No posts for a bit, as I was fishing in San Diego with the Eddie Kim charter on the Pacific Queen. It was good. Limits of bluefin, 25 yellowtail, 20 yellowfin and 6 dorado. The hurricane only made driving down difficult but didn't mess with the fishing. Thanks to all the folks that showed up for a fish cleaning and packaging party on Thursday night, and special thanks to Tal Roseberry for his fish cleaning expertise and for bringing along the "Death Star" of vacuum sealers. Two and a half hours to clean and package 20 fish to 130 pounds may not be a record but it sure seemed more like a party than work. I should have posted earlier, but sleep got me first, both on Thursday and Friday nights. I actually ate last nights dinner tonight, as I finished cooking it last night but fell asleep before dining or writing. It was a good trip.

   I got this report from the Tomales Outlaw on Wednesday: "Made the run to Timber Cove and found a school of blacks and olives. Hope you guys have a heavier vehicle coming home than you did going down." We did, thanks, but only because I let Gage get back in it. Three days on a boat and there's a question about who's driving home with whom....Anyhow, that's a pretty serious run from Tomales Bay, but those are some nice fish, so nice job, Outlaw. Also, good timing, as it seems that the shallow water. fun fishing is about to end, six weeks after it started:"

Fish and Wildlife Closes Nearshore Groundfish Fishery in Mendocino, San Francisco and Central Management Areas

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced that as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, the 50-fathom Rockfish Conservation Area (RCA) boundary line for the Mendocino Groundfish Management Area (GMA) (Cape Mendocino to Point Arena), San Francisco GMA (Point Arena to Pigeon Point) and Central GMA (Pigeon Point to Point Conception), will take effect.

In these GMAs, recreational boat-based groundfish fishing will be ‘offshore only’ and allowed only seaward (away from land) of the 50-fathom boundary line, defined by straight lines connecting waypoints (50 CFR Part 660, Subpart G). Shelf rockfish, slope rockfish and lingcod may be taken seaward of the 50-fathom boundary line, while it will be unlawful to take or possess nearshore rockfish as defined in Title 14, Section 1.91(a)(1), cabezon or greenlings at any depth. In the Southern GMA from Pt. Conception to the U.S.-Mexico border, these same ‘offshore only’ rules will take effect as originally planned on Sept. 16.

During the ‘offshore only’ fishery, fishing gear shall not be deployed shoreward of the 50-fathom RCA boundary line when shelf rockfish, slope rockfish or lingcod are possessed onboard the vessel, however vessels may transit shoreward of the 50-fathom RCA boundary line with these species in possession if no gear is deployed. Additionally, vessels fishing in the adjacent Southern GMA and transiting back to the Central GMA must adhere to the ‘offshore only’ provisions effective in the Central GMA and shall not return with nearshore species aboard. These changes do not apply to shore-based anglers or divers.

CDFW is carefully monitoring the harvest of quillback rockfish from both the recreational and commercial fisheries throughout the state and has taken a series of steps in an effort to reduce quillback rockfish mortality. On Aug. 7, retention of quillback rockfish was prohibited statewide, followed by closure of the recreational nearshore fishery in the Northern GMA, on Aug. 21. Newly available recreational data from the Mendocino, San Francisco and Central GMAs for the second week of August showed double the estimated recreational take and indicated the 2023 quillback rockfish harvest limit specified in federal regulations has been exceeded. This additional in-season action authorized by Title 14, Section 27.20 (e) to adjust the fishing depth is necessary to prevent further overage.

CDFW urges anglers to use best fishing practices to reduce impacts to quillback rockfish and other prohibited groundfish species. These include reducing mortality when releasing fish by utilizing a descending device and relocating to different fishing grounds or switching targets if quillback rockfish or other prohibited species are encountered. CDFW recommends reviewing the Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations page before each trip to ensure anglers are up to date on the most recent groundfish regulations, including a complete list of authorized species.

For details regarding the quillback population estimates and how these changes were developed, please see CDFW’s Quillback Rockfish In-Season Informational Briefing. For information on all groundfish regulations visit CDFW’s Marine Region Groundfish page.

Pursuant to California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 27.20(e), when federal harvest limits are exceeded or projected to be exceeded, CDFW has authority to make in-season changes, including adjustments to bag and sub-bag limits, seasons and depths." I'm sure you all heard that already, but it still must be said. There must be a bunch of quillback killers out there in order to shut down the season. Good work, killers. I guess we'll all have to work the deeps until they shut that down for yelloweye abuse, probably in September or early October.

    As I wasn't reporting, I think a few people thought I was ignoring them. Sorry, just distracted and without internet or wakefulness. Here's two reports affiliated with these photos:"Hey Willy, 

Went out with Nick Nichols on his Raider Saturday and Sunday. Spent most of Saturday trolling Madmacs and Halco 220's with no luck but we did stop by Rittenburg for about 30 minutes and got our limits of Rockfish. Went out near the canyon on Sunday and picked up a load of black cod along with a few green spotted and a sole in 650'-750'. Sunday afternoon got pretty lumpy so we headed in early. Lots of sunfish whales and dolphins out there.

Best,

Nate Baker

Hey Willy - Nick here.

Will try to keep this short. Nate and I left Bodega Saturday searching for BFT. Started at the canyon towards Rittenburg for 0. Salvaged the day with rockfish limits in about 30 minutes. trolled some more for Tuna with same results - 0. Sunday got late start and went to some numbers Nate wanted to try for Black Cod. First spot we got 6 Greenspots and 1 sole. Went deeper and started catching the cod. Thank goodness for the electric reek as average depth was 600" plus. Most of the cod were caught on these rigs I made up which basically is a copy of the Halibut Godfather rig with Nate catching some on a couple other rigs.

It was a grind but we managed 21 Black Cod. FYI - Tons of whales and bait out there.

Cheers!!"  While these are not the sort of bluefin tuna fishing reports we're all looking for, they are valuable. Those fish were not biting last week, but there's a rumor about that a few guys may have connected late in the week. That information is kind of useless now, as the wind is up offshore (and onshore in the evening) but still good to know. Good effort, guys, and nice pile of what was until recently a forbidden fruit. Taste that knowledge! Yum.

    Tomales Outlaw was here for a few days and he also sent this report: "2 fish north of Hog today. 1 missed bite on the bar. This 32" butt and one 24". Both bit large jacksmelt. Not bluefin but good for today. South wind sucked big time." A smart fisherman takes what the conditions allow for, so I guess we know where you stand, Outlaw. Good job on the catch, especially with the conditions being veryn conducive to not catching.

    Finally, we catch up to today. Cameron sent over this picture and report: "16 and 10. From the bar on live 12" smelt."  Don't know their names but I do know the look of a happy fisherman, and these guys have that look. A few boats caught limits today (Joe Winn et.al., the Wet Dream) and a few other failed to connect, but over all for the past week the bar has been very good for halibut. It;s as good as it has been in the last 15 years if not better. It won't last and it ain't perfect, but it seems pretty good to guy that lives next to it. Oh, yeah, there's a few stripers around, too. Gage, Cameron and I caught nine after work (all but one released). Redrum tubes in pearl sour caught most of them. They're biting.