Morro Bay
As with other locations along the California coast, rockfish action has been heating up off of Morro Bay and Avila Beach as a result of warming water temperatures. At this time, anglers can expect half limits on the worst days and full limits on most days.

The folks at Virg’s Landing sent out a pair of boats on July 6. The Admiral headed out with 20 anglers on the decks and returned with 100 vermilion rockfish, 100 assorted rockfish and 28 lingcod. The Princess had 28 anglers aboard and they busted 80 vermilion rockfish and 172 assorted rockfish.

At Portside Marine, Del Kyle described the recent fishing as “pretty good”. “We are seeing a lot of rockfish limits coming in along with a few lingcod up to about 9 pounds. The halibut have started showing too. We haven’t seen any really big halibut, but we’ve seen quite a few fish in the keeper to 12 pound range,” said Kyle.

“Our anglers have been catching 5 to 10 rockfish per trip and on our long range trips some lingcod are being landed,” said Alex Casaboom at Patriot Sportfishing in Avila Beach.

On the July 6, the Patriot took out 40 anglers and they corralled 210 assorted rockfish and 84 reds.

   Monterey/Santa Cruz
The rockfish action has been fabulous off the Monterey County coast, with anglers going to Big Sur on the calm days and to the local reefs when the wind comes up.

“Tinker, captain of the Checkmate, had no problem catching limits of rockfish off Carmel today, July 7,” said Chris Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips. “The Checkmate, Caroline and Star of Monterey came in with full limits of rockfish, along with a few lingcod, over the July Fourth weekend. They fished off both Point Sur and Carmel.”

“The rockfish action continues to be very good,” said Pete Bruno at Randy’s Fishing Trips. “We’re catching a mixed bag of olive, yellowtail, blue, vermilion, starry and other quality rockfish, as well as a few lingcod. There have been a few days with rough weather when we were short of limits, but otherwise anglers have been taking limits every trip.”

Rockfish anglers are enticing their fish with Super Flies, other shrimp fly rigs, King’s Tackle jigs, Diamond Bars, Fish Traps and other lures.

Off Santa Cruz, the fishing for halibut and rockfish has been “going good for some and slow for others,” reported Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine.

“The halibut are being caught from the Mile Buoy to Natural Bridges in 30-55 feet of water,” rated Fraser. “There are some nice lingcod and rockfish coming in from 100 feet of water off Davenport. The big fish in the First Annual Bayside Fourth of July Tournament. was a 23.95 lb. halibut that Josh Kendall caught the first day.”

The Velocity has been going on both day trips and weekend twilight trips. A twilight trip on Saturday, July 5 produced 208 assorted rockfish for 26 fishermen, according to Ken Stagnaro at Stagnaro’s Fishing Trips in Santa Cruz.

Friday’s fishing adventure aboard the Velocity yielded limits of red, yellowtail and blue rockfish. “The 28 fishermen on board fished on the south side of the bay,” said Stagnaro.

A trip by 18 passengers aboard the Velocity on July 3 produced limits of copper, red and gopher rockfish. They fished a variety of jigs, shrimp flies and bars, tipped with swim baits, off Davenport in 100 feet of water.

  Half Moon Bay
Rockfish action has been a hit and miss proposition of sorts since the June 1 general opener. The culprit in the slow action is believed to be the unusually cool ocean temperature, although in recent days the temperature has pushed upward and the bite has shown signs of improvement.

”The fishing is fair overall and anglers are having to work pretty hard for their fish,” related Peggy Beckett of the Huck Finn Sportfishing Center. “There hasn’t been a big difference in success whether you fish the islands or stay here in local waters. The water temperature should rise soon and that is when we’ll see the bite really improve.”

“The Queen of Hearts scored 18 limits of rockfish today,” disclosed Robert Hansen of the Half Moon Bay Sportfishing Center on July 6. “The fishing is definitely getting better. Recently our boats have been scoring near limits to full limits depending on the day.”

Captain Tom Mattusch of the Hulicat reported that he located some areas of 55 degree water near Half Moon Bay and said that the bite in those areas was very good for both lingcod and rockfish.

“In the warmer water we got limits of school fish and quite a few lingcod. Right now I’m down near Pigeon Point. The water is cold here and the action isn’t nearly as good,” said Mattusch

  San Rafael
Live bait drifters caught a mixture of halibut and stripers throughout San Francisco Bay over the Fourth of July weekend.

The Morning Star returned from a trip to the central bay on Wednesday, July 2 with 15 halibut and two stripers for 9 anglers, according to Gordon Hough, captain of the Morning Star. The 16 passengers aboard the boat the following day landed 19 halibut and two stripers, while the 20 people on the Morning Star on Sunday bagged 12 halibut and 13 stripers.

“We fished in shallow water because of the big tides,” said Hough. “Mel Vail caught an 18 lb. halibut at Paradise Cay, while Stan Ford landed a 15 pound halibut at Alcatraz.”

“The live bait fishing on the bay is very good,” confirmed Keith Fraser at Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle. “The bass are showing at Mel’s Reef and the Brothers, while the halibut are appearing just about everywhere. The charter boats are averaging 1-1/2 to 2 fish per rod.”

The stripers are good-sized ones ranging from 5 to 15 pounds, not the smaller “trolling” fish, noted Fraser. The largest halibut reported out of Loch Lomond Marina over the July Fourth weekend weighed 22 pounds.

  Berkeley/Emeryville
The potluck fishing within San Francisco Bay is absolutely red hot as anglers nail an exciting mixture stripers and halibut while employing live anchovies.

“I’ve had limits of stripers all week long,” disclosed Captain Jim Smith of Happy Hooker Sportfishing on July 6. “Today we had 21 limits of bass to 14 pounds by 9:30 in the morning and so far we’ve got 4 keeper halibut. Yesterday we had 68 striper to 16 pounds by 12:30 and then added 19 halibut to 26 pounds.”

“The fishing has been excellent,” related Captain James Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing. “Both stripers and halibut fishing have been excellent. On July 2, we took out 18 anglers and they landed 42 halibut and 7 stripers. On July 3, we had 29 anglers aboard and they boated 49 halibut and 4 stripers. On July 4, our 28 anglers caught 20 stripers and 20 halibut. On July 5, we took out 29 anglers and ended up with 48 stripers and 16 halibut.”

“The halibut fishing has been really consistent on the Berkeley Flats and as the big tides we are seeing right now the bite should get even better. We didn’t get any huge fish this week, but a lot of good size were caught including halibut in the 20 to 25 pound class,” added Smith.

Captain Joe Gallia of New Easy Rider Sportfishing has also been achieving great results while fishing San Francisco Bay. According to Gallia, his 11 anglers busted 28 halibut to 20 pounds and added a pair of stripers to 18 pounds. On the next day, 24 anglers ended up with 28 halibut to 21 pounds and 11 stripers to 18 pounds.

Charter boats out of the Emeryville Marina have been getting their share of halibut and striper out of San Francisco Bay as well.

On July 6, the C-Gull II cancelled their rockfish trip on the ocean and opted to stay inside the bay, while the New Huck Finn proceeded with their preplanned live bait potluck trip. There was a combined total of 49 anglers aboard the two boats. They scored 98 stripers to 15 pounds and 42 halibut to 13 pounds.

  Point San Pablo
As go the tides, so goes the striper action for anglers fishing Central San Francisco Bay. When the tides are large, as they have been this week, the striper action turns red hot. When the tides slow down, halibut get more active and become the dominant species in the sacks of anglers.

“The fishing is good. In fact, at times it is very good,” exclaimed Captain Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing on July 6. “Today we’ve got limits of stripers in the boat to 15 pounds and an angler just boated a keeper halibut. We got out stripers at Mel’s Reef near Alcatraz.”

“Yesterday we headed outside the Golden Gate and ended up with half limits of rockfish, while fishing along the Marin County Coast, before the water got rough,” added Miller.

“Last week we headed out to Yellow Bluff hoping to get into some big sevengill sharks. The bite has been hit and miss, but on the day we went out they were hitting pretty well. We kept one fish that went about 44 pounds and measured 72 inches. We landed and released a couple other fish weighing around 80 and 130 pounds,” continued Miller.

  Bodega Bay
Lingcod fishing has yet to bust loose, but that’s okay with most Bodega anglers since big quality bottomfish are on an energetic bite.

“We are enjoying a wide-open red hot rockfish bite,” exclaimed Captain Rick Powers of the Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center. “We’ve only had one trip since the June 1 opener that didn’t yield quick limits. We are seeing very few school fish. Instead 90 plus percent of the fish we land are big quality bottom fish such as vermilions, coppers and browns.”

“We are getting our fish while jigging. The best rig has been a metal bar jig, with a single shrimp fly teaser tied in about 2 feet above the bar. The lingcod fishing has only been so-so. They just don’t seem to be concentrated yet, but I expect that to change as the summer goes on. Having said that, we are getting a few lings everyday. We had several this morning in the 6 to 10 pound class,” added Powers.

Captain Les Fernades at Fish On Bait and Tackle also reported rock solid bottom fish action. “We are getting limits whenever we hit the water,” said Fernandes. “The weather turned a bit rough this morning, but before today we had 5 straight days of good conditions. The rockfish we are seeing are husky quality fish and we are typically adding 2 to 4 keeper lings per trip. The top rig for us has been a leadhead scampi jig with a shrimp fly rigged above it.”

  Fort Bragg
Anglers departing from Noyo Harbor are enjoying limit and near limit action while targeting bottomfish residing on local rock piles.

“We’ve had great weather and good fishing recently,” reported Randy Thornton of Telstar Charters. “We are beginning to see more and more school fish in the form of blues and blacks showing up and that has resulted in faster action. On average I’d say we are boating about ¾ limits of rockfish on each trip, but the guys that put in a strong effort are generally scoring limits.”

There have not been a lot of lingcod showing up. “In general, we are scoring about 1 per trip, but today we did a little better, scoring 3 for 12 anglers.”

“On our last trip we fished up to the north near Virgin Creek in 110 feet of water and we did well. On other days I’ve gone down to the south and we’ve found good action down there too. We crabbed twice this week and ended up with 3 to 4 keepers per angler,” added Thornton.

Fish Sniffer staffer Paul Myer headed out on the Trek II recently and nailed a bunch of rockfish, despite the chilly 46 degree water temperature.

“We got a good mix of rockfish including gophers, chinas, blues, blacks and vermilions. The top fish of the trip was a handsome 8 pound vermilion rockfish,” said Myer.

  Gold Beach, Oregon
When the weather cooperates, anglers fishing offshore of Gold Beach are landing quality lingcod, rockfish and Pacific halibut. Things on the river fishing scene are a bit more challenging, but dedicated anglers have a shot at hooking both kings and steelhead.

“We fished three days on the river last week, in an effort to get some fishing in as it was blowing 40 outside,” reported Mark Lottis of Five Star Charters. “Jeff got one fish the first day and we each had one bite for zip on the next two days. The water temperature raised 4 degrees and when we fished on Thursday it was 68.5. We even tried side drifting for summer steelhead for a bust as well.”