Central Coast Fishing: Time running out to land spot in Virg’s Landing lingcod tournament

Here’s what’s happening around the Central Coast fishing scene:

Virg’s Landing

Sean Doyle of Visalia became the Week-31 qualifier for Virg’s Lingcod Tournament is with his catch of a 28.6-pound ling.

Virg’s manager Bruce Harwood reported: “High swells put a damper on fishing Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday last week. We had six fishing trips with 156 anglers who caught 1,498 fish, including 151 lingcod and 166 red rockcod.”

Jackpot winners were: Therman Callway, Pacoima, 11.7 ling; David Morozoff, Madera, 11.0 ling; Bruce Chaplin, San Diego, 10.0 ling; and John Fedorowiz, Los Angeles, 4.5 ling.

Only two weeks remain to qualify for the end-of-year lingcod competition.

Patriot Sportfishing

Recent jackpot winners included: Adam Wren, Bakersfield, 12.0 ling; Keith Bolles, Bakersfield, 11.0 ling; David Garcia, Vista, and Bob Matsumoto, Covina, both 10.0 lings; Michael Woods, Lemoore, Juan Marquez, Santa Maria, Michael Woods, Lemoore, and Bryan Patnode, Lancaster, all 6.0 lings.

Morro Bay Landing

A trio of big lingcod highlighted fishing last week. Leading the way with a 31.6-pound ling was Bill Gerbending of Springville. Other big catches were made by Kenneth Davi of Bakersfield with a 26.1 ling and Puria Keshmiri of Los Angeles with a 25.0 ling.

Others winning jackpot money were: Ken Davis, 18.0 ling; and Donald Kelly, 8.0 ling.

Port San Luis Boatyard

Boat launchings were few last week. So were the chances of having a quality fish earn Whopper of the Week laurels. Arroyo Grande’s Ross Rickard reeled in the fish that easily won the award. It was a 22.6-pound lingcod. Boat launchings totaled 32, with 10 on Saturday and nine on Sunday. Only eight lings were caught, four of them Thursday.

Thirteen bonito were counted, 10 of them Thursday.

Whale Rock

Fishing is over for 2016 at Whale Rock, or maybe it never happened at all.

Ed Humphrey, the water supervisor who files the weekly reports, noted a turnout of 108 hopefuls who scored nary a trout.

Two 4-inch steelhead and a 4-inch smallmouth bass were the only catches and they were released. Of course, those reports were Anonymous.

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Central Coast Fishing: Time running out to land spot in Virg’s Landing lingcod tournament."