Been hanging and fishing here at the cove. The weather and the ocean conditions have been beautiful. I padded out to the whistle this morning nary a boat or kayak insight.  As I was reeling up a nice black I seen the water boil about 40’ in front of me.  And then another boil and this one was closer.  The next boil was 5’ to my starboard side.  And then the boils take a right turn and head away from me. 

Yesterday I hooked into a good Cali. After getting it next to my kayak I reach for my gaffe.  My gaffe is all tangled up and I can’t get it loose. I go to option 2 and reach for my net and by the time I get the net in my hand the Halibut spits my barbless hooks, laughs at my ineptness and swims off.

Today a young couple in a little dinghy brought in a 51” and 62 pounds Pacific Halibut.  I also sadly found a beached whale.  See if you can spot the otters in the third picture.

My brother and I took a couple of our out of town friends who were eager to get on the water and try their hand at fishing to Van Damme. Once on the water we headed around the point and went north. We tied on some “Branson Bait Sea Slugs”  for the newbies to use.  The Sea Slugs enticed some quality fish to take their baits with the biggest being a 33” ling and a 23.75” vermillion.

https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/fish-and-wildlife-closes-nearshore-groundfish-fishery-in-mendocino-san-francisco-and-central-management-areas

Closures to near shore rockfish fishing is scheduled for September 1st at 12:01 am.

 

In response to recent scientific information suggesting some nearshore groundfish species are in decline, significant changes to California’s groundfish sport fishing regulations are expected starting next year, according to a press release issued by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The upcoming changes were developed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) to reduce pressure on these stocks, resulting in shorter fishing seasons in nearshore waters, but new opportunities in deeper water.

In 2022, nearshore groundfish fishing season lengths ranged from eight to 10 months, but in 2023, they are expected to shrink to not more than five-and-a-half months in all areas.

Within the 10-fish daily combined rockfish, cabezon and greenling bag limit, the sub-bag limits of one fish each for quillback and copper rockfish, and four fish for vermilion rockfish will continue in 2023. These sub-bag limits have been in effect since January of 2022 and were necessary because new information in 2021 indicated severe declines in the populations of quillback and copper rockfish off California, and recreational vermilion rockfish catch continued to be greater than sustainable harvest limits.

While groundfish fishing seasons will be shorter for nearshore waters and some bag limits are reduced, new opportunities to fish in deeper water beginning in 2023 will allow anglers to target healthy populations of shelf and slope rockfish in deeper waters, like schooling mid-water widow and yellowtail rockfish, or bottom-dwelling blackgill rockfish. Additionally, the sport fishing seasons for some other federally managed groundfish species like sablefish (sometimes called “black cod” or “butterfish”) will be open year-round without depth constraints. Access to these previously closed depths means new experiences for anglers as they explore new habitats, new fishing locations, new target species, and new gear configurations to assemble and deploy.

“Next year is expected to bring a momentous shift in the sport groundfish fishery as all but one of the overfished shelf species that drove management decisions for the better part of the past two decades are now healthy,” said CDFW Environmental Program Manager Marci Yaremko.  “While concerns for quillback and copper rockfish will impact the nearshore fishery in the coming years, there are also a number of new opportunities for anglers, and CDFW looks forward to supporting their development.”

Just saw this online

OR/CA Border to the 40º10' Line (KMZ)

May 1-31; August 1-September 5
Minimum size limit: 20 inches total length

40º10' Line to Point Arena (Fort Bragg)

May 1- July 4; July 22-September 5
Minimum size limit: 20 inches total length

Point Arena to Pigeon Point (San Francisco)

April 2- May 31; June 23-October 31
Minimum size limit: 24 inches total length through May 15 and 20 inches total length thereafter

Pigeon Point to the U.S./Mexico Border (Monterey and South)

April 2-October 2
Minimum size limit: 24 inches total length through May 15 and 20 inches total length thereafter

Looks like something from the Stone Age

…at Lake Natoma and Folsom Lake. 

The ocean conditions were unfishable so we took our friends from Oregon and SoCal on an epic hike through the redwoods and fern canyon. We followed the James Irvine Trail up and down until it led us to a dirt road with lots of traffic heading to fern canyon, which prompted our friends to ask, “why didn’t we just drive down here?”  After a quick picnic lunch we hiked through fern canyon and continued on back to where we started.  We hiked about 13 scenic miles.