Rockfish Bounty Along The Wild And Beautiful Marin County Coast   By: Dan Bacher September 26, 2006 More Articles by Dan

Anglers who live in the San Francisco Bay Area are blessed with a bounty of productive fisheries, but it’s hard to top the ocean shoreline of Western Marin County for fishing variety and dramatic scenery.

The west shore, located in the Point Reyes National Seashore in the north and the Golden Gate National Recreation, is dotted with small villages including Muir Beach, Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Olema, Marshall, Point Reyes, Inverness and Tomales. The lightly populated west shore is in direct contrast to the heavily populated eastern part of the county off Highway 101.

Although the coast plays host to a wide array of fish species such as king salmon, striped bass, halibut and starry flounder, it is the rockfish that provide the most consistent action when the season is open. Point Reyes, the most prominent geological feature of this coast, also protects this region from the northwest winds. When it’s rough and windy offshore at the Farallon Islands, this protected area is often calm, allowing anglers to “tuck in” along the coast and catch limits of rockfish along with some hefty lingcod.

The calm weather that this coast is known for is a key reason why Erik Anfinson, captain of the Bass Tub, likes to fish it during the summer and early fall.

“I don’t do weather,” he quipped before we made a rockfish trip up the Marin coast to the area between Duxbury Reef and Double Point on Saturday, August 26. “You don’t have to worry about me going out on rough days with because if the weather is bad, I go inside the bay instead.”

The fishing has been great for Anfinson, other party boat skippers and private boaters since the rockfish season started on July 1. Anfinson has taken limits and near-limits of rockfish on virtually every trip he has made outside of the Golden Gate when fishing for halibut and stripers has been slow inside the bay.

“We’re going up the coast to fish for the rockfish,” said Anfinson. “The shrimp flies have been working the best, but you can also use live anchovies and bars. After we get our limits, we’ll go back into the bay and try for halibut and stripers.”

After leaving from Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, it took us 1-1/2 hours to get up the coast to the fishing grounds. Several other boats, including the Codzilla, skippered by Erik’s brother Aaron, were fishing for rockfish in the area where we were. We arrived there at the end of the incoming tide and began fishing in 60 feet of water.

I decided to try a bar, a 1-1/2 ounce Gibbs Minnow, first. “No overhead casting,” Anfinson warned me, so I lobbed it from the bow with an underhand cast with my Seeker rod. Just after it hit the bottom, I caught my first fish of the day, a fat brown (bolina rockfish). I tossed out the lure again and caught another rockfish, a big blue.

I decided to switch to a live anchovy on a three-way rig, so I could get a lingcod. For some reason, the fish really wanted the shrimp flies, so I began fishing them near the bottom and caught several more blue and black rockfish in the 1 to 2 pound range.

We started hooking mackerel, along with the lingcod, and the deckhand, Chris, filleted one of them and put a fillet on my hook. “They didn’t want the mackerel yesterday for some reason, but it might be different today,” he said.

After I put the mackerel on my shrimp fly, the fish began attacking it as soon as the bait hit the bottom. I caught two greenling, keeping one and releasing the other, as well as hooking and releasing two undersize lingcod. I also had to release several canary rockfish. I had my limit of rockfish in bag by 9:30 am and then switched over to lingcod fishing, both with a bar and a whole live mackerel. I caught one more lingcod, but it was undersized.

Meanwhile, other anglers were having a light tackle field day. Tom Lother, who was fishing on the blow next me, bagged a beautiful vermilion rockfish, and bunch of big black and blue rockfish to fill his limit.

Jennifer Reisch and Javier Amaro of San Francisco teamed up to nail their limits of rockfish, as did Scott Selman of Los Angeles, Ramon Meacham, Robert Peterson of Modesto and Jake and Alec Gable of Sacramento.

Although we nailed a lot of shaker lingcod, only one lucky angler, Dan Phan of San Jose, landed a keeper lingcod going about 7 pounds, along with his limit of rockfish. Jacques Beck spiced up his rockfish limit with a cabezon and one big vermillion rockfish.

Deckhand Chris Franks, who was extremely helpful throughout the day, began cleaning the rockfish as Anfinson drove the boat into the bay. Although the weather along the coast was flat, the wind was kicking up inside the bay.

“We’re going to switch over to live bait rigs now,” said Anfinson as we arrived at Mel’s Reef in the central bay. “This is a rocky spot; you want to work the bottom, reeling up a couple of turns whenever your sinker taps the bottom so you don’t snag up.”

We started the drift and I put my bait down. Within a couple of minutes, a big fish slammed my bait that started ripping off line. It was staying near the bottom and felt like a large halibut.

After several runs (and inadvertently tangling several lines), Anfinson was able to gaff the bass and put it in the boat. The bass was a 10-pound beauty, the largest fish of the trip yet.

Deckhand Chris put the fish in the box and we made another drift. I put another bait down and again hooked up right after I started drifting. “This one feels like a smaller bass,” I noted to Chris, and after a short but scrappy fight, he netted the bass.

“You got your limit of striped bass and rockfish now,” said Anfinson. “Now you’re going to have try for a halibut.”

However, the halibut never materialized. Tom Lother caught the third and final striped bass of the day on the next drift. On the following drift, Robert Peterson hooked into the day’s largest fish, a big leopard shark weighing about 15 pounds, taking the jackpot.

The day’s final tally was limits of rockfish for the 21 passengers and two crewmembers, along with one leopard shark and three striped bass. In addition, we released numerous undersized lingcod and smaller rockfish while fishing up the Marin County Coast. One angler even hooked and released a 20-pound salmon while using shrimp flies.

One great thing about fishing shallow water is that it is easy for anglers and crew to release rockfish and undersized lingcod back into the water unharmed.

The Marin Coast is expected to host some of the best salmon fishing of the year as the chinooks gorge on anchovies, krill and juvenile rockfish before making their spawning journey up the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries. Usually August is one of the best months to fish here, but this year the fish appear to be unusually late.

In addition to Fisherman’s Wharf, charter boats depart from Sausalito, Emervyille, Berkeley, San Rafael, Richmond and other Bay Area marinas for rockfish and salmon trips along the Marin Coast.

For more information, call Erik Anfinson, captain of the Bass Tub, (415) 456-9055, or Aaron Anfinson, captain of the Codzilla, 415-706-4947.

Marin County Coast Facts

Location: The Marin County Coast offers a variety of fishing opportunities from the Golden Gate Bridge to Tomales Bay. This pristine coastline includes the Golden Gate Recreation Area and the Point Reyes National Seashore. Rockfish, lingcod, king salmon, halibut and striped bass are the main species that anglers pursue.

Seasons: The Marin County Coast is located in the Department of Fish and Game’s North-Central Management Area. There are seasonal closures for lingcod, rockfish, sturgeon, salmon, surfperch and soupfin sharks.

Fishing for striped bass, halibut and leopard sharks is open year round. The bag limit for striped bass is two fish 18 inches or over; halibut, three fish over 22 inches; and leopard sharks, 3 fish over 36 inches.

Rockfish: The recreational fishery for rockfish is open to boat-based anglers from July 1 through December 31, 2006. These species may only be taken or possessed in waters less than 180 feet (30 fathoms) deep. The recreational fishery for rockfish (Sebastes) is open year-round to divers and shore-based anglers. The daily bag and possession limit is 10 fish in combination of all species within the RCG Complex (includes all species of Rockfish, Cabezon and Greenlings) per person, with a sub-limit on bocaccio (1 per person, minimum size limit of 10 inches total length, also included in the 10 fish RCG Complex aggregate limit). Yelloweye rockfish, canary rockfish and cowcod may not be retained.

Lingcod: The recreational fishery for lingcod is open to boat-based anglers from July 1 through November 30, 2006. Lingcod may only be taken or possessed in waters less than 180 feet (30 fathoms) deep. The daily bag and possession limit is 2 fish with a minimum size limit of 24 inches total length.

Charter boats: Sportfishing boats from throughout the Bay Area target rockfish, lingcod and king salmon along the Marin County Coast throughout the season. The Bass Tub, (415) 456-9055, and Codzilla, 415-706-4947, leave out of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael features the Morning Star, (800) 464-1431, Jim Cox Sport Fishing Charters, (650) 369-3807 and Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle (415) 456-0321. The Fish Hookers Sportfishing, (916) 777-6498, and Access to Angling Outfitters, (707) 301-8504, operate out of the Richmond Marina, while Fury Sportfishing, (800) 499-6465, departs from the Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor. Nine boats, including the New Huck Finn, Dandy, Captain Hook, Superfish, Prime Time, C-Gull II, New Seeker, New Salmon Queen and Rapid Transit, depart from the Emeryville Sportfishing Center, (800) 575-9944. The Berkeley Marina Sport Center, (510) 849-3333, has the New Easy Rider, New El Dorado III, Silver Fox (650) 867-6910, El Dorado and California Dawn, (510) 773-5511. The Happy Hooker, (510) 773-4158, and Goldeneye 2000, (510) 610-0888, are also berthed at Berkeley. Trips with Captain Dave’s Sportfishing Charters are available out of the Oyster Point Marina, (650) 364-4851.

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