Cod and rockfish fishing explodes from the Maren coast to the Rittenberg Bank
BERKELEY – During periods of calm weather at this time of year, you can choose to fish the shallows from a kayak, sailboat, or charter boat off the Marin County coast, or fish the newly opened deep waters just outside the Golden Gate at a party. boat.
Anglers fishing on California Dawn sport fishing boats 2 and 1 have been experiencing great offshore fishing on the Rittenberg Bank, with bounds of lingcod and huge rockfish reported on every trip since the weather break made fishing on the bank possible.
The Rittenburg Bank is an arrowhead or heart-shaped rock feature located in the northwest corner of the Farallones Marine Reserve bay. It is about 31 miles from the Marin County coast and about 40 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge.
“We’re seeing world-class bank fishing,” said Capt. James Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing. “It’s easily the best rockfish and cod language fishing of the season.”
Anglers use mackerel, live sandpipers, bars, and swimbaits to lure cod and rockfish. New bottom fishing regulations that took effect this year allow anglers to fish in deeper waters that haven’t been fished in years. In addition to Writenberg, there are places outside the Farallon Islands and Bodega Bay that have opened up for fishing, according to Smith.
“We were fishing from 240 to 350 feet deep,” said Smith. “Fishermen catch a wide variety of olive, greenhorn, cochineal, canary, china, yellowtail rockfish and boccaccio to 8lbs. Cod caught on our boats weigh up to 31lbs.”
On a trip to the bank on Sunday, August 20, anglers experienced some “wild” rockfish and cod fishing aboard California Dawn 2 with a final count of 28 rockfish (280), 28 lingcod (56) to 28, Smith said. .
“The smallest lingcod we kept today was ten pounds and there were about 14 fish in the higher weight range vying for the jackpot,” he said.
He noted that the California 2, a catamaran, takes about two hours and 15 minutes from Berkeley to run to the bank.
California Dawn 1 fished the main Farallon Island the same day, returning with 14 walleye (14) and 15 lingcod.
On August 19, he announced similar results. “We saw some huge cod and rockfish on today’s trip up to Rettenberg. The total score for fish collected on California Dawn 1 and 2 was 43 walleye (430) and 43 lingcod (86) to 25lb,” said Smith.
On August 18, Smith reported “a fine catch and calm weather” on the Rittenberg Bank. The two boats took on 45 jumbo walleye (450), 45 lingcod (90) to 25lbs and 350 greyhounds.
In addition to the abundant rockfish and lingcod populations, the Rittenberg ecosystem is also known for its high density of deep coral and sponge species.
Fishing along the Marin County coast was also good when boats could not reach the Outer Bank to fish.
On Smith’s final trip down the coast, California Dawn 2 returned with 18 rockfish (180) and 18 lingcod (36) strokes of 20lbs. Smith plans to start bluefin tuna flights during the first week of September, weather permitting.
Fishing for rockfish and cod has also been fruitful for the kayak fishermen. Berkeley native Oscar Whitney recently launched his kayak into the waves on a relatively calm day at Muir Beach and caught a total of 5 brown rockfish, 2 gopher rockfish, 1 grass rockfish and a 24″ lingcod while fishing in the shallows.
On another fishing adventure in August, Whitney caught three brown rockfish while fishing for a white swimbait from his canoe, he reported during a trip I took to Muir Beach.
keeping feathery rockfish (Sebastis Malleger) is now prohibited at the state level in both recreational and commercial fisheries.
The CDFW also announced that as of August 21, the 50-line Rock Rock Conservation Area (RCA) boundary line for the Northern Terrestrial Fish Management Area (GMA), from the California/Oregon state line to Cape Mendocino, is now in effect.
To achieve harvest goals, demersal fisheries for recreation are subject to regulatory changes in season. Stay informed by visiting the CDFW Summary page of Recreational Fishing Regulations for Underground Fishing before you fish.
San Joaquin River / Sacramento RiverCurl fishing expert Mark Wilson reported strong fishing on his recent fishing adventures in the Delta.
On a trip on Thursday, August 17, Wilson and Renee Villanueva of Elk Grove and Villanueva’s friend Brian caught 13 keeper, keeping six fish and releasing the rest. They also released one small fish.
“The largest fish weighed 7 pounds,” Wilson said. The rest of the fish were smaller class fish in the 3 to 4 pound range. We fished the San Joaquin River alongside the Antioch Bridge at outgoing tide and the west bank of the Sacramento River down the Rio Vista at incoming tide. We hooked it all up in the deep Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows in 14 to 16 feet of water.”
“Almost everyone had catch stripes,” added Wilson. “Some of the San Joaquin spoon-bashing guys from Santa Clara Shoals to Broadslaw have been attaching ribbons to their Blade Runner spoons.”
Bardi Kokani Lake: This Mother Lode tank continues to throw off the kokanee limits of trolls. Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide Service reported a great kokanee catch in Pardee on his recent trip there.
“My clients Art and Bill always have a blast, and today was no different, we talk a lot about slapping back and forth especially when losing fish, and oh boy, was there some missing fish today,” Kelsch stated. “I didn’t follow through, but let’s just say the battle was more lost than it was bounded by which we finished at about 10:30 in the morning.”
He said, “We caught fish as shallow as 25 feet deep and 70 feet deep.” The fish is still in good shape.
