Northern CA Saltwater Fishing Report

Fort Ross and Point Reyes served as hotspots for Bodega Bay boats BY CAPT. DAVID BACON/WON Staff WriterPublished: Jun 18, 2012

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BODEGA BAY — No matter which direction the New Sea Angler turned out of the harbor the results were similar… limits of rockfish and good lingcod fishing. Salmon slowed, but pots full of large Dungeness crabs gave anglers heavy bags of good seafood. “This week saw the best crab action in the past month. Much of the time we found 8 or 9 crabs in each pot. When boats went out after salmon and found slow action they would switch gear types and move to their crabbing grounds, pull up pots and send fishers home with limits of something,” said Capt. Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Bait & Tackle. New Sea Angler crew mixed up the game plan as good skippers do, yet found a pattern to follow. On Monday it was limits of rockfish and 19 lings to 10 pounds for 28 people, fishing in 100 feet of water off of Fort Ross. Tuesday was to be a salmon trip, but the salmon action was slow so the boat moved to the crabbing grounds and pulled up pots to take 23 full limits of mostly-large crabs. Wednesday saw limits of rockfish and some lings while fishing to the south, off of Point Reyes. Thursday was blown out. Friday was another day of slow salmon fishing but limit-style crabbing. On Saturday the boat went north again to Fort Ross, which paid off in heavy bags estimated at 30- to 40-pound bags of fish. Young Cameron Beible of Nevada City went on his first ocean fishing trip and brought in an 11-pound lingcod, which earned him a place in our Whoppers List.