Central Coast Fishing: Area’s finest anglers to compete at Clear Lake

Arroyo Grande’s Jared Lintner and his No. 1 local partner, Nick Salvucci, will be among the finest bass fishermen from the Central Coast who will be competing at Clear Lake on Friday and Saturday. The occasion is the American Bass Northern tournament.

Clear Lake is the venue where Lintner won a tournament that ushered him into Bassmaster Elite competition.

2016 Pacific Region Anglers of the Year Todd Reccord of Paso Robles and Mike Maddux of Arroyo Grande were the only duo to win two of the six tests on the regular season agenda, which paved their way to the crown.

The veteran duo of Atascadero’s Gene Gray and Templeton’s Jay Short won the March test while a pair of Templeton 25 year olds crashed the party by asserting themselves and winning the year-end April exam on Nacimiento waters.

While Damon Meeks of Atascadero and partner Erik Zillig of Paso Robles didn’t taste victory last season. they are consistent challengers.

Darrin Bishop of Paso Robles and his cousin Dean Miller of Tulare will miss the show. Dean’s new job as a school principal has limited his fishing time.

News flash! Fish Caught at Whale Rock

Ed Humphrey’s Oct. 24-30 report lists one angler and one fish caught. And it wasn’t a trout, but a 4-inch smallmouth bass.

Naturally, the angler was anonymous.

But what’s a bass doing in a trout enclosure?

Morro Bay Landing

Last week’s heaviest jackpot fish was a 21-pound ling by Joe Morris. Other jackpot winners included Freddie Cardinez of Visalia, 20.5-pound ling; Jim Webb of Cambria, 11-pound ling; Alex Carter of Paso Robles, 9-pound ling; and Gary G. of Fresno, 7-pound bocaccio.

The catch by 124 passengers aboard three different boats included 148 lingcod, 622 red rockcod and 124 assorted rockfish.

Patriot Sportfishing

The landing bypassed its 2015 lingcod catch 5,453 to 5,405 on Halloween. The biggest jackpot fish was a 13-pound ling by Dennis Bashline of Orcutt. Other winners included: Clint Liss of Lompoc, 12 pounds; Eugene Tortal of Bakersfield, 11 pounds; Chris Snider and Arnold Luisi, both Arroyo Grande, and Ashley Brown of Bakersfield, all 10-pound lings; Eric McFadden of San Luis Obispo, 7-pound ling; and Roger York of San Luis Obispo, 5 pound red rockcod.

Last week, 184 anglers landed 65 lingcod, 57 red rockcod, 32 coppers, 386 bolina, five boccacio, three cabezon and one sheephead.

Virg’s Landing

There are 31 anglers already qualified for Virg’s annual December Lingcod competition. Just a few more weeks of qualifying remain.

A week ago, while Matt Kennedy of Bakersfield was reeling in the season’s biggest lingcod (32.5 pounds), a Visalia fisherman caught a 28.6-pound ling. Sean Doyle chose the wrong week to bring aboard the second heaviest ling of the season.

The only other angler listed in Bruce Harwood’s report was Richard Hoffman of San Miguel with a 17.4-pound ling on a private, full-day charter on the Fiesta.

Caught on eight trips last week by 177 anglers were 1,887 fish. The catch included 117 lingcod and 464 red rockcod.

Through Oct. 29, Virg’s passengers have landed 6,289 lingcod.

Port San Luis Boatyard

Only 47 boats were launched last week — none on Friday and just two on Sunday.

Fifty-five lingcod were checked in, 16 on Monday and 15 on Saturday. Nipomo’s Aaron Sharpes earned Whopper of the Week honors with the catch of a 14.1-pound lingcod on Oct. 29. All 15 bonito counted were on Saturday.

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Central Coast Fishing: Area’s finest anglers to compete at Clear Lake."