Finally a break in the weather has improved the fishing and the ability to go find the fish. The crabbing is wide open, the fishing is good, and the ocean couldn’t have been nicer. Tuna are still around, just a little further to the north than we’d like out of Bodega.

Bodega Bay Fish Report – 11/7/25

Capt Ryan- F/V Bigeye + Sorta Salty

Both boats headed out first thing in the morning. We set gear below the river in 100 FOW. The crabbing was good, not amazing but 4 to 6 on average, which is a lot better than this year has been. Rockfish were picky but bit well once you found a hungry school; in our case, that was 60 feet of water. We did land a few lings and a nice Cabazon. Red tides are moving and making things tricky. The afternoon crab trip had a bit of an improvement with closer to a 5 on average.

Bodega Bay Fish Report – 11/8/25

Capt Ryan- F/V Bigeye + Sorta Salty

With calm seas we pucnhed north, found similar conditions as the day before with decent rockfishing but a better lingcod bite. We managed to quickly gather up limits of rockfish and 6 lings for 6 clients. The afternoon crab trip average really increased, up to Nearly 7 legal crabs per hoop, pretty solid compared to the past week of three’s. Capt Josh had similar results, overall a pretty good day.

Bodega Bay Tuna Report – 11/9/25

Capt Ryan- F/V Bigeye + Sorta Salty

With a flat calm ocean and some returning clients very motivated to take the gamble to try and find tuna, we pointed west as the sun rose and punched out all 55 miles to find birds, deep blue, and 62-degree perfect water. All of the signs of tuna were there except the tuna; we didn’t see a single fish, let alone hook one. We spent a good part of the day trolling through bait and looking as birds chased bait balls, only to find seals and dolphins pushing it, before stopping at one of my favorite spots for rockfish on the way home for limits in about 45 minutes total (no, not Rittenburg). Rockfish were wide open; the 1lb weight would get stopped well off the bottom with giant yellows, bocaccios, reds, canaries, and a few others. It honestly made me miss the offshore rockfish days, and I look forward to more of it in the spring as I really do enjoy it and we are supposed to get a ton of new terrain if the paperwork can actually get handled for Cordell Banks.

As I told myself the tuna were gone for good, and it was time to put the gear away, my phone started going off when I got back into reception; turns out my buddies in Fort Bragg said it was one of the best tuna bites of the year only 20 miles out, so yeah, it’s not over yet. But it’s up to the weather if we will have time to get out and go look before it over. I have a few firsthand reports from yesterday (11/11) that the albacore were down to Point Arena, in shallow biting wide open again under birds, so that’s within striking distance of Bodega; again, we just need the weather. Capt. Josh reported the same good crabbing and fishing as the previous days on his inshore trips.

Bodega Bay Fishing Report – 11/10/25

Capt Ryan- F/V Bigeye

Capt. Billy took the Bigeye out on an inshore trip, and again the crabbing remains good, while the lingcod fishing improved. He ended the day with 9 lings for 6 clients and a few really nice cabs in the mix, along with limits of really nice and big crab with a solid average around 7. He fished a little further south with the crab gear, but it sounds like it’s good everywhere. It sounded like another great day on the water.

Bodega Bay Fishing Report – 11/11/25

Capt Ryan- F/V Bigeye

The last of decent weather and a light load in the morning of 4 clients made me motivated to try some new terrain. I took a gamble and tried for lings with mixed results, landing 5 lingcod for 5 clients and losing probably equally as many. The water got green and made the fishing not as great but still okay. I did set the crab gear in a new area that I will not disclose, and that gamble paid off greatly. We had many pots with well above 10 keepers per hoop and an average pretty close to that. The crab were huge, biggest I’ve seen in years; almost every one was close to 3lbs with several well above that. In short, wide open crabbing. Decent rockcod bite, but a fast-approaching storm can have that effect. The afternoon crab trip resulted in similar solid crabbing with about a 7 average. Overall, a great week and looking forward to getting back after it once this storm clears.