BY DAVE HURLEY
SAN FRANCISCO – If Helen of Troy was the ‘Face that launched a thousand ships,’ all it took to attract a massive fleet along the California coast was the two-day ocean salmon opener June 7-8. After weeks of trepidation over a limited two-day opener with high winds, the ocean lay down in flat, glassy calm, creating safe conditions for the flotilla of private and party boats heading out from every port from Monterey north to Crescent City. It was a throwback to the ‘good old days,’ as the parking lot at the Half Moon Bay launch ramp was 90% full two days ahead of the opener. The adrenaline rush from two chaotic days of great fishing leaves the fleet wanting over the next few months without salmon until the next limited opener in September as it’s virtually a lock that the 7000 fish quota was obliterated.
Captain James Smith of the California Dawn 2 was out with a packed boat of 35 anglers on Saturday, and he exclaimed, “I wasn’t prepared for this! We had 20 in the box by 7:45 am, and it was chaos on the deck with as many as 19 fish on the hook.” The action took place a few miles south of the Farallon Islands down to the Deep Reef south of Half Moon Bay, and once the boats got located, limits were the rule. The scores were outstanding out of San Francisco Bay, Half Moon Bay, and Santa Cruz/Monterey, For example, on Saturday along, Emeryville Sport Fishing returned with 169 limits for 338 salmon, the California Dawn 1 and 2 along with the Pacific Dream out of Berkeley posted 83 limits to 3o pounds, Berkeley Sport Fishing had three boats out for 75 limits, and three Sausalito boats returned with a combined 66 limits. These are just a sampling of limits taken on Saturday from the San Francisco Bay boats.
Captain Trent Slate of Bite Me Charters out of Paradise Cove posted 7 limits of salmon to 25 pounds on both Saturday and Sunday, and he said, “We went north to N Buoy on Saturday morning since there was some good sign there, but the bite was 10 miles south so we headed downhill to find wide open action, going through 30 weights for 14 fish. I have never seen so many boats in my life out in the ocean. The bite was a bit slower on Sunday, but we found steady action for limits.”
