  Half Moon Bay Riptide Sportfishing & Whale Watching 1-15-02 Ahoy there to all of you land lubbers!! we are running a rock fishing trip on the 20th, 25th and 26th of January. It has been a long dry spell and I for one am champing at the bit to catch a rock fish! This is the time of the year we are fishing in the deep so be prepared with your big tackle. Fishing has been good with a good mix of lings in the bags. The new law dropped the keeper size of the ling cod down to 24 inches. So all of those shorties that we had to through back last year we shall be able to keep a lot of them now!! MMM just thinking of a nice fillet of ling over a bed of fresh spinach with a wine and mustard sauce drizzled over it!!!!! But you know me i will savor anything i can put on my plate! If any of these dates will work for you them please let either Admiral ZEE or me know and we shall make your reservation! Oh yes due to the heightened security i shall have to inspect all bags and tackle boxes ( remember i do have a big appetite) and of course like the airlines no sharp objects will be allowed ( now how in the hell do we get the fish??)???? Just a joke! See you soon!!! Thanks to all! 11-08-01 Sorry I was not clear as to what "shelf fish are. I try to keep it as simple as possible but it is such a complicated matter and so many different user groups. The three categories describing ground fish are 1 nearshore (out to 20 fathoms), 2 shelf (20 to 600 fathoms), Slope ( outside 600 fathoms). there are certain fish that can be caught nearshore and different ones on the shelf. The yellow eye, Bocaccio, canary are considered to be shelf species. Whereas fish like china, gopher and cabbazone are considered nearshore. There are a whole slew of fish that are caught out on the slope that we don't even see ( thornyhead, splotnose etc). Which is why they are still allowed to drag out there( slope) because the recreational angler never accesses this fishery. After these meeting this year I think there will be a big drop off in the draggers. As it stands now with there quotas they are allowed to only fish for a couple of days in what is called block time (two month periods) then they have to tie up for the remainder of the two months. There days are numbered and there is discussion of buying back there vessels, which the government convinced them to buy through there grant and other packages which were offered back when there was the thought of the fish as an unlimited resource. Boy how wrong they were!! The one big thing that really needs to be stressed by you , ME and everyone who fishes for rock fish is that we have the opening of November and December within our grasp if we DO NOT CATCH CANARY'S! The Canary's live on the edges of the reefs always have ,always will. With the dire need to have the "Marine Recreational Fisherman Field Survey" (MRFFS) examine the way that they look at the data. To say there are 150 partyboats in norther California is totally ludicrous!!!!!!But that is what they think. They also do what is called a "phone survey" where they call people at random and ask them questions about there fishing on the ocean. My customers everyday hold up a fish and holler "hay Smitty what is this and can i keep it"? Now how can someone who is talking on the phone supposed to answer that question with any reliability?? The big portion of the data is going to come from the Partyboat's new log books which came out last year listing quite a few of the different kinds of rock fish. They are still in the process of setting up and receiving this data. I think it will show a truer picture of what is really happening on the ocean. We need to push for a reorganization of the whole MRFFS data and how they use it. Okay ill stop here and hope that this makes sense to you as it is a complex issue! Thanks for having an ear for the recreational angler. I hope with the help of the media we can work to get better data used to our benefit! 11-04-01 We were salmon fishing on Saturday. We went up to Duxbury buoy with what seemed like everyone who ever owned a boat including bathtubs with motors! But there were some excellent opportunities for some monster fishing! We had 8 passengers of which 4 were a group of Irishmen and I was sure that they had a leprechaun hidden somewhere with them (along with a bottle or two to nip on)!!! These guys were great fun and were hot, hooking fish after fish! There was a toast after every fish was landed (and several for just a scratched bait)! When we finally wound up the lines to head for the dock, we had 8 salmon of which the biggest was 32 lbs! Most of the fish were in the 20 lb class. We could barely close the fish box with these slugs! A wonderful time was had by all! During the past week I attended meetings of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. There were several party boat captains that also attended the meetings and we worked together with the GAP (Ground Fish Advisory Panel). Basically the coming season will hinge on the catching of CANARY ROCK FISH! We as a group (both the party boats and the recreational angler) must do everything within our power to AVOID CATCHING CANARY ROCK FISH!!! If we can get the catch down during the year we have a shot at opening November and December which right now are planned to be closed. The way the data collection method is done now is to use what is called MRFFS data. MRFFS stands for "Marine Recreational Fisherman Field Survey". There will be work done next year to the MRFFS to help make their database more accurate The new season for rock fishing in 2002 will be; January-February: open everywhere March-April: closed everywhere May-June: open nearshore only (out to 20 Fathoms) July-August: open everywhere September-October: open nearshore only November-December: closed everywhere There are a few changes to the regulations from last year. Ling cod can be kept when the season is open and the size is 24" 1 Yellow eye rock fish per person (maximum 2 per boat, cannot be kept in the nearshore season) 2 Self rock fish can be kept during the nearshore season (except for Canary, Bocaccio & Yellow eye). There is a lot of sacrifice in this set of regulations and there are a lot of bait shops and boats that may go out of business because of this. But given the options that we had this is the best we could come up with. I will state it again. WE MUST NOT CATCH CANARY ROCK FISH!! I have probably forgotten something else as this is such a complicated fishery now compared to the wide open days of yesteryear. Hope this helps to explain some of what has been happening! 9-23-01 Ahoy there one and all! Well we were fishing for rock fish this week and the fishing was really great both in the shallows and out in the deep! We are seeing the lings starting to bite and there are some nice big toothy critters out there!! Salmon fishing has been on the slow side but there have been some big hogs coming in! There have been reports of several fish in the 40 lb class and two reports of 50 lbers! On the tuna front, there is a good bite off of Bodega and off of Monterey. But, nothing really locally. We should see some changes in front of our harbor this week and hopefully get some tuna to show up. The weather this past week has been as smooth as a sheet of glass! Hopefully it will stay this way! Tight lines 9-5-01 Ahoy there one and all! Well the holiday week is finally winding down for us on the RIPTIDE! We have been busy fishing for Salmon, Rock fish & Tuna! I also am inclosing a picture (see above) of a Salmon that was caught by one of the finest gentlemen i have ever met! Mr. Peat V. Has been fishing out of the bay area for over 50 years! This is just his most resent catch! Not bad for a gentleman who is 90 years old! Generally the salmon fishing has been good with some big fish mixing things up and making everyone wonder what will bight there hook next! Our last tuna trip was down in the Monterey canyon. The fish have since started to move back up towards the "601" spot. There has been some mixed scores on the tuna and everyone has been coming home with some fish that are of a good grade! One fish that i heard of was over 40 lbs! The rock fishing has been Steady with a lot of nice Cabazone's & Lings mixed in with some great rock fish! The costal reefs are some of my favorite places to fish! This is actually the nicest time of the year to be on the ocean as it is generally our best weather! This is the time of the year i really enjoy being out there! Hope to see you soon with a rod! 8-19-01 Ahoy there one and all! We had a fine weekend of fishing! On Friday we had a small group of regulars for rock fishing and stayed close to the coast. The fishing was a steady pick of fish all morning and ended up with limits of rock fish. On Saturday we had a salmon charter. A group of 15 of the nicest people! 50% women and men. I must say that the women out fished the guys (again)! We ended up wit 14 salmon for the group fishing off of Muscle rock. On Sunday we went out to some deeper waters where i know no one has been fishing for rock fish and we had a great day. We ended up with 13 limits of Rock fish and 7 real nice ling cod! We also shook a bucket full of smaller ling cod and everyone had fun ! I was worried about the weather as it has come up big time on the outside. Which kept the tuna boats close to the shore fishing for either salmon or rock fish. There has been some nice salmon caught again right in front of our harbor! Overall it was another good weekend for the local fishing! Till next time! 8-13-01 Ahoy there one and all! Well it was a great weekend to be on the water! We were tuna fishing on Saturday and we ended up with 13 albie's for 5 guys. This actually was the slowest day of the week for tuna fishing as there were boats yesterday and today that were hovering around 200 fish on the deck! There were a lot of scores in the 40's! With the weather getting better on Sunday and on monday! We are running a trip (open load ) on thursday and still have space! Today we were salmon fishing off of Muscle rock and it was a grand bight! We had a lot of great action and the fish were really hungry! We had some nice fish with the biggest being 19 lbs. We were on our way home by 11 AM with 11 LIMITS! The costal rock fishing was a bit slower near shore but those who worked at it ended up with some nice limits! Summer is here and the fish are bitting!! 7-25-01 Well it looks like the weather and fishing is starting to brake for all of us!! The salmon fishing has picked up along the beaches. I had a private charter yesterday ( the vice pres of a big company and three of his constituents). We went up to the lee side of Pedro point to tuck out of the southerly breeze. We ended up with 11 salmon for all of us! It is nice to be able to say we caught LIMITS!! That was about the upper average for the party boats that were out fishing. The weekend saw about the same kind of action for the boats with scores from 4 up to 18 salmon per boat. Yes, this is not wide open limits but let me tell you there are some very nice fish there to be caught. There have been some bombers caught in the past week! Fish up to 40 lbs!! Tuna have been showing up on the outside and there is some good looking water that hopefully will stay there and by the looks of the projections should. We are Running trips for them also but mostly on the weekdays for open loads. We have A trip scheduled for monday of next week ( charter). The 8th,9th and the 16th are potential days for tuna. I have been asked to try to include dates that are open. Those are wide open and the other weekdays we are running open load salmon and rock fishing trips so you will need to check on your individual needs! Rock fishing has been good along the coast. Our last rock fishing trip was on Friday and we had one of my regular groups of guys along with a few other people! I have inclosed Chuck's picture of Evan Holding up an Irish Lord (thanks Chuck for all the great shots!!)!!! Both Zee and i want to take this chance to thank everyone for fishing with us aboard the RIPTIDE! Till next time! 7-20-01 We went below Pigeon Point today for shallow water light tackle rock fishing. There was wind off shore again (do I sound like a broken record?)! We had some excellent quality reds today along with some very nice Black rock fish. The Cabazone's also wanted to munch and I think everyone got off of the boat with at least one with the biggest weighing about 14 lbs. We also had some nice Lings! Overall we had better than three quarter to limits for 18 anglers for the day! Now to the salmon!! The fish have finally made it to the beach! The party boats were fishing in the Muscle Rock area and there were scores of up to thirty fish on Thursday. Today I heard scores up to 17 fish in the same area. There were some hogs mixed in as well. There were even a few moochers out fishing and they did well.So get ready for some great beach action for the salmon ! Okay time for bed! Tight Lines! 7-13-01 Ahoy there everyone! Well the salmon have arrived at the entrance to Pillar Point Harbor! There were several boats that fished there for a couple of hours and there were some very nice fish caught literally at the entrance to the harbor! We went Tuna fishing today and ran 33 miles south west of the harbor. The weather was absolutely flat calm! We ended up with 12 tuna for 4 anglers for the day! We also had one BLUE FIN tuna!! Does this mean i ran 33 miles away from the hot bight?? Ha ha! Till next time! 7-12-01 Today was a very short play day aboard the RIPTIDE! I had several appointments I had to get to later in the day so i decided to take a friend out just for a couple of hours in the morning. I needed to be back early. But after fishing for Tuna 35 miles off shore and attending the CA. Dept. of Fish And Game meetings. I needed an early easy day. I had gotten a report from Mr. Franko who had said that he had heard a report of some fish being taken in by the harbor entrance. When i got to the boat ,after sleeping in till 6 am, which is late for me. I backed the boat out of the birth and when we put the engine in gear to go down what we refer to as Whisky lane or the row of boats Evan, My Great Deckhand, put in the lines! when we hit the end of whisky lane and turned the boat we had a hit! I continued to troll out of the harbor and when we passed the outer entrance we had a solid Hook up! Peg (a close personal friend) had a salmon on!! We had a fish in the box in less than ten minuets from the birth!! Nice start to a morning after running 35 miles off shore for the past few days. Boy talk about overrunning the fish!! By 9:30 we had accounted for three HALIBUT and one salmon. We also released 2 nice ling cod. It was nice for a change to get a chance to enjoy a day on my own boat and get to land a fish( 18 lb halibut). And then off to run errands and other tasks the get backed up! Tight lines 7-9-01 Ahoy there one and all! We were Rock Fishing starting out in the shallows. We had scratch fishing for the morning and then moved off shore to work the outside area of San Gregorgio. We had a heck of a ling cod bite today with at least 40 shakers!! It seemed that everyone was catching lings at this one rock. We ended up with 10 keepers from that spot. We also were able to scratch out limits of nice rock fish for everyone today. There was so much feed on the outside of San G - we were watching schools of krill swimming around the boat and also watching the squid jetting through the water! In this same area we saw a BLUE WHALE! With all of the feed in the area I can see what attracted him! The weather was flat and it was one of those really nice days were everyone enjoyed the day! There were also alot of tuna being caught today out on the "601" Spot! We are going to be kicking off our tuna trips on thursday the 11th of July! Till Next time! 7-7-01 Ahoy there!!! Proposed Marine Protection Areas The California Department of Fish and Game is planning to declare over 50 square miles off limits to fishing. Among the proposed closed area are such popular fishing spots as the Farallone Islands, the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (the reef area off of Montara), Año Nuevo Natural bridges and Soquel canyon. Here is the closure for your area http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/map_sc1.html http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/map_nc1.html http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/map_nc2.html that is the map and here are some other documents you need to share with others also! http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/concepts.html#toc http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/concepts_maps.html http://www.oceanconservancy.org This is a reel threat to all of us and we need to act apon it! There will be a meeting in Sebastapol on the 9th ( i wont be attending as there is a planning meeting in HMB) and on the 10th there is a meeting at: Half Moon Bay High School Lewis Foster Dr. Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 7 to 10 PM I encourage everyone to attend. We need to show up and voice our opinions. If these areas are closed and you did not show up to any of the hearings, then you have no right to complain about the Closures! here is a list of the proposed areas: Here is a list of the proposed areas to be closed to ALL FISHING!!!! Point Arena State Marine Reserve Del Mar Point State Marine Reserve Salt Point State Marine Reserve Salt Point State Marine Park Fort Ross State Marine Reserve Sonoma Coast Beach State Marine Conservation Area Bodega State Marine Reserve Estero Americano State Marine Reserve Estero de San Antonio State Marine Reserve Bird Rock State Marine Reserve Point Reyes Headlands State Marine Reserve Duxbury Reef State Marine Conservation Area Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve Farallon Islands State Marine Conservation Area James V. Fitzgerald State Marine Reserve Año Nuevo State Marine Reserve Año Nuevo State Marine Conservation Area Natural Bridges State Marine Reserve Natural Bridges State Marine Conservation Area Soquel Canyon State Marine Conservation Area Portuguese Ledge State Marine Conservation Area Hopkins State Marine Reserve Pacific Grove State Marine Conservation Area Carmel Bay State Marine Park Point Lobos State Marine Reserve Point Lobos State Marine Conservation Area Point Sur State Marine Conservation Area Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Marine Reserve Big Creek State Marine Reserve Big Creek State Marine Conservation Area Salmon Creek State Marine Reserve Piedras Blancas State Marine Conservation Area Cambria State Marine Conservation Area Cambria State Marine Reserve Point Buchon State Marine Conservation Area Purisima State Marine Conservation Area Conception State Marine Park Area Charlie State Marine Reserve (San Nicolas Island) There needs to be a public outcry on these closed areas as YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO FISH IN THEM EVER AGAIN! I hope to have your support in defeating this radical closure! Thank you 7-3-01 Ahoy there one and all! I want to send you a web page showing the major proposed closures along the "North Central California". This would close the cost for all time and never allow fishing within these areas. We can fish within our National Parks but the way this is trying to be set up there will NEVER be any fishing within these areas. This whole concept does not adequately deal with the problems of the runoff from both agriculture or waist disposal or other contaminants that are washed into the ocean. Tell me how stopping someone from fishing is going to help the return of the kelp?? This is an ill conceived plan and needs to have people respond to it by letting them know with other and better ideas for helping the "Nearshore Eco system". http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/concepts_maps.html look at the maps and this will show you the areas that are proposed to be closed FOREVER! There are other ideas that should be considered before closing these areas forever! I bring this to everyone attention as i feel that the more we know the less they can sneak by us! Just wanted you to know! 7-2-01 Ahoy there one and all! Today was the opener of the Ling Cod season! We were held in next to the shore as the wind is "STILL" blowing offshore! Gee Whiz! when will it let up????? We slid down along the coast to Pecsadero. We didn't have too much wind and swell early in the day and as the famous quote goes "the early bird gets the worm." Well, same with the early bite!! As the wind and swell increased, every drift slowed down. We prevailed and had 14 limits of rock fish,12 Cabazone, 6 Ling cod (to 18 lbs.), 6 kelp greenling and one really great "Irish Lord" (if you don't know what it is look him up)!! The bar casters were "ripping lips'!! and the shrimp fly guys were setting the hooks on some nice fish today! When Evan (our deckhand ) finished counting and keeping track of all of the fish, everyone was happy and ready to head to the dock and to a fine fresh fish dinner (including the captain mmm fish tacos tonight)!!! 7-1-01 We were rock fishing today and there was wind off shore. I spoke with one tuna boat that was out at the "601" and he had 7 tuna with winds 25 gusting to 30 or more with a 10 foot sea every 8 seconds. I guess that is why John is referred to as "Hurricane Hasha"! I also heard that the salmon are starting to show up off of the Marin coast! One boat out of our harbor today had three salmon (all big ones) along Rocky Point. The Riptide spent the day drifting along Pescadero for rock fish. We had a great start and then it was a slow pick the rest of the day. We did manage to scratch out 15 limits of rock fish with 2 Cabazone! I look forward to tomorrow as the season opens for Ling cod as well as the red fish (canaries and vermillions and Bocaccio). We can also fish back in the deep water tomorrow! So it is summer and time to wet a line and think about the Drifters singing there song, "Under the Boardwalk." Tight lines! 9-22-01 Ahoy there one and all! We were rock fishing today! The weather was really great with a gentle roll of the swell. We fished again today off of the "Ritz" with some mixed bags for limits. There were some nice Black's and Brownies caught as well as releasing some nice ling cod! Everyone is anxiously awaiting the July 1st change in all of the regs! This will also help the salmon fishing as well as we have been seeing a lot of smaller fish on the outside by the weather buoy and we shall be able to keep them. The changes will also allow us to retain the ling cod (legal size is 26") and keep the reds. But remember the new regs for Bocaccio (2) and Canaries (1)! The new regulations are on the link on my web site (www.riptide.net). Lets kick off this "New Season" with a ling in every bag or a salmon on every hook! Tight lines! 6-16-01 Ahoy there one and all! It is hard to believe the year is half over! We are hopefully moving into our "Summer mode". This is the time of the year when the rock fishing picks up. We have been fishing in the shallows for almost two months. Saturday was no exception. We were fishing off the area now dubbed "FISHING AT THE RITZ'!! This is an area that used to be called "Three Rocks" (for the obvious reasons) which is just a few miles below the harbor. The fishing has been a slow scratch in the morning and would usually pick up in the afternoon. The previous day was the same when we ran down to Pescadero and had a very slow start. Both days we did catch limits of rock fish for just about everyone including the ones who were (how do I put this delicately?) "under the weather" even though the weather was great! Nice sunny days and not much of a breeze along the beach. There was a swell due to the wind in the north and off shore. There were also a lot of "Ling cod"! We still cannot keep them until July first! We must have shook at least a dozen or more of them! We had one that was holding on to a rock fish and would not let it go! He had to be 15 lbs! And as stubborn as the "Captain"!!! Everyone is eagerly awaiting the opening of the season on July first! But, until the First, all we can do is admire their ugliness from the deck and not on our plates! 6-10-01 Ahoy there one and all! Today is Saturday the 9th of June - already! Where has the time gone? Blowing in the wind I'm sure!! We have had our fair share of wind this year! Today we were trolling for salmon outside of San Gregorio. There was alot of action with all of the silver salmon and the king salmon mixed in together. The humpback whales were everywhere also! We were fortunate to land 11 king salmon for 13 anglers! The biggest was 15 lbs! We had more on the hook, but these shrimp fed fish are wild! Along with them were hoards of silver salmon (Coho), but in California we cannot keep these fin-clipped hatchery fish from Oregon. Man there sure were alot of them! Big ones too, there was one that had to be 12 lbs! There are some humpback salmon also mixed in and it is difficult to tell the difference between the humpback salmon and silver salmon. The humpie are bluish in color and the silvers are greenish while the kings are purple! Everyone on the boat was chanting PURPLE PLEASE, PURPLE PLEASE! The wind was still up a bit and there was a sea also, but, it did not dampen the spirits of my customers, or the fish for that matter! I am excited about going back out tomorrow and see what lady luck will deliver for us! I just hope they keep biting ! 5-27-01 We were Shallow water rock fishing on Saturday! we were fishing within 120 feet of water ( the regulation for this time of year). There was a small ground swell but no breeze. Fishing was good for the bar casters and the people working the swim tail baits and lead head jigs. The cabezon's were hungry and we had a great day catching them and releasing the small ones. There were a lot of ling cod following up the fish and we hooked a lot of them as they were defiantly hungry! everyone got to see the ling cod following up the rock fish eyeing them for there meal ( breakfast). But since the season is closed for them we had to release them. Overall the day was very good with the catch being limits to three quarters on the rock fish and 20 cabbies for the day and one very nice 20 lb halibut to top off the day! Hopefully the weather and the fishing will stay good for everyone! 5-16-01 Ahoy there everyone! I have run out of superlatives!! This had to be some of the best fishing we have ever had!! We had a 20 lb average on our fishing today!! The biggest was 32 lbs!!! There were at least another 9 fish in the 20lb class! The best way to describe these krill fed fish is that they are acting like they are on "crack"!!!!!!! Totally wild, charging the boat and jumping like there was a high jump bar to pass over! Now to the weather. It was flat glassy calm today with a fog for the most part of the day. By the afternoon the fog had burnt back and revealed a beautiful sky and at that point we were heading home with 11 limits of some of the best fish i have seen all season! Gosh how can this get any better? Maybe having them serve a martini with the anchovies?? NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5-14--1 Ahoy there one and all! We saw some of the best fishing and weather this weekend! Saturday was the calmest and the best action we have had all season with fish up to 28 lbs and 18 limits of nice quality salmon!! On Saturday we only had to measure one fish and even that one we kept! Everyone on the boat was raving about the great fishing! At one point, both the deckhand and I were netting fish. There were 8 fish hanging and I had three 12 lb. fish in the net at once! TOTAL PANDIMONIUM!! Let me tell you we were working up a good lather! Sunday was the same kind of weather but the fishing was not quite as good with alot of shakers! And not the same kind of wide open fishing. But in the end we ended the day with a fish and a half per person for the day! Look foward to this fishing to be good for quite a while! Till next time - FISH ON!!!!! 5-10-01 The day started very early, everyone was on board the Riptide at 0515. We left the harbor at 0525 and headed southwest of Halfmoon bay for 22 miles. The weather started out snotty and got worse as the day progressed, northwest winds at 15 knots, and an 8 foot swell every 8 seconds. What a variation in temperature from the inland heat, to cold and fog. We started trolling around 0730 and Danny Gonzales boated the 1st salmon of the day, and shortly thereafter he had his limit of 2. We scratched a fish here and a fish there. I caught my first around 0900. My second salmon must have been on a suicide mission, as it swam at high speed toward the boat, and was boated in less then a minute. The boat had limits by 10am. What a great day it was, at one point there was a whale about a 150 yards from the boat and there were albatross feeding in the area. The score; Danny Gonzales had a 10 and an 18 pounder, mine were at 8 and 12 pounds. The fish are feeding on krill and the meat is a nice red color. Captain Smitty, and the deck hand Evan did an outstanding job in making it an excellent fishing day aboard the Riptide. If you would like to go out fishing give Smitty a call at 1 (800) RIPTIDE and he will arrange your trip. 5-8-01 How does that song go?? "Summertime, and the living is easy. FISH are jumping..." Oh well the computer can't sing and neither can I!! It was a grand day on Monday! The sun was shining and the wind was down to nothing. The seas were calm and the fish were on the munch!! We had 10 limits of Salmon by 9:30 am!! These fish were full of krill and were still hungry. Sunday was also a great day of fishing as well with boats having up to 35 fish! We were just a few fish short of limits on Sunday. With the prospects of the better weather this week we are looking forward to some great fishing! Get your rod and grab a sandwich and get on a boat! See you soon on the water! 5-5-01 Ahoy there everyone! Well the wind has started to blow again today after being flat calm on Friday. We fished on Friday west of the harbor about 20 miles and had some good action. We lost a few fish and landed 9 for 8 anglers. We enjoyed one of the nicest days of the year! And then came Saturday (Shaturday)!! The wind reared it's ugly head again and we were not as fortunate to catch as many fish. You have to take the good days with the bad and today was one of those bad weather ones! We did get about 18 miles west of the harbor and were able to make a long tack back catching and dropping some nice fish. When we picked up the lines we had only 4 salmon in the box for the day. Unfortunately this was the high score for the harbor for the day. All i can think is, how can the weather be so nice on Friday and so crappy on Saturday??? I think the full moon also has not helped the bight. Lets hope that the weather will give all of us a brake and let everyone get out there and catch a fish! Better days are comming!!! 4-27-00 Ahoy there Everyone! We were salmon fishing again today and had an excellent grade of fish! All week long we have been catching limits of nice quality fish and an occasional 20 lber thrown in for good measure! There were also a lot of smaller fish. So there has been a lot of action outside and below the weather buoy. But today is did slow up a bit. I guess the bight cant be wide open everyday! But there was still plenty of opportunity for all. Tomorrow is another day and we shall see if they are hungry! 4-16-01 Ahoy there one and all!!! It is the start of a new Salmon season! The salmon season opened below Pigeon Point on March 31 and we got out that day with great fishing - 16 limits by 10 am. But the winds came back up and did not allow the boat to get back out again till this weekend! Saturday was the official opening day from our harbor and we have been fishing around Deep Reef and the weather bouy area. The winds have been blowing all month and making the water temperature cold (48 degrees). When the winds finally started to die on Saturday night and Sunday was calm making us all hopeful that the fishing would improve. The bite finally started to turn on around 1 pm on Sunday. There were party boats with only one fish at 1 pm and by 3 pm they had up to 26 fish!!! The Riptide got out today again and headed back to the same area. The bite started off for us with a couple of flurries of keepers with shakers mixed in. I always enjoy the shrimp fishing as it can be totally dead and in a matter of seconds become wild and wooley with multiple hook-ups! We had 11 limits by noon and were on our way home with the deckhand merrily cleaning fish and whisteling a tune! With the abatement of the winds the sea temperature has come back up a few degrees and this has made all the difference! Lets hope that the winds will be nicer to us in future days! It looks like this should shape up to be a great year with the colder waters being beneficial for both the salmon and the rock fish!! Now if I could just find my hat that blew overboard??? March 31, 2001 Today was opening day of salmon season below Pigeon Point. Wow! What a fantastic opener! By 10 a.m. we had 16 limits of salmon with the biggest fish coming in at about 15 lbs. All of the fish were shrimp fed which means they were wild and woolly in their fight and bite – very scrappy fish! The weather was not as good as the fishing with 15-20 knots of breeze and an 8 ft sea – There is something about catching a fish that makes the weather get better! Everybody on the boat had a great day of fishing and we look forward to a fantastic season. We ended our season last year on closing day with 16 limits and we are opening our season this year with 16 limits! Let’s hope the fishing stays at such a great level throughout the entire season. Riptide is still taking reservations for both open load and private charter dates. Call us at 888-747-8433 to book your trip! 3-1-00 Well Tuesday was our last day of Rock Fishing with the season closing on the first of March. We had absolutely a grand weather! The drift was not too fast and there was steady action all day. With a nice mix of reds and school fish. We had 8 small ling cod and had to release them all. We were also fortunate to see 8 Gray whales also! they are on the start of there return migration back to Alaska for the summer. We shall start our Salmon Season on March 31st. We shall start below Pigeon Point for the first two weeks and then the whole coast opens on the 15th of April. We have been catching an occasional salmon on our rock fishing trips (releasing them of course)! This is looking like it will be a good year for both the whale watching and the up coming salmon season also! Hope to see everyone in the coming year! Thanks 2-4-01 Ahoy there one and all! We had Boy Scout troop 69 from Palo Alto on board the Riptide on saturday for a day of rock fishing! THey had a great time and ended up catching limits of fish for everyone (13 of them). Stay tuned for the big changes to the RIPTIDE! Capt. Smitty 1-27-01 We were rock fishing today on the deep reef in front of Half Moon Bay today. The weather was blustery and there was a big swell. I really was not too sure about making the day when i sat at the dock. But, Much to my and everyone's surprise the weather was ok. Not great but ok. We scratched for most of the day getting a few fish on each drift. But one of the last drifts of the day the fish decided they were hungry and everyone started pulling doubles! Mostly all school fish but a few bottom dwellers mixed in for good measure. There were 5 shaker ling cod also. Just barely short of the mark. Oh well at least we are seeing a lot of these shorties!! We also made everyone aware of the new rules on canaries as we did catch a few. I cant emphasize enough that everyone needs to pay close attention to the new rules! If you have any questions on which fish to keep and when , you can see the whole list of rules and regulations on my web page (www.riptide.net). They are listed in the fishing reports page. All in all it was great to be out on the ocean today! 01-13-00 Ahoy there! We were fishing on Saturday on the briny blue ocean and it was a great day! The ocean settled down after that big storm of last week! There was still a large swell on the ocean but they were getting more spread out and dieing. The wind also slowed a lot and it was tee shirt weather later in the day. The fishing was a slow pic of some big coppers and some school fish mixed in. We ended the day with only 10 fish short of 14 limits. The fishing should pick up with the reduction of the swell and wind through the next week. Please keep the new regulations in mind when catching your fish this year! Hope Santa was good to everyone and filled there stockings with Diamond jigs and crocodiles! 1-6-01 Ahoy there One and all! I shall also throw in a happy new year! Well the Ling Cod Season is open again and fishing has been great for the past week! The weather has been more like summertime with highs in the lower 70's! The ocean has been for the most part as flat as a baby's bottom!! Well there is a little ground swell. The rock fishing has been kicking out some nice fish for everyone. BUT please everyone be aware of the changes to the regulations that are now in effect!!!! There have been some big changes in the #'s of canaries and boccaio's that can be kept!! If you are unsure of the regulations go to my fish report page (http://www.riptide.net/fishing_reports.htm ). Make sure that everyone observes these NEW rules as the wardens are telling me that ignorance is no excuse and they will be coming down on the people who are in violation!! BE CAREFUL!!! Don't let this intimidate you into not going out! There are some great fishing days ahead for all of us!! The need to feel the bight on the hook and setting the hook is like a drug for me!!! Ah what an addiction!!!!!!!!! Tight lines!!!! Report from the Cal. Dept. of Fish and Game 12/8/00 Ahoy they’re one and all and Happy holidays! I attended the Cal. Dept. of Fish & Game (DF&G) meetings in Eureka this past week and thought I would give everyone a heads up on what has happened to our rock fishing season. The main thrust of the meeting was for the department to authorize the changes proposed by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC). The DF&G adopted the changes for all of the regulations regarding the seasonal closures (March through June) and the new restrictions on the amounts of canaries and boccaio as well as the lingcod. This will also define which species can be caught and which fish can’t during the “shelf closure (during the months of May and June The season is closed from outside of one mile or 20 fathoms). It is important to make sure everyone is clear on these species. Again I must emphasize to everyone that we must curtail our catch of the canary rockfish. If we catch too many of them then the council will shut down the season just as it did this year for the Ling cod. I tried to emphasize to the PFMC & DF&G that the recreational angler will be smart and learn which species they can posses and where they can fish and cannot. The other aspect that was dealt with raising the size limit on the Cabazon (15”, Greenling (12”)& Sheephead. These spices are also closed during the two-month closure (March- April) but will be open the rest of the year. One of the biggest changes was in the commercial sector. They are now going to be closed (Nearshore) for a period of days during the week (Thursday thorough Sunday). They are taking a major reduction in the amount of time they can fish. There is also a new committee that will be specifically addressing the near shore fisheries and Public education. This committee will be setting down a new policy regarding how we deal with the future of the near shore fisheries. I shall try to work with them and hopefully help all of us to achieve a sustainable resource. If you have any question as to what happened and what the different species that we can catch then I shall refer you to my web page (www.riptide.net) and look at the fishing reports for the November 4th meeting. Thank you all for your support and I hope that in the future to better represent you! Capt. Smitty Riptide Sportfishing & Whale Watching capt.smitty@juno.com http://www.riptide.net (888)747-8433 ____________________________________________________________ Return to The Outdoors Guide Home |
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