ARCHIVE - 2008
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IN THIS REPORT:
Past Scores
PAST SCORES:
Click here to go to our 2007 Archive
WHOPPERS (20 lbs. and over in bold):
Thu., May 29 - Stephen Lee of Hayward - 15 lb. lingcod - below Pigeon Point
Click here to go to our 2007 Archive Wednesday, June 25: We arrived at the harbor this morning to find the flags standing straight out...the wind hit the coastline again, forcing us to cancel our trip, again. It's supposed to blow pretty good on Thursday and then calm right back down, so we've crossed off our trip for Thursday but we will be back fishing on Friday. Matter of fact, the forecast is calling for the winds to back way off on Friday and stay that way through at least the beginning of next week, with the winds down to 5 to 10 knots and the swell also to lay down to 4 to 5 feet, one of the best forecasts I've seen in a while. Plenty of room for Friday and Sunday still available. I'm around the computer through Friday afternoon; after that, make sure to give us a call as I'm away from the computer nights and weekends. Monday, June 23: They scratched, they clawed, and they gave it their all, and we ended our day just two fish shy of limits with 108 rockcod for 11 anglers plus three lingcod to 12 pounds. They put their time in and did everything they could to get those last two fish, but the fish just shut off. Without a doubt, the 120 foot depth restriction in place this year has made for much tougher fishing, coupled with the rotten ocean conditions we've dealt with more often than not the last two months. We will never jeopardize our anglers, though, by fishing illegally in closed waters, and our crew doesn't fish (and, in case you didn't realize, it's also illegal for crews to give fish they catch to customers anyway), so we can only do what we can do. Capt. Bob told me that next year the maximum depth for rockfishing is supposed to go back out to 180 feet, thank goodness, so we'll have more territory to fish and there will be less pressure on the nearshore fish. This past Sunday with did fairly decent, too, with a score somewhere around 156 rockcod, or something like that, for 17 anglers. The good part is that the fish that are biting are all nice bottomfish with only a handful of school fish mixed in, so what we lack in quantity at times has been made up with quality. Our charter on Saturday had absolutely fabulous weather and headed out to the Farallons, but they were greeted just shy of the Islands with a stiff breeze and the water temperature dropped considerably to right around 50 degrees, the fish had lockjaw and just a couple of handfuls of fish were landed. They hit Montara on their way back home and found a few more fish there. It's been one of those kinds of seasons so far. Absolutely no consistency to the catch...some days the fish bite and some days they don't, with no way of telling if today is the day until we put the lines in the water. We have plenty of room every day this week through Friday. If you'd like to give it a whirl and join us tomorrow, don't worry about getting a hold of us; just come on down in the morning and check in between 6:00 to no later than 6:30. Thursday, June 19: There are those who think you have to catch limits every day to have a good day fishing. We know better. Our private charter had a great day. They enjoyed each others' company, got away from their normal daily stresses, relaxed a bit and caught fish, too. Total score was 127 rockcod for 21 anglers, the biggest a huge 9 pound vermillion caught on the first drift of the day, plus 11 lingcod to 10 pounds were landed (the trophy fish was caught by the ringleader Bill) along with 5 cabezon to 6 pounds. The weather finally cooperated and looks absolutely fantastic for tomorrow and Saturday. We still have plenty of space tomorrow if you'd like to join us. Don't worry about giving us a call or sending an email, don't worry about getting a hold of us, just come on down in the morning and grab a spot or two or three. We'll have the doors open by 6:00 a.m., Half Moon Bay Sportfishing...look for the BIG yellow "TICKET OFFICE" sign in our front window; the boat DEPARTS at 7:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 18: We finally caught limits...kinda. We had 11 anglers onboard, but really only 10 people were at the rail fishing. The 11th guy was at the rail, too, but not fishing if you know what I mean. We ended up with 103 rockcod onboard, limits for the 10 folks with their lines in the water and 3 extra fish for the 11th guy to take home and eat once he feels like eating again. One eight pound lingcod was landed, too. We have a private charter tomorrow on Thursday but we still have space available for Friday, and the weather for Friday's still looking in our favor. There's also plenty of space for Sunday. Tuesday, June 17: The advantage is definitely on the side of the more experienced angler who knows how to entice the fish to bite. Such was the case with Mike who caught his rockcod limit including a big nine and a half pound cabezon. Then there were others who were down for the count early without hardly wetting a line thanks to the effects of the wonderful wind that continues to make us pay to play. The highest winds have thankfully stayed offshore and have let us sneak out along the coastline; by this Friday it looks like we may just be in for some downright decent weather for a couple of days at least. Sunday, June 15: Happy Father's Day! It sure was nice to finally be able to fish three days in a row, but unfortunately we won't be able to make it four as the weather off the coastline is picking back up again, so we've cancelled our trip for tomorrow on Monday and will take it day by day again this week. On a positive note, it looks like it does decide to calm down again later in the week. This past Friday it was still a bit bumpy and lumpy in the morning but got better as the day went on, Saturday was a great day on the water, and by today there was a good size lump building again but not bad overall. As far as fishing, pretty much the same every day...some folks did well and went home with limits or close to limits, and some went home with just a few fish. We probably ended up with an overall average of 5 to 6 fish per person. We also had a bonus catch of 15 lingcod and 11 cabezon the three days combined, along with another big, 3 pound starry flounder. Our biggest enemy to our success so far during this short season has been and continues to be the weather on the ocean. It does look like the swells are generally starting to decrease overall; now we just need the wind to give us a break and do the same. Fishery Management Update: This past week was Round 3 of fishery management meetings for Capt. Bob in his role as the Northern California recreational charterboat representative on the federal PFMC Groundfish Advisory Subpanel. Every day was a new wave of absolutely unbelieveable, intense battles to preserve our opportunity to fish along our coastline. When I say intense, I mean intense. Sounded like just short of knock down, drag out battles at times. Our area has again been plagued by figures that claim we have exceeded our allotments for goldeneye, canaries and, get this: blue rockfish...yes, that's right, blue rockfish. We supposedly have caught too many blue rockfish now and have to protect them, too. Yep, those fish that are all over the place, that you can hardly get away from, that attack your lures like a swarm of bees...yep, those blue rockfish. The assessment...and, by the way, assessments are where most of our problems begin...regarding the blue rockfish was lacking in much data aka "data poor", less than comprehensive and full of doubt, so much so that even the authors voiced their doubt...but it is what they refer to as the "best available science" ("science"???), so that's what the decisions had to be based upon. Because of the high catch figures and bad assessment, it was all Capt. Bob could do to scratch, claw, bargain, give and take and work it out for our 2009 and 2010 seasons to begin the second Saturday in June above Pigeon Point and close in that same area at the end of October. The restrictions just keep coming...it's absolutely insane...and unfortunately they'll probably keep on coming. Wednesday, June 11: Friday is the day. The winds finally backed off early afternoon on Thursday. So, after being blown off the water for 10 days, we are definitely back fishing as of this Friday. If you're looking to go Friday, don't worry about calling or emailing or getting a hold of us...just come on down in the morning and check in at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing (look for the BIG yellow "TICKET OFFICE" sign). We'll have the doors open by 6:00; please try to arrive no later than 6:15. Due to a change in a reservation, we also now have 2 spots open for this Saturday...want a spot or two?...give us a call! Still some room for Sunday, too. Monday, June 9: We'll have to still watch the weather day-by-day for the next couple of days, but by hopefully this Thursday or Friday it looks like we're back in business with the winds pushing back offshore and light winds throught the weekend. Saturday's trip is now full but we are taking standbys, and we still have plenty of space available for Thursday and Friday as well as for Father's Day this Sunday. Friday, June 6: My favorite news program's weather forecaster this morning kept reporting how fantastic the weather looks for this weekend...what he failed to report is that is for the weather onshore. Offshore, on the other hand, is another story, the story they're not reporting. The forecast is calling for northwest winds of 20 to 30 knots with "frequent" gusts to 35 knots along with a northwest swell of 10 to 13 feet every 10 seconds. That will make for gorgeous clear skies where you can see for miles, but you sure as heck don't want to even think about being on a boat in the ocean in those conditions. Accordingly, we've cancelled our trip for tomorrow on Saturday, and we'll continue to keep a close eye on the forecast to see if there will be a break that will allow us back out, but right now it's not looking favorable at least until the middle of next week. As always, if you'd like to try to join us for a particular day, go ahead and put your name on the books; we'll be in contact if there's any change in plans for the next day's trip once we receive the weather forecast update that comes out around 2:30 to 3:00 in the afternoon. According to one model I check out, the ocean starts calming down by Wednesday, is looking downright decent by Thursday and real good by next Friday. Wednesday, June 4: What a difference a day can make on the ocean...sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. Today was for the bad. The wind is howling again, forcing us to turn tail and come back in not long after trying to head down the coastline. Given what we saw today and the forecast for tomorrow, we've already called it quits and cancelled our trip for Thursday. We'll take it a day at a time through the weekend, keep a close eye on the conditions and the forecast and wait to see when it looks like we'll be able to sneak out again. Tuesday, June 3: It worked today, so let's give it another try tomorrow on Wednesday! The wind left us alone, the swells were low, and the fish were biting. All good quality bottomfish, mostly bolinas/brownies and vermillions and about a dozen gophers, made up the catch, sending everyone home with limits. We fished between 80 to 120 feet and all we needed was 4 ounces of weight, which should tell you just how nice it was today. This afternoon's forecast for tomorrow came down a tad, and based on what we had today, our plan in to show up in the morning and give it a try just like we did today. We have plenty of room available. If you'd like to join us, don't worry about getting a hold of us; just come on down in the morning. Check in at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing (look for the BIG yellow "TICKET OFFICE" sign in the front window). We'll have the doors open by 6:00 a.m.; check in no later than 6:15 to 6:30 at the very latest. Monday, June 2: Looks like we might get a little break between the wind fronts tomorrow, with swells forecast of only 3 to 5 feet along with wind at 10 to 20 out of the northwest, but today unfortunately the wind decided to play havoc with us once again. We went out, caught a couple of fish including a lingcod, but it was just too rough for our customers, so we threw in the towel early, handed out rainchecks and decided we'll see what tomorrow brings. If the forecast holds true, we should be able to sneak in a trip tomorrow on Tuesday, but the forecast is calling for the winds to ramp back up to 20 to 30 knots for Wednesday and Thursday. Sunday, June 1: At long last, as of today the areas above Pigeon Point are once again open for rockfishing and are scheduled to be open, pending any inseason adjustments, through the end of November. Modified regulations this year (made after the DFG regs were printed) restrict rockfishing to areas inside 20 fathoms (120 feet) along our coastline in an effort to rebuild the protected canary, goldeneye and lingcod fisheries, and Coast Guard helicopters were out patrolling the management lines. We've been told by a source that will go nameless that violations will be issued to the anglers as well as the crew for boats fishing illegally in closed waters this year. As the Queen of Hearts prefers to fish shallow anyway, rest assured that our anglers never have to worry they will be put in jeopardy. So, with light gear and high hopes, we headed out the harbor and down the coastline. The weather on the ocean, though, was far from nice. The light gear our gang had onboard today kept us in much shallower water and well within the 120 foot depth restriction. The mixture of light gear with today's rotten weather didn't make for a good combination, and it was another day of tough fishing. Top fish of the day was a solid 12 pound lingcod, and there was a duo of boys who were on fire, had a great day and went home with limits, but then there were others who had a difficult time just finding a fish that wanted to bite. It was far from what we were hoping for to start things out, but one day does not a season make. Thursday, May 29: The fish actually decided to halfway cooperate today, giving us our best day of catching so far this month, sending home some guys with limits of rockcod and giving us an overall score of 7 to 8 fish per person. Big fish of the day was a 15 pound lingcod caught by Stephen Lee...matter of fact I remember telling him when I spoke with him yesterday that he'd probably catch the biggest fish because he's so lucky (Stephen goes on our annual QH long range trip every year and was the hot stick on last year's outing). We brought a few more cabezon onboard and had a huge sand sole that Capt. Bob said had to be somewhere between 12 to 15 inches. Water temperature below Pigeon has risen by almost six degrees since the beginning of the month, the weather has improved dramatically, and thankfully so has the catches. We're taking tomorrow off but we still have plenty of room open for this Saturday. As of Sunday, we're back to running pretty much 7 days a week...as long as we have folks on the books, Capt. Bob says we're going fishing regardless of how many or how few. He also says the water between the harbor and Pigeon are looking mighty good and can't wait to give them a try. Wednesday, May 28: With a fantastic weather forecast and around a dozen folks on the books, we are definitely fishing tomorrow on Thursday, May 29. With a dozen folks on the books, though, there is obviously still plenty of room on the trip since our trips can carry up to 35 anglers. So, if you'd like to join us tomorrow, don't worry if you don't get a hold of us...just come on down in the morning and check in at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing (look for the BIG yellow "TICKET OFFICE" sign). We'll have the doors open at 6:00 a.m.; check in no later than 6:15. Click on our "Find Us" webpage if you need directions. Monday, May 26: Happy Memorial Day to all...and thank you to all of the fallen heros who are memorialized by this holiday. Thank you also to the boatload of folks who joined us today and bounced their gear around the ocean bottom; some ended up with just shy of their 10 fish limit, while others had a tough time just finding a fish that wanted to bite. Overall we ended up with right around 150 fish on the boat; that's a lot of fish when you really think about it, but it's still no where near what we're used to and expect to catch once the territory north of Pigeon Point opens up the end of this week. The weather has definitely made a turn for the better with much lower swells and winds forecast this coming week, which as we've seen definitely helps the catch. Good chance it looks like we'll have enough interest to make the run to Pigeon this Thursday; if you're interested in joining us, reservations are definitely recommended, not because we're going to be too full but because we need to make sure there's enough folks looking to go to burn the fuel. Friday, May 23:: The ocean is calming back down as predicted and we'll be back on the water starting this Sunday, May 25. There's still space available for both Sunday and Monday...give us a call if you'd like to join us. Wednesday, May 21: At last we see the light at the end of the tunnel, or I should say the calm at the end of the wind. The wind is supposed to downright howl on the ocean Thursday and Friday and start calming down on Saturday, so we've gone ahead and crossed off our trips through Saturday, but it looks like we'll be back in business and on the water with much better weather by this Sunday, May 25, and there's still plenty of room on both Sunday and Monday for this Memorial Day weekend. Sunday, May 18: Different day but pretty much same story: lots of fishing but not many fish. It's been an extremely tough month of fishing since our season opened on the 1st, but they say the worst day fishing is still better than the best day working...hope the folks who have given it a try understand and agree and know that it will get better. Without a doubt, June 1st just can't come soon enough for our crew, when we can fish our usual haunts like Pescadero, San Gregorio and Martin's Beach. On the weather front, it looks like the annual Memorial Day gale winds are right on schedule; the forecast is calling for winds up to 30 to 40 knots by this Wednesday. Definitely no reason to fight Mother Nature on this one: we've gone ahead and cancelled our trips through Wednesday, and we'll see how it goes as the rest of the week gets closer. Saturday, May 17: Heather's first words this morning were "this group sure isn't going to go hungry or thirsty!" The company who arranged today's private charter took good care of their gang, supplying them with the works, and Heather and James worked their tails off taking care of the guys, too. Wish it was because there were so many fish to take care of, but unfortunately the wind came up a bit and the ocean bottom was a little more hungry than the fish. Friday, May 16: The highliner of the day was Mike, who was just two fish shy of taking home his 10 fish rockcod limit, a darn good score in light of how tough fishing has been below Pigeon. We also had a keeper ling and seatrout, but overall it was another day of a lot of fishing but not nearly as many fish as we'd like. At least the weather was absolutely gorgeous...no jacket or sweatshirt needed today, just a lot of sunscreen. Thursday, May 15: Green light for our trip tomorrow on Friday...let's go fishing! There is still plenty of space available, so if you'd like to join us, don't worry about sending an email or calling...just come on down in the morning. We'll have the doors open at 6:00 a.m.; please check in no later than 6:15 at our shop, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing...look for the BIG yellow "TICKET OFFICE" sign in our front window. Need gear or licenses? No worries...we have anything you might need at our shop. Wednesday, May 14: Our trips right now are "weather and interest permitting." The weather looks like it has finally decided to cooperate for a while...now all we need is enough interest to make burning the 100 gallons of fuel needed to run to Pigeon at least a break even proposition, and it looks like this Friday will be the day. If you're looking to beat the heat, give us a call and join us out on the cool ocean waters this Friday...still plenty of room available. Saturday is a private charter, but we have still have lots of room open for this Sunday. Saturday, May 10: Today was a good day. The weather was decent, especially compared to what we've been dealing with so far this month, with not much wind and not too bad of a swell. And, right off the bat, on the very first cast of the day, we starting hooking fish. The water is still extremely cold and it's far from fast and furious action, but we did entice just a few fish shy of 100 rockcod onboard, several of which were nice quality coppers, brownies and vermillions, and we were able to sweeten the pot landing four keeper lingcod and a 11 pound toad cabezon. It's pretty obvious that when the weather gives us a break, we'll definitely have the chance at some good fishing. Looking at the different forecast models, it looks like we might just get that break we've been waiting for starting this Friday and going all the way through Monday at this point. We'll know more as it gets closer. Wednesday, May 7: With the forecast yesterday afternoon calling for 25 to 35 knots out of the northwest along with a close-together swell for today, it was an easy decision to cancel today's trip. Tomorrow on Thursday was not so easy, however. The forecast is calling for 15 to 25 knots, but the highest winds have been holding steady offshore, and one of the models I watch carefully looks like we'll actually have almost decent weather along the coastline tomorrow. Unfortunately, though, with as churned up as the ocean was today, we just don't feel like trying to make the run to Pigeon would be worth the effort so we've pulled the plug and crossed off Thursday's trip. We're still scheduled to run Friday even though we're watching the forecasts real close; at this point it does look pretty good that Saturday's trip will be a go and we currently have 10 spots left for that trip. Sunday, May 4: Our trips this week have all been up to the wind. No wind at the harbor in the morning, we jump on the boat and start heading south to see what we will see. Such was the case this morning. There was not a breath of wind at the harbor, even though the marine forecast was calling for 20 to 30 knots out of the northwest. We did have a fairly strong swell, but the wind never really hit the coast. So much for trusting the forecast. Anyway, even without much wind the weather was still not the greatest, and fishing was still tough. Highlight of the trip was a real nice vermillion that was landed, and we did finally see a couple of lingcod even though they didn't make the 24 inch mark so we had to throw them back. From what we've seen so far, fishing below Pigeon this month will not be for the meek or for those looking to load up their freezer; it's for the real anglers who know that fishing means going out for the day, seeing what the ocean will surrender and appreciating that they still have the opportunity to give it a shot. We've built our business on offering fishing trips to folks that enjoy fishing; that's what we've always done and that's what we will always continue to do. We'll be fishing below Pigeon Point through the month of May, weather and interest permitting, and our SWLT rockfishing trips begin on Sunday, June 1 (which only has 2 spots left!). Saturday, May 3: As we drove towards the harbor, all the flags we saw on Highway 1 driving north from Highway 92 were standing out like a frozen rope. So much for the 5 to 15 NW wind forecast that came out Friday afternoon. With that much wind by the harbor, and knowing what we had below Pigeon the last two days, it was an easy, but difficult at the same time, decision: cancel today's trip and we'll wait to see what we get tomorrow morning. We hate sending a boatload of folks eager to go fishing back home, but until someone figures out a way to control Mother Nature, we don't have much choice sometimes. Friday, May 2: Different day, but pretty much same story as yesterday...tough weather and a lot of fishing but not much catching. The water below Pigeon is 47 degrees, which is extremely cold and keeps the fish tucked tight in their crevices (probably shivering their scales off!). Add to that the wind above sea level that makes for a fast drift and makes it difficult to get our gear to the bottom...but we have to deal with the cards we're dealt. We can fish out to as deep as 240 feet below Pigeon, but we can't even think about going much deeper than the 140 foot mark Bob tried today until the wind backs off a bit and we have more of a chance of being able to hit the bottom. Thursday, May 1: We arrived at the shop in the morning with our fingers crossed and were rewarded with no wind at the harbor, so Capt. Bob gave me the word to sell the tickets...we're going fishing! We had fine travelling weather heading south, but once we arrived at the fishing grounds below Pigeon we found the wind, or it found us, however you want to look at it. We had a great boatload of guys out for our opening day, and we were happy to have them back at the rails of the Queen after the five month season closure. It was good to be fishing; unfortunately, though, there wasn't much catching. Bob gave it his all trying various spots in depths from around 125 feet and less, but the winds that met us blew a steady 20 knots all day long, making it virtually impossible to get our gear to the bottom. The forecast is calling for the winds to back off a tad tomorrow along with a little less swell, so we'll see what tomorrow brings and test out more available territory. Wednesday, April 30: Finally, after five months off the water, we're able to wet our lines beginning tomorrow with the opening of the rockfishing season below Pigeon Point. That is, of course, if Mother Nature cooperates. The winds have been howling this year in the ocean, and we're watching the forecast real close right now to try to figure out what tomorrow will bring, even though it looks like it will be one of those show-up-and-keep-your-fingers-crossed type of mornings. If you have a reservation, rest assured that we will contact you if there's any change in plans. We'll open the shop at 5:30 a.m. through this Sunday; as of next week, we plan on opening at 5:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and 6:00 a.m. Monday through Friday when the boat is running. Please always plan on checking in at our shop no later than 6:15, though, so we can do our best to try to leave the dock on time. Friday, April 25: Lots of news to report: (1) Our last whale watching trips for the year are scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26, and, thank goodness, the ocean looks like it actually plans on cooperating this weekend. (2) By this time next week, weather permitting, we'll be back to fishing! The rockfishing season below Pigeon Point opens on next Thursday, May 1, and we plan on offering rockfishing trips below Pigeon every day during the month of May, weather and interest permitting. We can fish out to 240 feet deep below Pigeon, so, if you have your own gear, be sure to bring both shallow and deep water gear. (3) Our shallow water light tackle rockfishing season above Pigeon Point opens on Sunday, June 1...definitely not too early to make reservations as we only have about a dozen spots left already for that date. The first Saturday in June, which is June 7, is free fishing license day...join us that day and save the $13 one-day license fee. (4) The rockfishing season this year is pretty much the same as last year; about the only change is that the North Central management area (Mendocino to Pigeon Point) is restricted to fishing no deeper than 120 feet...not a big deal for the Queen of Hearts, because we prefer to fish as shallow as possible, anyway. The season is scheduled to remain open through the end of November as long as the established quotas aren't exceeded which would kick in an early closure like what happened in 2007. (5) Time to wipe off the wintertime funk...I'll be back updating reports as often as possible, on a daily basis if I can, now that we're back doing what we're in this business to do. Definitely look for an update on May 1st with the rundown on our opening day. (6) And now for the bad news: The Pacific Fisheries Management Council did vote to cancel the 2008 salmon season along the entire California coastline. Why? Too hard to explain, so check out their notice at: http://www.pcouncil.org/newsreleases/PFMC_FINAL_PressRel.pdf. The closure is effective through April of 2009. That means the earliest we may be able to go salmon fishing would be in May of 2009 if the ban is lifted, but we probably won't get the final decision regarding the 2009 salmon season until after the PFMC's April 2009 meeting. So put your salmon gear away for now, cherish that last piece of salmon in your freezer, shed a tear and then wipe it away, and let's go rockfishing! Tuesday, April 1: Happy April Fool's Day: salmon season opens this Saturday!...what a rotten April Fool's joke, huh? Yep, this Saturday was SUPPOSED to be Opening Day, but, for the first time in our generation's history, we may be forbidden from catching our own salmon...farmed fish anyone? Yuck. So, we continue on with our whale watching trips. But Mother Nature is being about as rotten to us this season as the DFG has been: the winds continue to make for real tough whale watching conditions. Hopefully it will calm down a tad this month. Monday, March 24: After having to cancel the last four weekends due to the winds, we were able to run four whale watching trips this past Saturday and Sunday and found gray whales on every trip except for one. All of the whales were heading north, and there were quite a few mother and calf duos. The wind still was not very cooperative, making for a pretty rough ride; the forecast wasn't much help either, with better conditions occuring on Saturday even though the forecast had been calling for less wind on Sunday. Saturday morning we found whales about 6 miles offshore, and just about everywhere you looked you'd see a blow. At one point there were three boats within a one mile radius all watching different groups of whales. Saturday afternoon we found a pair of courting whales just outside the PP Buoy about a mile from the harbor; we followed them for quite a while and then found another group to follow to finish off the trip. Sunday the wind really picked up; it was too rough for us to try to head offshore where we saw so many whales just the day before. We didn't find any whales in the morning but did find a whale just in the nick of time before we had to throw in the towel late on the afternoon trip. I sure wish this wind would give us a break, but it continues to be our biggest enemy this whale watching season. Thursday, March 20: A press release was just issued from the PFMC regarding the final three options for the 2008 salmon season which will be decided on at their next meeting in April. The options there look a little different than what we heard last week. Check out the press release for yourself at: http://www.pcouncil.org/newsreleases/March_20_2008_release.pdf. According to that release, the final decision regarding the salmon season, or lack of one, will be announced on Thursday, April 10. Friday, March 14: Today was D-Day at the Pacific Fisheries Management Council ("PFMC") meetings taking place in Sacramento. The preliminary fate of the 2008 salmon season was officially announced. It is available for viewing on the PFMC's website at http://www.pcouncil.org/decisions/currentdec.html. The latest word I received around noon from Capt. Bob, who has been at these meetings since they started last Sunday with some days' meetings lasting 15+ hours, is that the latest options for the 2008 salmon season is either a complete closure or a token season allowing salmon fishing for three days around three of our biggest holidays: Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day (but no salmon fishing will be allowed after August 31). That means the salmon season that was supposed to open in April will not open in April. The PFMC will make their next decision after their next round of meetings which will end on Friday, April 11. On the rockcod front, we'll have the same season this year as last year: the waters below Pigeon Point will open on Thursday, May 1, and the waters north of Pigeon Point will open on Sunday, June 1. Pigeon Point is about 17 miles south of our harbor at Half Moon Bay, well within our range, so the Queen of Hearts will begin Pigeon Point rockfishing trips as of May 1. As far as depth restrictions, the maximum fishing depth north of Piegon Point was changed from 180 back to 120 feet, but the 240 foot maximum below Pigeon Point is unchanged. Another option that was adopted is a change in the coastal management lines moving the dividing line between the Northern and North Central California areas to Point Arena. These lines have been adjusted over the last decade trying to fine tune which coastal areas should be managed together. By fine tuning these lines, it may help keep some areas open to fishing when others are required to close to avoid overfishing. Our rockfishing season will be closely monitored, and once it's projected that an area is getting close to its allotment of fish, that area will be closed within 10 days' notice. What that means is we have to value our chances to fish and value our fish even that much more. Appreciate that we still have the opportunity to go out on the ocean, put our lines in the water, get away from our stresses and pressures and see what we might catch. And we can't waste what is caught. Every fish counts. The rockfishing season last year wasn't closed because too many fish were caught...it was closed because too many fish were wasted. To try to explain: certain rockfish cannot be kept, namely canary, goldeneye (aka yelloweye) and cowcod. Unfortunately, in one area of our coastline, boats were fishing areas where way too many goldeneye were hooked and released. Those fish, even though they were released, were counted against us just the same as if they had been kept, and, once too many were counted, the season was closed. Boats operators need to realize that they need to avoid areas and catches that can, will and have closed down our season early. It is a screwed up situation, but it's what we have to live with, and the alternative of not being able to fish at all is not alternative I want to see again. And last, but not least, our whale watching trips for this weekend have been blown out by too much wind once again. The winds this year have only allowed us to get out whale watching on just one weekend since the beginning of the year. We've been stuck in a pattern of decent weather during the weekdays only to see the wind come up and howl on the weekends, making it impossible to take folks out to check out the gray whales migrating along our coastline right now. Hopefully this weather pattern will break soon; we'll give it a try again next weekend, and, now that won't be fishing during April, we'll continue to offer whale watching trips, weather permitting, through April. Monday, March 3: As gorgeous as it was on land this past weekend, it was not so on the ocean, with way too much wind blowing out our planned whale watching trips. Hopefully the weather will give us a break and we'll give it another try this coming Saturday, March 8 to find a few more migrating gray whales. No trips on Sunday this weekend as Capt. Bob is off to the next round of PFMC meetings in Sacramento. Thursday, February 21: The ocean weather forecast is pretty iffy for Saturday, February 23, and, as much as we don't want to, based on what we see we have already cancelled our trips for Sunday, February 24. Maybe next week things will calm down again and we'll get a better shot at viewing some more of these magnificant mammals. Even after all these years, we still thoroughly enjoy having the chance to check out these giants in their natural environment. Saturday, Sunday and Monday, February 16, 17 and 18: We scoured the waters just about as far north, west and south as we could, and finally on our trip Monday morning Capt. Bob's experienced whale watching eyes spotted the arching back of a gray whale. The whale was a sneaky fellow, barely visible at first and surely would have been completely missed except for the quick glimpse Bob just happened to see. After figuring out the whale's path and it's comfort level with the boat, we were able to follow it on its northbound trek for a majority of our three hour trip, watching as it did it's customary one, two, three blows and fluke pattern. Based on our past 18 years of whale watching out of Half Moon Bay on the Queen of Hearts, it seems this weekend's experiences could be the signal that the majority of the southbound whales have already swam by our area and the closer, northern return has begun. By the beginning of March we could be in full whale watching swing just off our coastline. Wednesday, February 13 - We are scheduled for whale watching at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. this President's Day weekend, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, February 16, 17 and 18. The forecast is calling for very light winds, and hopefully just a lazy swell to go along with it. There's plenty of room on all trips at this point, but it would still be a good idea to give a call or send an email to grab a spot if you'd like to join us. Saturday, February 9 - Happy Birthday, Capt. Bob! With a great group of guys and great travelling weather, we headed offshore in search of some Humboldt squid. No one has been venturing out for almost a month with the way the weather's been, so we had to give it the old college try to see what we could find. They covered a lot of ground, and gave a couple of spots a shot, but no squid attacked our offerings. Another boat out of Bodega Bay covered the territory up north with the same results. So, until we get word from one of the handful of commercial boats working the offshore waters that makes it sounds promising to give it another try, we'll hold off on scheduling any more squid adventures. For now, it will be whale watching Saturdays and Sundays. Tuesday, February 5 - Looks like we might actually have a shot at venturing out after some giant squid this Saturday...as long as the winds hold off, we have enough folks interested to give it a try. And, by the way, Saturday is Capt. Bob's birthday.... Wednesday, January 30 - We might we getting some breaks in the rain and actually seeing some sun, but the forecast is calling at least 12 foot swells through the weekend along with a lot of wind. That combined with the way the weather's been on the ocean the past couple of weeks is enough for us to throw in the towel for this weekend and cancel our squid and whale watching trips Saturday and Sunday. There is a possibility that Mavericks may be going off Friday and Saturday, but we're watching the reports closely to see if we'll be able to put a trip or two together. Wednesday, January 23 - Just waiting on the weather to get another chance to get back out on the water; the wind came up offshore last Saturday and hit the coast Sunday so we ended up cancelling our trips we had scheduled last weekend. We're available for whale watching this Sunday but we're keeping a close eye on the weather again. Our next shot at running for giant Humboldt squid is set for Saturday, February 2. Monday, January 14 - Time to get back to what we do best: fishing. Well, kinda fishing...Humboldt squid fishing is what we'll be doing to be exact. And Capt. Bob said he may just give it a try to catch some sand dabs on the way back in after hunting for the Humboldts to spice up the pot a bit. Our first trip is scheduled for this Saturday, weather and interest permitting. We've got some folks on the books for our trip Saturday but there is still lots of room available. If you're game to give it a try, give us a call or send an email and put your name on the list. Saturday, January 12 - Absolutely gorgeous weather greeted this years Surf Contest at Mavericks. Our two trips went off without a hitch, with the Queen of Hearts being the first boat to be at the viewing area for the first heat. With what seemed like a zillion boats in the area, Capt. Bob and our crew were on their toes all day keeping everyone safe and as close to the action as possible. Thanks to all of you who put your trust in our services. Hope we'll see you again for another trip to check out the surfers at Mavericks. Thursday, January 10 - The surf contest at Mavericks has been given the green light and will take place this Saturday, January 12. We will be running two trips to view the action up close and personal and currently have space available. To grab your spot, go to our Mavericks webpage for details at: www.fishingboat.com/mavericks.html. Conditions look fantastic so it should be a great show.
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