Visitor from the North

Howdy -

New to this forum but active on NorthWest KA. Planning a road trip down the coast this spring (late March) with tentative stops at Trinidad and Dillon Beach/Tomales Bay. Hoping to find some good suggestions for any and all types of Kayak fishing/crabbing. Spend a good amount of time in the Ocean up here for bottom fish, Salmon and crabbing.

Looking forward to advice and suggestions as well as potentially joining up with some folk for a day on the water.

Beer_Run
aka Bob

Rockfish/lingcod not open that time of year.  Salmon is closed then too.  The best bets out of Trinidad that time of year are sand dabs, it’s about 3-4 miles before you start getting into them and there is no bag limit.

Crab season hasn’t been great either.

There’s some marginally decent clamming tides around April 1, probably the best bet. Razors are still closed, so again not much going on in Trinidad. There may be California halibut in Tomales bay by that time. Clamming would be Humboldt bay and Tomales bay.

I'll fish!  Tomales...

Hey Beer Run,

Yeah, late March is still the off season for ocean stuff around here. There may be more halibut in San Francisco Bay than Tomales then, though Tomales is prettier. There will be a few dungeness to be caught from Bodega or Half Moon Bay.

Thanks all for the input. When is prime time to make a kayak fishing trip to Trinidad, Dillon, Tomales? May stick around here and hit the Willamette for Spring Chinook.

Thanks all for the input. When is prime time to make a kayak fishing trip to Trinidad, Dillon, Tomales? May stick around here and hit the Willamette for Spring Chinook.

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day. A little earlier or later also works, but most Trinidad opportunity has been in the July-august timeframe. Trinidad is much more like Oregon than Tomales is. There is a pretty significant habitat break at the three large underwater canyons in southern Humboldt county, and the 40°10’N line is used as a major demarcation for regulations for that reason.

Hey Bob, if you're driving that far south, you should check out Shelter Cove. It's in between Fort Bragg and Eureka, on the south end of the Lost Coast. I still make an annual trip down there to fish every summer. You'll find tons of info on it if you search this message board.

I agree with other posters that NorCal saltwater fishing opportunities in March are pretty slim. You'd be better off sticking around in Oregon waiting for a weather window for bottomfish, or doing the springer thing on the Willy. Unlike up here, bottomfish is closed for several months of the year in CA.

Welcome to NCKA Bob 

Welcome Bob.
Bob looks like a slayer.
California fishes may be on edge 

Welcome Bob.
Bob looks like a slayer.
California fishes may be on edge 

Bob may have eaten a few fish, I have witnessed a couple times him inviting them over for dinner. He’s good company to fish with as well.

Fishing/Beer run/more fishing... can't argue with that