Wayne Kruse’s Pick of the Week: Coastal bottomfish

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 5, 2017

By Wayne Kruse

For The Herald

Despite worse weather than is the norm this time of year, charter boats out of Westport and other coastal ports have managed to find limit numbers of bottomfish. And, once salmon seasons are set through the current North of Falcon process, salmon fishing and combination trips will be added to the mix.

It’s mostly limits around for rockfish, according to Westport Charters spokesperson Kristen Hinton, with the daily limit at seven fish, only one of which can be a canary rockfish. At least 95 percent or better of the catch is made up of black rockfish (“sea bass”) going 2 to 5 pounds. They are great on the table, and because they tend to school much closer to the surface than other rockfish species, it’s a kick to take them on light tackle.

After limits of rockfish are in the boat, and if weather allows, charter skippers often head for underwater structure and rig for lingcod. The limit on lings is two fish, but there are no size restrictions. It’s not as common to take a ling limit as it is with sea bass, and the sizes vary widely, but there’s always the chance of tangling with a Moby ling — such as the 40-pounder taken by a charter customer Saturday. Unfortunately, Hinton said, that angler neglected to buy a ticket for the daily Westport big fish derby and missed out on the cash.

The run to the bottomfish grounds is about an hour and a half from the dock, depending on weather conditions. The price for a bottomfish trip is around $140 per person on weekdays, and about $10 more on the weekend.