Morro Bay
There are huge numbers of rockfish and some handsome lingcod holding off the central coast and they are all hungry. Yet anglers have had a very difficult time hooking them over the past week due to rough water whipped by strong winds.

The folks at Virg’s Landing reported rock solid rockfish action over the past couple weeks, but indicated that scores have fallen off over the past several days due mainly to strong winds and the resulting rough water.

On August 3, 3 boats departed from Virg’s Landing. The Admiral took out 40 anglers on a half-day trip and they returned to the dock with 40 vermilion rockfish and 360 assorted rockfish. The Harbor Pathfinder took 20 anglers out on a three quarter day trip and they boated 25 vermilion rockfish and 175 assorted rockfish. The Princess captured 182 assorted rockfish for their 26 angles on a three quarter day trip.

Jeremiah Medina at Patriot Sportfishing in Avila Beach reported that fishing slowed down over the weekend due to rough weather. “Over the weekend we averaged half limits of rockfish. When the weather is calm our boats have been doing pretty well. The further from port we get the better the quality of the fish we find,” said Medina.

  Monterey/Santa Cruz
The recent windy weather has forced the party boats to fish closer to the harbor in the local reefs rather than going down to Point Sur. However, there’s no need to despair, since anglers are nailing limits of hefty rockfish on every trip, whether local or off the legendary Big Sur coast.

“The local fishing for rockfish has been pretty good,” said Chris Arcoleo of Chris Fishing Trips. “Anglers bagged limits of blue, yellowtail and red rockfish on a trip on Monday, August 4. On our last trip to Point Sur, our anglers landed limits of big vermillion, yellowtail and other rockfish.”

A trip by the Star of Monterey on August 3 yielded 30 limits of rockfish. “The weather has been nasty, with a big groundswell and wind,” said Arcoleo, “but it is calming down this week.”

Brian Cutting at Randy’s Fishing Trips confirmed the steady limit rockfish action out of Monterey. “The 9 anglers who fished aboard the Chubasco on August 4 landed limits of yellowtail, bocaccio and other rockfish and 2 lingcod,” he said. “They fished shrimp flies and bars, baited with squid strips, up to 240 feet deep.”

The 23 anglers fishing aboard the Chubasco on August 3 landed limits of rockfish and 2 lingcod while fishing from Point Pinos to Carmel, added Cutting.

The 11 fishermen aboard the Velocity on August 4 caught early limits of black and red rockfish in the Santa Cruz area reefs. A lucky fisherman boated a bonus 20 pound halibut, according to Ken Stagnaro of Stagnaro’s Fishing Trips in Santa Cruz.

Sunday’s twilight trip aboard the Velocity produced 210 assorted red, blue and brown rockfish for 30 fishermen in the local reefs.

Halibut enthusiasts continue to nail the flatties while drifting and trolling live and dead bait from Monterey to Santa Cruz on the calmer days. “The private boaters trolling or drifting frozen squid are bagging halibut in 70 feet of water off the Monterey Bay Beach Hotel,” said Jim Franco at J & D Auto Gone Fishing in Seaside. “Surf fishermen are also landing a few perch and striped bass off the Monterey Bay State Beaches.”

“The halibut continue to chew bait in 30-80 feet of water here in Santa Cruz,” said Todd Fraser of Bayside Marine. “I weighed in a bunch of halibut today (August 3); it just takes some patience to find them.

The rockfishing was good near Franklin Point and there were limits caught on the local reefs as well. Anglers spotted the wary white seabass off the Pleasure Point area, but Fraser didn’t weigh any of them in.

  Half Moon Bay
It has been windy in the Half Moon Bay area most of the time this summer, so charter boats have had few opportunities to travel out to the Farallon Islands. Coastal fishing had been slow due to low water temperatures, so the whole bottom fishing scene had been pretty subdued.

Over the past couple weeks, the water temperatures along the coast have come up and the bite has become more consistent. These days limits are a reality for most anglers willing to work for their fish.

“We are fishing off Martin’s Beach today and we’ve just about got limits,” reported Captain Tom Mattusch of Hulicat Sportfishing on August 3. “It has been really windy recently and that has kept us from going out to the islands, but luckily for us the fishing has gotten quite a bit better along the coast. We’ve been getting mostly limits and 2 to 6 lingcod per trip.”

Robert Hansen of the Half Moon Bay Sportfishing Center reported mostly limit-style rockfish fishing over the past week.

“The wind has been keeping the ocean pretty rough so we haven’t been out to the islands. We’ve been fishing anywhere from 5 to 15 miles to the south. We are getting 3 to 4 keeper lings most days. So far our top lingcod day yielded 16 fish,” said Hansen.

“Overall our boats are scoring from a half to three quarter limits of rockfish on most days. Having said that, anglers that come out and fish hard are getting limits most of the time,” disclosed Peggy Beckett at the Huck Finn Sportfishing Center on August 3. “We are not seeing many school fish, hard heads are making up most of our catch at this time. I just spoke with the New Gravy on the radio. They are headed in with 13 limits of rockfish, 2 lingcod and 2 cabezon.”

  San Rafael
In spite of big tides last week, the halibut fishing continued to be very good in shallow water in San Francisco and San Pablo bays, reported Gordon Hough, captain of the Morning Star.

Orlando Graves topped the week's catches with a 31 lb. 6 oz. halibut that he caught at Paradise Cay aboard the Morning Star on Saturday, August 2. Norm Hosvick of Napa also nailed a 27 lb. halibut while fishing at Southampton Shoals.

"Most of the fish we caught over the past week were in the 26 to 27 inch range," said Hough. "You don't have to measure them, but they won't make good coffee tables, either. The halibut are showing just about everywhere - the Berkeley Flats, Southampton Shoals, Paradise Cay and in San Pablo Bay."

The 13 anglers aboard the Morning Star on Wednesday, July 30 landed 17 halibut, while the 12 fishermen aboard the boat on Thursday bagged 14 halibut and one bass, according to Hough. The 12 passengers caught 11 halibut on Friday, while the 22 anglers boated 28 halibut and 4 stripers on Saturday. The 21 fishermen aboard the Morning Star on Sunday, August 3 bagged 23 halibut.

"We're also seeing plenty of shaker halibut, which bodes well for future halibut seasons," added Hough.

"The halibut fishing was slow for us on our latest trip, but we look forward to the period of slower tides we're now entering," said Erik Anfinson, captain of the Bass Tube at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

  Berkeley/Emeryville
Week in and week out, the story remains the same for East Bay saltwater anglers. The striped bass and halibut action inside San Francisco Bay is excellent and there is no end in sight.

Captain Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker has been finding very good fishing in a variety of locations including Red Rock and the Brothers.

“Yesterday we had 34 stripers, 10 halibut, 71 rockfish and 1 lingcod,” disclosed Smith on August 4. “On Saturday, my anglers got 24 limits of stripers and 10 halibut. I’m not running the boat today, but from what I’ve heard they already have 20 bass in the box, so the bite is continuing.”

Tawny Houston of California Dawn Sportfishing reported very good striper and halibut action.

“On Friday, we had 29 halibut to 15 pounds and 6 bass. On Saturday we got 32 halibut and 12 bass for 16 anglers. When the tide is moving quickly the striper fishing is really good. On days with slower tides we get a lot of halibut,” said Houston.

Captain Joe Gallia of the New Easy Rider had the distinction of taking the Grand Slam Prize and the top striper prize in the recent Golden Gate Challenge.

“The fishing has been good to very good recently,” said Gallia. “On July 31, we had 27 halibut to 15 pounds for our 9 anglers and added 4 stripers to 10 pounds. On August 1, our 12 anglers nailed 36 halibut to 18 pounds and 5 bass to 10 pounds. We took out 23 anglers on August 2 and they got 42 halibut and 6 bass.”

The story is much the same for anglers departing from the Emeryville Sportfishing Center.

“Our charter boats have been catching a lot of fish,” reported Rob Taylor at the Emeryville Sportfishing Center. “Most of our boats are fishing for stripers and halibut inside the bay, but we are running rockfish fishing trips too.”

On Sunday, August 3 the C-Gull II scored 13 halibut, 10 stripers and 1 leopard shark for 24 anglers. The Captain Hook had 8 halibut and 5 stripers for 9 anglers. The Tigerfish boated 10 halibut and 27 stripers for 14 anglers. The New Huck Finn had 55 halibut to 28 pounds and 52 stripers to 10 pounds.

The Wet Spot scored 11 halibut and 5 stripers. The New Salmon Queen got 30 halibut and 9 stripers. The New Seeker headed out the Faralons and scored 21 limits of rockfish and 5 lingcod.”

  Fort Bragg
The rockfish action for anglers that fish out of Noyo Harbor has been a good news, bad news proposition. On the positive side, there are plenty of hungry rockfish holding within a short run of the harbor. On the downside, recent strong winds have successfully kept anglers off the water several times over the past two weeks.

“We have been struggling with all the strong wind we’ve had recently, but when we do get out we are doing pretty well,” related Captain Randy Thornton of Telstar Charters. “Last Monday and Thursday we ended up with three quarter limits of rockfish and also boated a pair of lingcod to 14 pounds.”

“On Friday the weather backed off, the winds died down and we enjoyed very good conditions. That day I took a group of anglers on a combination abalone diving and rockfish fishing trip. We started off diving for abalone in 15 feet of water in a cove that is about 8 miles south of the harbor. We got limits of quality abs and added half to three quarter limits of rockfish,” said Thornton.

“Today I decided to run up to the north about 5 miles. We found good numbers of blacks and blues while fishing in 60 feet of water,” added Thornton.

  Gold Beach, Oregon
Anglers in the Gold Beach area can choose from a list of possibilities including targeting kings and steelhead in the Rogue, trolling for salmon in the bay, or hammering rockfish and lingcod on the ocean.

According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, chinook fishing picked in recent days on the Lower Rogue. Most of the chinook have been caught downstream of the Highway 101 Bridge. The afternoons have been the best lately with the minus tides in the morning moving most of the chinook back into the ocean. Anglers can expect the bite to pick up in the mornings later in the week. As usual, an anchovy with a spinner blade is the number one bait, but straight bait or a spinner is a good second choice.

Angling for spring chinook has been slow.  Summer steelhead fishing is picking up as summer progresses. Anglers should try crawdad plugs, spinners and glowbugs. Fly anglers may have success fishing riffles in mornings and evenings. 

More summer steelhead are expected to push up river in coming weeks and fishing will likely improve. Anglers are catching a few nice cutthroat trout by casting flies and lures to structure in the pools.