
This fisherman bagged this beautiful lingcod during a trip on the Chubasco out of J&M Sportfishing in Monterey.
The rockfish season below Pigeon Point on the San Mateo County coast opened on April 1 with top-notch fishing for Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and Monterey boats.
“We experienced really good fishing in the waters below Pigeon Point,” reported Sherri Ingles of the Half Moon Bay Sportfishing Center. “The Queen of Hearts returned with full limits of rockfish and 2 lingcod for 33 anglers. The Riptide came back with 17 limits and 1 lingcod.”
“Anglers hooked lots of 4 to 5-pound yellowtail rockfish,” said Ingles. “The fish were biting around 80 feet deep in 150 feet of water. Many fishermen were pulling them in two at a time. Anglers used mostly shrimp flies, tipped with squid, for the fish.”
“The water in this area also looked decent for the salmon opener,” she noted.
She also noted that the Que Sera Sera, a six-pack charter boat, and the New Captain Pete, will also be booking rockfish and salmon trips out of the shop this season.
Ingles said that the regulations this year are back to the 2017 regulations, with anglers able to fish down to 300 feet (50 fathoms) below Pigeon Point and 240 feet (40 fathoms) above Pigeon Point. “These depths are along the contour lines,” she noted.
The groundfish season above Pigeon Point opens on June 15 – and the boats out of the center will be fishing the areas closer to the harbor starting then.
She also said she is waiting for the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s official approval of the increase of the canary rockfish bag limit to two fish (now just one), since this formerly “overfished” population has been rebuilt.
The 2019-2020 rockfish regulations will also be approved at the April PFMC meeting.