Bill Lynch: Halibut, stripers, salmon and more

Fishing is good in San Francisco Bay and off the Sonoma coast right now when the winds don’t blow too hard.

Favorable tides have improved the halibut bite in the Bay and party boats were reporting really good catches this week. If the wind ever calms, the fishing should be spectacular. Keith Fraser at Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael says the few brave guys going out on the rough Bay waters have been coming back with good fish, including a 25-pound halibut this week. They were using live Loch Lomond shiners for bait.

Keith recommends fishing near Paradise Park off the Marin shoreline. He can book a party boat for you, or you can fish off the pier at Paradise. Halibut and stripers are both good possibilities there.

There are still some sturgeon being caught with live shrimp and striped bass fishing is the “sturgeon triangle” near Hamilton Field.

If you just want to fish off the bank near Sonoma, it is about a 15- to 20-minute drive over to the Napa River where you can find a spot along Cuttings Wharf Road. Anglers fishing with cut frozen bait are hooking lots of undersized stripers plus a few keepers.

Capt. Rick Powers of Bodega Bay Sportsfishing is still bringing home boatloads of happy anglers with limits of rockfish, lots of lingcod plus limits of Dungeness crab. He had a great day last Sunday with rockfish and crab limits for all anglers on board, plus 25 lingcod. He is still looking for the salmon bite to open up, and conditions look favorable for that to happen any day. Call Rick at 875-3344 to book a trip.

In the meantime, anglers going out of the Golden Gate on party boats are having pretty good salmon fishing, averaging nearly one good-sized fish per rod.

Lake Berryessa and Clear Lake fishing has been only fair due to winds and generally cooler conditions.

Trout fishing on the Truckee and Yuba Rivers is fair, while on the upper Sacramento, McCloud and other streams around Mt. Shasta has been steadily improving as the water drops. Bob Grace at the Ted Fay Fly Shop in Dunsmuir said this week that he is starting to get reports of good dry fly action at times on the river.

I got a message from guide Hogan Brown this week announcing the annual Cast Hope Fly Fishing Tournament set for July 25-28 at Clearwater Lodge at the Pit River.

Cast Hope is a charity started by fishing guides to raise money to serve low-income kids by offering them free fishing lessons, guided trips and equipment. They are also teaching kids to use their local watersheds, appreciate them, and become advocates to conserve them by getting kids outdoors via the sport of fly-fishing.

The tournament is a fund-raising event that supports that effort. It costs $2,500 a person, or $4,000 for team of two. For your entry fee donation, you get three nights lodging, two days guided fishing on the Fall River and Pit River, gourmet food, and beer and wine.

Each person who enters will receive a Simms sling pack, Simms jacket, Simms guide shirt, a Klean Kanteen, and Fly Line. (Over $500 value!)

There are also prizes for the winners of the competition.

You can get more information by going to casthope.org or by calling 619-540-9259.