The ocean was pretty nice today. The sun was shinning and the winds were calm. A little bit a chop left from the winds the past couple of days. We went out with 5 anglers today looking for some salmon. I put my lines in the water just north of the whistle buoy in 175 feet of water. We trolled all over from 50 ft to 200 ft. between the buoy and Cleone. We ended up with just one fish. We caught it within the last five minutes of the trip. We were off Virgin Crk (4 miles north) in 130 ft of water. Larry Deakyne out of Cool Ca. was the fortunate fisherman today. In front of him in the picture is Noah RosaMendoza from Oakley Ca. Noah had some action but the two salmon he had on were just undersize. He also caught 2 nice rockfish (which we had to throw them back), and a starfish. With these small fish and the amount of bait I am seeing, there is a chance we may still have some good fishing before it’s over. Earlier in the week I fished for salmon once (with no success), and we went looking for some Humboldt Squid. For the squid we fished about 10 miles Northwest and made two drifts but no takers. Then we decided to go look for some Albacore. We found nice water temp, and lots of birds and bait, but again no takers. It was a beautiful day on the water anyways. Fish-On!

     Capt Randy

Saturday September 10th — Went out with a light load today. Forecast is supposed to be calm seas. We cruised up north looking for some good signs of salmon. The bait was pretty much everywhere so I was looking for something to stick out. I didn’t see anything really special so I traveled up towards the mouth of Ten Mile River hoping to pick up (if not salmon) some California halibut. We hooked up on a couple of salmon early and landed one of them. After a while, the south wind started to blow. It picked up to 20 kts pretty steady. I thought maybe we’d pick up our gear and look for something a little bit closer to home. I headed toward pudding crk. In tight there can be a good place for big kings to hang out late in the year. After reaching pudding crk. and getting our gear set in the water, it took no time for the rods to start pumping. It was pretty choppy and hard to stand up and fight a fish. We ended up landing one more and losing several. We gave it about 1/2 hour and decided to let these fish get bigger. We had fun but I sure would have liked it if we would have landed one or two more of them. Tomorrow’s another day. Fish-On!

   Picture; Julie Hawkins from Ione Ca. with bro Fred Vessey (local). Guess what’s for dinner tonight?

9/6/11 – Headed up towards the reef this morning and just north of the buoy it looked too good to pass up. So, we stopped and wet some baits. It didn’t take long for the action to begin. We were fishing in 200 feet of water just over 1/2 mile north of the Noyo River entrance buoy. Unfortunately the action stopped just as quick as it began. By 9:00 we had 5 fish in the box. With only 5 anglers on board, I’m thinking maybe it could be an early day. Nottttt! Anyway, we never stopped trying hard to get more fish. The ocean was calm, however it seemed confused. There were currents going all different directions, different water colors and temps, and variable winds. All said and done, a fish a rod is how we ended up. Local Dennis Barney caught the prize fish at 20 lbs. Runner up was Jacqui Johnson from Philo with a nice king topping the scales at 17 lbs! fish-On!

      Capt Randy

Saturday September 3rd, 2011 — After taking a few needed days off, I loaded up some more anglers and headed up north where I had some salmon last Sunday. The ocean was flat and the fog was thick. We managed to catch a few fish. Biggest one weighed in at 24 lbs. caught by Bill Hill from Marysville. On the left in the picture is Teresa Jones from Fort Bragg with her 18 pound king. Happy Birthday Teresa. On the right is Arthur Baxley out of Concord. Bill caught the big one trolling at 45 pulls with a 2 lb ball dragging a mini purple haze behind a flasher. We also lost 3 or 4 keepers.

Today, the 4th I headed back up to Cleone again. It seems there are fish being caught pretty much everywhere from Noyo River to Ten Mile River from 50 feet of water to 250 feet. No big scores but keeper kings never-the-less. Today’s spotlight fisherman was Davan Green out of Chico. He is just 5 1/2 years and he landed his first salmon. Davan caught it on a rattlesnake hoochie over a whole Herring 35′ down on a downrigger. Way to go Davan!! Final score for the day; 5 fish for 8 anglers. Local Patty Fereira not only caught her first legal king, but she landed 2 of them! She was fishing with a red rotary killer 35′ on a downrigger. Fish-On!

    Capt Randy