By: The Fish Sniffer Staff
February 27, 2010
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Monterey/Santa Cruz
Squid fishing is still “wide-open” and crabbing is good for anglers boarding charter boats in Monterey Bay, reported Brian Cutting of Randy’s Fishing Trips.
The 7 anglers aboard the Chubasco on Wednesday, February 3 returned with 80 squid and limits of crab. The squid hit straight outside of Point Pinos, according to Cutting.
On February 6, the 17 passengers on the Chubasco caught 50 squid and 3 crabs per rod. “The squid started hitting the jigs at 500 to 600 feet deep and came up to 100 feet below the boat,” said Cutting. “They averaged 20 to 30 pounds, with the largest going 35 pounds.”
“We’re still catching lots of squid and crabs,” said Chris Arcoleo of Chris Fishing Trips. “For example, the 9 anglers aboard the Checkmate on February 8 caught 50 squid, 60 crabs and 15 to 20 sanddabs per rod. The squid are showing 3 miles west of Point Pinos at the edge of the Monterey Marine Canyon, while the crabs are showing in the bay.”
“Private boats have reported nailing a few white seabass,” said Arcoleo. “They are averaging 40 pounds and are hitting frozen squid in the bay between the Holiday Inn and the Soldiers Club.”
“Bad weather and heavy shoaling in our harbor entrance has kept us off the water lately,” said Ken Stagnaro at Stagnaro’s Fishing Trips in Santa Cruz. “Before the storms, fishing was good for sanddabs, a few white croakers (kingfish) and an occasional jumbo squid.”
Half Moon Bay
There are squid holding offshore of Half Moon Bay and every once in a while when a charter boat heads out after them the results are good. Most of the time there isn’t enough angler interest to justify leaving the harbor. As a result skippers and anglers are spending more time talking about fishing than actually fishing.
“There really isn’t anything going on, “ related Peggy Beckett of the Huck Finn Sportfishing Center. “The Que Sera Sera and Salty Lady are both ready, willing and able to go out in search of squid, but we simply have not had enough perspective anglers to justify a trip. If you’d like to go, give us a call and we’ll see if we can put something together.”
Captain Bob and Sherry Ingles of the Half Moon Bay Sportfishing Center and Queen of Hearts Sportfishing plan to target Humboldt squid soon, but once again there has to be enough anglers interest to run a trip and the weather has too cooperate too.
Captain Tom Mattusch of the Hulicat has been running the occasional successful squid and crab trip. Demonstrating that when a load of interested anglers can be put together they have a very good chance of enjoying a productive trip.
Berkeley
At one time charter boats would be departing from the Berkeley and Emeryville Marinas in search of winter rockfish on a regular basis during the months of January and February. Those days are long gone due to fishing closures.
As a result, both marinas are veritable ghost towns during the winter months in terms of charter boat action. These days an occasional sturgeon charter heads out, but that is the extent of the action.
There have been no reports of boats departing from the Berkeley Marina at this time, but Emeryville has been hosting the occasional sturgeon trip.
According to Craig Stone of the Emeryville Sportfishing Center, their last sturgeon trip took place on February 5 when the Captain Hook headed out with 11 anglers aboard. One angler hooked a keeper sturgeon that weighed in at 35 pounds while fishing in the South Bay.
In addition to the sturgeon, a few leopard sharks and bat rays were caught. The next scheduled sturgeon trips at the Emeryville Sportfishing Center are set for February 13 and 14.
Shore anglers working along the Berkeley and Emeryville shorelines are having very good luck while targeting perch. The perch are cruising close to the shoreline in preparation for spawning and can be hooked with shrimp baits, prawns and pile worms.
San Rafel
The sturgeon fishing in San Pablo Bay is heating up, due to a combination of big tides and fresh water inflows from the latest storms.
Jim Cox, captain of the Touch of Gray, found sturgeon success on his latest bait fishing adventure on the bay. "The two anglers aboard the boat caught and released two sturgeon measuring 56 and 48 inches," said Art Donati at Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle. "They used ghost and mud shrimp at the Pumphouse."
Another angler reported catching and releasing 6 hefty sturgeon while soaking ghost and mud shrimp above China Camp in the Hamilton Field area, according to Cox.
Striped bass remains slow, with only an occasional fish reported by anglers fishing shrimp baits for sturgeon.
Keith Fraser, owner of Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle, has scheduled his annual seminar on "Sturgeon Fishing in Bay Area Waters" for Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Marin Rod and Gun Club. You will learn the secrets of catching the elusive fish from sturgeon experts like Fraser and also how to cook them from chef Mike McNair. Tickets are $5. The seminar begins at 7:15 p.m. For more information, call (415) 456-0321.
Brisbane/South San Francisco
The recent rains have sparked up the sturgeon bite in the south bay, while perch fishing still remains a good bet for anglers fishing off the Oyster Point pier.
“We had three fish get weighed in at the shop over the weekend by boaters fishing at Alviso and the Dumbarton Bridge area," said John Akina of Oyster Point Bait and Tackle. “There were fish reported in the week, however the weekend was a bit better, due to the improved weather,” he added.
“Anglers using ghost shrimp and herring we’re having the best success with sturgeon,” said Akina.
Although there were no sturgeon landed on the Oyster Point Pier in the last week, Akina noted that anglers in search of perch were having good success.
“Guys are using grass shrimp and pile worms for the perch,” noted Akina.
Akina has received no reports on striped bass as late and mentioned, “I haven’t had anyone report in on any stripers lately.”
Point San Pablo/Crockett
Freshwater runoff has improved the sturgeon action in San Pablo Bay and so long as rain continues to fall, the action is expected to get even better.
“We still need more freshwater in the form of rain and dam releases for the fishing in San Pablo Bay to really break loose, but at this point things are definitely getting better,” reported Captain Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing, operating out of the Point San Pablo Marina. “During our most recent trips we’ve gotten a keeper sturgeon, some shaker sturgeon and one very nice striper. The crabs are no long a problem in shallow water, but they will still drive you nuts if you try to fish much deeper than 12 feet.”
Captain Gordon Hough of Morning Star Sportfishing is operating out of the Crockett Marina and has been doing well on sturgeon recently.
“On our last trip Brian Koffman caught a 53 inch keeper and Chris Ortiz took a 49. We had 9 anglers that day and we also picked up some shakers and a few flounders. We got our fish while fishing shallow water near the Pump House and we didn’t have many problems with crabs,” related Hough.
Benicia - Suisun Bay
N/A
Bodega Bay
The squid action has been wide-open off Bodega Bay for the past 10 plus weeks and it appears that the action will continue through the end of February and perhaps longer.
“I took a few days off to take my dad to Las Vegas for the Superbowl, so I haven’t been out on the water since Wednesday, February 3,” reported Captain Rick Powers of the Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center. “That day we had excellent squid action with the squid feeding on the surface. By 10:30 a.m. my 19 anglers had landed 405 squid to 60 pounds. We were back at the dock with our catch by noon.”
“Overall this has been an outstanding squid season and I expect the action to continue. So far our anglers have landed 15,000 squid during over the past two and a half months. Our last 33 straight trips have resulted in lights out fishing,” he noted.
The squid Powers’ anglers are hooking average 30 to 35 pounds, but they are seeing a few in the 50’s and 60’s on just about every trip, Powers added.
San Diego (Long Range Report)
Consistency is the word that best describes the action being experienced by long range anglers departing from San Diego Ports like Fisherman’s, Point Loma and H & M Landings. Big tuna ranging from 80 to 255 pounds are on the chew and anglers are coming home with plenty of ahi for family and friends.
In the last edition of the Fish Sniffer we learned that the Excel had departed on a 15 day south of the border trip on January 23.
On January 25 Justin Fleck of Excel Sportfishing reported, “We arrived at the lower banks around 3 in the morning and spent most of the morning looking around to try and figure out the water structure.”
“Today we had some action on big tuna. The fish got on us in the grey of dawn and stuck with us all day. Most of the fish were in the 125 to 175 pound class, but we did manage to boat a few fish from 200 to 255 pounds. Big fish honors today goes to Vince "fat head" Otani with his 255 caught on a fly lined sardine with 130 fluorocarbon and an 8/0 eagle claw 2004 hook,” related Fleck on January 26.
“Our good luck continued today with good fishing in the morning and excellent fishing in the afternoon. The morning brought a steady pick on big tuna and we were able to keep one hanging all the time. When the afternoon rolled around, things heated up and we had as many as six going until dark. Most of the fish are coming on fly lined sardines but some guys are doing very well on the chunk. Vince Otani picked up his second cow today on a chunk. Auggie Roberts, Bob "Bubbles" Maugh and Al Merrick also picked up fish above the 200 pound mark. All in all it was a good day to be fishing,” said Fleck on January 29.
“We decided to fish our way up the line starting with yellowtail on the ridge. The wind was blowing in the morning, making it difficult to find fish. Things calmed down in the afternoon and we were able to put together a nice day. Tomorrow we will continue up the Baja coast looking for more action on yellows and grouper,” reported Fleck on February 3 as he steered the boat north for a February 5 arrival at Fisherman’s Landing.
The Royal Polaris arrived at Hurricane Bank on January 26 and anglers immediately got busy landing wahoo and yellowfin tuna.
“We fished the buffer zone around Clarion and had a fun day with lots of action. The tuna where mixed sizes with most in the 50 to 90 pound range with several in the 150 to 190 pound class. We are now traveling up to the lower bank zone and will arrive on Monday February 1st in the early morning,” reported Frank LoPreste of Royal Polaris Sportfishing on January 30.
“We had a change in the weather today with some rain and SE winds. We managed to boat 19 tuna from 80 to 150 pounds for our efforts. Tomorrow will be our last day here and we have high hopes for a strong finish,” disclosed LoPreste on February 2.
The next day Royal Polaris anglers wrapped up the action with another 19 tuna between 80 and 160 pounds.
The Red Rooster III wrapped up their most recent trip on January 21. They will next depart on February 12 for a 16 day adventure sponsored by Izorline.
In near shore action anglers departed from San Diego ports on half and full day trips are busting rockfish and jumbo squid.
For example, on February 5 the Premier took out 22 anglers on a half day morning trip that yielded 90 rockfish, 2 lings and 1 sculpin. The Twilight headed out with 32 anglers on the decks and they popped more than 250 Humboldt squid.
Baja California
(Loreto) The fishing isn’t red hot along the Baja California Peninsula, but considering it’s mid February the action is pretty darn good. Combine the fishing with great weather and light crowds and the stage is set for a relaxing winter get away.
Pam Boyles of the Baja Big Fish Company reported continued action for small yellowtail holding on near shore structure. Some of the fish are coming on lures and flies, but the most consistent method is working with live bait.
In addition to the yellow tails some cabrilla and sierra are being encountered too, along with the occasional juvenile rooster.
“It was another incredibly mild week as far as the weather goes down here in La Paz,” reported Jonathan Roldan of Tailhunter International. “More and more everyone is wondering if we're in a continuing El Nino pattern because weather temps during the day have been in the high 70's to low 80's. Winds have been relatively light.”
“Even more telling are the types of fish we're catching. For instance, instead of just sierra, cabrilla and scattered pargo inshore, we're also still getting some nice dorado up to 25 pounds; schoolie-sized roosterfish along the beach and even the occasional marlin and tuna. Most of these fish aren't found until our warmer months. It makes for a nice package of mixed fishing right now,” said Roldan.
Considering that it’s February, the weather has been fabulous on the East Cape and the fishing has been equally as impressive.
The light crowds of anglers departing from the East Cape’s Hotel Buena Vista have been experiencing some exciting action. They’ve been hammering the usual menu of wintertime inshore species such as pargo, cabrilla, sierra and small roosters, but it the appearance of blue water species that have really gotten the adrenaline of visiting anglers flowing. Decent size dorado have been hooked and landed and billfish have been encountered, which is rare for this time of the year.
According to the folks at Pisces Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas, fishing was on the slow side for marlin, with just 28%of charters catching stripers from 110 to 150 pounds, nevertheless boats were able to pick up other species, resulting in an overall catch rate of 86% for all species combined. The Spartacus did well releasing two striped marlin 30 miles offshore towards San Jaime, as well as landing a dorado and tuna for Aaron Rasty and friends from Chicago. This was the only boat to catch more than one billfish.
Other boats caught a single marlin in different locations such as near the Old Lighthouse, by Cerro Colorado and close to Santa Maria; so basically some were really close whilst others were thirty miles offshore – all were on live bait. The Bandito had a good day for Jordan Hoover from Las Vegas and James McNally from Ontario Canada. They released a striped marlin and caught a 60 pound hammerhead shark and a dorado.
Dorado were the number one sportfish again this week with 44% of boats catching between one and six fish up to 25 pounds. They took an assortment lures in diverse locations, giving us a total of 43 fish. Yellowfin tuna catches were at 21% with some boats landing up to 10.
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