Lingcod bite remains solid, rockfish remains not as solid. Overall still some good fishing to be had.

Bodega Bay – 4/17/26

Capt Ryan- F/V Bigeye

Capt Billy- Sorta Salty

Today was the first day of 2026 running both boats and the conditions started off a little rough and improved greatly 11am. Calm seas, cold blue water and a solid lingcod bite kept things epic to get things dialed in. Both the Sorta Salty with Capt Billy at the wheel and the Bigeye with Capt Josh and I had easy limits of quality lingcod to 18lbs and a handful on nice canaries and reds to 6lbs out in 180 feet of water.

Bodega Bay – 4/17/26

Capt Josh- F/V Bigeye

Josh reported calm seas and a decent lingcod bite with many fish being lost. They had a group of newer fisherman, but still managed limits of good rockfish and over a lingcod per person for the day.

Bodega Bay – 4/18/26

Capt Ryan- F/V Bigeye

Capt Josh- Sorta Salty

The calm seas remained, and lingcod was wide open inshore for Capt. Josh, making it an ideal day for hit group wanting to toss artificials. He had limits of all swimbait-caught lingcod by 10 a.m.. While the rockfish were a little bit tricky to catch, as it was hard to land in rockfish through the relentless bites of hungry lingcod that wouldn’t stop all day. I ran our first deepwater trip of the year in search of jumbo rockfish and monster lingcod, anticipating some epic fishing. After quickly gathering up a big pile of sanddabs to use as bait, we set out with high hopes. It took a bit of time to find some good lingcod biters, but once we got on them, we piled on solid limits of lingcod, with some solid reaching up to 25 lbs, while almost all of the lings weighed in the mid-teens. We also had a tasty limit of yellows, widows, canaries, and a few bocaccios, adding variety to our haul. The weather was flat calm all day, allowing us to make quick time to the offshore grounds in just about an hour from leaving the dock. Overall, it was another great day out of Bodega Bay, and clients left with several massive bags of fillets each. Sounded like many a few folks ran into some giant schools of bonito south of Rittenberg Reef and we defiantly saw the signs of them with some giant bird balls around. While bonito are pretty far from my choice fish table wise they are a great sign. Historically, when we see a few bonito around in the summer (2015, 2021,2022,2023) it means we are in for a good bluefin year. Bonito live in the same water temps and SoCal based currents as bluefin do. So hopefully this year has some crazy bluefin action. Ultimately, if the north wind stays mild for the next few months we could see them here by mid summer.