Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3825 Nov 22- Dec 6 | Page 27

Nov 22 - Dec 6, 2019
VOL.38 • ISS. 25
Kayaking is becoming more and more
popular, and the sport is expanding
exponentially. Kayak fishing and hunting
will be prominently featured at this year’s
International Sportsmen’s Exposition in
Sacramento, and Nagel will be conducting
seminars at the Kayak Theater as one of
the top kayak anglers on the West Coast.

- Dave Hurley
HALF MOON BAY
Dungeness Crab Season
Going Strong off San Mateo
Coast
Cod Tourney, and he said, “We had a
good day on the lings with 13 ling cod
along with 26 limits of rockfish and
27 limits of Dungeness crab including
crew. We were down at the Deep
Reef for the rockfish, and we have
had an excellent week with limits of
both rockfish and crab on every trip.”
“The lings really jumped on today.
The weather has been fantastic.
The weather was a bit rougher on
Saturday, November 9th, but they
scratched out limits of rockfish along
with limits of crab for 21 anglers,” he
stated. Mattusch is finding loaded
pots from varying depths from 95 to
245 feet.
The private boat parade has been
steady for Dungeness crab seekers,
and as in further up the coast out of
Bodega Bay, kayak fishermen are
getting in on the action.

- Dave Hurley
EL GRANADA - The recreational
Dungeness crab opener out of Half Moon
Bay has been nothing less than with limits
CONTINUED ON PG 26
of commercial-grade
crab along with
rockfish limits. The
Queen of Hearts and
New Captain Pete
out of Half Moon
Bay Sport Fishing
are providing the
popular rockfish/crab
combination trips,
and the commercial
pullers on the Huli
Cat and the New
Captain Pete make
for a quick pull.
Limits of crab have
been the rule since
the opener, and
Baxter was out in
200 feet of water for
up to 20/crab per pot
while also out of his
shop, the Queen of
Hearts dropped their
Danielson pots in 160
feet of water for 13/
crab per pot.
Baxter said, “This
was a very good
sign to have these
numbers of crab only
5 to 6 miles out of the
harbor as normally
the crab are not in
this close this early
in the season.” He
was out with the
Coastside Fishing
Club-sponsored
Veteran’s Trip on
Big lingcod have been on a good bite along the Marin Coast for
Saturday, November
9th, on a crab-only trip, Golden Gate anglers taking combo crab and bottomfish trips.
Photo courtesy of HAPPY HOOKER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.
and they posted limits
before he ran a
second crab-only
trip later in the
afternoon.
Captain Tom
2912
Mattusch of the
Huli Cat was out
on Thursday with
for the Peninsula
Fishing Club Ling
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4.23.10
Death of the Death Rig
W
ay back in 2009, local captain
two separate lines off of a single line,
and buddy Don Franklin of
but it also had a sliding egg sinker to
help keep the bait near the
Sole-Man Charters gave me a
bottom. When Captain Don
phone call. He came up with
stopped by to pick them up,
an interesting challenge. He
he was cautiously opti-
said, “I have this idea for a
mistic,
saying he would
sturgeon rig. I want it to have
need to use them before
two hooks, but not on
rendering judgement.
the same loop (like
Later that week, I
two-hook wire sturgeon
received a phone call
leaders at the time), and I
from Captain Don. From
don’t want to have them in
the background sound of
tandem. I was thinking I want
wind, I could tell he was
them on separate leaders, but
calling from the water.
I don’t know what knots to
“HIPPOOOOO!,” he
use. Since you are the knot
by Steve
enthused, “This is it! I love
master, do you think you can
“Hippo”Lau it! Tie me some more!”
help me out?”
And with that bit of affir-
I gave him a half hearted
mation,
the
Sturgeon Death Rig was
commitment saying I would think about
born.
it and left it as that.
Honestly, I had no idea that my
That night, I had a hard time sleeping
simple
sturgeon leader would cause
as when presented with challenges like
such
a
commotion
in the local fishing
this, it is hard for me to “let it go” and
world.
think about it on a later date; so I got
Word spread like wildfire about a
out of bed, took pen and paper in hand,
killer
sturgeon rig and after a while, I
and sketched out a preliminary design.
was tying them using different colored
The next day, I tied up three such
lines just for the fun of it; colors
leaders that not only had two hooks on
included black, red,
green, yellow, blue,
camo, and clear.
In 2011, Sharkman
650 asked if he could
video me tying the
leader and I agreed
to do so. After he
posted the video on
YouTube, the video
went viral and has
since registered over
300,000 views. I was
getting emails with
pictures of sturgeon
3807
filling my inbox.
Apparently, stories
of the success of the
Sturgeon Death Rig
reached the Depart-
Fish The Delta In Style Aboard
ment of Fish and
Capt. Hayden Mullins’s
Game and in 2013,
60’ Luxury Yacht!
the DFG put a halt
to the Death Rig by
proposing a single
barbless hook regu-
lation for sturgeon
leaders.
With that single
act, the Death Rig
925-766-7350 www.dragonsportfishing.com was no longer legal
for sturgeon
fishing.
CALIFORNIA'S
While no
MARINE PROTECTED AREAS
longer sturgeon
legal, when
tied with other
MOBILE WEBSITE & INTERACTIVE MAP
hooks and
CDFW approved mobile
leader lines,
resources for MPA boundaries
and regulation information.
the rig is still
killer when bait
CA FISHING MOBILE APPLICATION
fishing for other
fish including
Free mobile app with MPA
boundaries, regulations maps,
trout, catfish,
and species information.
halibut, striped
bass, and
MOBILE APPLICATION & MARINE CHARTS
sharks.
Mobile app with charts showing
Complete
MPAs available for download.
instructions are
still found on
YouTube under
“Sturgeon
*Navionics & FishLegal are not sponsored by the State of California.
Please visit wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing for current regulations.
Death Rig.”
FISH SNIFFER
COUNTRY
Want Sturgeon? Trophy Stripers?
Call Dragon Sportfishing!
•
BODEGA BAY cont.
25