Doug Laughlin caught this big vermilion rockfish on a trip out of Half Moon Bay and Pillar Point Harbor to the reef offshore San Gregorio. Photo: Tom Stienstra
Off San Gregorio, a fisherman enjoying a rare sunny day out of Half Moon Bay felt his line go tap-tap-tap. Doug Laughlin instantly set the hook and let out a shout. “Got him!”
He wrestled with a big rockfish on his line, and when he gained a few turns of the reel, the fish surged away in short bulldog-like power bursts. It turned out to be a big vermilion rockfish, the type of fish, along with cabezon and lingcod, that makes fall deep-sea fishing the best of the year on the San Mateo County coast, and all along the Pacific Coast.
The foggiest summer anybody can remember at Half Moon Bay has given way to respites of clear, sunny weather between this week’s surprise rain and the inevitable batches of stratus clouds. I did my 10 years of fog time at Moss Beach and know that when that large yellow UFO appears in October, it changes the entire scope of what seems possible.
What works: FAT squid or split-tail Scampi rigged on 3- to 6-ounce leadhead jig, tipped with squid; 5- or 6-inch purple/silver Point Wilson Darts. Info at http://www.squidlures.com, http://www.dartjigs.com.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/05/SPR71LDR3E.DTL#ixzz1atfncXA5
Feel great in the next 24 hours: Hike. Bike. Camp. Fish. Boat. Wildlife watch. Explore.
For the new edition of California Camping, go to http://74.220.215.219/~tomstien/books/california-camping/
We use Point Wilson Darts, twist-tail Scampis on a leadhead jig, and the big guy, the FAT squid rigged with a squid teaser. Photo: Tom Stienstra
John Beath had his hands full with this big lingcod he pulled off a rocky reef. Photo: Tom Stienstra
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