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Fishing Report
ARCHIVE - 2010

Ron Mancuso of San Jose showing off his 34 pounder to the Queen he caught on April 15, 2003
IN THIS REPORT:

Past Scores
Past Whoppers
Past Daily Summary
2009 Archive
2008 Archive
2007 Archive
2006 Archive
2005 Archive
2004 Archive
2003 Archive

PAST SCORES:
Tue., Nov. 16 - Fishing seasons closed...see you next season!
Fri., Nov. 12 - Cancelled...too much wind in the forecast
Thu., Nov. 11 - 33 anglers, around 6 per rod average
Wed., Nov. 10 - Off one more day but we'll be fishing tomorrow
Tue., Nov. 9 - Cancelled...ocean still not cooperating
Mon., Nov. 8 - Cancelled due to ocean forecast
Sun., Nov. 7 - Cancelled...rainy blustery day
Sat., Nov. 6 - 38 anglers, 152 good quality rockfish, 2 cabezon to 10 lbs.
Fri., Nov. 5 - Day off to attend PFMC meeting
Thu., Nov. 4 - Day off to attend PFMC meeting
Wed., Nov. 3 - Cancelled due to large swells still rolling through
Tue., Nov. 2 - Cancelled...13 to 15 foot swells forecast!
Mon., Nov. 1 - 9 anglers, limits, 2 lingcod to 6 pounds
Sun., Oct. 31 - 15 anglers, about 8 per rod average, good quality, 7 cabezon
Sat., Oct. 30 - 26 anglers, about half limits, 4 white seabass to 38 lbs.
Fri., Oct. 29 - Cancelled due to marine forecast
Thu., Oct. 28 - 9 anglers, 90 rockcod (limits)
Wed., Oct. 27 - 15 anglers, 144 rockcod
Tue., Oct. 26 - Cancelled to let swells calm back down; we'll be fishing Wed.
Mon., Oct. 25 - Day off due to ocean forecast
Sun., Oct. 24 - Cancelled due to ocean forecast
Sat., Oct. 23 - 21 anglers, 198 rockcod...just a few fish shy of limits
Fri., Oct. 22 - 10 anglers, limits, 1 cab to 7#, 2 lings to 13#, 11# halibut
Thu., Oct. 21 - 30 anglers, 300 rockcod (limits), 3 lingcod to 10 lbs.
Wed., Oct. 20 - 8 man private charter, limits, 2 cabezon to 9 lbs.
Tue., Oct. 19 - One more day off to install new oil cooler
Mon., Oct. 18 - Day off to remove oil cooler; wait for part
Sun., Oct. 17 - 15 man charter, 150 rockcod (limits)
Sat., Oct. 16 - 35 anglers, 285 rockcod (over 100 reds), couple lings/cabs
Fri., Oct. 15 - 23 anglers, 230 rockcod (limits)
Thu., Oct. 14 - 24 Friends of Rollo kids, caught a mess o' fish
Wed., Oct. 13 - 18 anglers, limits, 1 lingcod to 8 lbs.
Tue., Oct. 12 - 11 anglers, limits, 1 cabezon to 6 lbs., 1 ling to 12 lbs.
Mon., Oct. 11 - 24 anglers, wind blew us back
Sun., Oct. 10 - 24 anglers, waiting for paperwork
Sat., Oct. 9 - 21 anglers, limits, 6 lingcod
Fri., Oct. 8 - 27 anglers, 270 rockcod to 8 lbs. (limits), 1 lingcod
Thu., Oct. 7 - 22 anglers, 220 rockcod (limits), 1 lingcod to 13 lbs.
Wed., Oct. 6 - 11 anglers, 110 rockcod (limits)
Tue., Oct. 5 - One more day off to let the swells calm down
Mon., Oct. 4 - Day off
Sun., Oct. 3 - 25 man charter, 150 bottomfish give or take
Sat., Oct. 2 - 31 anglers, good fishing, tough catching til the end
Fri., Oct. 1 - 28 anglers, out pickin' and scratchin'
Thu., Sept. 30 - 16 anglers, 130 rockcod, 2 lingcod to 7 lbs.
Wed., Sept. 29 - don't remember how many (gotta get paperwork) but it was a tough day
Tue., Sept. 28 - 11 anglers, 110 rockcod (limits)
Mon., Sept. 27 - Day off to let ocean calm down
Sun., Sept. 26 - 37 anglers, rotten weather, some limits, some few, came back in early
Sat., Sept. 25 - 21 anglers, limits of mostly browns and reds, 1 ling to 6 lbs.
Fri., Sept. 24 - 19 anglers, limits, 4 lings to 14 lbs., 3 cabs to 7 lbs.
Thu., Sept. 23 - 19 anglers, limits w/LOTS of reds, 3 lings to 13#, 3 cabs to 8, 7# halibut
Wed., Sept. 22 - 8 anglers, limits, 12 cabezon to 6 lbs.
Tue., Sept. 21 - 20 anglers, limits for those fishing who wanted them
Mon., Sept. 20 - waiting for paperwork; will update tomorrow
Sun., Sept. 19 - 27 man charter, waiting for paperwork
Sat., Sept. 18 - 35 anglers, think we got 'em plus a couple lings and cabs
Fri., Sept. 17 - 17 anglers, 151 rockcod, 3 cabs to 4#, 1 ling to 10#, 1 halibut to 7#
Thu., Sept. 16 - 24 anglers, 197 rockcod, 3 cabs, 3 lings to 13#, 3 halibut to 16#
Wed., Sept. 15 - 11 anglers, limits, 2 lingcod to 15 lbs.
Tue., Sept. 14 - 20 anglers, 185 rockcod, 4 cabs, 4 lings, wolf eel
Mon., Sept. 13 - 15 anglers, limits, 3 cabezon, 1 lingcod to 13 lbs.
Sun., Sept. 12 - 35 anglers, 350 rockcod (limits), 3 lingcod
Sat., Sept. 11 - 36 anglers, about 8 per rod, 2 lings to 22 lbs., 9 cabs to 10 lbs.
Fri., Sept. 10 - 24 anglers, limits, 9 lb. cabezon, 6 lb. halibut
Thu., Sept. 9 - 13 anglers, limits, 1 wolf eel
Wed., Sept. 8 - 10 anglers, limits, 1 lingcod to 7 lbs.
Tue., Sept. 7 - 12 anglers, limits, 1 cabezon
Mon., Sept. 6 - 36 anglers, limits, 2 lingcod
Sun., Sept. 5 - 33 anglers, rough ocean, caught some, came back early
Sat., Sept. 4 - 37 anglers, close to limits, 2 lings to 15#, 1 cab to 3#, 24# halibut
Thu., Sept. 2 - 24 anglers, about 8 per rod give or take
Wed., Sept. 1 - 17 anglers, 16 limits, 1 ling to 6 lbs.
Tue., Aug. 31 - 21 anglers, 210 rockcod (limits), 1 ling to 5 lbs.
Mon., Aug. 30 - 16 anglers, limits...
Sun., Aug. 29 - 23 anglers, limits...
Sat., Aug. 28 - cancelled...too much wind for our liking
Fri., Aug. 27 - 16 anglers, limits, 1 lingcod to 6 lbs.
Thu., Aug. 26 - 36 anglers, 262 rockcod, 13 lb. ling, 3 cabs to 4 lbs.
Wed., Aug. 25 - 16 anglers, 130 rockcod, 1 ling, 2 cabs to 3 lbs.
Tue., Aug. 24 - 23 anglers, 208 rockcod, 6 lb. cabezon
Mon., Aug. 23 - 6 anglers, 4 salmon to 24 lbs., lost 3 more
Sun., Aug. 22 - 20 anglers, 140 rockcod, 1 lingcod to 17 lbs., 2 cabezon to 6#
Sat., Aug. 21 - 34 anglers, 284 rockcod, 6 cabezon to 6 lbs., 1 halibut to 9 lbs.
Fri., Aug. 20 - 10 anglers, 73 rockcod, 1 ling to 5 lbs., 1 cabezon to 4 lbs.
Thu., Aug. 19 - 15 anglers, 147 rockcod + 3 cabezon, 3 lingcod to 8 lbs.
Wed., Aug. 18 - 23 anglers, 224 rockcod, 6 cabs to 6#, 5 lings to 10#, 8# halibut
Tue., Aug. 17 - 23 anglers, 194 rockcod, 6 lings to 21#, 12 cabs to 10#, 4 halibut to 9#
Mon., Aug. 16 - 18 anglers, about 7 per rod, couple of cabezon to 8 lbs.
Sun., Aug. 15 - 36 anglers, half limits, 7# ling, 4# cab, 9# halibut
Sat., Aug. 14 - 35 anglers, 291 rockcod, 6# ling, 3# cab, 13# halibut
Fri., Aug. 13 - 32 anglers, 306 rockcod, 3 lings to 9#, 2 cabs to 4#
Thu., Aug. 12 - 26 anglers, 241 rockcod, 4 cabs to 5#, 1 ling to 15#
Wed., Aug. 11 - 23 PAL anglers, 7 per rod, 4 lings to 12#, 4 cabs to 8#
Tue., Aug. 10 - 39 anglers, 293 rockcod, 1 cab to 5#, 6 lings to 12#, 10# halibut
Mon., Aug. 9 - 8 Fishing Fools, 3 salmon to 20 pounds
Sun., Aug. 8 - 23 anglers, 172 rockcod, 1 lingcod to 12 lbs., 7 cabezon
Sat., Aug. 7 - 27 anglers, 8 per rod, 3 lings to 10#, 8 cabezon
Fri., Aug. 6 - 18 anglers, limits, 13 lings to 15 lbs., 18 cabezon
Thu., Aug. 5 - 18 anglers, limits, 7 lings to 15 lbs., 9 cabezon
Wed., Aug. 4 - 20 anglers, limits, 5 cabs to 5#, 6 lings to 17#, 2 halibut to 12#
Tue., Aug. 3 - 27 anglers, limits, 2 cabs to 6#, 5 lings to 18#, 1 halibut to 12#
Mon., Aug. 2 - 13 anglers, limits, 3 cabs to 8#, 1 ling to 7#
Sun., Aug. 1 - 33 anglers, 5 to 6 per rod, 7 cabs to 9#
Sat., July 31 - 23 anglers, rolly weather, caught some, came back early
Fri., July 30 - 29 anglers, 286 rockcod + 4 cabs to 6#, 3 lings to 15 lbs.
Thu., July 29 - Scheduled day off...heading to San Diego
Wed., July 28 - 24 PAL kids, lots of quality fish
Tue., July 27 - 36 anglers, about 8 per rod average
Mon., July 26 - Fishing Fools charter, released 3 chunky silvers, no kings
Sun., July 25 - 11 man charter, 110 rockcod, 3 lingcod to 30 pounds!!
Sat., July 24 - 18 man charter, 162 rockcod + 18 cabs to 8 lbs., 3 lings to 6 lbs.
Fri., July 23 - 26 man charter, about 8 per rod
Thu., July 22 - didn't get report from Capt. Bob....
Wed., July 21 - 19 San Mateo PAL kids - about half limits of rockfish
Tue., July 20 - 28 anglers, the haves and the have nots...
Mon., July 19 - Day off...but we're back fishing tomorrow....
Sun., July 18 - Trip cancelled...waiting for a new fuel line....
Sat., July 17 - 25 anglers, browns, thresher, cabs, one ling
Fri., July 16 - 30 anglers, the haves and the have nots, 2 halibut to 22 lbs. and more
Thu., July 15 - 20 hopeful salmon anglers, zip, zero, nada salmon
Wed., July 14 - 37 anglers, 249 rockcod, 1 cabezon to 4 lbs. (not a bar kinda day)
Tue., July 13 - 23 PAL kids, scratched out some fish, but need shrimp flies...
Mon., July 12 - Fishing Fools private charter
Sun., July 11 - 34 anglers, 264 rockcod, 8 cabs to 11#, 2 lings to 8#, 2 halibut to 18#
Sat., July 10 - 32 anglers, limits, 16 cabs to 10#, 10 lings to 14#, 1 halibut to 8#
Fri., July 9 - 32 anglers, 273 rockcod, 12 cabezon to 10 lbs., 9 lingcod to 12 lbs.
Thu., July 8 - 5 man private charter, limits of almost all quality browns, 1 13# ling
Wed., July 7 - 16 anglers, 130 rockcod, 2 lingcod to 12 lbs.
Tue., July 6 - 31 anglers, little better than half limits but not much quality, 1 cab
Mon., July 5 - 27 anglers, south wind still nipping us...166 rockcod
Sun., July 4 - 37 anglers, little over 200 rockfish, 4 lingcod to 5 lbs., 2 cabs to 4 lbs.
Sat., July 3 - 27 anglers, 160 rockcod, browns and vermillions, 1 lingcod
Fri., July 2 - 17 anglers, around the half limit mark of mostly browns, 1 lingcod
Thu., July 1 - Cancelled...too much wind and swell for our liking
Wed., June 30 - 32 anglers, 256 rockcod (about 8 per rod average...see report below)
Tue., June 29 - 11 anglers, 110 rockcod (limits - 90% bolinas rockcod and vermillions)
Mon., June 28 - 8 Fishing Fools, 9 salmon to 14 lbs.
Sun., June 27 - 30 anglers, rockcod off the bite, around half limits
Sat., June 26 - 15 anglers, 148 rockcod + 2 cabezon, (limits) 16 lingcod to 18 lbs.
Fri., June 25 - 35 Friends of Rollo kids, 350 rockcod (limits)
Thu., June 24 - 8 anglers, 6 salmon to 12 lbs., lost a few, shook a few, decent action
Wed., June 23 - 21 anglers, 210 rockcod (limits)
Tue., June 22 - 17 anglers, 170 rockcod (limits), nice browns, vermillions
Mon., June 21 - 5 anglers, released 7 silvers, came back early, too bouncy
Thu., June 17 - 27 Friends of Rollo kids, caught a few, came back early
Sun., June 13 - 35 anglers, well kinda, check out report for details
Sun., June 6 - 24 anglers, 96 rockcod, 1 lingcod to 7 lbs., 2 cabezon to 4 lbs.
Sat., June 5 - 20 anglers, found more silvers but still no kings
Fri., June 4 - 9 anglers, lots of silvers, no kings
Thu., June 3 - 15 anglers, 22 lb. halibut!, from 0-7 per, 3 cabs to 7#, 8# ling
Mon., May 31 - 7 anglers, 6 salmon to 21 lbs., enough hooked for limits
Sun., May 30 - 11 anglers, 6 salmon to 28 lbs., hooked a fish per rod
Sat., May 29 - 22 anglers, 2 lingcod, 1 cabezon, about 50 rockcod, wind howling
Fri., May 28 - 20 anglers, 11 salmon to 26 lbs., over 20 hooked
Mon., May 24 - 6 anglers, 3 bites, 3 salmon to 12, 15 and 17 lbs.
Mon., May 17 - 8 anglers, 11 salmon to 17 lbs. (sea lions stole 7, too)
Sun., May 16 - 23 anglers, 142 rockcod, 1 lingcod to 8 lbs.
Sat., May 15 - 23 anglers, 148 rockcod, 5 cabs to 12 lbs., 1 ling to 8 lbs.
Fri., May 14 - 14 SF 49ers, landed 9 salmon to 17 lbs. with limit style action
Sun., May 9 - 10 anglers, 11 pound keeper, 22" shaker
Sat., May 8 - 28 anglers, about same as yesterday
Fri., May 7 - 18 anglers, anywhere from 0 to 5 fish per rod
Sat., April 24 - 9 anglers, released a shaker, still no keepers
Fri., April 23 - 4 anglers, nothin but a couple of scratched baits
Sun., April 18 - 16 anglers, no fishies
Sat., April 17 - 31 anglers, we caught one...a 16 pounder
Fri., April 16 - 9 anglers, a driveby, couple of chomped baits
Wed., April 14 - 15 anglers, everything we were looking for except salmon
Sat., April 10 - 24 anglers, gave it the college try
Wed., April 7 - 9 anglers, visited the tuna grounds, nobody home there, either
Tue., April 6 - 21 anglers, covered lots of ground, lots of jelly, no biters
Sat., April 3 - 24 anglers, couple of scratched baits, no salmon, rotten weather
Sat., Feb. 20 - 20 anglers, 27 squid hooked, 7 landed to 45 pounds

Click here to go to our 2009 Archive
Click here to go to our 2008 Archive
Click here to go to our 2007 Archive
Click here to go to our 2006 Archive
Click here to go to our 2005 Archive
Click here to go to our 2004 Archive
Click here to go to our 2003 Archive
Or click here to return to our current Fishing Report

WHOPPERS (20 lbs. and over in bold):
Sat., Nov. 6 - Mike Collins of Redwood City - 10 lb. cabezon - Pigeon Point
Sat., Oct. 30 - Betty Wright of Hayward - 36 lb. white seabass - San Gregorio
Sat., Oct. 30 - Jeffrey Olla of San Francisco - 21 lb. white seabass - San Gregorio
Sat., Oct. 30 - Russell Svanet of San Bruno - 18 lb. white seabass - San Gregorio
Fri., Oct. 22 - 13 lb. lingcod
Fri., Oct. 22 - 11 lb. halibut
Thu., Oct. 21 - 10 lb. lingcod
Wed., Oct. 20 - 9 lb. cabezon
Tue., Oct. 12 - 12 lb. lingcod
Thu., Oct. 7 - 13 lb. lingcod
Thu., Sept. 23 - Larry Ma of San Mateo - 13 lb. lingcod
Thu., Sept. 23 - 9 lb. vermillion, 8 lb. cabezon, 7 lb. halibut
Wed., Sept. 22 - 6 lb. cabezon
Tue., Sept. 21 - 6 lb. vermillion
Fri., Sept. 17 - Aneel - 10 lb. lingcod
Thu., Sept. 16 - Shanea Evans of Reno - 16 lb. halibut - Pigeon Point
Thu., Sept. 16 - Heather Shirley of El Granada - 13 lb. lingcod - Pigeon Point
Wed., Sept. 15 - 15 lb. lingcod
Mon., Sept. 13 - 13 lb. lingcod
Sat., Sept. 11 - 22 lb. lingcod, 10 lb. cabezon
Fri., Sept. 10 - 9 lb. cabezon
Fri., Sept. 3 - Rudy Gonzalez of Santa Clara - 5 lb. cabezon
Tue., Aug. 31 - Jacob Walter of Fremont - 6 lb. lingcod
Fri., Aug. 27 - Jessie Sito of San Ramon - 6 lb. lingcod - San Gregorio
Thu., Aug. 26 - Elizabeth Wood of Utah - 13 lb. lingcod - New Years Island
Tue., Aug. 24 - Phil Hoek of Cameron Park - 6 lb. cabezon - New Years
Mon., Aug. 23 - Don Rossi of Cupertino - 24 lb. salmon - Duxbury
Sun., Aug. 22 - Steven Ye of San Francisco - 17 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Sat., Aug. 21 - Peter Thurston of San Francisco - 9 lb. halibut - Pescadero
Wed., Aug. 18 - Skyler Fortuna of San Francisco - 10 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Wed., Aug. 18 - Harry Boos of Sunnyvale - 9 lb. halibut - Pescadero
Tue., Aug. 17 - Garrett Rasband of Utah - 21 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Mon., Aug. 16 - Larry Squiers of Fremont - 8 lb. cabezon - Martins Beach
Sun., Aug. 15 - Raul Ochoa of Tracy - 9 lb. halibut - Pescadero
Sat., Aug. 14 - Luis Pardo of ? - 13 lb. halibut - New Years
Fri., Aug. 13 - Lara Batra of San Jose - 9 lb. lingcod - Ano Nuevo
Thu., Aug. 12 - Jim Marinello of Fremont - 15 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Tue., Aug. 10 - Paul Burchardt of San Francisco - 12 lb. lingcod
Mon., Aug. 9 - One of the Fishing Fools - 20 lb. salmon - Duxbury
Sun., Aug. 8 - Rojit Jacob of San Jose - 12 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Sat., Aug. 7 - Jeremias Sandoval of Sacramento - 10 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Fri., Aug. 6 - Rick Morgan of San Diego - 15 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Thu., Aug. 5 - Greg Christie of Paradise - 15 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Wed., Aug. 4 - Chuck Harris of ? - 17 lb. lingcod - Bean Hollow
Wed., Aug. 4 - Alex Yakoubovsky of Danville - 12 lb. halibut - Bean Hollow
Tue., Aug. 3 - Eric Lieu of San Jose - 18 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Sat., July 31 - Jeremy Richards of San Jose - 7 lb. vermillion
Fri., July 29 - 15 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Sun., July 27 - Russell Stewart - 30 lb. lingcod - Pigeon Point
Fri., July 23 - Kelvin Finkley of Roseville - 9 lb. lingcod
Thu., July 22 - Jerry Yoshida of Richmond - 10.5 lb. lingcod
Wed., July 21 - Lawrence Young of San Francisco - 6 lb. cabezon - The Ritz
Tue., July 20 - Mike Fuller of Oakdale - 10 lb. lingcod
Fri., July 16 - Lisa Williams - 22 lb. halibut - Pescadero
Wed., July 14 - Dwayne Haug of Ohio - 5 lb. vermillion
Sun., July 11 - Vladamir Gattenberger of San Mateo - 18 lb. halibut - Pigeon Point
Sat., July 10 - Sara Walter of San Francisco - 14 lb. lingcod - Pescadero
Fri., July 9 - John Schneider of San Jose - 12 lb. lingcod
Fri., July 9 - 10 lb. cabezon -
Thu., July 7 - Lawrence Dass of Fremont - 13 lb. lingcod - San Gregorio
Tue., July 6 - Stan Wong of San Jose - 5 lb. vermillion - Pescadero
Sun., July 4 - Randy Lee of Sunnyvale - 5 lb. lingcod - San Gregorio
Sat., July 3 - John Christie of Paradise - 6 lb. vermillion - San Gregorio
Thu., July 1 - Brandon Zacharias of Danville - 5 lb. lingcod
Mon., June 28 - 14 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Sat., June 26 - Nicholas - 18 lb. lingcod - San Gregorio
Sat., June 26 - Denise Nordenstrom of Fairfield - 13 lb. ling - San Gregorio
Sun., June 6 - 7 lb. lingcod - Pigeon Point
Thu., June 3 - Robert Lim - 22 lb. halibut - Pigeon Point
Mon., May 31 - 21 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Sun., May 30 - Stephen Lee of Hayward - 28 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Sun., May 30 - Stephen Lee of Hayward - 18 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Fri., May 28 - Gary Burella of Santa Clara - 26 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Mon., May 24 - Harry Louden - 17 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Mon., May 24 - Lauren - 15 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Mon., May 17 - John Exe of Sunnyvale - 17 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Sat., May 15 - Robert Ornelas, Jr. of Sparks - 12 lbs. cabezon - New Years
Fri., May 14 - SF 49er Chris Patrick - 17 lb. salmon - Deep Reef
Sun., May 9 - Raman Najjarian - 11 pound salmon - outside Deep Reef
Sat., April 17 - 16 pound salmon - South of Farallon Islands
Sat., Feb. 20 - 45 pound Humboldt squid - Pioneer area

Click here to go to our 2009 Archive
Click here to go to our 2008 Archive
Click here to go to our 2007 Archive
Click here to go to our 2006 Archive
Click here to go to our 2005 Archive
Click here to go to our 2004 Archive
Click here to go to our 2003 Archive
Or click here to return to our current Fishing Report

PAST DAILY SUMMARY:

December 2010 - The fishing seasons off our coastline are now closed for the rest of the year. For those wondering if we do crab trips, nope...we leave that up to the commercial guys. If you'd like to pick up some yummy dungeness crabs, there are lots of commercial boats selling them off the docks at the harbor, and there are so many being caught that I betcha you can get them for a darn good price right now. For the month of December, we're going to take some time off, wind down a bit and try to enjoy life just a tad, even though our shop will continue to be open pretty much daily from 8 to 4 through the winter. Bob is going on a 10 day long range trip with some friends in the industry who scheduled a trip on the Red Rooster out of San Diego that leaves on Friday, December 10th. Bob caught several 200 pound yellowfin on his last 10 day trip, so his hope is to find one of those rare 300 pounders this time. Bob has a knack for hooking big fish, so good chance if there's one swimming around he might just find it. Then it's all up to the gear, stamina and the fish to see who will win the battle. Once the holidays are over, we may schedule some Humboldt squid trips on weekends starting in January if it sounds like they are hanging around. During the first few months of the year we'll also start running whale watching trips on weekends. And the waiting period for the more-or-less annual surf contest at Mavericks is now officially open, so we're on hold for the right conditions for the contest to take place between now and the end of February. If you're interested in some of the best seats in the house to view the contest, more info about our Mavericks boat trips is available on our Mavericks webpage at www.fishingboat.com/mavericks.html. In between looking for squid, whales and waves there will be a whole lot of the usual cleaning, painting, upgrading, inspections and the like that takes place annually on the QH during the winter months. As far as when we'll be back fishing, we don't really know right now. The next meetings of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (the fishing Feds) will take place March 5-10 in Vancouver, Washington and April 9-14 here in San Mateo. Sometime during those two meetings, the final decision regarding our salmon and rockfishing seasons will be determined. Everyone thought the 2011 rockfishing season was a done deal, that is until the PFMC's last meeting where all plans were put on hold. The rockfishing season was slated to open below Pigeon Point on May 1, and there's a good chance that will still happen, but opening day above Pigeon Point is up in the air at this point. Last, but not least, if you're looking for gift ideas, we have lots of lures at our shop that make for perfect stocking stuffers and, for that hard-to-buy-for individual, you can't go wrong with a Queen of Hearts gift card. Make your shopping even easier by ordering your gift card online by clicking on our secure Merchandise webpage at www.fishingboat.com/merchandise.html. So, with all of that said, stay safe, stay warm, enjoy your holidays and we'll see you next season.

Friday, November 12 - The wind backed off just enough to let us get another trip in below Pigeon Point yesterday on Thursday. It was a fish here, a fish there kind of bite, but it was good just to be able to go fishing with a bunch of folks who share our love of the sport one more time before the long upcoming closure. The weather overall turned out to be fairly decent the majority of the day, but the wind did come up right at the end. Because of the distance we have to travel to get to and from Pigeon, we cancelled our trip for Friday as the wind is supposed to really whip up by the end of the day, and we're watching the forecast real close for our trips for Saturday and Sunday. If you have a reservation for this weekend, we make the final decision once we receive the final forecast around 2:30 to 3:00 in the afternoon for the next day's trip. If we end up cancelling, we'll be giving everyone a call between 3 and 4. Feel free to give a call if you haven't heard anything and would like an update. We've got our fingers crossed that the forecast holds up for Monday, because, as it stands now, the weather looks like it may let us get that last trip in before the season closes at the end of the day on Monday, November 15.

Monday, November 8 - Sounds like it was a real enjoyable trip this past Saturday. We had a great group of folks onboard that had a fun day of fishing, even though the fish weren't nearly as cooperative as we'd have liked. What was lacked in quantity was made up with quality, as there were some jumbo bottomfish caught, including a vermillion that was just nosed out of being the jackpot fish by a 10 pound cabezon (congrats, Mike). Scores for the day ranged from just a couple of fish for some to others taking home just a couple short of limits. I was at the shop all day on Saturday, so I spoke with some of the guys when they came back to the shop at the end of the day to pick up some ice, and they were thrilled with some of the fish that were landed. With the weather system rapidly approaching Saturday night, we cancelled our trip for Sunday, and we're still waiting for the ocean to give us the next break in the systems offshore so we can get another trip or two in before the end of the season. It's a day by day call, so darn good idea to make a reservation if you're interested in going not just to make sure you have a spot, but also so we have a way of contacting you if the weather isn't going to cooperate. The rockcod season ends one week from today at the end of the day on Monday, November 15.

Wednesday, November 3 - Today and yesterday just goes to show how you can't judge what's going on in the ocean by what's happening on land. Gorgeous calm blue skies and temperatures in the 70s or higher all around the Bay. Great time to go fishing on the ocean, right? Nope...a HUGE swell forecast to be 13 to 15 feet rolled in on Tuesday and is supposed to hang around until Wednesday afternoon, but then it will dramatically drop by Thursday morning right back to the 6 to 8 foot range we more or less expect this time of year. Needless to say, we cancelled our trips on Tuesday and Wednesday. Our trips for Thursday and Friday are also scratched, not because of the weather, but because Bob is attending the last set of Pacific Fishery Management Council meetings for this year down in Costa Mesa. We will be back running rockfishing trips on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and there's still plenty of room available on both days. We made our first official end-of-season Pigeon Point trip on Monday with a couple of handfuls of guys who made fairly quick work of catching limits of bottomfish. With lots of room at the rail, even Capt. Bob dusted off his old favorite fishing rod. Heather immediately started ribbing Bob when he didn't hook a fish on his first drop, so, what'd he do? Hooked a keeper lingcod on his second cast just to show he remembers how to do it (and, boy, was it tasty!). Back when I first met Bob almost 30 years ago he used to lay the fish away, but ever since DFG made the regulation a few years ago that makes it illegal for crew members to give fish they catch to customers, Bob doesn't put a line in the water very often. Without a doubt, it's pretty amazing to witness how in tune Bob is bouncing a lure off the ocean bottom. What else should be expected after taking folks fishing day after day, season after season for well over the past 25 years out of Half Moon Bay....

Saturday, October 30 - Ghosts for Halloween on the Queen?...how about four of them! Halloween is tomorrow, and almost as if on cue, ghosts appear for the first time onboard the Queen of Hearts. Ghosts, as in white seabass that is. White seabass are nicknamed "ghosts" because they appear without warning and usually disappear just about as quick, so catching them is a real treat, especially in Northern California where they had not been seen very much until this year. They are such a special, excellent eating fish that guys on long range trips out of Southern California will stand at the rail all night long just for the chance of catching one. If you follow my reports, you may remember how I said more than a month ago that white seabass had appeared off our coastline, and that maybe, just maybe, someone might be lucky enough to land one on a rockfishing trip. Well, today was the day. And not just one was landed, but a total of four were brought in, with the biggest a nice 36 pounder, as well as a 21 pounder and two "baby" 18 pounders. The HMB superfly rigs do it again, as three out of four of the seabass were landed on the same HMB superfly rigs tipped with a strip of squid that have been the top fish catcher overall this season. In addition to the seabass, we ended the day with about half limits of rockcod. We have one last day tomorrow to fish the waters above Pigeon Point, so hopefully we'll end the month on a high note. Still enough space available that if you'd like to join us, just come on down in the morning and check in at our shop between 5:30 to 6:15.

Thursday, October 28 - Easy and early limits today with a tad bit better quality than yesterday, even though there were still a lot of smaller fish in the mix, but hopefully that is a good sign for the future. The ocean forecast still looks like it's going to let us go fishing this weekend, but this afternoon's forecast we received for Friday was not to our liking so we've scratched Friday's trip. The wind and swell is supposed to come right back down so, as it stands now, our trips are on for this weekend. Saturday and Sunday will be the last two days to fish above Pigeon Point before that area closes, and then we'll fish below Pigeon, weather and interest permitting, through the last day of the season on Monday, November 15. There's nothing wrong with fishing below Pigeon Point, it's just that it's a minimum of about an hour and a half boat ride to the area where it'll be open for rockfishing. Bob fishes the Pigeon Point area quite a bit throughout the season; as of November 1, though, we're just simply required to travel that far to be able to fish that area if we want to continue to run trips. If you'd like to join us on this Saturday, we currently have about 8 open spots, so making reservations sooner than later is recommended. We're about the half way mark capacity-wise for Sunday, but reservations are still a good idea.

Wednesday, October 27 - After the big swell rolled through yesterday, the fish were a little on the shell-shocked side and holding tight in their crevices this morning, even though the ocean had calmed right down for today's trip. We ended up with just 6 fish shy of limits, 144 rockcod for 15 anglers, with a whole bunch of fish taco size fish making up the bulk of the catch along with handful or two of quality bottomfish. With just four days left to fish above Pigeon Point, we're going to give it another shot tomorrow and see if some bigger fish want to come out and play. We have a pretty light load on the books for tomorrow with less than a dozen folks signed up, so there's lots of room available if you'd like to join us. We'll be taking off at 7:00 a.m., so arrive no later than 6:30 to check in. The forecast is calling for a chance of rain pretty much every day for the next several days, so be sure to bring along a rain jacket or some waterproof layer in case the sky decides to spit and sputter.

Monday, October 25 - The rain has stopped, the sky is clear, but the swells on the ocean are still too big for our liking; with 10 to 13 foot swells every 13 seconds forecast for Tuesday, we've cancelled our trip for Tuesday. The good news is that the swell is supposed to drop significantly very quickly, and it should be down to a reasonable 6 to 8 feet with very little wind on Wednesday, so we're back to fishing on Wednesday as scheduled. As far as the last couple of days, Bob and I have tried to enjoy actually having two days in a row to sleep in...only problem is we keep waking up at 3am even with the alarm clock turned off. Oh well, guess we'll just have to give it some time after the season ends to get back to sleeping in to a little more humane hour. We did squeek in the trip like we thought we would on this past Saturday. It wasn't great weather, but it wasn't terrible either. Same for the fishing...not great, but not terrible. We ended up with just a few short of limits and there were quite a few small guys in the mix, but the folks we had booked really wanted to go and it still sounds like they enjoyed themselves. With this being the last week we are able to fish above Pigeon Point, folks know they gotta take their shots when we get them.

Friday, October 22 - Despite the ominous looking sky, we made it out today and caught limits for 10 people including a 7 pound cabezon plus 2 lingcod to 13 pounds and an 11 pound halibut. There was a little sharpness to the swell but our biggest enemy The Wind never really picked up. At this point the forecast for tomorrow on Saturday is looking pretty much the same, so we're still planning on fishing on Saturday as long as the weather holds out. But, based on what we see coming, we've already thrown in the towel and cancelled our trip for Sunday as well as on Monday. So, if you'd like to join us tomorrow, there's still plenty of room. Don't worry about calling or trying to get a hold of us tonight; just come on down...we'll be there with our doors open at 5:30 a.m.; plan on arriving by no later than 6:15 to check in.

Thursday, October 21 - The sky is gray and overcast, but the ocean was fine and the fish were biting. Maybe they know they better eat while they can, because it is starting to look like a system may be coming our way that could churn things up a bit. We had good fishing today, ending up with limits for all 30 anglers onboard, with an assortment of 300 rockcod plus three lingcod to 10 pounds. The ocean forecast looks to be about the same for tomorrow on Friday as it was for today, and it seems like the weatherman is even calling for the scattered showers to stay in the North Bay, so our trip for Friday is on. Don't worry about calling or emailing to make a reservation if you'd like to join us tomorrow; we have plenty of space available so just come on down and check at our shop between 6 and 6:15 a.m. We may even be able to squeek in a trip on Saturday, but it's kinda iffy at this point and we're keeping a close eye on conditions. If we get what the forecast is calling for, we may be knocked off the water for three or four days. One weather model I watch is calling for good conditions to return by Thursday, but we'll just have to take it day by day to see how things progress. As always, if you'd like to join us, we recommend you make reservations for future dates so we can do our best to let you know if there's any change in plans.

Wednesday, October 20 - Today we had a "sweetheart" private charter, with just 8 guys taking over the whole boat for the day. They enjoyed lots of elbow room and all took home their 10 fish rockcod limit along with two cabezon, the biggest a hefty 9 pounder, and still got back in plenty of time to watch the Giants' game. Lots of folks are calling in worried about the rain in the forecast for the next several days, but, as we always say, the fish don't care if it rains...they're already wet, and that's why man invented rainjackets. Rain doesn't stop us from fishing, so as long as the weather permits and folks want to give it a try, we're still fishing every day. If you want to join us tomorrow on Thursday, come on down and check in at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing, between 6 and 6:15 a.m.

Tuesday, October 19 - Received the word a little before noon that Bob has the new oil cooler in hand and is heading to the boat to hook it up, so, as long as he's half the boat mechanic I know he is, we'll be back up and running by early this afternoon. The ocean weather forecast still looks like it's going to let us go fishing the next several days, with 5 to 10 knots of wind most days and 5 to 7 foot swells at 12 seconds...kinda what we expect this time of year. The fishing window is rapidly closing now, with just 11 more days left to fish above Pigeon Point and 15 days after that below Pigeon. So when does the rockfishing season open next year? May 1 below Pigeon Point, June 1 above Pigeon Point, and it will remain open, pending any in-season changes, all the way through December 31. Same season for 2012, too, as the seasons are set on a two year cycle. As far as salmon fishing in 2011, who knows. We were extremely surprised they opened the season this year, so anything's possible. The fate of a 2011 salmon season will be determined after the Feds meet up in March and April next spring.

Monday, October 18 - They just don't make parts the way they used to...an oil cooler we replaced a little over a year ago decided to go out on Sunday, and unfortunately the dealer didn't have a replacement in stock, so we had to take the day off today and will be off tomorrow as well on Tuesday. The part is scheduled to arrive before noon and we should have it installed if all goes well long before the sun sets, so we'll be back up and running on Wednesday for our private charter and, at this point, we have space available through the rest of the week. This past Saturday some fantastic quality fish were landed with probably over 100 reds caught along with a mixture of other assorted varieties of rockfish. The swell came up on Sunday making for some very unhappy tummies, but our Devil's Slide tunnel workers' charter stuck with it and ended up with with limits for their efforts.

Friday, October 15 - The limits just keep coming, today for all 23 anglers onboard, again with a mixture of reds, gophers, blacks and blues. Judging from the one day licenses I issued this morning, I'd say over half the boat was made up of folks from other states, so hopefully they enjoyed their California fishing experience. Even though it was foggy off and on, they couldn't have picked a much better day on the ocean. Looks like the weather is going to continue to cooperate right on through the current five day forecast period, so we're still running trips daily. We're full for this weekend, but we have room every day next week at this point except for Wednesday when we have a private charter. Next Saturday is booking up pretty quick, too, so don't wait too long if you want to join us next Saturday. Exactly one more month until the 2010 rockfishing season will come to a close until next May.

Wednesday, October 13 - Good day again today with limits for all 18 anglers with a good overall mixture of fish including a sprinkling of vermillions, browns, gophers and blues and a keeper lingcod. Tomorrow we have a private charter of high school kids sponsored by our good friends at the Friends of Rollo, a non-profit group whose sole purpose is to get kids out fishing on charter boats (check out www.friendsofrollo.com for more info...they really are a great group that deserves everyone's support). Conditions look great for the kids tomorrow so we sure hope we kindle the fire in a few future anglers. Weather looks great for Friday, too, and we still have plenty of room for Friday's trip. There's only a handful of spots left for our trip on Saturday and we have another private charter on Sunday, so if you're looking to join us this weekend be sure to call us sooner than later to grab one of the last remaining spots.

Tuesday, October 12 - Sorry I didn't put up an update the last couple of days...between going to the Raiders' game on Sunday and celebrating my birthday yesterday, just haven't taken the time to type up a report. Let's see: Saturday's trip was another successful Hayward Commercial Door charter where the guys went home with limits as usual, and I think I remember hearing they caught six lingcod, too. Sunday the weather on the ocean started picking up and I didn't get the final count but I heard it was a tough day. There was no wind at the harbor yesterday morning on Monday, so we loaded up the boat and headed out. They were able to make a couple of stops but then the wind hit and blew us back to the dock where we handed out more rainchecks to give folks a chance to give it a try again on a better day. Just about as quick as they came up, the winds backed down last night and we're back at it today. Sounds like they picked away, a little here, a little there, working their way towards limits for all onboard. Forecast looks great for the ocean tomorrow and plenty of room available. If you'd like to join us, either give us a call or feel free to just simply come on down in the morning.

Friday, October 8 - Limits again today, this time for 27 anglers, with a mixture of fish from as large as a huge eight pound vermillion to some small "okay I'll take them" schoolfish. For some unknown reason, it seems like a lot of folks have a misunderstanding about the schools of blue rockfish that have been on the chomp recently...they are a great eating fish that can be a real kick to catch on light tackle. If they're biting and are going to go belly up if released, then be sure to put them in your bag if the crew tells you it's a keeper; you'll be rewarded with a very tasty treat. Still not much on the lingcod scene, with just one six pounder boated today. Tomorrow's forecast looks like it should be a wonderful day on the water. And Saturday's trip still has room for about four more people; if you're interested, give us a call to grab a spot or two or three to join in on a trip with a very fun group of guys and gals. Plenty of room on Sunday, too, if that day works out better for you. We're still fishing seven days a week, weather and interest permitting, until the season closes at the end of the day on Monday November 15. Other news: A few weeks ago I mentioned a new licensing machine we were receiving. Well, time flies as they say. Today already marks our two week anniversary with the new Fish and Game licensing machine. It has actually gone very well so far, and it feels like we're really getting the hang of it. So much so that I figured I'd let the word out: we can now issue hunting licenses, too. No more having to purchase an application for a non-premium deer tag, sending it in to Sacramento and waiting for it to be returned. We can issue non-premium tags right on the spot. We even issued our first bear tags today. If you're looking to pick up a hunting license, all we ask is that you have patience with us and, just as important, don't walk in first thing in the morning to purchase a hunting license...please be sure to wait at least until after 7am when our boats depart to come in to purchase a hunting license. We've got this fishing thing down pretty well, but this hunting stuff is new territory. If you know what you need, whether it's for deer, birds, bear and pigs...or fishing...good chance we can issue it through the new machine. Pretty cool, huh?

Thursday, October 7 - Limits of rockfish the last two days, with a few more bottomfish in the mix today along with a 13 pound hitchhiker lingcod. Today's private charter didn't mess around either, making fast work of landing the 220 fish needed for limits. Tomorrow's marine forecast is calling for a low 3 to 4 foot swell at 11 seconds with not much in the way of wind, and there's still plenty of room available, so if you'd like to join us tomorrow and don't get a chance to give us a call, feel free to just come on down in the morning and check in at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing, when we open the doors at 6:00 a.m.

Tuesday, October 5 - The wind is backing off as forecast along with the swell that rolled through last night and we'll be back fishing tomorrow on Wednesday with decent conditions. On a different note, this Saturday is one of our cream of the crop charters, and due to some last minute changes, they're looking for about 6 people to join in on the trip. If you'd like to join in on Saturday's trip, give us a call and we'll get you in touch with the head of the charter.

Monday, October 4 - The bad news: This afternoon's marine forecast is calling for northwest winds 20 to 30 knots with gusts to 35 knots for tomorrow on Tuesday, along with an 8 to 10 foot swell at 11 seconds. Okay, we give. Trip cancelled. But the good news: the winds are supposed to calm right back down by Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning the forecast is only calling for 5 knots of wind with a 4 to 6 foot swell, so we'll be back fishing on Wednesday. As far as fishing recently, the smaller blue school rockfish are biting wide open. Only problem is that most folks don't want to keep blues. That results in a lot of fish thrown back over the side that become lunch for the seagulls, and that's just not Capt. Bob's style, so he continues the hunt for quality rather than concentrating on quantity. The quality bottomfish bite has been a tough pick, though, so most days it's been resulting in anywhere from a few fish for some to limits for others.

Friday, October 1 - Well, we're getting to the end. It's already October...wow. This is the last month we are allowed to fish for rockfish north of Pigeon Point, and then we'll fish below Pigeon Point until that area, as well as our 2010 rockfishing season, closes at the end of the day on Monday, November 15. Fall looks like it's kicking into full gear, and we've definitely seen a change in the ocean over this past week, with good size swells rolling through one day and then backing down the next, even though there are still some downright gorgeous days mixed in, too. If you are planning on bringing out some younger anglers before the season ends, be sure to check in with me about the weather forecast at least three days or so in advance if possible so I can let you know if it looks like you're good to go or if you should make a change in plans and try for a different day. We do our best to be as honest as possible about what we see coming weather-wise, especially when it comes to bringing out kids, because we want to try to give them the best shot of coming out, catching some fish and wanting to do it again in the future. As far as fishing recently, the majority of the folks using the super flies are still going home with their 10 fish limit, but there are still some days with the haves and the have nots for one reason or another. More often than not we've had to work for the fish we've caught, as no one spot is cranking out oodles of fish, so plan on putting your time in at the rail.

Tuesday, September 28 - Back out fishing today, and it was easy and early limits for our 11 anglers. Not the bombers we saw last week, but that's fishing...every day is different and you don't know what you're going to get until you put your hooks in the water and see what's gunna bite. The marine weather forecast has changed for the better for the next couple of days, so it looks like we'll be fishing every day for the rest of this week. Still plenty of space open for the weekdays, but, if you're interested in joining us this weekend, give us a call sooner than later as we only have a handful of spots still open for Saturday and Sunday's booked with a private charter.

Monday, September 27 - To catch up on the last few days: Fishing was still real good on Friday, with limits of nice bottomfish and a few lings and cabs, even though the wind came up in the afternoon and folks got an "E Ticket" ride for the trip back to the harbor at the end of the day. (If you don't know what an "E Ticket" is, do a Wikipedia search for the old Disneyland E ticket ride system.) Saturday was another good day on the ocean with the gang put together by Hayward Commercial Door, and they laid away the rockfish with ease as we've come to expect. Sunday, though, boy did things change. As gorgeous as it was on land, it was almost hard to believe how bad the swells and wind hit the waters along the coastline, and it was a flat out nasty morning. Capt. Bob took mercy on our boatload of folks, letting them catch as many blues as they wanted as quickly as they could, heading back in early and handing out half price rainchecks so they could join us again on hopefully a much calmer day. As it turned out, some folks actually walked off the boat with their limit, and those that didn't have their limit were still appreciative of just being able to get back to stable ground with a couple of fish to fry up for dinner. We took today off to let the ocean calm down and we'll be back fishing tomorrow on Tuesday as well as the rest of the week.

Thursday, September 23 - Wow, what a day! Bob says it was without a doubt one of the best days of the year so far. More reds (vermillion rockfish) than he's seen in a long time, some guys with 5, 6, 7 reds as part of their limit, and he thinks everyone on the boat caught at least one. And they were the nice reds, too, the biggest tipping the scale at a huge 9 pounds. To top if off, the majority of the rest of the fish were some of the biggest browns we've seen all season, making for some of the best quality limits we could hope for. And to sweeten the pot just a bit more, 3 cabezon to 8 pounds were landed along with 3 lings to 13 pounds and a keeper halibut. Bob said some of the guys literally had a tough time lifting their sacks over the rail when they got back to the dock. Sounds just like the good old days; wish it would be like this all the time, but we'll take it when it happens. We'll be back at it tomorrow and we have space available. If you'd like to join us, check in at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing, between 6:00 a.m. when I open the doors to no later than 6:15.

Tuesday, September 21 - I know you wanna know how fishing's been, but, more important than that...at least to me...is that our new ALDS fishing license machine is on its way. Over the last couple of years the State of California has been developing a new computerized fishing and hunting licensing system, and our shop is one of 15 pilot shops sprinkled around the state that are going serve as what I affectionately like to call the "guinea pigs" for the system. I was trained on the system last month in Sacramento, and I'm kinda excited and anxious to see how its going to work out. The State's plan is for all eligible license agents to be up and running with the new machines by the first part of the year, so ready or not, the change is in the works. The main thing customers can do to make the licensing process quick and easy is to have their drivers license or ID card with them when they want to purchase a license, as the new machine has a card reader which makes the licensing process much quicker. One day licenses can be issued without having a drivers license or ID present, but it will just take a tad bit longer. We're supposed to receive our machine by Friday according to the shipping tracking info, so, if you are fishing with us this weekend and need a license, help us out by having the drivers license or ID card in hand for anyone in your group who needs to purchase a license. Hopefully we won't run into many speed bumps and it will go as well as I am expecting...it should be a good thing in the long run. Feel free to swing by when I'm at the shop once we get our machine and I'll be glad to give you a rundown on how the new system will work.

Friday, September 17 - Capt. Joe gave Bob a day of much needed rest on Thursday after returning from the meetings in Idaho, and Joe knocked 'em dead again, scoring almost three dozen quality vermillion as part of the days' catch along with three cabezon, three lingcod and three halibut. Way to go, Joe. He set the bar pretty high for Bob to try to jump over for his return at the wheel today. Love to get that competitive crew spirit going. And, speaking of crew spirit, you may notice our deckhand Heather's name in the whopper list for yesterday. Folks that join us on the Queen of Hearts know that our deckhands don't fish unless they take a day off, and that's exactly what Heather did. She joined some friends on the boat yesterday as a customer and it sounds like they really enjoyed themselves. Not only did Heather catch a nice lingcod, but I heard she also landed one of the three halibut. You may have also noticed that sometimes I don't have all the details right away in our fish scores, but don't despair, I do my best to update the info as soon as the guys get their paperwork off the boat and into my hands. Where've we been fishing? Well, the Queen of Hearts continues to keep the fuel dock happy, burning lots of diesel heading down the coastline as we usually do, and it's really showed in the quality we've been seeing more often than not. As far as how deep or how shallow, on Thursday Joe was fishing around the 50 foot depth mark on average. Our trips for this weekend are completely booked, so our next available trip is on Monday. Looks like the swells are supposed to remain very low, so as long as the winds leave us alone, we're in good shape still for a while.

Tuesday, September 14 - Another good day of good old rockfishing with just about everyone walking off the boat with their 10 fish rockcod limit along with four lingcod, four cabezon and one more of those interesting wolf eels. The ocean forecast is calling for the swell to remain low through the rest of the week with not much wind, so don't be concerned when you start hearing the weatherman on TV throwing around the dreaded "R" word they love to use this time of year after having been so bored with not much to report through the summer. Plenty of room tomorrow if you'd like to join us; just come on down and check in at our shop between 6 to 6:15.

Monday, September 13 - Bob handed the wheel over to one of our trusty relief skippers Capt. Joe Gibson on Saturday as Bob was heading to Idaho for the next round of fishery management meetings. Joe had a fantastic day on Saturday, landing a boatload of bomber, excellent quality rockfish along a couple of lings up to 22 pounds and nine cabezon up to 10 pounds. Sunday was another good day with limits for all 35 anglers onboard with a bit more of a mixed catch. Sure is nice to be able to hand over the controls and know the boat will go on without a hiccup. Today, tomorrow and Wednesday the Queen is in the very capable hands of Capt. Randy Bankord who also always puts his all into finding cooperative fish and having a good time. As far as the PFMC meetings Bob's at, not much on the agenda that we have to worry about this time around from the way it sounds, which is a welcome relief after enduring the stresses of the majority of the last several meetings. Thanks again to Joe and Randy for stepping in so Bob can attend these meetings and continue to represent and do what he can to ensure Northern California's recreational groundfish interests.

Friday, September 10 - Don't have much of the details, just the short and sweet summary: an absolutely excellent day today. Overcast, pea-soup fog at times, but excellent fishing. Our trip for tomorrow on Saturday is full and we only have five spots left for our trip on Sunday. If you want to join us on Sunday, be sure to call, not email, if you want to try to grab a spot or two or three. I'll probably be away from the computer over the weekend, so don't dispair if you don't see another update until Monday.

Thursday, September 9 - Capt. Bob called in a little after noon and was heading in with limits again today along with one wolf eel for our 13 anglers. Wolf eels are pretty cool looking with a head resembling something out of one of the Alien movies...I think Bob still has a wolf eel head in our freezer he's saving to boil down for the skelton...the joys of being a fisherman's wife. We didn't land any legal lingcod today, even though there were several lings that hitched a ride by chomping on some of the smaller rockfish but unfortunately they let go before they were within gaff range. Sounds like one of them was a real bruiser, too. Maybe it's a sign of good things to come. We're good to go for tomorrow's trip, so if you'd like to join us, feel free to just come on down in the morning.

Wednesday, September 8 - Bob worked his magic to avoid another attack by the blue rockfish...not that there's anything wrong with them mind you...but the hungry little critters have been on a terror for the past several days and we like to target more of a variety if we can even if it means we have to work a littler harder to do so. So they used the run and gun offense today, hitting several spots to eeck out a few fish here and a few fish there to end up with limits of a good mixture of assorted rockfish and one bonus seven pound lingcod. Congrats to Harry who landed one of the nicest coppers we've seen in quite a while. I know the sky was pretty grey today, but Bob says the weather on the ocean was absolutely beautiful, with just a brief raincloud that shared a few quick drops as it passed by. The forecast is calling for a relatively low swell through the weekend and a little wind off and on primarily in the afternoons, so it looks like we're in good shape for the next several days. Plenty of room available tomorrow, so if you'd like to just show up, be sure to arrive no later than 6:30 to check in.

Tuesday, September 7 - To catch up on the last few days: Saturday sounded like a fantastic day on the water, just a lot of fun kinda day, with great weather, a great group and cooperative fish including a whole lot of reds (almost a hundred of them!) and a 24 pound halibut. Sunday the wind picked up and made for a rather miserable morning on the ocean, but Bob took pity on Sunday's gang and brought them back early with rainchecks in hand so the folks that day could give it another try in the future, hopefully with a little calmer conditions on their next attempt. Monday the winds calmed back down and it was a wide open blues bite, making for easy limits but not quite the quality we like to target, with about the same story again today. Now that the kids are back to school and summer vacations are over, gone too are the summertime crowds on the weekdays, so those of you lucky enough to be able to come out on weekdays should be enjoying a lot more room again at the rails. Still plenty of room for tomorrow on Wednesday; if you'd like to join us, just come on down in the morning and check in at our shop between 6 to 6:30.

Thursday, September 2 - Well how about that? Folks have been throwing on the super flies the last several days like we've suggested and they're all walking off the boat with their 10 fish limit. What a concept. You mean the crew might actually know what they're talking about? Wow. See, we told you. Actually, the bars have worked for some folks a bit this week as well, so there's still hope for them, too. The main thing is to use what's working, and if you're not catching fish, remember that the super flies are more often than not a sure way to put fish in your bag. Our trip this Saturday is full, but we do have room tomorrow on Friday as well as on Sunday and Monday. And, don't forget, Monday is free license day courtesy of the Department of Fish and Game which means you do not have to purchase a license to fish that day anywhere in the State of California. So, whether you join us or go to your local fishing hole, take advantage of the freebie, get out and go fishing on Monday!

Tuesday, August 31 - Hope this doesn't seem too weird, but I just want to say thank you. Honestly, thank you to all of you who have put your trust in us over the past 20 years and joined us onboard the Queen of Hearts. Bob and I, as well as all of our supporting cast and crew onboard and at our shop, pride ourselves in doing the best we can to provide safe, enjoyable and successful fishing trips to our clientele. Especially in these current economic conditions, it's a very rewarding feeling for us to be one of very few boats in the entire state to have had enough of a following to be able to run trips every day through this past summer, weather gods permitting. So I just wanted to be sure to take a moment and say Thank You. Your support is greatly appreciated and we'll continue to do our best to keep up the good work for as long as our minds and bodies will permit. Hopefully that's still quite a while to come....

Thursday, August 26 - If you've noticed recently, we've averaged about eight rockfish or so per person over the past week or so. How come anglers aren't catching limits? Well, several are, but then there are those who aren't, too. Why? Well, let's see if we can explain. Bob affectionately refers to the bars and plastics as "hootchie-coo" stuff, and folks love using the hootchie-coo stuff. We like using hootchie-coo stuff, too, and I like selling hootchie-coo stuff even more. But the hootchie-coo stuff is just not working very well right now. We know you want to catch the largest rockfish every day and you want THAT lingcod, but they are just not biting the hootchie-coos. What are they biting? Super flies. Simple, boring, easy to use Half Moon Bay Sportfishing super flies to be exact, along with a fresh strip of squid. Even the lingcod and cabezon we've caught recently have all hit the super flies. So, if you want to take home your limit, right now that's the way to do it. Our recommendation: either put the hootchie-coo stuff away for another day, or, another good idea, load up on the rockfish when they're biting using super flies and then, after you're close to catching your limit, go ahead and try the hootchie-coos. Another thing that folks aren't quite getting is that they need to be bouncing their sinker up and down right off the rocks at the ocean's bottom where the fish hang out. Being in limbo somewhere five to ten feet off the bottom or more might save an angler from getting snagged, but they're usually not going to catch much there, either. As far as the quality recently, it's been all bottom dwellers with nary a school fish in the mix, the majority of which are gophers, black and yellows, china cod, and a sprinkling of vermillion. We have private charters the next three days on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but we are available every day next week through Labor Day weekend. The wind machine on the ocean has been turned back on but it looks like the forecast is calling for it to die back down a tad by the beginning of the week.

Tuesday, August 24 - Didn't get a full update from Bob, but it sounded like just about everyone walked off the boat with their 10 fish rockcod limit along with one five pound cabezon. The best way to catch a limit continues to be to use super flys (fancy shrimp fly lures) with a strip of squid. The bars just have not been doing it recently, and those who stubbornly stick to jigging a bar have had a pretty tough time of enticing enough fish to bite to be able to bring home a limit by the end of the day. If you want to try using a plastic, I hear pink has been a hot color. We can't stress enough: if the crew makes a suggestion, take it. They are on the boat day in and day out and know what has been working and what has not been working. The only reason they give suggestions is because they want you to catch fish. I don't guarantee much when it comes to fishing, but I do guarantee that if you listen to the crew you will do better more often than not. The ocean forecast is calling for light winds to continue tomorrow on Wednesday along with a low 3 to 5 foot swell. We still have plenty of space available for our trip tomorrow, so if you'd like to escape the heat on land and join us for the day on the water, we'll have the doors open by 6:00 a.m. Just by there by no later than 6:15 to check in. Thursday's trip is just about full and we have private charters the rest of the week, so tomorrow's the day if you'd like to join us. Not a sales pitch, just the truth.

Monday, August 23 - Our private Fishing Fools charter made the trek up the coast to see if they could land a few more salmon while the season is open. About the only place within range where salmon have been caught within the past month has been up at Duxbury north of the Golden Gate Bridge. It didn't take long before they put their first fish in the boat, and they continued to pick away for a few more fish, ending the day with four nice keepers in the box up to 24 pounds for their small group of six guys, and three more fish were fought and lost along the way as well. Since this is the last day the Fishing Fools will probably be able to make it out this year, this was probably our last salmon trip for the year, too. With the fish as far north as they are, we'll leave the salmon fishing to the guys working out of the Bay who are closer to the fishing grounds and we'll stick with our rockfishing trips for the rest of the year. The salmon season is open for two more weeks through September 6 off the Bay Area coastline; if you want one last try for a salmon this year, give Roger on the Salty Lady out of Sausalito or Jacky on the Wacky Jacky in San Francisco a call. They're two of the best in the business who we can recommend without any hesitation.

Monday, August 16 - Real good fishing on Friday and Saturday, with a bit tougher fishing on Sunday and today due to an extremely strong current, but still good days where everyone enjoyed themselves and several took home their limit of quality rockfish. Now that Bob and I are back from our "vacation", I'm back to working seven days a week working no less than 12 hours to as much as 17 hours every day, so I just haven't had much time to fill in the details on our reports recently. Be patient and I'll fill in as many blanks as I can if can when I get a few extra minutes. Just know that fishing this time of year is generally pretty darn consistently good and it should remain that way through the summer. So, if you don't see an update for a few days, it usually has nothing to do with fishing but everything to do with just too many things to take care of and not enough time to take care of them all....

Thursday, August 11 - Just a quick update: good fishing today, mostly all "hardheads"...quality bottomfish with some guys heading home with 2, 3, 4 vermillion or more as part of their limit, along with one fish shy of a handful of cabezon and a 15 pound lingcod. A tad bit of a swell today but still extremely nice conditions on the ocean. We have room for five people for tomorrow's trip on Friday; if you'd like to join us, be sure to be at our shop when we open our doors at 6:00 a.m. Still room for three people on Saturday and three on Sunday. Our fish from our long range trip just arrived at the airport so I'm off to fill the freezer with yellowtail and yellowfin...yum....

Wednesday, August 10 - Today was the final trip of the season with the kids of the San Mateo Police Activity League. I didn't touch base with Bob yet so I don't know how the day ended, but I did talk with him on the cell phone a few times during the day and could hear the laughing and joking around going on in the background so I know they had a good time, which is what it's all about. Yesterday on Tuesday we had a crazy number of last minute walkins and ended up with an extremely full boatload of folks, but the best part of the day was when Robert at our shop told me how several folks came in at the end of the trip to pick some ice and said what a great time they had. That's the reason we're in this business and it sure is a good feeling when we hear people have enjoyed themselves. We still have space available tomorrow on Thursday, so if you don't have a reservation and want to join us, just be sure to be at our shop when we open the doors at 6:00 a.m. Now, on a different note, there's a buzz around the harbor because some white seabass have been caught outside the harbor. Are we catching them? No. Why not you ask? White seabass generally don't bite wide open, so you have to put in hours upon hours of drifting to hopefully catch a fish or two. Not exactly what most customers want to do. How long will the seabass be around? They generally follow schools of squid, so as long as the squid hangs around, good chance the seasbass will, too. How long will that be? We don't expect them to be around very long. But, the good news is that seabass are in the area, so maybe, just maybe, there might be some lucky angler land one on a rockfishing trip for an extra special bonus catch. And last, but not least, not much news on any albacore within range...but we've got our ears open and will pass on any info when we hear it.

Monday, August 9 - Bob and I got back in town from our vacation last night and we're back to business as usual today, which means I'm extremely swamped and just haven't had the time to get all my info together to be able to put together an update for reports yet...but don't despair, I will get it done as soon as I can. In the meantime, I did hear fishing was pretty darn fantastic most days while Bob and I were away with a typical day here or there where the fish shut their mouths, hung tight in their rocks and didn't want to come out and play. The ocean forecast looks great for this entire week with very light winds and low swells forecast through the next five days at least, so I have high hopes for this week's scores. Today on Monday our group of retired gentlemen who are salmon fishing diehards, the Fishing Fools as they're affectionately nicknamed, gave the salmon another go today and were rewarded with three sluggo salmon for their group of 8 anglers up to 20 pounds fishing north of Duxbury. Tomorrow we're back to SWLT rockfishing and still have a handful of spots available. If you'd like to join us tomorrow, make sure you're at our shop when we open the doors at 6:00 a.m.

Friday, July 30 - Rockfishing is really kicking into high gear. Most days most folks walk off the boat with limits, even though there are still a few days here and there of the "haves and have nots". A lot of quality fish are being landed, too, with some huge vermillions, big blacks, hefty cabezon and good size lingcod helping to fill the sacks along with the usual variety of rockfish that hang out in the rocks along our coastline. Today was no exception, with limits for all 29 anglers, cabezon to 6 pounds, vermillions to 8 pounds and a 15 pound lingcod taking top honors. Today also marks the first day of Capt. Bob and my busman's vacation, as we're in San Diego for our annual long range trip onboard the Royal Polaris. Bob's handed the reins while he's gone over to the extremely capable hands of Capt. Randy Bankord and Capt. Joe Gibson, who are right behind Bob as a pair of the longest running captains out of Half Moon Bay, and of course Heather will be onboard doing a fantastic job of handling the deck as always. So, even though Bob and I will be away, the Queen of Hearts will keep on keeping on, running shallow water light tackle rockfishing trips every day. If you're interested in joining us within this next week, be sure to give the shop a call to make reservations, as I can't promise how quickly emails will be responded to while I'm away. The shop will be open from at least 6:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. daily. This will be the last update of our reports until I get back to land next Saturday, August 7, but if you're interested in seeing how Bob and I are doing on our fishing trip, check out the Royal Polaris' website at www.royalpolaris.com and click on the "Current Conditions" tab on the left of the home page. Wish us luck! Remember, this is my last update until I get back next Saturday on August 7...feel free to give our shop a call while I'm away if you'd like any info.

Monday, July 26 - We had a great weekend of rockfishing. A flat calm, gorgeous ocean allowed us to fish as shallow as 15 feet on Saturday, and we had a fun day catching a fantastic variety of shallow water rockfish, including some huge, as big as they get blacks and vermillions, as well as china cod, black and yellows, gophers, brownies and an assortment of other fishies. We put a hurt on the cabezon, too, with 18 cabs landed for our 18 anglers, with a hefty 8 pounder taking top honors. On Sunday, we had a small 11 man private charter headed by San Francisco 49ers center Eric Heitmann. Eric chartered the boat earlier in the season with the 49ers offensive line to start the celebration for a teammate's bachelor party and had one of the few good days of salmon fishing we had this season. Well, they did it again: this time the guys laid away the fish, bagging limits of rockcod and landing the biggest lingcod so far this year, a huge 30 pounder, by Eric's Stanford college buddy Russell Stewart. What were they using? Plastics, bars, some fancy lure? Nope...just the good old Half Moon Bay Sportfishing shrimp fly rig with a strip of squid. Best darn lure day in and day out.

Wednesday, July 21 - The devoted duo with the San Mateo Police Activity League are out again today with another group of kids on the rockcod grounds to see what damage they can do. They're geared up with shrimp flies and squid, so hopefully the fish will cooperate and jump on the kids' hooks. Captain Randy is at the helm, giving Bob a well deserved breather and chance to recharge his batteries. Randy also ran the trip yesterday on Tuesday, and they had another day of the haves and have nots, where some folks walked off the boat with their 10 fish limit while others had a tough time just getting a few fish over the rail. Hopefully the kids today will have better luck and lay 'em away.

Monday, July 19 - We're back fishing tomorrow on Tuesday, July 20. Our mechanic called first thing this morning with the good news that he was able to track down the specialized fuel line we needed to replace, he'll have it installed by the end of the day and take reservations for tomorrow because we're going fishing. Thanks, Tom...you are totally awesome. So, on that note, we do have space available for rockfishing tomorrow, but reservations are definitely recommended. If you'd like to join us, give us a call to save a spot or two or three for you. The only other day we are available this week is on Thursday, July 22, as we have private charters the remainder of the week.

Saturday, July 17 - Unfortunately our trip for tomorrow, Sunday, July 18 has been cancelled. A high pressure fuel line decided to give out today and we have to wait for our mechanic to get a hold of a replacement before we can get back up and running. Tough to swallow that just a simple fuel line can put us out of commission, but absolutely nothing we can do about it. If you had a reservation, we did call the number you gave us when you made your reservation and left a message on your voicemail if you didn't answer. Thankfully we were still able to finish out our day today and our PSEA group did a great job landing right around 7 to 8 rockfish per person, with a majority of the catch made up of the quality brown rockfish we've been seeing a lot this season. I think Bob said they also landed three cabezon, a lingcod and a very tasty 19 pound thresher shark...just a small little pup, but boy, oh boy, they sure made for some fantastic eating. So, at this point, we'll try to patiently wait each day until our mechanic gets the part we need; if we need to cancel more trips and you have a reservation, we will definitely be in touch no later than the afternoon before the next day's trip to let you know.

Friday, July 16 - The gopher rockfish were chomping first thing in the morning. Lots of folks landed their limit during the first two drifts of the day, while unfortunately others just couldn't quite get the hang of staying in touch with the ocean bottom and came up empty. After the hot bite ended it turned into a slow pick for the rest of the day, and it ended up as another day of the haves and have nots, with folks either heading home with full limits or less than a handful of fish a piece. Two more halibut were landed, a nice 10 pounder by Bill Price enjoying the first day of his vacation in style, and the second, a 22 pound whopper, landed by Lisa Williams, a woman after my own heart who joins us several times each season and goes fishing whether she has someone to join her or not. I think Bob said nine cabezon were caught, too, with another 10 pounder taking top honors.

Thursday, July 15 - Okay, we gave the salmon thing one more try today to see if they'd come out and play, but unfortunately there was no one home, again. So that does it. We're done with salmon trips unless they mysteriously spring up in our backyard before the 2010 salmon season closes on September 6, except for any private charters that still want to give it a try. From here on out, we'll stick with our rockfishing trips, which will continue through the middle of November. Our trip for tomorrow on Friday is full but we still have space available for this Sunday...as always, reservations highly recommended.

Wednesday, July 14 - We know you guys like using diamond bars. We know you want THAT lingcod. But, number one, you want to catch fish, right? Then please, please, please listen: right now the fish want shrimp flies. We know they're not fancy. We know they're not exciting. But they work. And they are working the best out of everything out there right now. I have lots of bars for sale on our walls I'll gladly sell you. But right now, stick to the shrimp flies. They catch rockcod. They catch lingcod. They even catch halibut. We can lead the horses to water but we can't make them drink. Very frustrating. We still had a decent score today with right around a 7 fish per person average, made up of shallow water gophers, blacks, china cod, some pretty red vermillion, and one barely keeper cabezon. But the crew definitely knows it would have been better if folks just would have listened to them and put on the good old shrimp flies. Oh, well. Tomorrow we're going on the hunt for the ever elusive salmon again. Still room for four more adverturesome anglers if you're interested. Check in at our shop between 5 and 5:30. Wish us luck.

Sunday, July 11 - Darn good weekend. Including Friday, our anglers over the last three days landed an impressive score of over 840 rockcod plus 36 cabezon up to 11 pounds, 21 lingcod to 14 pounds, 3 halibut to 18 pounds, a three pound starry flounder, along with a wolf eel thrown in for good measure. It wasn't a fast and furious bite and folks had to put their time in at the rail, but, with the fantastic flat ocean, it was a great weekend to be on the water. Looks like we're in great shape weather-wise all the way through the five day forecast period, so hopefully the fish will continue to cooperate. What's working the best? Gulp shrimp or shads and/or Half Moon Bay Sportfishing shrimp flies. Honest. Stick with these and you'll catch fish.

Friday, July 9 - Sounds like it was another great day on the water...I could "hear" Capt. Bob's smile over the cell phone. Just a few fish shy of limits for 32 people, most folks walked off the boat with their 10 fish rockcod limit with "a lot of red in the bags" (as in prized vermillion rockfish), with an overall good mixture of fish. The cabezon bit pretty well, too, with 12 cabezon landed up to an impressive 10 pounds, as well as 9 lingcod with the biggest taking the jackpot at 12 pounds. Sounded like the day started off kinda slow, but Capt. Houdini came through...as he usually does...and found some spots that cranked out some killer fish. According to the forecast, the weather should continue to be great for the next several days. All of our open trips for the remainder of July are now scheduled for SWLT rockfishing, with the only salmon trip on the books scheduled for next Thursday, July 15. There are already about a dozen folks on the books for that trip, so it is definitely a go as long as weather permits; if you'd like to join us on that trip and give it a shot to try to find a salmon or two, darn good idea to make a reservation.

Thursday, July 8 - Finally, thank goodness, the gorgeous weather we've been waiting for has arrived. Our five man private charter today was graced with one of the best days on the water of the season and were also rewarded with limits of just about 100% quality brown rockfish along with a 13 pound lingcod. It wasn't a fast and furious bite, just a one by one by one slow pick all day, but, hey, it made for no better way to spend a wonderful day on the water. Our trip for tomorrow on Friday is now full; the Riptide is running a rockfishing trip out of our shop tomorrow and still has plenty of room, so if you'd like to join him tomorrow, just come on in in the morning between 6 and 6:15. Amazingly, though, we still have room for both this Saturday and Sunday at this point, and the good weather is supposed to continue through the weekend, so if you'd like to take advantage of it while it's here, give us a call to set up a reservation. Albacore update: Heard a hot tip from a very reliable source...big numbers of albacore were landed yesterday near the Davidson Seamound area. With the nice weather forecast for this weekend, the boats venturing offshore for tuna in that area should have a field day. Does that mean the Queen of Hearts will be going albacore fishing soon? Nope. Still too far out of our range and no tuna in our neck of the woods according to a couple of scouts. Unfortunately, even if the albacore do arrive, we couldn't fit it into our schedule probably until at least the middle of August. But stayed tuned....

Tuesday, July 6 - Well, the weather on the ocean is supposed to be getting better, but unfortunately it's definitely been taking its sweet time about doing it. It was looking like we should have been in real good shape along the coastline by last Sunday. The northwest winds that have been pounding us all spring finally did give us a break, but the winds switched around to out of the south, which isn't a heck of a lot better, a "poison wind" as Capt. Bob calls it, so the ocean was still not very nice and was downright sloppy at times, and the fish have not real interested in moving from their crevices in any numbers. We squeeked out about a 5 to 6 fish per person average over the last several days, with some going home with more and some going home with less. On a positive note, most days there has been some quality fish coming over the rail, with several nice vermillions and a lot of quality browns helping fill the voids, along with a few lingcod and a few cabezon. The swell is forecast at only 4 to 6 feet over the next four days decreasing even more by the end of the week, and the winds are supposed to come out of the west and virtually die down to nothing, so we'll keep hoping the weatherman comes through on their predictions. We're available for rockfishing every day this week with the exception of Thursday which is a private charter, and our next open salmon trip is scheduled for a week from this Thursday on July 15.

Friday, July 2 - At long last, it really looks like we're in for a decent stretch of weather on the ocean starting on this Sunday and going through the next five day forecast period at least. Yesterday, however, was a different story. The wind was already blowing at the harbor in the morning when we arrived, the offshore buoy was reporting 10 foot swells every 9 seconds, and, after knowing how things were yesterday, we threw in the towel and told folks to go to Plan B because we were cancelling. We made it out today but it was still on the bouncy side; thankfully it should start chilling out again by midday tomorrow on Saturday. Still at least a dozen or so spots available each day on our trips through the holiday weekend, so if you'd like to join us, be sure to give a call and make a reservation. Sunday is "free fishing license day," a gift from the State for the day allowing you to fish without a license, saving the $13.40 one day license fee for folks who don't have a California fishing license. Between the good weather we see coming our way and the free license, Sunday should be a good day to go fishing. The weather on the ocean looks even better for Monday, with virtually flat calm conditions, so if you've been holding off going waiting for the weather to calm down, this is the week you've been waiting for.

Wednesday, June 30 - The weather forecast was just about the same for today as it was for yesterday, but, boy, oh boy, it was way different conditions than it was yesterday. The swell was up first thing in the morning and the wind was making its presence known, too, making for a lot of unhappy tummies. We weren't able to fish the areas we have been recently with the weather we were dealt today, so even though there were some, we didn't see nearly as many of the quality fish today as we have been. We ended the day with right about an average of about 8 fish per rod, with some walking home with limits of browns and a few nice vermillions, others with limits of blues, and others with a mixture ranging from a couple of fish to a few more than a handful and everywhere in between. Sure hope it settles back down tomorrow and we can get back on top of the spots that have been cranking out some jumbo browns and vermillion. We'll give it another try in the morning; still plenty of room if you want to join us. Just come on down and check in by 6:15 a.m. BTW, it does look like it gets downright flat calm by the end of this week and into at least the early part of next week. Hint, hint, hint.

Tuesday, June 29 - The quality bottomfish are biting again, resulting in another day of limits for all onboard with a solid 90% of the catch made up of cream of the crop bolinas and vermillion rockfish. Don't know where Bob's been fishing or how deep; I know he prefers to fish shallow but he fishes where conditions permit, where the fish are biting and where he feels our clientele on a given day can handle bouncing the bottom. So, as we always suggest, if you have your own gear, bring both outfits for fishing the shallows and as well as for a little deeper water, with anywhere from 2 ounces to 10 ounces of weight and rods and reels from as light as 10 to 12 pound test bass rods up to light action saltwater gear with around 20 pound test. We are rockfishing again tomorrow on Wednesday and there's still plenty of room; if you'd like to join us, don't worry about calling or sending an email...just come on down in the morning and check in at our shop between 6:00 a.m. when I open the doors to no later than 6:15 a.m.

Monday, June 28 - Our Fishing Fools gang had a great day of playing with salmon today, ending up with a little better than a fish per rod with 9 salmon landed for their group of 8, and they released at least that many silvers if not more, making for a fun time on the water. So far the wind that is being forecast from Point Arena to Pigeon Point is hitting the Point Arena area and then moving offshore away from our neck of the woods; hopefully it will stay that way over the next several days. As it stands now, it's looking like Fourth of July this Sunday should be a real nice day.

Sunday, June 27 - After the last four rockfishing trips, we had high hopes for today. Unfortunately, though, the fish just didn't cooperate, and we ended up with somewhere around half limits for our 30 anglers. Just one of those days where fishing didn't equate to as much catching as we'd have liked.

Saturday, June 26 - Without a doubt today was one of our best trips in a long time, with absolutely excellent quality bottomfish with probably 85% quality brownies, limits for all 15 anglers, and 16 lingcod to 18 pounds. Nothing less than what we'd expect from the group that Ernie with Hayward Commercial Door puts together several times a year. When the fish cooperate, these guys lay them away. Today was one of those days. Absolutely outstanding day with smiles all around when they came through the shop at the end of the day. Hopefully I'll be able to join you guys next time.

Friday, June 25 - We had our second trip of the season taking out a great group of kids sponsored by our pals with the Friends of Rollo. As usual, the kids did fantastic. Why'd they do fantastic? Because they listen to the crew, do what they say and use what the crew suggests. What a concept. If more folks would follow the kids' example, they'd probably have more success day in and day out. Way to go, kids! This was our third rockcod trip this week, and the rockcod have been chomping...we ended up with limits every day for a grand total of 790 rockcod in three days. That's more like it, thank goodness. Maybe we're back to the kind of fishing we're used to seeing around our parts. We have a private charter tomorrow on Saturday but we do have space still available for rockfishing this Sunday. If you'd like to join us, reservations are a good idea, so give us a call during the day and we can get you set up.

Thursday, June 24 - Today we were salmon wishing, I mean fishing. It actually turned out to be a pretty decent day, with six salmon landed to 12 pounds for our eight anglers, along with a couple of fish that would have been keepers but won the battle and swam away to freedom, a few undersize kings that were released as well as several fun to fight, acrobatic silvers that can't be kept. We were fishing the Deep Reef area, nice and close to home. We have a lot of rockcod trips scheduled for the next couple of weeks, but we'll still put a salmon trip or two on the schedule now and then just to keep the salmon honest as long as there's still folks interested in giving it a try. At this point, it looks like our next salmon trip is set for Thursday, July 15.

Tuesday, June 22 - Quick update: limits today for all 17 anglers onboard, mostly all nice browns and vermillions. Weather was good, no wind, little swell, just what the doctor ordered to put the fish in a cooperative mood. I was out of town over the weekend, so I'll catch up in the next day or so with details about the last couple of trips. We're rockfishing again tomorrow on Wednesday and still plenty of room. If you'd like to join us, don't worry about getting a hold of us or making a reservation; you're more than welcome to just simply come on down in the morning. Check in at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing, between 6:00 a.m. when we open the shop to no later than 6:15. Schedule change: We are now available for SWLT rockfishing this Sunday, June 27.

Friday, June 18 - Check this out!!! Capt. Bob finally called at 6:00 last night to let me know the portion of the Council meeting he is involved in with the groundfish management section had just ended with absolutely amazing news: The PFMC approved a proposed seven month rockfishing season for our area for 2011 and 2012, opening on June 1 and going through December 31, giving our area an additional two and a half months to fish compared to this and last year's season. In addition, the minimum size for lingcod for the next two years was decreased from 24 inches to 22 inches which should greatly increase anglers' chances of keeping a legal sized lingcod or two, and the cabezon limit was increased from two to three as part of an angler's 10 fish rockcod limit. Wow! After all the cuts over the last several years, it's almost impossible to believe. Bob said it was due to some amazing work by everyone at the meeting, but major kudos have to go to California DFG Regional Manager Marija Vojkovich, whose leadership and diplomatic skills were absolutely invaluable, as well as our recreational liason on the GMT, DFG Marine Biologist John Budrick, who is a total wiz with computer models...the two of them did an outstanding job. Sounds like Capt. Bob did a fantastic job during this six day marathon of meetings, too, capped by nailing his final presentation and speech in front of the Council. There are several more we could name, including the Councilmembers themselves, as without the various states' concessions and cooperation nothing could have been approved. The PFMC's approval and recommendation now goes to the National Marine Fisheries for their final blessing, so it's not set in stone and changes could still be made, but we've got our fingers crossed. Now more than ever, it's absolutely essential that all recreational anglers, whether on private boats or charter vessels, understand how important it is to toe the line...depth restrictions must be observed and obeyed and we all have to do what we can to avoid what I like to affectionately call the "Big Bad Red Three" rockfish: canary, yelloweye (aka goldeneye) and cowcod. Any interaction with these fish counts against us and could cause immediate actions to close the fishery and put us right back in the same situation we just dug out of as well as blow any credibility for future consideration. All it will take is the stupidity and selfishness of a few to ruin it for everyone, so be sure to pass the word, ensure the rules are followed and do your part to keep our seasons open as scheduled.

Thursday, June 17 - Today was a charter with a group of high schoolers from Mountain View sponsored by our good friends with the Friends of Rollo, an organization whose sole purpose of existence is to get kids fishing on boats that would usually not have the opportunity to do so otherwise (check out "www.friendsofrollo.com"). With the way the wind has been blowing, our game plan was to stick close to the harbor to at least be able to give the kids a few hours out on the water and hopefully catch a few fish, even if we had to end up fishing for sardines inside the outer breakwater. As it turns out, the weather cooperated enough for them to actually make it down the coast a bit to Martins Beach, where they were able to put a few rockcod in the boat and even battle and release several short lingcod. The catch was nothing to write home about by any means, but our deckhand Heather reported that it seemed like we actually had a shot at a decent score if we could have put more time in as a couple of kids had a couple of drops where they were bringing fish in two at a time. Hopefully a few seeds were planted today that will result in few new anglers in the future. We had a private charter from Redding scheduled for tomorrow on Friday that would have required a long drive along with lots of expense for hotel rooms, dining, etc., so we made the unanimous decision to reschedule their trip to wait for the weather to settle down a bit. We are scheduled to go rockfishing this Saturday, and, based on what we saw today with a tad less swell forecast for Saturday, hopefully we'll be able to make the day. Looks like the same story for our trip for Sunday, too. On a final note, Capt. Bob has been manning his post at the federal fishery management meetings taking place this week. It has been another horrendous week of battles that began last Saturday with a huge roller coaster ride of options for the bad and for the good. Today is "D Day", when the final decisions will be adopted for any inseason adjustments for this year's rockfishing season, and the 2011 and 2012 rockfishing seasons will also be determined. It's now 4:45 p.m. and I still haven't heard from Bob since earlier this morning. Check back tomorrow and I'll post the final results. Could be good, could be bad, but without a doubt, Bob has been giving it his all this week. I'm sure he'll be glad to be back on the water soon.

Monday, June 14 - With a one by one by one type of bite with the water temp a chilly 49 on the mercury, coupled along with a sharp swell that knocked about half of our mostly first-time troopers out of commission at the rail, we ended the day yesterday on Sunday with about half limits for those left standing. On the positive side, the catch was made up of a good 90 percent bottomfish including gophers, coppers, bolinas and vermillion. No legal lingcod were landed but several lings were released that didn't quite make the 24 inch minimum. It looks like we're in for a carbon copy of last week's weather with strong northwest winds the next couple of days, calming down again towards the end of the week. We've already cancelled our trip scheduled for tomorrow on Tuesday and we'll take it day by day after that to watch for the weather to shape back up.

Friday, June 11 - As of this Sunday we should be back to business as usual with the opening of the remainder of the California coastline for rockfishing, allowing us to finally fish our usual haunts south of the harbor including Martins Beach, San Gregorio, Pescadero and the like. So far the ocean forecast looks like we should be in good shape for Sunday, so now it's all up to the fish. Sunday's trip is full; our next available trips are Tuesday and Wednesday, there's just a couple of spots left for Saturday the 19th and a couple handful of spots open for Sunday the 20th.

Monday, June 7 - We've had a change in plans this week. Our trips through Friday have been cancelled so Bob and Heather can head to Southern California and help out one of our friends who's selling his house. Looking at the ocean weather forecast, it's not a bad week to cancel anyway, as the ocean looks like it's going to be pretty mean with northwest winds howling again more often than not through Friday along with combined seas in the double digits. Summer may be around the corner, but I think someone may have forgotten to tell the ocean weather gods. We had decent weather this past Saturday and tried to track down the elusive king salmon again to no avail. We did find a whole bunch of silvers just like we did on Friday's trip; if we could keep silvers, we may have ended up with limits, but since we can't, we ended up empty. From what we heard, a whopping total of two whole king salmon were landed by the entire fleet fishing from as far north as Point Reyes all the way down to Pigeon Point. Maybe this week's wind will cool the water back down and the right salmon will move back in. Sunday's rockcod trip below Pigeon Point was another endurance test against the wind which made for more tough fishing conditions and resulted in a little less than half limits. As of this coming Sunday, the entire San Mateo coastline below the harbor reopens for rockfishing, so we'll have a lot more territory at our avail which should make for greatly improved rockcod scores in the weeks to come.

Friday, June 4 - To finish up with yesterday's report, our first halibut of the season was landed, a 22 pound whopper, along with three cabezon, a lingcod and anywhere from 0 to 7 rockfish per person, depending on skill, luck, or a combination of the two or lack thereof. At least it was a beautiful day on the water. The fish were biting well first thing in the morning, but by mid-morning it turned into a slow pick for the rest of the day. Today on Friday we went back to where we had found salmon the last three trips. The water temperature had heated up to a balmy 57 degrees, there was so much jellyfish in the water the jelly was popping sinkers, and there were no salmon to be found. Bob moved up the line to a spot he heard some fish were landed yesterday and they found lots of salmon. Only problem was that they were the wrong kind...they were coho or silver salmon, not kings, which we can't keep. They released more than a half dozen of them before finally finding one of the right kind, but only problem was it was the wrong size, just under 24 inches. So we'll continue the hunt again tomorrow to see if we can track down those fish we were catching a few days ago. As Scarlett would say, tomorrow's another day.

Thursday, June 3 - Capt. Bob called in early this morning and said that he was pleasantly surprised that the ocean was the nicest it's been in quite a while...it's about time because it sure has been pretty mean more often than not this spring. Gave us hope that the rockfish below Pigeon Point would be on the munch. It sounded like it started out fairly well with some rockfish coming over the rail early on as well as a few cabezon, a lingcod and even a halibut. I didn't get a chance to touch base with Bob since mid-morning, but the last time I spoke with him he said the light switch flipped and the bite had slowed, so I'm not sure how the day ended. As far as tomorrow on Friday, we will be salmon fishing and have just a handful of people on the books, so there's lots and lots of room available. If you'd like to see if you can land one of those big bruiser salmon that we've been seeing the last few trips, just come on down to our shop in the morning and check in no later than 5:30. I'll be there with the doors open at 5:00. If you have your own gear, we're trolling.

Tuesday, June 1 - Not enough time today to be able to sit down and write out a complete update, but, real quick, we landed some huge salmon the last three trips with good action, and the rockfishing trip on Saturday endured more tough weather and even tougher fishing below Pigeon Point. Top news from this past Sunday: Stephen Lee took home a 46 pound two salmon limit after he landed a 28 pound and an 18 pound salmon. Wow. Not enough folks called in to go out tomorrow on Wednesday, but we do have enough already down and will be rockfishing on Thursday. Ocean weather forecast looks favorable so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Friday, May 28 - With the first fish in the box by a little after 7:30, and a chunky 26 pounder landing with a thud by 10:00 along with another handful of fish, we had a downright decent day and ended up with 11 keepers landed for our 20 anglers. Years past that would have been nothing to brag about, but now that it's sunk in that the salmon are not going to come easy this season, it's a darn good score and we'll take it. We had a fish-per-rod-kinda-action with at least another 7 or 8 fish that were lost for one reason or another, a couple of heartbreaker fish that just barely missed the 24 inch minimum and had to be thrown back, and a couple of hit and misses. There was no really big spot of fish that would satisfy the needs of a bunch of boats, but it was all we needed for some decent action. I've been told that a picture of the 26 pounder will be emailed to me, so I promise it will finally knock the picture of me and my yellowfin off the top of this page as long as it really is sent to me. Still plenty of room for our rockfishing trip tomorrow on Saturday, as well as our salmon trips on Sunday and Monday. If you'd like to join us tomorrow on Saturday, don't worry about calling if you decide last minute to join us. Just simply come on down to our shop in the morning, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing, and check in between 5:30 when I open the doors to no later than 6:15. Do be sure to give a call for updates about our salmon trips if you're interested in going out on Sunday or Monday.

Thurday, May 27 - The reservations trickled in one by one, but unfortunately we just didn't get enough folks on the books in time to be able to make any runs to go rockfishing below Pigeon Point the last three days. So we'll be back on the water tomorrow on Friday to track down some more salmon. We still have some spots open but we also definitely have enough folks on the books that the trip will take place as scheduled. We'll give rockfishing a shot on Saturday and will be back salmon fishing on Sunday and Monday. The weatherman is telling us that it looks like today will mark the end of the rain for the season, but I'm sure we'll still have to contend with the wind off and on (which is actually our bigger enemy). Thankfully the swells are forecast to stay relatively on the low side through the weekend, so hopefully the winds won't have too much impact on us through the holiday.

Monday, May 24 - Variable winds. What a wonderful thing to see. Variable winds are what I long for, as it usually equates to some of the best weather we get on the water, and today was the first day I've seen it so far this year in the ocean forecast. And with variable winds we are back out salmon fishing again after getting blown out this past weekend. A nice 15 pounder was landed early in the morning, and we ended the day with three nice grade salmon for our six anglers. We're scheduled for rockfishing the next three days, weather and interest permitting (remember, the salmon season has a two day closure each week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Even though the winds have switched around and are coming from the south, it's looking like it's just a touch of a breeze with less than 10 knots each day, with only a 4 to 6 foot swell. There are some scattered showers that may come and go this week, but we'll gladly take a little rain over the howling wind we've had to contend with this spring. If you're interested in joining us in the next couple of days, please be sure to make a reservation as soon as possible so we can gauge whether there's enough interest in making the run. We have a sprinkling of people on the books every day, so all it takes is a few more or less to determine if a trip is a go or not.

Friday, May 21 - Yesterday's forecast was calling for NW winds 10 to 20 knots, but they lied. We took off in search of salmon and hit a brick wall of wind offshore that drove us right back to the dock. Bob did find loads of bait and whales feeding and breaching before heading back in, but not quite the dark water where salmon typically hang out. They were able to put the lines in the water for a short while and did throw back one shaker before turning tail. The winds cancelled our trip for today as well as our trip for tomorrow on Saturday. We're still scheduled to give it a shot on Sunday even though it's looking pretty iffy; we're waiting until the Saturday afternoon forecast update to see if we'll be able to run on Sunday or not. The winds are supposed to shift around early next week, but as always we'll just have to wait and see when the ocean decides it will let us go out and play.

Monday, May 17 - The Fishing Fools gang, a small group of retired gentlemen who have chartered the QH pretty much every other Monday for several years during past salmon seasons, were finally able to climb back in the saddle and ride again. It didn't take them long at all to get right back in the swing of things. By 7:15 this morning they had already hooked three salmon, but the score was: Queen of Hearts 2, sea lions 1. With noone else on the water to steal from, we had the joy of dealing with these furry critters stealing salmon from us all morning long. The sea lions came back to tie the score at 3 and 3, and by 8:30 the battle raged and remained tied at 4 and 4. They munched a total of 7 salmon, but we ended up landing more than they did by the end of the day with 11 salmon in the box for our 8 anglers to 17 pounds, along with another handful that won their way to freedom. The salmon were all a nice grade of fish with not a single shaker in the lot. Darn good fishing, especially considering that the weather was pretty snotty, with a stiff wind from the south that just kept increasing as the day went on. This past weekend we had a private rockfishing charter on Saturday and an open load rockfishing trip on Sunday that enjoyed some of the best weather on the ocean we've had so far this season. Both trips saw good Pigeon Point fishing with some folks going home with their 10 fish rockcod limit and an overall average of about 6 fish per person of just about 100 percent hardhead bottomfish: gophers, black and yellows, a few vermillion and a sprinkling of seatrout. One 8 pound lingcod was landed on Saturday and another one on Sunday, and we also had five cabezon on Saturday with a 12 pound whopper taking top honors. Weather looks good for our rockfishing trip on Wednesday; if you're interested in going, try to let us know no later than noon on Tuesday so we know if there's enough interest in making the run. We have salmon trips scheduled for Thursday and Friday, weather permitting.

Friday, May 14 - Yahoo, baby, the salmon have finally arrived in Half Moon Bay! By noon we had enough action that we could have been on our way to limits. Not just a fish or two or three, but actual limits for everyone onboard. There were lots of fish hooked, several landed, lots lost, and a whole bunch of chunky 22 and 23 inch shakers thrown back. Best part is I was really hoping today would be the day, of all days, the salmon would finally show, because today we had a private charter with the offensive line of the San Francisco 49ers. Yep, you read it right, as in the professional football team, THE 49ers. My day started off meeting their center who put the trip together and their kicker, Joe, along with another dozen of their teammates. The guys headed down the dock, loaded their provisions onboard (aka coolers of beer) and off they went to have some fun and celebrate for one of their teammate's bachelor party. They put the first salmon in the box just a little after 8am and continued to hook, lose and/or land fish for the rest of the trip. At least a dozen fish were fought before 10am with half of those making it onboard. The guys had a ball, no pun intended, hooting and hollering and having a good old time with every fish landed...or farmed. They pulled the plug a little after noon to head back to the next watering hole after fighting at least another dozen fish and landing three more. They didn't end the day with limits, but it was definitely limit style fishing, just like the good old days a few years back. With virtually no change in the upcoming weather through the five day forecast period, it's very possible these fish might just stay in our playground for a while. See, we told you it would happen! As we have a few private charters and rockfishing trips over the next few days, our next available salmon trips will be next Thursday, Friday and Sunday, May 20, 21 and 23.

Thursday, May 13 - I don't want to jinx it, but, if the forecast holds true, we have some good weather on tap for this weekend and into at least the beginning of next week. We have a salmon charter tomorrow and Monday, and there's a rumor that some fish were caught around the area where we caught a couple last weekend, so maybe tomorrow will be the day we carry the heros that finally get this thing going for us. Saturday is a private rockcod charter and Sunday is an open load rockcod trip, which should be a good test to see if the rockcod want to come out and play a bit more if the wind backs off and lets the water warm up a tad. If you'd like to join us on Sunday, there's still space available; just give us a call to put your name on the books.

Monday, May 10 - We made it out rockfishing on this past Friday and Saturday and went searching for salmon again on Sunday. The weatherman lied again and the decent weather we were supposed to have for Friday was not so decent...again. Bob says it was blowing a solid 20 knots or more below Pigeon most of the day, and the water temperature was a shiver-your-scales-off 48 degrees making for some very unenthusiastic rockcod. The wind backed off a little on Saturday and the water temperature rose a half a degree, but the fish were still pretty lethargic. You just about had to bonk them on the head or snag 'em on the bounce to get one on the end of your hook. We ended up with a Southern California type of score with a little over a hundred fish landed for the two days of trying. No keeper lingcod landed but a couple of handfuls of shakers were released. On Sunday, despite the rain squalls that blew through in the morning, the ocean was fairly nice. We started trolling around 7:30 and had our first salmon on the hook around 8:15. A week before it would have been a keeper, but this week with the change in regulations it was two inches short of the 24 inch minimum size limit, so back it went. Less than 15 minutes later we had a fish in the box when an 11 pounder was landed. With all the krill that was in the water, it was looking like we were on the right track, but unfortunately we didn't find any more biters for the rest of the day. We're scheduled for rockfishing most days this week and have an open salmon trip scheduled for Thursday at this point, weather and interest permitting. The way the ocean forecast looks, we'll be picking and choosing our days carefully again this week, so be sure to check in with us if you're interested in going out.

Wednesday, May 5 - The ocean forecast is calling for the winds to finally back down tomorrow on Thursday, dropping from 20 to 30 knots today all the way down to as little as 5 to 15 knots by Friday along with a swell of possibly as low as 3 foot below Pigeon Point. As long as the forecast doesn't change, with about a dozen folks on the books, we are rockfishing on Friday. Looking at the extended forecast, the wind may not hold off for long, so if you are able to go fishing on a weekday, I'd recommend taking advantage of the decent weather that we're supposed to get this Friday and get out there while we can. Plenty of room available for Friday; don't worry about making a reservation is you want to join us...just come on down and check in at our shop by no later than 6:15.

Saturday, May 1 - So much for the decent forecast we had a couple of days ago for this weekend. We made it down below Pigeon this morning with high hopes but unfortunately the ocean was just too nasty and we ended up turning tail and pounding our way back to the harbor. The wind is absolutely howling on the ocean now, blowing a solid 20 to 30 knots, and it looks to stay that way for the next few days at least. We've cancelled our trip for Sunday and will have to just patiently wait to see when it will calm down and let us head back out. As soon as it looks like we'll get a break coming our way, I'll be sure to pass it along.

Thursday, April 29 - We begin our rockfishing season on Saturday below Pigeon Point, and there's still space available for both Saturday and Sunday. Looking at the ocean forecast, Sunday would be the day I'd pick if I had the chance to go as it looks like it should be a better day on the ocean with very light winds and not a bad swell. If you'd like to join us, give us a call to make a reservation. We'll be alternating between rockfishing and salmon fishing next week, with Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday scheduled for rockfishing and Thursday and Sunday slated for salmon (and don't forget, guys, Sunday, May 9 is Mother's Day). Hopefully the northwinds that have been howling more often than not the last two weeks will put some salmon on the munch in our area and, after five months since we were last able to go rockfishing, the rockcod are ready for our return.

Monday, April 26 - Boy, oh boy, are we ready for the rockfishing season to open! This Saturday, May 1, rockfishing below Pigeon Point opens for the 2010 season. We sure hope the rockcod are a lot more cooperative than the salmon have been. Capt. Bob figures he's covered just about every inch of the Deep Reef and cruised well over 500 miles so far this month in search of some salmon within our range, but despite the crew's best efforts we just keep coming up empty except for a couple of blind strikes, one resulting in the only keeper so far. Same story for every other boat that has run salmon trips out of our harbor. We can't imagine that some salmon won't show up some day as they do have tails and swim up and down the coast, but it's extremely disappointing and disheartening to go out trip after trip waiting for that day to happen. We were out again this past Friday and Saturday and did release a shaker on Saturday, so at least we got a reminder of what a salmon looks like even if it was too small to keep. Saturday, May 1 is opening day for the rockfishing season below Pigeon Point, and we do still have space available for both this Saturday and Sunday. We have a private charter that will be salmon fishing on Monday, May 3, so that will be the next time we'll get another crack at finding some salmon. On a different note, folks have been coming through our shop telling us about what sounds like some good perch fishing going on around the harbor, even off the outer breakwater. Also sounds like some striped bass are starting to show up along the coast as well as a halibut or two inside the harbor entrance. We've got the shop all stocked up with lots of new stuff for fishing the surf, the pier and the boats, so we're ready and all geared up for whatever fish swim our way. As I find out more news about happenings around the harbor, I'll be sure to pass them on.

Wednesday, April 21 - The strong northwest winds have arrived with a vengence...which could be exactly what we need to get some salmon to come out and play. Northwest winds cause an upwelling in the ocean that brings in the bait, and where there's bait, hopefully there's salmon. The only bad part about northwest winds is that they typically knock us off the water until it calms down. As tough as it's been so far, though, the break this time is actually welcomed and will start the anticipation process over again to see what conditions will be like once we're able to put the lines back in the water. It's looking like we might get a break on Friday, but, as always, we'll be watching the ocean forecasts closely. Thursday afternoon update: The forecast is calling for light winds tomorrow on Friday, so our trip for tomorrow is on; it's a real light load but we're definitely going as long as we get the weather in the morning that is in the forecast. Plenty of room if you'd like to join us to see what the winds may have pushed our way. We'll have the doors open at 5:00; check in no later than 5:30 at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing.

Monday, April 19 - Well how about that...after way too many days of trying with no success, we finally found our first salmon of the season this past Saturday. It was a 16 pound beauty, and the news spread fast and wide that the QH finally caught a fish. Wish I could say it opened the flood gates, but it didn't. We had a couple of other brief moments of excitement on Friday's trip when we had a driveby right off the bat...a driveby is when a fish hits the bait popping the sinker out of the release and then coming unbuttoned in the blink of an eye...and we had a couple of tore up baits later in the morning, but that was about it. Just like the weather, Mother Nature is also in control of the fish and bait, and hopefully we'll be in the right place at the right time when she decides to share with us. All we can do is just keep plugging away and giving it our best shot as long as there are folks willing to give it a try while we wait for the magic day when some fish show up in our neck of the woods. On a positive note, we'll be able to go rockfishing a week from this Saturday when the season opens on May 1 below Pigeon Point, so we are definitely looking forward to having some fun on the rockfishing grounds soon. There's still spaces available for opening weekend; if you're interested in joining us, reservations are a darn good idea as those trips do tend to fill up in advance.

Friday, April 16 - Quick morning update: Here's the Reader's Digest version of the final decision regarding this year's recreational salmon season for our area: Through the end of April, the season will remain open seven days a week with a 20 inch minimum size limit. As of May 1, the season is open Thursday through Monday (which means salmon fishing is not permitted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays), the minimum size limit will be 24 inches, and the season will remain open through September 6 subject to any future inseason adjustments if necessary. If you want to read the whole scoop, click on: http://www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/April-15-2010-Salmon-Seasons-press-release.pdf A table with more of the particulars is at:
http://www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/PFMC_Adopted_Salmon_Regs.pdf.

Thursday, April 15 - Tax Day, yuck. To add insult to injury, on yesterday's trip Randy went all the way down to Davenport, 35 miles below the harbor. With the best weather so far this month, he found whales feeding, jellyfish-free brown water, rips, krill coming up in handfuls on folks' lines as they checked their baits...but not a single scratched bait, not a single salmon. Sounds like that same score was shared by 95% of the boats out fishing, with only a skiff here or there boating a fish or two. Like they say, you can't win if you don't play, and you can't catch a fish if your boat is tied to the dock. And, to throw another analogy at ya'all, the more you play the better your odds, so we will keep plugging away as long as the feds allow, the weather permits, and there are still folks who understand that we will continue as always to give it our all every time they put their trust in us. There's just gotta be a salmon or two swimming around out there with a big QH branded on its side somewhere. Never a follower and always a leader, and not content sitting on the sidelines waiting for the game to get better, we'll give it another try tomorrow on Friday. Weather looks fantastic and there's plenty of room. If you don't get a chance to call in a reservation and want to join us, just come on down in the morning and check in at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing. I open the doors at 5:00 a.m.; check in by 5:30 as we begin our hunt again leaving the dock at 6:15. Capt. Houdini still has a few tricks up his sleeves...hope he pulls a rabbit...ah, I mean salmon...out of his hat soon.

Wednesday, April 14 - The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) posted a page on their website that seems like it may be a good starting point to keep abreast of the fate of this year's salmon season: http://www.pcouncil.org/salmon/current-season-management/. Lots of info to click on if you have the time. If, however, you want just the cut and dry stuff for California only, then click on their link for the California Department of Fish and Game which is at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/oceansalmon.asp. Bob has been at the PFMC's Portland meeting since Friday but "has had enough fun" and is coming home later this evening. While Bob's finishing up, Capt. Randy is taking Bob's place at the helm today and is out on the hunt. I believe his plan was to head south this morning to see if any salmon have shown up to play in our neck of the woods. The cell phone coverage on the ocean has been lousy ever since things were switched from analog to all digital service last year, so the boat's out of range and I won't know how things went until they get back later this afternoon. We've finally got the weather to cooperate, so hopefully the fish will follow suit.

Monday, April 12 - 24 years ago today Bob and I officially tied the knot...hard to believe it's been that long, and then again, it doesn't seem that long ago. We get to celebrate our anniversary via the phone as we're 500 miles apart with Bob attending round two of this year's PFMC meetings in Portland. Bob's already given them notice that if the meeting takes place during the same week next year, count him out...we don't know where we're going yet, but we definitely are going to go somewhere to celebrate our silver anniversary next year. Back on the fishing front, Capt. Randy is standing ready, chomping at the bit to get his shot to be the hero on Wednesday while Bob finishes up in Portland (the boat will stayed tied to the dock on Tuesday...trip cancelled). Hopefully Randy can find the first salmon of the season that we've searched for to no avail so far. This past week we only made it out four days between the storms that continued to roll through, and really only one of those days was a decent day weather-wise, as this past Saturday's trip was more of the same. The swells are finally supposed to give us a break this week and the winds are supposed to back way off, too, so we hopefully the fish gods will smile upon us this week after paying our dues...and then some...last week.

Thursday, April 8 - No trip today due to the high winds and swells offshore, and we've cancelled our trip for tomorrow on Friday as it's slated for more of the same. At this point it looks like we should be able to sneak out on Saturday, and by Monday this stuff finally seems to settle down and hopefully we can get a much better shot at putting some fish in the boat.

Wednesday, April 7 - We're definitely making the owner of the fuel dock a happy man...we've burned through over $1200 worth of fuel in our first three days of scouting for the elusive salmon. Unfortunately, we still haven't been rewarded with anything to bring home for our efforts, even though, obviously, it's not for lack of trying. Today Bob ventured to the inside edge of the Pioneer Canyon, offshore in tuna grounds territory. With all the scouting around, he's found good signs of bait, krill, floating crab larvae, birds working, all the stuff we want to see, but no salmon so far. Heard the top dog out of the bay today had three salmon and the scores went down from there, so not much of anything happening yet for our area. Looking back at our Fishing Report Archives (www.fishingboat.com/archieve.html), the beginning of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons didn't start out much different than this year so far, so don't give up hope. Three days of hunting is just the beginning, not the end. As far as "The End," though, the PFMC meetings will start on this Saturday which will decide the fate of this year's salmon season, and by a week from tomorrow we are supposed to have the final decision on how long we'll be allowed to continue the hunt. We've had to surrender and cancel our trip for tomorrow on Thursday as the wind and swells are forecast to pick up again tonight off our coastline, with northwest winds 20 to 30 knots of wind on top of combined seas of 11 to 16 feet every 12 seconds on tap for tomorrow, way too much for our liking. Really hurts, too, as we had just a couple of fingers shy of a boatload of folks chomping at the bit and willing to give it a shot. The forecast has been going up and down like crazy, so we'll continue to watch the ocean weather forecasts daily to decide whether it's good enough or not to give it a go for the next days' trip. [Thursday morning update: we made the right call...the current buoy reading at 8am at Half Moon Bay Buoy says the wind is 22 knots with gusts to 30 on top of a 13 foot swell every 9 seconds...in other words, flat out nasty. I know it's tough to believe as it looks gorgeous on land, but the ocean can be a different story, as it is right now. We'll keep our fingers crossed it settles down a bit for tomorrow and I'll post an update once we get the afternoon forecast that comes in around 2:30.]

Tuesday, April 6 - The gang today gave it their all, covered lots and lots of ground, tried spots all the way down the coast as far south as Waddell Creek (just above Davenport well below Pigeon Point) and all the way back up along the inside of the Deep Reef, but we're still looking to get the skunk off the boat with two trips now under our belt. There was lots of bait and krill off of Pigeon, and it looked pretty darn fishy, but unfortunately there was also lots of jelly fish that moved in; they were so thick we couldn't fish the area anymore and had to move on. It's not a matter of if we'll find some fish, it's just a matter of how soon. Like I've always said, salmon fishing can be like turning on and off a light switch. Just because it didn't happen today doesn't mean it won't happen tomorrow. We'll just keep plugging away until we find them. With a good weather forecast for tomorrow, maybe tomorrow will be the day. We'll keep our fingers crossed...and our toes, too, if it helps.... If you'd like to give it a try with us tomorrow, there's plenty of space available. I'll have the doors open at 5:00; check in at our shop by around 5:30.

Monday, April 5 - It was nice to get back out salmon fishing on Saturday...well, kinda. The weather wasn't so nice. It was actually pretty darn downright rotten, but, being Opening Day, we had to stick it out and put in our time. We fished the offshore areas above the harbor to try to get a better angle on the swells. Capt. Bob reported that he found some good signs including dark water and even spots of krill, but with conditions making is tough to even want to check their baits, we ended the day with nothing but a couple of scratched baits for our efforts. From the reports I'm hearing, there was a smattering of salmon caught all up and down the coastline from Bodega to Monterey, so there are definitely at least a few fish still lurking in the ocean waters. We had to give in to the weather and cancelled our trips for Sunday and today, but the wind and swells are supposed to back down for our trip tomorrow on Tuesday, and the weather looks darn good for Wednesday, too, so hopefully we'll get a better shot at seeing what we can find on the salmon grounds and have some good news to report soon. There's still a lot of territory to explore, and even Capt. Bob says he has a good feeling and is far from throwing in the towel.

Friday, April 2 - The final countdown has begun...one more day until we're back on the hunt for wild king salmon off our coastline! Our trips for both Saturday and Sunday this weekend are full at this point, but there has been a lot of up and down on the reservations, so if you're interested in being placed on our standby list just in case we get any spots open up, just let us know. The ocean weather forecast is calling for the usual springtime swells over the next several days but thankfully not much wind, so it looks like we might actually be in relatively good shape for the upcoming week. There is a system possibly coming in on Sunday, but hopefully we'll luck out and it won't arrive until sometime in the evening...we'll just have to wait and see. We are definitely running every day as long as the weather permits. Now, some last minute reminders about this salmon fishing stuff: NUMBER ONE...if you have your own rod and reel, make sure you have fresh line, 20 to 25 pound test mono (braid/spectra is NOT allowed on salmon trips). If you don't know how old the line is, it's too old. Strip it off and put new line on. The worst thing you can do is to spend all the money and time to go salmon fishing and lose possibily the only fish you hook all day long because you didn't have fresh line. Also check your drag and make sure it's working properly. NUMBER TWO...the price of lead has gone through the roof just like oil over the past couple of years. If you have any 2-1/2 pound sinkers laying around the garage, be sure to bring them. We ONLY use 2-1/2 pound, nothing bigger, nothing smaller. If you don't have any, check with us about our price compared to the big box stores...the sinkers aren't cheap, but I think we still have a better price. NUMBER THREE...listen to the crew! If they give you a suggestion, take it. Anything they say is only said because they want to help you catch a fish. NUMBER FOUR...Are there any fish out there? We won't know until we put the lines in the water, and even then it may take several days to find out where the fish are or where they aren't. AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST...have fun and appreciate this unexpected chance to catch a prize salmon in our own backyard again for as long as it lasts! Now, for a bit of a sales pitch for those private boaters out there looking for some primo bait: I was able to get my hands on a freezer-full of some awesome anchovy-size tray herring, 14 baits to a tray. Take a look and it and I'm sure you'll agree that it's absolutely a fantastic bait. It's not the huge herring you're used to seeing. I know bait has been hard to find, so if you're in our area, come into our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing, and pick up a tray or two or three of this stuff...I don't think you'll be disappointed. We'll have our doors open at 5:00 Saturday morning.

Monday, March 15 - Here's the link to the recent PFMC's public notice regarding this year's salmon season: http://www.pcouncil.org/2010/03/7890/council-chooses-2010-salmon-options/. This notice lists the three options for the season that will be decided on during the PFMC's next meetings that take place in Portland April 10-15. If you click on the actual table of the options on the right side of that page, the paraphrased version of the options for our area are: The season opens April 3 and could continue through as late as November 14 with either a 20 or 24 inch minimum with an option to close the fishery during May and June, or the season could be closed completely, and whatever is decided for this year is supposed to apply to 2011. We know this can be confusing, but here's how it stands at this point: Regardless of those options, the salmon season will open as is currently written in the fishery regulations: The season opens in our area on Saturday, April 3, the limit is two (2) salmon per person and there is a 20 inch minimum size limit, and it will remain open up until either notice of an emergency closure or receipt of the PFMC's final decision on which option they choose. After the closures the last two years, we honestly still do not understand the reasoning behind this ourselves, but that's not our job. We are not scientists, we don't make the rules. We are in business to take folks fishing. If we are told we are able to catch fish, that's what we do. Are there any salmon in the ocean to catch? Just like every season, we'll know more once we put our lines in the water. And, just like every season, one day does not a season make. Each day is a process to figure out either where the fish are at or where they aren't. Ready to join us in that process? We'll be fishing every day, weather and interest permitting, once the season opens on April 3. On the whale watching front, we are batting 1000, spotting a whale on our first trip of the season yesterday morning, albeit a pretty shy whale that kept just barely within viewing distance. Several minutes of checking out an extremely cute sea otter started the trip off on the right foot, though, watching it stereotypically kick and paddle while lying on it's back trying to break open its mid-morning snack. Our whale watching trips will continue for the next two Saturdays and Sundays until it's time to put the lines in the water and get back to fishing.

Thursday, March 11 - The 2010 Salmon Season Will Open on Saturday, April 3. The official word was announced today that the salmon season will open this year as scheduled on Saturday, April 3rd in both state and federal waters. The official notice from the government explaining the reasoning behind their decision has been promised to be posted by no later than next Tuesday, March 16, and I'll post the link once it's available. So we now know when the season opens, but we don't know how long it will last. The next round of PFMC meetings takes place April 10-15 and we expect to receive more info then. If it is decided at the meeting in April that an emergency closure is needed, I could be wrong but I believe there is a 10 day notice required, which means we are able to fish for salmon through at least the majority of April and possibly longer depending on the outcome of the next meetings. Sounds like we squeeked through on the rockcod front for this year, too, and will have the same season at the same depths that we had in 2009 (out to 180 feet, opening May 1 below Pigeon Point and June 13 above Pigeon Point). So dust off that salmon gear and let's go fishing! This weekend news: From our contacts with guys up and down the coast, it sounds like the Humboldt Squid have moved on, so we're scratching our squid trips this weekend and next and will switch over to whale watching on the weekends through March.

Monday, March 8 - 2010 Fishing Season Update: The 2010 salmon season is scheduled to open April 3rd. Figured that would be cancelled like it has been the last two years, right? Well, maybe not. The powers that be are meeting at the PFMC in Sacramento right now and are hashing out the details for the 2010 season. Word has it that, since emergency action was not taken to close the season, the salmon season will open as scheduled on Saturday, April 3. How long will the season be open? Don't know. Could be one week, could be one month, could be several months based on all the discussions taking place. State waters only or federal waters, too? Don't know that, either. But the returns were reported less than half of last year, and the the season was closed, right? Yep...this doesn't make much sense to us, either, and it's far from written in stone, but the picture should be a little clearer by the end of this week. So, as it stands now, we are now taking reservations for salmon fishing beginning April 3rd. I'm sure there will be an official DFG or PFMC webpage posted within the next week or so with info explaining what's going on and I'll be sure to post a link to it as soon as I find out about it. On the rockcod front, no new news yet other than lots of terrible sounding possibilities, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed and wait to see what happens. We are still scheduled for Humboldt Squid trips this Saturday, March 13 and the next Saturday, March 20, weather, squid and interest permitting. If you're interested in going, be sure to call in a reservation. And last, but not least, we're scheduled for whale watching Sundays through the end of March as well as on Saturday, March 27.

Saturday, February 20 - We watched the weather forecast carefully all week leading up to today's trip, and it was different with every update. The last update we received on Friday looked like the winds were going to cooperate, so the trip was a go. Overnight, however, the wind forecast was bumped up again, and we got every bit of the 15 to 17 knots of wind they said we were going to have by the time we left the dock on Saturday morning. It wasn't nice, but Capt. Bob headed offshore and made it to the tuna, I mean squid grounds just inside the Pioneer area which is somewhere around 20 miles offshore, and the first squid hit the deck just a little after 10 in the morning. The tough weather made it difficult to get the squid to the surface, though, and for every three squid hooked only one would find its way onboard, so out of the 25 to 30 squid hooked, 7 made it onboard. Jackpot fish, I mean squid, was a whopping 45 pounder. We are going to go ahead and schedule Humboldt squid trips every Saturday in March as long as the squid continue to hang around (as they are a migratory critter), except for March 6th as Capt. Bob will be at the first round of PFMC meetings for 2010 in Sacramento that weekend. On the fishing front, the returning salmon numbers were finally released and it sounds absolutely terrible. The hope was that there would be at least 120,000 returning salmon, which is the minimum number it would take in order to get a salmon season, up from around 80,000 last year and 60,000 the year before. Well, there were less than 40,000 salmon counted, the lowest number EVER counted, so the disaster continues. The feds meet up in March and April to decide the fate of the 2010 salmon season, but, based on those numbers, we expect the salmon season to be cancelled once again. The rockcod season will be discussed at those same meetings in March and April, and, as it stands now, we should have basically the same season as we had last year.

Saturday, February 13 - Two full boatloads of folks joined us today to view the Mavericks surf contest up close and personal. It's amazing how we can safely sit just off to the edge of the break at Mavericks and watch the guys on their boards dropping in on bombers almost within casting distance away from the boat. Capt. Bob did what he could jockeying for position among the mass of boats trying to do the same thing in an attempt to get our gang in the prime spot to capture some of those amazing Mavericks photos. If you'd like to check out their view, a couple of guys on our boat shared their photo gallery...where you can even purchase your own copies of some of their amazing shots:
Bruce's photos:http://norcalsurfphotos.smugmug.com/Surf-Photos-2010/Mavericks-2-13-10/11232770_fYYGM#787740210_RhFDB
Shal's photos:http://jacobovitz.smugmug.com/Sports/Mavericks-2010/11230886_qEM8g#787583898_hp9Tg

Monday, February 8 - The storm systems rolling through just wouldn't cooperate to allow us to make it out this past Saturday for a hunt for Humboldt Squid, so the trip ended up being scrubbed. We'll give it another go, weather and squid permitting, on Saturday, February 20. This coming holiday weekend we're slated to go whale watching. As we're right in the heart of the gray whale migration, hopefully the weather will cooperate this weekend and give us a chance to enjoy a bit of Mother Nature up close and personal.

Monday, January 18 - As we promised so many of you at the boat show last week, it's time for us to get back up and running. Weather permitting, we've scheduled our first trips of 2010 for Humboldt Squid on Saturday, February 6, and Saturday, February 20. If there's enough interest and enough squid, we may add more trips to the schedule. The reports we're hearing is that there are Humboldts all the way up and down the coastline right now, from Bodega Bay in the north all the way down to Seaforth Landing in San Diego. We'll also start offering whale watching trips in February, too, with our first trips of the season slated for Presidents' Day weekend, February 13, 14 and 15...take your Valentine out whale watching on Sunday the 14th for Valentine's Day. Our rockfishing season this year kicks off on Saturday, May 1 below Pigeon Point. Royal Polaris long range trip news: Frank and Scotty with the RP told me at last weeks' show that the price for our upcoming 7 day long range trip has been reduced $100 down to $1995. There are still about a dozen spots available for that trip, so if you've been on the fence, time to jump on over and take advantage of a great price on a great trip. The price reduction applies to everyone, so if you're already on the books, your price has been reduced, too.

Wednesday January 13 - Happy Belated New Year! Capt. Bob and I have been extremely busy this past month, with the last event on the agenda for now taking place this week: the International Sportsmens Expo at the San Mateo Event Center. The show opens tomorrow, Thursday, January 14 and runs through this Sunday January 17. The show is open on Thursday and Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, and on Sunday it's open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Our spot is in the same place as it was last year, Booth 724C, back towards the indoor live fish aquarium. We have a new batch of Queen of Hearts t-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts and embroidered hats for sale at the show...with show-only special pricing! We also have several other fantastically priced items for sale at the show, well worth the price of admission. Hope you'll have a chance to come by and say hi.

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