Waterlands

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RockfishPeak season

Cape · California

Sharp Point

41.24°N · 124.11°W · Cape · Humboldt Bay

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Best score today · 6 PM · Rockfish

74/100Great
Now
735 PM PDT
Best window
5-9 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Ebbing5.5 ft ▼

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 5 PM · now

Time5PNOW
Score73Great
Tide5.5 ft ▼Ebbing
Current0.2 knmodeled · toward WSW
Wind2 kn WNWgusts 12 · steady
Sea stateRough5.6 ft · 7 s
Air temp65°Mild
WeatherPartly cloudy28% cloud
Water55°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

Northern Groundfish Management Area

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Rockfish is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. 31 rules for this area are waiting for review and not shown until checked. Confirm limits with CDFW before you keep a fish.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Rockfish is best here

Peak season for Rockfish · 2 more weeks at peak

Rockfish season by week of the year. Peak season for Rockfish · 2 more weeks at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • This week

Rockfish in California

Spot profile

Sharp Point

Depth
15-40 ft
Structure
Point · Outer · Exposed
Season
Peak seasonRockfish

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 14 on a 464 m grid. Depths are feet below mean sea level, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Sharp Point

Sharp Point is a cape in Humboldt Bay, California. Depth is 15-40 ft. Its profile reads point, outer water and exposed.

Waterlands scores 11 species here; the best right now are rockfish, cabezon and striped bass. It is peak season now for rockfish, cabezon, striped bass and surfperch, and shoulder season for Chinook salmon, lingcod, kelp greenling and white seabass. Rockfish peak from May through September. Cabezon peak from May through September. Striped bass peak from June through July and from September through October.

Tackle & technique

Rockfish
Rockfish live on rocky reefs, pinnacles and kelp from the shoreline out past 300 feet, with black and blue rockfish schooling mid-water over shallow reefs and copper, quillback, yelloweye and vermilion sitting tight to deeper bottom. Drift over the structure with a shrimp fly above a lead-head grub or metal jig, or a squid strip, and reel up a few cranks after touching bottom to cut snags. Use a descending device to release any fish brought up from deep water.
Cabezon
Cabezon sit in rock crevices, kelp beds and jetty boulders from the intertidal zone to about 100 feet and feed mostly on crabs and small fish. Fish a fish-finder rig with sand shrimp, squid or crab right on the bottom in the rocks, or drag a lead-head grub slowly through the kelp. Expect snags, and do not eat the roe, which is toxic.
Striped bass
Striped bass feed where moving tide pushes bait past structure: inlets, points, jetties, bridge pilings and rips in the surf, usually in 2 to 40 feet of water. Fish dawn, dusk and night hardest, casting plugs, bucktails and soft plastics or drifting live bunker and eels, and chunk bait on the bottom in current. In midsummer the larger fish drop deeper or feed mostly after dark.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Lookout Point

    Cape · 3.1 mi

    72
    Top: RockfishPeak season
    • Rockfish 72
    • Striped bass 71
    • Cabezon 70

    2 kt WNWL 10:24 PM · 0.7 ftH 5:11 AM · 4.6 ft

  • Mussel Point

    Cape · 6.1 mi

    72
    Top: RockfishPeak season
    • Rockfish 72
    • Striped bass 71
    • Cabezon 70

    2 kt WNWL 10:24 PM · 0.7 ftH 5:11 AM · 4.6 ft

  • Rocky Point

    Cape · 7.3 mi

    72
    Top: RockfishPeak season
    • Rockfish 72
    • Striped bass 72
    • Cabezon 71

    4 kt NWL 10:24 PM · 0.7 ftH 5:11 AM · 4.6 ft

  • Abalone Point

    Cape · 7.5 mi

    72
    Top: RockfishPeak season
    • Rockfish 72
    • Striped bass 72
    • Cabezon 71

    4 kt NWL 10:24 PM · 0.7 ftH 5:11 AM · 4.6 ft

Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with CDFW before you keep a fish.