Northern California Saltwater Report: March 8, 2002 Edition, by the Fish Sniffer Online

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	By: The Fish Sniffer Staff March 8, 2002
This 48 pound lingcod was caught at Port Hardy, British Columbia by my son, Brian Robards. It was caught during a break from salmon fishing with a Gibbs Minnow he dropped to the bottom on a salmon rod. It took thirty minutes to boat the fish due to the light tackle.

The closure of the rockfish season has made many operations suspend operations until salmon season begins on March 30 south of Pigeon Point. Bay area boats are also fishing for sturgeon and striped bass inside San Pablo Bay.

Santa Cruz...
Rockcod and Lingcod fishing is now closed until May, but you can still fish for halibut, seabass and sandabs. "The rockfishing ended up being good for most anglers," said Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. "The best spot was Scott Creek again. Davenport produced half limits and a few Lingcod. The deep water reefs produced limits for anglers today. The Salmon season opens March 30.

Berkeley...
"Fishing has been slow since the closure of bottom fishing," reported Gary Freedman from Berkeley Marina Sport Center. "We are all waiting around for April to roll around and open up salmon and live bait fishing." Live bait fishing trips out of Berkeley will be available on a daily basis as of the first week of April, and the salmon season will re-open on April 13.

"During our last fishing trip, boaters caught and released several salmon, but numbers of fish can't be determined for the opener since we are not targeting the fish," said Freedman. "A few perch are being caught off the Berkeley Pier, with anglers bagging the fish using grass shrimp and pile worms." According to Freedman, a local angler fished out a 24 inch keeper halibut using a green jig while fishing for perch off the Berkeley Pier.

Emeryville...
According to Craig Stone of Emeryville Marina Sport Center, fishing has been halted due to the closure of rockfishing. As of March 8, sturgeon trips leaving the Emeryville Marina will be available. "We will be fishing for the big diamond backs either in San Pablo Bay or the South Bay depending on where we locate feeding fish," said Stone.

Bodega Bay...
"We are currently not running any fishing trips. Our last trips out were for bottom fish, which resulted in limits," said Rick Powers from Bodega Bay Sportfishing. "We will be running whale watching trips aboard our vessels until the salmon season comes around on April 13."

Fort Bragg...
Crab/rockfish combos have started out of Fort Bragg, now that the rockfish and lingcod season is closed. "Since the salmon season re-opened, fishing has been fairly scratchy, with only a few fish being put in the boat," said Brandon Van Dine aboard Lady Irma II. "However, crab combo trips to Ten Mile Beach have been very successful, with anglers averaging 8 crabs to limits each trip."

According to Brandon, the crab are weighing between 1.5 and 2 pounds. "We are placing our crab pots along Ten Mile Beach and then troll the same area for salmon," added Van Dine.

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