The week's 612 bottomfish passengers landed 318 lingcod, 792 red rockcod, 1,026 rockcod, 3502 assorted rockfish and 3 halibut, according to Davis.

Big lingcod honors for the week go to Eric Marrquin of Bakersfield, who landed a 28 pounder aboard the Fiesta. Mike Harrell of Fresno took the largest halibut, an 18 pounder, while fishing on the Lot A Fun. Jim Smith of Chowchilla nailed a 17 pound lingcod aboard the Admiral, while Dave Shepard of Bakersfield boated a 15 pound sheephead on the Princess.

Monterey
The top fishing prospect along the Monterey County coast is light tackle rockfish action, since windy weather conditions have prevented the boats from getting offshore for the albacore for several days.

"I just had to cancel several salmon and tuna trips due to the wind, but we caught limits of red, yellowtail and blue rockfish over the past week," stated Todd Arcoleo at Chris' Fishing Trips. The Star of Monterey fished down south off the Carmel Highlands area and returned with full limits of rockcod for 30 anglers. Twenty passengers fishing aboard the Check Mate also landed limits of rockcod and several lings.

"The wind really came up this week, with winds reaching between 20 and 30 knots in the afternoon, combined with an eight second duration between seas," said Captain Guy Fish of Reel Thing Sportfishing. "However, I did make it out twice this week and my 8 clients boated 17 tuna. They caught their albacore between Cypress Point and Point Pinos while trolling purple and black Jet Heads and Mexican Flags."

"It's been too windy to target tuna or salmon, so I ran a trip for halibut and rockcod using squid, herring and anchovies," reported Captain Darrell Erickson of Seaduction Sportfishing. "We ended the short afternoon trip with five rockcod and 2 halibut."

Before the wind arrived, Erickson was doing very well on tuna fishing out near the Weather Buoy. On his best trip, 3 anglers boated 23 albacore fishing 15 miles past the Weather Buoy.

Santa Cruz/Capitola
If you want to battle a huge white seabass or halibut, now's the time to fish out of Capitola.

"The rental and private boats landed lots of white seabass and halibut on August 9, 10 and 11," said Anna Christian at Capitola Boat & Bait. "The fish have moved in after all of the squid and anchovies. For the seabass, your best bet is to fly line whole squid or anchovies on the surface."

Ed Burrell landed a 25 pound white seabass and a 26 pound halibut while fishing live bait outside of the Mile Buoy on August 11. Julie Pimentel bagged a 29.6 pound seabass with whole squid on August 10. Andrew Galvan nailed the largest seabass, a 39 pounder, while drifting whole squid in 65 feet of water straight out of the harbor on August 10.

"Most of the halibut weighed in the past few days have been in the 25 to 30 pound range," she added. Jo-Jo Urbanic nailed a 28 pound halibut drifting live bait about 50 yards from the Mile Buoy.

A few king salmon are also being taken. Richard Baker of Ben Lomond nailed an 18 pound chinook while mooching whole squid at 35 feet. And Bobby Hughes mooched up a 17 pound king off Capitola the same day.

The tuna fishing has slowed down, due to windy weather and a full moon. On Friday, August 8, the 23 anglers aboard the Wild Wave came home with 39 albacore. However, the bite dropped off considerably over the weekend.

"Saturday and Sunday were tough on the tuna front," said Mike Baxter, captain of the Wild Wave, out of Shamrock Charters. "We caught 16 fish on Saturday and 18 fish on Sunday. The weather was not bad on Sunday; we found nice, warm, blue water 30 miles west of Santa Cruz. The wind has been forming better breaks and should group the fish up for us."

Those going out for rockfish are doing well off Davenport and Ano Nuevo Island. "The Sea Stag III has caught limits of assorted rockfish and some nice-sized lingcod on our latest trips off the Santa Cruz coast," reported Ken Stagnaro of Sea Stag Sportfishing. "We have had great weather for the past two days."

Half Moon Bay
Anglers fishing out of Half Moon Bay the weekend of August 9-10 found excellent bottom fishing from the harbor down south to Pigeon Point.

"All of our rockcod boats caught limits of assorted rockfish and near-limits to limits of lingcod," stated Bill Beckett at Huck Finn Sportfishing. "Anglers caught the bottomfish while casting jigs, grubs and squid."

Boaters also located albacore 20 miles off shore, according to Beckett. Tuna weighing 20 to 30 pounds were taken on jigs and various other hardware lures. Anglers took home an average of 2 to 3 fish each.

Salmon fishing was good along the San Mateo Coast before the wind came up and made the trolling tough. "We had 2-3 days of solid fishing, but the tide slowed down this week and shut off the bite," he added.

"We went out rockfishing this weekend and had perfect fishing conditions - flat calm, with no wind and sea," explained Captain William Smith of Riptide Sportfishing. "It was nice to see all of the beginners on the boat hook fish. They were fortunate enough to get into a good school of bottomfish."

Smith's passengers landed a lot of lingcod during the trip, but also had to release a lot of undersized lings. They ended the day with limits of assorted rockfish and 7 keeper lingcod.

Fishermen's Wharf
The Bass Tub, known for live bait fishing inside San Francisco Bay, made its first-ever albacore trip on Friday, August 8.

"The 8 anglers caught 7 albacore, ranging from 15 to 20 pounds, 8 to 10 miles outside of the Farallon Islands," said Captain Erik Anfinson. "We fooled five of the fish trolling Cedar Plugs and Mexican Flags and two on live bait."

After the bite slowed down around noon, Anfinson headed to the islands to fish for bottomfish. The anglers used live bait to add 8 lingcod and 60 rockfish to the day's count before tying up at the dock at 4 p.m. On the following day, the halibut fishing was excellent inside San Francisco Bay.

"The 11 guys aboard the Bass Tub landed 17 halibut to 25 pounds while fishing Angel Island, Alcatraz and Crissy Field," said Anfinson. "The fish hit best on the incoming tide."

A trip to Baker's Beach on Tuesday also yielded limits of rockfish and 6 halibut for 10 people. A live bait adventure on Wednesday produced 22 halibut for 20 passengers. Ramon Johnson of San Jose won the jackpot with a 26 pound halibut.

Emeryville
Albacore action broke loose outside the Farallon Islands this week with reports of quality fish averaging 20 pounds. At press time, weather conditions are taking a turn for the worse offshore, but live bait trips along the Marin coast continue to produce outstanding action on a mix of rockfish and lingcod.

"The New Huck Finn ran a crew trip to look for albacore last Monday and they hammered 80 fish 7 miles outside the Farallon Islands," reported John Perrodin of Emeryville Sportfishing. "On their way in, they said they spotted jumping albacore inside the weather buoy 11 miles offshore."

On Sunday, August 9, the New Huck Finn brought in a total of 21 albacore for 6 anglers. The Captain Hook also made a run for albacore and bagged a total of 13 albacore and 25 lingcod.

Live bait boats concentrated on rockfish and lingcod along the Marin coast. The C Gull II brought in 3 halibut, 210 rockfish and 15 lings to 15 pounds for 21 anglers. The Rapid Transit nailed 1 halibut, limits of rockfish and 21 lingcod for 19 people. The New Seeker reported catching 1 halibut, 1 salmon, limits of rockfish and 26 lingcod for 22 anglers.

The New Salmon Queen was the only boat targeting salmon. They ended up with 2 halibut and 11 king salmon for 15 anglers. The Dandy had the top halibut scores of the day with an impressive 16 halibut to 30 pounds and 1 soupfin for 6 anglers.

Berkeley
Live bait trips out of Berkeley Marina found red hot action on rockfish and lingcod this week. Unfortunately, the salmon bite dropped off as warm water settled in along the coast.

"We've been taking limits of rockfish and lingcod along with a fish per rod on the halibut every trip this week," reported James Smith of Happy Hooker Sportfishing. "We've been fishing south of the Golden Gate from Pedro Point north most of the week, but we're inside the bay today because of rough seas."

According to Smith, halibut action has been steady inside the bay. "So far today, we've got 6 halibut, 1 striped bass, 4 lingcod, 1 cabezon, several rockfish and a 25 pound white seabass," he said. "We started out at Crissy Field and now we're fishing Alcatraz Island."

"Salmon fishing finally slowed down this weekend, but our rockfish and lingcod scores have been exceptional," reported Dennis Deaver of the Berkeley Marina Sports Center. "We're also getting some great reports on the albacore outside the Farallon Islands and we plan to run three trips later this week."

On Saturday, August 9, the New El Dorado III landed 14 king salmon to 31 pounds and 1 striped bass for 30 anglers. The New Easy Rider brought in 8 salmon to 24 pounds for 24 anglers. The El Dorado brought in 6 salmon to 24 pounds for 14 people.

The following day, the New Golden Eye ran to the Farallon Islands and bagged 180 rockfish, 76 cabezon to 10 pounds and 59 lingcod to 25 pounds for 32 anglers. Their seven previous trips to the Farallons produced full limits of rockfish and lingcod. The Drifter fished along the Marin coast and nailed 120 rockfish, 30 lingcod and 2 halibut for 12 people. The Hali bagged 180 rockfish, 3 cabezon, 2 halibut and 35 lingcod for 19 anglers.

Point San Pablo
Anglers fishing live bait trips out of Point San Pablo found solid action last week. Inside the bay, it was a mix of stripers and halibut up to 34 pounds. Outside the Golden Gate, halibut, rockfish and lingcod were the top catches.

"We ran several trips outside to Baker Beach and Seal Rocks early in the week," reported Chad Aho of New Keesa Sportfishing. "Those trips produced quality halibut along with 1/2 to full limits of rockfish and a few lingcod."

According to Aho, their last two trips outside the Golden Gate produced 4 halibut, 70 rockfish and 2 lingcod for 10 anglers on August 6 and 10 halibut to 34 pounds, 100 rockfish and 4 lingcod for 11 anglers the following day. "We stayed inside the bay on Saturday and brought in 7 halibut to 16 pounds for 8 anglers," he added.

"We had some great striper fishing off Mels Reef last week," reported Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing. "That bite dropped off over the weekend, so now we're targeting halibut at Raccoon Strait and Alcatraz Island."

Miller said they had several trips of near limits to limits on the striped bass. "We were drifting live bait on the incoming tide," he explained. "For halibut, we're drifting live bait in 35 to 55 feet of water. Both tides have been productive for the halibut."

Richmond Marina
At press time the wind was coming up, forcing albacore boaters off the water until the seas calm down. However, the south bay leopard shark bite has been wide open.

"The shark bite is on fire in the south San Francisco Bay, from Pac Bell Park to Potrero Point," said Captain Mark Delnero of Fin Addict Sportfishing. "We caught the fish on both tides when the water slowed down at the change, but we had the best action during slack tide using midshipman."

On Saturday, August 9, Delnero took out five passengers to catch 13 leopard sharks. On the following day, Delnero and his 4 clients landed 15 sharks, keeping 9 fish. "We caught a lot of small males, mostly 40 inches long, with the females going up to 53 inches," added Delnero.

"I ran an albacore trip last Wednesday with three friends and we started catching fish 8 miles south/southwest of the Farallon Islands," said Delnero. "We boated a total of 14 tuna to 24 pounds while trolling Cedar Plugs and Mexican Flags."

Barry Canevaro of the Fish Hookers Sportfishing reported solid live bait fishing on a trip to San Francisco Bay on August 9. "The 5 passengers aboard the boat landed 5 halibut, averaging 13 pounds each, and 2 striped bass," he explained. "We fished off Alcatraz and Southampton Shoals."

The wind came up during a salmon trip outside of the Golden Gate on August 10. "We landed one salmon and then headed into the bay off California City to take another chinook," said Canevaro. "The salmon were in the 22 to 25 pound class. We trolled E-Chip Rotary Salmon Killers behind Magic Pro Troll White Glow flashers at 25 to 30 feet deep."

"We had to turn around and come in from our albacore trip today. We were heading out to our fishing grounds at just over 4 knots, which is slower than our trolling speed," noted Captain John Paxson of Dreamcatcher Sportfishing. "However, I did make it out to catch three salmon for 6 anglers on Saturday, August 9. We caught the fish by trolling Rotary Killers at 35 to 40 pulls between Rocky Point and California City."

Bodega Bay
The red hot salmon action off the Sonoma County coast finally cooled off this week, but rockfish and lingcod trips continue to produce limit-style action in the Fort Ross area.

"The salmon bite was wide open for the last week and a half," reported Jason Herun from Bodega Bay Sportfishing. "It slowed down early this week, so we switched over the rockfish and lingcod and the scores have been excellent."

According to Heron, the New Sea Angler's latest rockfish trip on Saturday, August, 9 produced full limits of lingcod to 25 pounds and limits of quality rockfish for 21 anglers. "They had similar scores on Friday with full limits of rockfish and lingcod for 26 anglers," he added. "They're fishing shrimp flies and ling bars in 60 to 100 feet of water."

"We were nailing early limits of salmon all last week and early this week up until this Wednesday," confirmed Shawna Harbarth of Aggressor Adventures. "We had six anglers out on the Calico this morning and they landed full limits of quality lings and 35 rockfish. They came in early because it was getting pretty sloppy out there."

As for the salmon action, the hot bite was six miles straight out of the harbor. At press time, a northwest wind was pushing into the area which should help bring the salmon back once conditions improve.

Fort Bragg
Albacore action broke wide open off the coast of Fort Bragg with reports of quality albies showing as close as five miles outside the mouth of the Noyo River. However, the strangest news of the week was a pair of dorado landed aboard the Trek II on Thursday, August 7.

"Warm water suddenly moved in to the area last week and we've been hammering the albacore all week long," reported Rick Thornton of Anchor Charters. "We had a rare combination of warm water and absolutely flat calm seas. Conditions couldn't have been better this week."

According to Thornton, albacore were found as close as five to ten miles offshore by the private boaters, but they were fishing 17 to 20 miles out in search of larger fish. "On Thursday, we ended up with 36 albacore, mostly 15 to 20 pounders and 2 dorado for six anglers," he said. "We found the dorado schooled up under a sunfish about 20 miles out. They were both around 15 pounds. We caught all of our fish on Tuna Clones and cedar plugs in a variety of colors."

"The albacore moved in big time this week," confirmed Kevin Akin at the Noyo Fishing Center. "On Saturday, the Rumblefish came in with 40 fish for 11 anglers. They caught the fish trolling feathers and cedar plugs 17 miles out."

Akin said the largest albacore brought in during the past week weighed in at 43 pounds. "We also had a few fish in the 30 pound class and the rest averaged 15 to 20 pounds with a few smaller fish mixed in."

Rockfish action has also been excellent off the coast of Fort Bragg. "The El Patron ran north for rockfish and landed easy limits of rockfish and they were just a couple fish shy of limits on the lingcod," he stated. "They caught the fish on bars with a shrimp fly teaser in 40 to 80 feet of water."