Northern CA Saltwater Fishing Report

Salmon plentiful and close-in near Fort Bragg, rockfish opener a success BY CAPT. DAVID BACON/WON Staff WriterPublished: May 14, 2012

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FORT BRAGG — Weather hampered salmon fishing all week out of Fort Bragg, so reports were scarce during the week, but when the weather settled over the weekend, salmon fishers made up for lost time with great catch counts. Abalone pickers had a good week along rocky shorelines. Weather settled on Saturday and by Sunday it was glorious conditions and wide-open fishing. “The bite started to take off yesterday and by today it was red hot.  I saw boats coming back in with limits beginning at 8:30 in the morning and even those who did not limit seemed to get at least a fish per rod up to 14 pounds,” said John Gebers on Sunday at Noyo Fishing Center who reported that 90-percent of the salmon were caught trolling as opposed to mooching. The best part was that great salmon fishing was only 10 minutes from harbor. Rockfish season opened strong with plentiful rockfish and good counts of keeper lingcod. The rockfish bit squid strips, anchovies, sardines and Berkley Gulp baits. Common catches included vermillion, china rockfish, blacks, blues and cabezon. Lingcod were fooled by jigs worked aggressively over radical structure spots. Much of the rockfishing was done from straight out of the harbor and on up to Westport. “Rainow perch are still biting well at the jetty and people are catching a few rockfish there as well,” continued Gebers. Ian at Subsurface Progression Dive Shop reported that divers stayed ashore due to rough seas, but super minus tides allowed for some great rock-picking for abalone. Two 10-inchers were brought into the shop for all to enjoy. Divers stayed out of the water due to dangerous sea conditions.