The offshore lingcod bite was wide open. Inshore halibut not so much. Summer feels like its knocking on our door as Deepwater rockfish season ends in a epic fashion.

San Francisco Bay Fishing Report 4-23-25

From Capt Josh.

We grabbed a scoop of live bait from the city and found a spot in the north bay holding a good grade of fish today. Plenty of action, with a lot of big halibut in the mix. Ended the day with 5 big halibut and a several stripers. The biggest halibut tapped out to 36”.

San Francisco Bay Fishing Report 4-24-25

Capt Josh said it it had slowed a lot, as in the bite was completely dead. Most boats weren’t even able to get a legal halibut to bite, He managed to pull a few stripers but overall the bite completely died in the bay overnight. He opted to have folks reschedule the weekend trips for smaller tides in the future and it was probably for the best as many boats reported a terrible bite over the weekend. Hopefully the smaller tides and warm weather will improve things for next week.

Bodega Bay Fishing Report 4-25-25

The big tides typically shut down the halibut but really wake up the lingcod and that was the case this weekend. On Friday we headed southwest into a choppy ocean to rittenburg. After collecting sand dabs for bait we found a school of rockfish in deeper water and picked limits of mid grade rockfish in 320 feet of water. We then focused on lingcod and found a great bite and quickly picked up limits for clients and even some limits of good size rare crew lings for Cody and I to take home. We had a really good grade of ling, with probably a solid 15lb average and several lings in the high 20lb range. The wind layed down in the early afternoon for a smooth ride home. Overall a epic day for lingcod.

Bodega Bay Fishing Report 4-26-25

When we got to the boat, there was a steady north wind showing at the offshore buoy and we realized the forecast had changed early in the morning hours. There was a small window of calm weather so we knew we could make it out and back before the wind would get severe. This trip was special as there’s also a good chance this will be a last trip to rittenburg Bank since Cordell Banks may very well be opening by the return of deepwater rockfish season in October. We quickly gathered and sandabs for bait and went straight to work on lings in 300 feet of water. And the lings didn’t waste any time getting to biting. We threw in limits of good quality lings before the wind started to pick up. We then made our way home as the wind started to build offshore. Overall, it was a quick but excellent day with solid ling action. The lings weren’t as big as the day before but still a few lings close to 20lbs and a very solid average of probably about 12 to 13lbs. As much as we enjoy the large hauls and the big lings off offshore, we are excited to get back to the shallows and casting light tackle spinning rods into the rocks off the coastline.

It rained today and yesterday, reminding us that its not fully summertime yet. But a spring time high pressure system will be building this week and leaving us with our well known friend, the north wind. The forecast looks very similar for the next 14 days and that’s nothing but wind and more wind. So lets all hope the halibut start biting in the bay and the spring winds do their thing now and end in time for our 2 days of salmon season. We can only hope for a calm summer and hopefully a early tuna season as well.