The salmon were found on the outside on Thursday 7-17 by a commercial angler, and the six-pack fleet moved in for limits of a mixed grade of fish. Captain Jay Lopes of Right Hook Sport Fishing loaded up with 6 limits to 24-pounds by 1:00 p.m. with a number of 22 to 24-inch fish in the mix. They were fishing between 6 and 7 miles straight out from Bodega Head. He said, “The bite has been more consistent this week, and we have been averaging a fish per rod all week with limits taken today. I think this is the beginning of a school moving down the coast.”
Captain Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sport Fishing put in 18 limits of big rockfish with a number of coppers and browns in the sack to go with 18 ling cod and 2 salmon on Wednesday. He said, “The rockfish and ling cod bite is wide open, and we went south for these fish.” The Surf Scoter, a luxury charter vessel, went to the mouth of the Russian River on Tuesday for 8 salmon to 25-pounds for 7 anglers on Tuesday. The Surf Scoter has room for salmon trips over the weekend. Powers said, “The big news is there hasn’t been any wind for 5 consecutive days.”

The salmon came up and played on Saturday 7-12 after very slow action on Friday. The hot spot was 52 fathoms, 8 miles west SW of the Head. Rick Power took the Surf Scooter on a salmon trip while his nephew Dana ran the New Sea Angler. Rick reported they hooked close to 40 salmon landing 26 to 20 pounds for 18 anglers. The action came in waves with several multiple hookups throughout the day. We don't yet have a full count from the New Sea Angler but they had limits of rockfish and between 30 and 40 lings for 30+ anglers fishing at Ft Ross.
Private boaters came through with some info today with Dave reporting 3 limits to 25 pounds and Kenny another regular who likes to chime in with three limits all 14 to 20 pounds and several smaller fish in the 8 to 10 class released.
The New Sea Angler has lots of room this week for both salmon and rockfishing trips. We are literally headed out the door and will post reports in a week or so.

It's that time of year that this writer takes off to our vacation home on the Kenai peninsula. We will be gone July 13th to the 26th. This is the peak of the sockeye run and we will be putting in lots of river time chasing "reds" and of course chasing halibut, rockfish and monster lings with trips scheduled with Captain Steve Smith.
I will bring along my laptop and update reports when we are seeing major changes or "hot bites" but reports here will be sporadic at best.
Full reports will resume on July 26th. In the time being please contact our sponsors or visit their websites for current reports, information and bookings.
Until then... good fishing!
Mike Aughney

After good action early in the week the salmon bite has slowed way up the past two days. On Friday 7-10 we saw a big turn out from the private boater front with 80 to 90+ out on the water today. Overall it sounds like most saw scores of 0 to 2 maybe 4 fish per boat and many broke away to chase rockfish after a slow morning bite and a goose egg to show for their salmon efforts. One regular reader Tom said that when they got back to the harbor at noon with one salmon the fish checker said it was one of the few salmon they had seen. We are still waiting to hear back from a couple of friends who were on the water today but late reports often mean slow action.
Rick on the New Sea Angler started to day off chasing salmon and they landed two to 21 pounds trolling off the River to Arch Rock. They switched over to rockfish in the late morning and did great landing limits of mixed rockfish adding 26 lings to 20 pounds.
Rick said that Vince ran offshore late in the morning and found a couple of salmon outside of 50 fathoms. Rick was not sure of either his exact location or score and one of the problems with a second hand report from a past well trusted sponsor.
Many readers have asked why we have not had regular reports from Vince? We miss featuring Vince here on a regular basis (one of the best local captains around) but with a new boat owner who has no interest in sharing his reports here, we no longer have that affiliation.
The weather was great with morning fog, less than five knots of wind and just a lazy 3 to 4 foot swell. With good action being reported from Ft Bragg we still expect an influx of salmon to be pushing into the local waters again very soon. If we don't seen that southern migration soon it could well mean a slow bite through the rest of the summer? Time will tell but I'm betting that we will see lots of big fish later in July.
 

The salmon action has been slowly improving for the past several days. The fish continue to slowly work south and could be off Bodega Head by Wednesday. On Tuesday 7-8 Rick on the New Sea Angler reported 18 fish for 19 anglers trolling off Carmet. Rick said they were both hot and lucky landing a high percentage of the 25 to 30 fish hooked. Many boats did not fare as well while a few private boaters had up to 3 limits before 9:AM. Rick said his average fish was 15 to 17 pounds and they had several in the mid to high 20s with the jackpot going 30 pounds. The weather was great with morning fog, less than 7 knots of breeze and a 6 foot swell. Looking ahead to the weekend (if the weather holds) readers can expect loooooooong lines at the launch ramps so plan accordingly.

We are seeing the salmon bite steadily improve every day since Friday and if the weather continues to hold should only get better through July. On Monday 7-7 Rick on the New Sea Angler started the day off trolling south of the river in 100 to 120 feet of water. His 18 anglers hooked 20+ salmon landing 14 to 27 pounds. Rick said private boats and six packs saw scores of a fish per rod to limits. In the afternoon Rick switched over to rockfish landing full limits adding 15 lings to 18 pounds. The weather was great along the beach with 5 to 10 knots of breeze over a 6 foot swell. 
 

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