Monterey/Santa Cruz
Charter boat operations out of Monterey and Santa Cruz are getting their boats and gear ready for the rockfish season opener on May 1 south of Pigeon Point. Meanwhile, anglers are catching lots of mackerel and sanddabs.

"The weather was rough over the weekend of March 27-28, but the anglers aboard the Checkmate and Caroline still caught good numbers of mackerel and sanddabs," disclosed Todd Arcoleo of Chris' Fishing Trips. "They fished with Sabiki rigs, tipped with bait strips, off Point Pinos.

Chrissie Chonacki of Randy's Fishing Trips reported that the captains are getting their boats ready for the start of rockfish season, but are available until May 1 for sanddab and mackerel combo trips.

Ken Stagnaro, captain of the Velocity, reported "fairly tough" sanddab fishing on March 27. "After several stops the 13 anglers had managed just a few sanddabs each," Stagnaro said. "However, on the last stop the fish seemed to go on the bite. They ended the day with 125 sanddabs."

On the previous trip, fishing was much better. Sixteen anglers caught big 420 'dabs and just a few mackerel while fishing 8 miles out in 300 ft. of water, said Stagnaro.

Half Moon Bay
There isn't a cavalcade of action available for Central Coast charter boat enthusiasts, but sanddabs and crabs are providing a token opportunity as anglers await the May 1 rockfish opener in waters south of Pigeon Point.

Captain Tom Mattusch of Hulicat Sportfishing has been running crab and sanddab trips when the weather allows.

"There are plenty of sanddabs around and the crabbing has been fairly productive too," related Mattusch. "The problem has been the weather. We've had a lot of days with too much wind and too much swell."

"The good news down here is that it will only be about a month before we are able to target rockfish south of Pigeon Point. From my slip at Pillar Point, it's only an 18 mile run to the open fishing area and 22 miles to New Year's Island. Once the season opens to the south of us, we'll focus on targeting rockfish down there until the general June 13 opener allows us to target fish in our home waters," said Mattusch.

Things are in a holding pattern at both the Huck Finn Sportfishing Center and the Half moon Bay Sportfishing Center, home of Captain Bob Ingles's Queen of Hearts. The captains and staffs at both sportfishing centers are excited about the May 1 rockfish opener and can't wait to give the waters south of Pigeon Point a try.

Rockfish fishing will be focused to the south for about 6 weeks until local waters open on June 13. Last season anglers in the Half Moon Bay area were restricted to fishing in water that was 120 feet deep or less. This year anglers are getting a boost, by being allow to ply water up to 180 feet deep.

Emeryville/Berkeley
Big numbers of halibut have moved into San Francisco Bay. Live bait isn't available yet, so charter boats and private boaters have broken out the trolling tackle to go after the tasty flat fish.

"The Tigerfish had a pretty good day of halibut fishing yesterday," reported Gary Freedman at the Emeryville Sportfishing Center on March 29. "They had 20 anglers aboard and ended up with 13 halibut to 13 pounds. There is no live bait available at this time, so they targeted the fish with trolling tackle and frozen anchovies. We are hoping that live bait will be available within two weeks."

Over at the Berkeley Marina things are much the same, with halibut fishing just getting underway.

"On March 29, we ran up into San Pablo day for some sturgeon fishing," related Captain Joe Gallia of the New Easy Rider. "We did pretty good. We had 8 anglers aboard and they ended up with 3 stripers, 4 shaker sturgeon and a pair of keeper sturgeon."

"The halibut are in the bay and we'll be targeting them more and more in the next couple weeks. We ran one trip up in the Paradise area the other day and end up scoring 8 halibut for our 8 anglers," added Gallia.

Point San Pablo/Crockett/Martinez
Sturgeon fishing continues to be productive for anglers fishing in San Pablo and Suisun Bays, yet the recent eruption of halibut fishing lower in the bay has diverted some of the attention away from the diamond backs.

"We've been averaging 1 keeper sturgeon per trip on my six pack boat," related Captain Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing. "I've been doing most of my fishing in San Pablo Bay near Buoy 11 and off the Vallejo Rock Wall. Ghost shrimp and mud shrimp have been the best baits."

"We had a few trips scheduled this week, but we cancelled most of them because of the windy spring weather," reported Captain Gordy Hough of Morning Star Sportfishing. "We did get out on Saturday and found fish biting off Buoy 7 in San Pablo Bay during the outgoing tide. When the tide turned the bite backed off. This is often the case in low water years, because incoming tide gets pretty salty and brings a lot of bait stealing baby leopard sharks and bat rays with it. On the trip we got 6 stripers, 6 shakers sturgeon and one 56 inch keeper sturgeon for 21 anglers."

Captain Jay Lopes of Right Hook Sportfishing finished up his last sturgeon fishing trip on March 29. "After today, my boat will be in the shop for about a week for maintenance and then well be moving to the Berkeley Marina for the halibut season," said Lopes

Bodega Bay
Devastated by the lack of salmon and severe bottom fishing restrictions imposed by the federal government, Bodega Bay's once proud sportfishing fleet is forced to set idle. Whale watching trips are running on the weekends, but beyond that no fishing is expected before the general rockfish opener on June 13.

"Our whale watching trips have been very successful, but I sure wish we were able to fish right now," reported Captain Rick Powers of the Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center. "The grey whales are moving through in pretty good numbers and they've been putting on quite a show for my clients on the weekends."

"In our area, the rockfish and lingcod opener is slated for June 13. While our season is going to be fairly short, the positive side of it is that we'll be allowed to fish water that is up to 180 feet deep. Last season we were only able to fish to 120 feet. I've got some prime locations in mind that haven't been touched in at least a year," said Powers.

For shore anglers working off Bodega Bay beaches the surfperch fishing has been pretty good. Pile worms, shrimp baits and root beer colored plastic grubs are all taking fish.

Fort Bragg
With no opportunities to target either salmon or rockfish at this time or in the near future, anglers departing from Noyo Harbor are focusing on Dungeness crabs with very good results. Limit-style action has been the case on days when the weather cooperates.

When it comes to crabbing, Captain Randy Thornton of Telstar Charters is one of the best. He takes his crabbing very seriously and works hard to ensure his clients enjoy the best possible results.

"We've been doing pretty well with our crabbing gear," related Captain Thornton. "Overall we are averaging about 3 crabs per trap and 10 crab limits have been the rule on most of our recent trips. I'm expecting the crabbing to remain solid well into May," predicted Thornton.

The general rockfish opener in the Fort Bragg area is scheduled for June 13 and anglers are very excited as they look forward to the opener. Rockfish fishing was very good for anglers departing from Noyo Harbor last season and that trend should continue this season as well.