.
Meanwhile, Cox took a recent "busman’s" holiday for some early season salmon fishing on the Chubasco out of Randy’s Fishing and Whale Watching in Monterey.
“Captain Phil and deck hand Joshua hussled all day. With a full boat load of 37 customers and 74 salmon landed, they had their hands full,” said Cox.
“Early season salmon can really be a hit or miss prospect, but the boat stayed on the fish all day. The 90 minute run in each direction to Davenport was worth it, as the anglers limited out while mooching anchovies. I am looking forward to the same sort of action off the Golden Gate during the summer.”
Erik Anfinson, captain of the Bass Tub, is now booking live bait potluck trips on San Francisco Bay out of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.


Point San Pablo
by Cal Kellogg
Right now most boats departing from the San Pablo Marina are focused on either shark or sturgeon fishing, but with halibut and stripers showing in the bay it won’t be long before live bait, potluck trips begin.
“There are still sturgeon up in San Pablo Bay and the shark action is almost always good,” related Captain Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing. “Right now if folks call me I’m offering trips for both sturgeon and sharks, but I think that will change soon.”
“As soon as live bait is available, I’ll start targeting stripers and halibut. I’m really looking forward to working the rocks for bass here in the north bay. From the looks of things we should have a really productive striper season in the bay this year. I’m already getting reports of halibut at South Hampton, so once we get the bait halibut will be on the menu too,” exclaimed Miller.