The lingcod and rockfish action is very productive for anglers fishing live bait and jigs in shallow water. The week's 468 bottomfish passengers caught 109 lingcod, 1038 red rockcod, 548 rockcod, 2754 assorted rockfish and 10 greenling

Big fish honors go to Jim Webb of Cambria, who bagged a 20 pound lingcod aboard the Fiesta. Clifford Black of Bakersfield bagged a 13 pound lingcod on the Fiesta, while Bob Lee of Chowchilla reeled in a 10 pound lingcod aboard the Princess.

Monterey
Monterey anglers are scoring tuna while fishing 35-40 miles off shore, but the bite has slowed down from the hot action of two weeks ago.

"Between Friday and Sunday the tuna bite was good," said Captain Norm Chapin of Hook'Em Up Sportfishing. "We caught 6 fish on Friday, 15 albacore on Saturday and 4 tuna on Sunday. However, this week is going to be tougher, since the wind came up."

According to Chapin, the top lures are green head/orange body and root beer Zukers trolled 120 feet behind the boat on outriggers and 80 to 100 feet from the boat rod holders. "The fish were caught fishing 45 miles out of Moss Landing," added Chapin.

"I had a real rough day on the water last Thursday while fishing 35 miles off Monterey," indicated Captain Darrell Erickson of Seaduction Sportfishing. "We couldn't find a school of fish and had to settle with a 30 pound and 40 pound tuna taken on a purple Blind Strike lure." Prior to this trip, Captain Darrell was averaging between 7-8 tuna per rod.

"Since the tuna bite gained momentum a few weeks ago, we were only catching the occasional 'peanut' (small tuna), but we are now catching more of the smaller fish," explained Captain Guy Fish of Reel Thing Sportfishing. "On my latest trip, we landed several large fish between 30-35 pounds, but we also took a good number of small fish that brought our total weight average down."

According to Fish, the top lures were black and purple Cedar Plugs and Jet Heads in the same color. A Mexican Flag lure also produced fish.

"The weekend started out well for our tuna boats, but on Sunday, September 7, the bite slowed down as a weather front made its way in," said Crissy Chonacki of Randy's Fishing Trips. "On two separate trips, a total of 24 anglers fished 40 miles from shore aboard the Chubasco to catch 51 albacore. The fish fell for trolled lures, live bait and Mexican Flags."

The Chubasco also ran out for rockcod near Big Sur, ending up with 31 limits of rockfish. Over the same weekend, a total of 38 anglers aboard the Sur Randy landed a total of 49 tuna over a three day period.

Santa Cruz
The albacore fishing continues to be great out of Santa Cruz, with a few slow days mixed in with the hot ones.

On a trip by Steve Carson and the Penn Fishing University aboard the Wild Wave on September 5, the anglers caught over 90 albacore while experiencing flat calm weather, reported Captain Mike Baxter of Shamrock Charters.

"We had the same conditions on Saturday, with calm seas and a good live bait bite," he explained. "We caught over 90 fish that day also."

On Sunday, the fishing slowed down during a charter by the Mad River Outfitters in Arcata. "The fish would not come up for us; we caught a dozen fish for the day," added Baxter. "We still have lots of blue, warm 64 degree water and good signs of bait out there. I am sure the fish will come back up."

The Sea Stag III on Friday, September 5 found tuna success fishing 30 miles south west of Santa Cruz. "The 14 fisherman caught 26 albacore ranging in size from 20 to 30 pounds," said Ken Stagnaro of New Sea Stag Sportfishing. "A lot of large albacore broke the lines."

The next day's bottomfish adventure came back with limits of rockfish and 22 lingcod to 21 pounds. "We are trying to run three albacore trips and a few rockcod trips each week," said Stagnaro.

Joe Stoops of Chartle Sportfishing has been fishing for a variety of tuna, halibut, lingcod and rockfish. On his latest trip, 6 anglers ventured west of Santa Cruz and picked away on the beaches for 10 halibut to 25 pounds, 3 lingcod to 10 pounds and an assortment of vermilion and bolina rockfish to 6 pounds. They fished live and dead bait in 40-50' of water.

White seabass? "Anglers are seeing seabass swimming close to shore off Sea Cliff Beach, but they haven't been biting," said Anna Christian at Capitola Boat & Bait.

However, Rui Machado managed to catch two white seabass weighing 14 and 8.6 pounds while tossing a pearl white Fish Trap off O'Neill's on September 8. Kevin Robinson also landed a 15 pound halibut while drifting whole squid off O'Neill's the same day.

Half Moon Bay
Shallow water rockcod trips off the San Mateo County coast continue to yield wide open rockfish action, with limits the rule. Lingcod, cabezon and halibut are also spicing up the catches.

"We have seen some great lingcod fishing this past month, with many days producing one fish per rod along with limits of assorted rockfish," noted Captain William Smith of Riptide Sportfishing. "The fish are in such big schools that some times we have trouble getting our baits on the bottom before a fish hits it."

According to Bill Beckett from Huck Finn Sportfishing, anglers fishing at Pigeon Point are bagging full limits of rockfish and one fish per rod on lingcod averaging 10 to 15 pounds. On back-to-back trips over the September 6-7 weekend, the Queen of Hearts returned with 36 limits of rockcod, 17 cabezon, 49 lingcod and a 20 pound halibut.

Ankeney Street also checked in with limits of rockcod each day on the weekend. They also brought in 23 lingcod and 4 cabezon.

The New Mary S II fished for tuna 20 to 25 miles from shore to catch 6 albacore to 28 pounds for 5 passengers on Saturday. On the following day, another 5 anglers boated 9 albacore.

The New Captain Pete targeted rockfish on Saturday, ending up with full limits of reds, blacks and blues, along with 18 lingcod and 2 cabezon. The following day, eight anglers aboard the boat landed 7 albacore on an offshore tuna adventure.

Que Sera Sera, the new six-pack boat with Captain Dale, is booking albacore trips now. On September 7, the 5 anglers aboard the boat landed 7 albacore.

San Francisco
Anglers drifting live anchovies are nailing potluck catches of halibut, striped bass, rockfish and lingcod inside and outside of the Golden Gate.

"My trip on September 5 produced 6 stripers and 10 halibut for 29 anglers," reported Erik Anfinson, captain of the Bass Tub. "The stripers averaged 6 to 8 pounds, while the halibut weighed 10 to 15 pounds."

They picked up the bass in the morning while fishing at the Sisters. After the bite there slowed down, the Bass Tub went to Seal Rock. One angler caught a halibut at Seal Rock, but they landed the rest of the halibut off Alcatraz Island in 40 feet of water.

"We also bagged 2 keeper-sized lingcod and around 40 rockfish at Seal Rock and Alcatraz," added Anfinson.

The previous trip aboard the Bass Tub produced 8 halibut for 8 passengers. The anglers fooled the fish off Bakers Beach, according to Anfinson.

Alameda
Anglers working the shorelines of South San Francisco Bay found a decent bite for schoolie-sized striped bass and rubber lip perch this week.

"Striper fishing was really slow last week, but we're starting to see a lot more fish over the last few days," reported Koui Sae Chao at Central Bait and Tackle. "We haven't weighed in any halibut for close to three weeks now, so it looks like the run may be over for the year."

According to Sae Chao, the top spots for striped bass have been Crab Cove and Bay Farm. "One of my customer has been catching fish every night near Bay Farm Bridge," he explained. "He said most of the stripers are running 24 to 32 inches and pile worms and ghost shrimp are working best. The same baits are also working well at Crab Cove."

Perch fishing is still a very good bet throughout the south bay. "We're seeing a lot of rubber lip perch running 1/2 to 1-1/2 pounds," said Sae Chao. "Ballena Bay and the Alameda Rockwall are two of the best areas. I also had a report from a customer who has been catching limits of big perch between Park Street and Fruitvale Avenue."

Emeryville
Anglers fishing out of Emeryville Sportfishing Center found red hot rockfish and lingcod action over the weekend. Also on tap were big numbers of albacore and one surprisingly productive salmon trip.

"The rockfish and lingcod scores have been incredible this week," reported John Perrodin of Emeryville Sportfishing. "Just about every boat fishing the Marin coast brought in full limits as well as some quality halibut."

On Saturday, September 6, the Captain Hook made a run up the Marin coast and brought in 2 halibut, 164 rockfish and 40 lingcod for 20 anglers. The New Huck Finn found similar success with a total of 270 rockfish and 54 lingcod for their 27 passengers. The C-Gull II reported catching 6 halibut, 240 rockfish and 48 lingcod for 24 people. The Rapid Transit checked in with 90 rockfish and 18 lingcod for 9 anglers. The Dandy bagged an impressive 60 rockfish and 12 lingcod for 6 anglers. The New Salmon Queen ran the only albacore trip of the day and brought in 62 fish for 14 anglers.

The following day, the C-Gull II ran up the Marin coast and returned with 33 halibut, 118 rockfish and 18 lingcod for 23 anglers. The Captain Hook nailed 38 halibut, 68 rockfish and 22 lingcod for 22 anglers. The New Huck Finn bagged 30 halibut, 78 rockfish and 27 lingcod for 18 anglers. The Rapid Transit checked in with 1 halibut, 120 rockfish and 15 lingcod for 12 people and the Dandy managed 60 rockfish and 8 lingcod for 6 anglers.

The big surprise of the day was the New Seeker. They ran the only salmon trip and nearly limited out with a total of 9 fish to 22 pounds for 5 anglers.

Berkeley
Live bait trips out of Berkeley Marina scored limits of rockfish and lingcod most of the week with an added shot of halibut over the weekend. At press time, albacore counts had dropped off a bit due to rough weather, but the action was red hot during the week.

"We had some fantastic albacore trips this week with anglers averaging anywhere from 5 to 12 fish per rod," reported Dennis Deaver of the Berkeley Marina Sports Center. "We also hammered the rockfish and lingcod along the Marin Coast and out at the Farallons."

On Sunday, September 7, the New Golden Eye ran to the Farallon Islands and bagged 340 rockfish, 70 lingcod (full limits) to 28 pounds and 11 cabezon for 35 anglers. The Hali fished along the Marin coast and bagged full limits of rockfish, 11 lingcod to 15 pounds and 3 halibut for 14 anglers.

Three boats ran salmon/potluck charters on Sunday. While the salmon bite never materialized, they managed respectable scores on rockfish and lingcod. The New El Dorado III landed 7 king salmon to 25 pounds, 7 halibut to 20 pounds, 23 lingcod and 110 rockfish for 25 anglers. The Taku brought in 3/4 limits of rockfish and 6 lingcod for 13 anglers. The El Dorado brought in 18 halibut, 12 lingcod and 75 rockfish for 18 people.

The Happy Hooker has also been running live bait potluck trips along the Marin Coast and finding excellent action on a trio of rockfish, lingcod and halibut. "The lingcod bite has been red hot this week," reported Gregg Smith of Happy Hooker Sportfishing. "On Saturday, September 6 we ended up with 25 full limits of lingcod, 11 halibut and 130 rockfish for 23 anglers."

San Rafael
The salmon fishing in San Francisco Bay off California City has "greatly improved," according to Keith Fraser at Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle.

"Anglers caught a bunch of salmon in the 20 to 30 pound range over the weekend, with the largest in the mid-thirties," said Fraser. "Some anglers reported catching limits. Trollers are using bait at 40 to 60 feet deep; mooching doesn't seem to work well here."

Halibut fishing is also picking up inside San Francisco Bay at Angel Island and Paradise Cay. Anglers are averaging 1 fish per rod, but the quality of the fish is exceptional, with fish in the 20 to 30 pound class common.

"The striped bass fishing has been slow for the past month," added Fraser. "However, we're finally seeing some good striper trolling off the San Quentin flats. The fish range from 14 to 24 inches; about half of the bass are keepers. Anglers are fooling the fish with wormtail jigs."

Point San Pablo
Anglers fishing out of Point San Pablo this week found decent action on a mix of striped bass and halibut inside San Francisco Bay. However, the hot report out of Point San Pablo has been the sevengill shark bite taking place off Yellow Bluff.

"We had excellent results on our last two shark trips," reported Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing. "We've been taking limits of big sevengills averaging 30 to 50 pounds with fish in the 80 to 150 pound class also mixed in the catches."

According to Miller, the seven anglers fishing aboard the Fury on their latest trip landed 7 quality sevengills to 160 pounds and also released several smaller fish. "We've been fishing squid off of Yellow Bluff in about 150 feet of water," he explained. We're using wire line and fishing the baits on 11/0 hooks and 3 pounds of lead. It looks like the sharks have moved into the area and we should have some great fishing well into December."

As for the striped bass and halibut action, live bait trips have been producing a fish per rod on most days. "We ran one trip last week that produced 16 striped bass, mostly schoolie-sized, while drifting live bait at the Brothers and Paradise Cay," said Miller. "Today, we're fishing for halibut at Alcatraz and Angel islands and we've got 14 fish for 14 anglers.

The best bite has been in 40 feet of water on the incoming tide."

Bodega Bay
On the very first saltwater trip of his life, Richard Alexander landed a monstrous 48 pound lingcod while fishing off Point Reyes aboard the Calico on Saturday, September 6.

"We were fishing shallow water off Point Reyes when Richard hooked the big fish on a white 8 ounce bar," reported Mike Harbarth of Aggressor Adventures. "The huge ling took 45 minutes to land. This is the largest lingcod we've ever seen out of Bodega Bay."

According to Harbarth, they ended up with full limits of rockfish and lingcod for the day. "Our second largest lingcod was a 27 pounder and we also had two big cabezon weighing 12 and 15 pounds," he added. "During the week we found limits of rockfish and lingcod most days fishing the Timber Cove area."

"This amazing lingcod bite just keeps on going and we're starting to see a lot of halibut in the area," exclaimed Rick Powers from Bodega Bay Sportfishing. "We also had some tremendous albacore fishing early this week."

The latest albacore trip for the New Sea Angler managed 30 albacore to 38 pounds along with 2 bluefin tuna to 20 pounds for 5 anglers. "We got into a wide open bite 27 miles southwest of Bodega Head about 7 miles outside Cordell Banks," said Powers. "Our latest rockfish trip on Sunday, September 7 produced full limits of rockfish and 31 lingcod to 25 pounds for 23 people. The rockfish and lingcod bite has been red hot between Fort Ross and Salt Point."

Fort Bragg
Rockfish and lingcod are providing the most consistent action off the coast of Fort Bragg at press time. However, salmon made a strong showing mid week and anglers willing to make the long run found respectable numbers of albacore.

"Conditions have been flat calm this week and we've been taking limits of rockfish along with good numbers of lingcod," reported Randy Thornton of Telstar Charters. "We also had some great salmon fishing on Thursday."

According to Thornton, the top rockfish action has been found off Laguna Point approximately 3-1/2 miles north of the Noyo River. "We're using 2 ounce jigs and shrimp fly teasers on light tackle and 15 pound test," he added. "Most of the fish have been caught in very shallow water this week from 20 to 60 feet deep. It's mainly blue rockfish and lingcod running 5 to 15 pounds."

Salmon fishing broke loose Thursday morning when the Trek II and Lady Irma found early limits of quality kings in 55 fathoms off Hare Creek. "After hearing the reports, we ran out to the same area Thursday afternoon and were just shy of limits with 11 fish for 6 anglers," said Thornton.

Albacore are still showing, but they are moving quite a ways offshore at press time. "My brother Rick brought in 16 albacore on the Trek II on Sunday," said Thornton. "They had to run 40 miles out to find the fish."