SALTWATER
28 Sept 25, 2020 VOL.39 • ISS. 20
SALTWATER REPORTS:
CONTINUED FROM PG 27
MONTEREY BAY
Anglers Target Big Sur Coast for
Rockfish
MOSS LANDING – While lingcod action remains
tough, anglers are catching full limits of rockfish while
enjoying calm weather off Point Sur and the Monterey
County coast.
“Today the 15 anglers aboard the boat landed 150
rockfish and one lingcod weighing 10 pounds on a trip
to Point Sur,” said Carol Jones of Kahuna Sportfishing
on Saturday, ?September 12. “The rockfish action has
been excellent, while the lingcod fishing has been very
slow.’”
“The fishermen today landed quality yellowtail rockfish
averaging 2 pounds each and vermilions and coppers
in the 4 to 5 lb. range in 220 to 240 feet of water,” said
Jones. “Most of the anglers hooked the fish on shrimp
flies, tipped with squid trips. They were back with limits
by 1 p.m.”
The previous trip produced 130 rockfish and 1 lingcod
for 13 anglers, reported Jones. The trip before that
aboard the Kahuna yielded 140 rockfish and 5 lingcod
for 14 passengers.
Trips out of Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey also
reported limits of rockfish off the Monterey County
Coast. On September 12, the Star of Monterey
reported 27 limits of rockfish, the Checkmate checked
in with 15 limits and the Caroline had 170 rockfish for
18 anglers.
Rockfish action off Santa Cruz has also been
excellent. “The inshore fishing was good up the
coast this morning before the wind started blowing,”
reported Todd Fraser of Bayside Marine. “There were
some solid scores of rockfish, halibut, and lingcod.
The halibut fishing is still good near the Cement Ship
with some bigger fish starting to show up.”
“The salmon fishing is still slow, but there have
been a few fish caught near the bottom in 270 feet of
water near Moss Landing,” he noted.
“This was a great weekend to get out on
the water and beat the heat,” said Ken
Stagnaro of Stagnaro’s Fishing Trips
in their latest report. “The Legacy
went out for 7-hour deep sea trips
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday,
and came home with early limits
of rock fish for 19 people each day.
The afternoon trips caught about
¾ limits of rockfish Saturday,
Sunday and Monday. “
- Dan Bacher
Wide open rockfish action is on tap for anglers fishing out
of Pillar Point Marina. These brown rockfish were landed
during a late August adventure.
Photo courtesy of HULI CAT SPORTFISHING, Half Moon Bay.
La Paz Anglers Dodge
Storms & Hook Fish!
This epic bluefin tuna was landed aboard the Red Rooster III on
August 14.
Photo courtesy of RED ROOSTER III SPORTFISHING, San Diego.
D
orado (or mahi-mahi as they are called some
places or dolphin fish as they are called in other
places) are one of the world’s most popular gamefish,
and it’s no mystery why that is. They are spectacularly
colored, fight hard and jump when hooked, and taste
delicious. They are abundant in Baja and because they
are a fast-growing, short-lived fish they are hungry more
often than not. They die of old age around 5-6 years and
attain a maximum weight of around 90lbs.
In terms of offerings most dorado are caught on
trolling lures such as rubber skirts meant for marlin or
sailfish or feathers meant for Tuna. They also hit trolled
“
T
wo
weeks ago,
it was Guenevere.
This week, it was Hernan
and Isella. It’s that time
of year,” related Jonathan
Roldan of Tailhunter
International.
“Although they closed
the port, neither did more
than bring cloudy skies
and a few drops of rain.
Actually, the cloudy skies
While tuna are the target on the Red Rooster III these days, there have been some dandy
yellowtail in the mix too.
Photo courtesy of RED ROOSTER III SPORTFISHING, San Diego.,
were kinda nice if you were on the water as it was alot cooler
and more comfortable than blazing sunshine. Most of the week
has been cloudy or given us sporadic sunshine,” said Roldan.
“Even with the cloudy skies, fishing actually seemed to
improve. Fortunately, the storms didn’t push alot of wind when
they came through so waters stayed pretty flat and the fish
seemed to wake up a bit from what they were doing previously,”
Roldan reported.
“Big roosterfish are still around off Las Arenas, but it was the
dorado schools that seemed to turn on. Nothing spectacular,
but alot of fun 5-20 pound dorado for both our Tailhunter Las
Arenas Fleet and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Especially, this
past week, we had alot of first-timers and couples so having
some great dorado fishing plus add in pargo, cabrilla, jack
crevalle, bonito and triggerfish and there could be some really
fun action,” Roldan concluded.
The Low Down On Dorado
plugs such as Rapalas.
If dorado are concentrated in an area, either through
chumming or because there is a piece of floating debris,
a wide variety of lures may be cast to them. A favorite is
a popper, which they will readily eat. If they are fired up
they will pretty much eat anything.
Dorado mostly eat fish so traditional baitfish such as
sardines and Pacific Mackerel work well. Larger fish will
eat larger baits. Dorado have relatively small mouths but
it always amazing how they can somehow still engulf relatively
large baits.
Massive tuna have been on the bite for long
range anglers plying Mexican waters aboard the
Red Rooster III. This 300-pound beast was landed
on August 29.
Photo courtesy of RED ROOSTER III
SPORTFISHING, San Diego.