
HMB Weather buoy area did well on squid today. 25 in the box, perhaps double that lost as anglers got the hang of fishing. Several newbies to the squid action got the big taste of a wide open bite. At one point every rod had a squid on it. Stopped once or twice to find the better area. Fortunately, not too deep. We came in for 12 limits of crab. Nice weather on the outside, not much current, almost no wind. It remained foggy all day.
Thursday loading commercial pots, Friday dropping commercial pots, Saturday full, Sunday a few openings.
Company: Huli Cat Sportfishing
Area Reporting: Central California, San Francisco Bay area
Bio: Tom Mattusch is currently the owner/operator of the Huli Cat, a 53 foot charter boat operating out of Pillar Point Harbor and has fished the West Coast since 1967. Tom holds positions on the Salmon Stamp Committee for California, the California Department of Fish and Game License Agent Advisory Committee and NOAA’s California Sportfishing Action Team. He’s an IGFA Certified Captain. In an effort to contribute to research, Tom works with NOAA’s PFEL tagging chinook salmon. He also worked with NOAA’s Santa Cruz field office gathering stomachs and beaks of Humboldt squid. He recently completed a study with the Point Reyes Bird Observatory collecting lingcod, salmon and halibut stomachs and is currently involved in a study with Scripps to gather albacore stomachs. Tom holds Board of Director positions with the Golden Gate Fishermens Association, Coastside Fishing Club and Fishery Enhancement and Research Foundation. He can be heard on four radio stations giving fish reports or discussing fishing politics. He has worked closely with the Recreational Fishing Alliance, PCFFA, the Half Moon Bay Fishermans Marketing Association, United Anglers of Southern California and United Anglers. Tom ran the first trip out of Half Moon Bay to take anglers to catch Humboldt squid and the first white shark viewing trip to the Farallon Islands. He is the first charter boat Captain out of Half Moon Bay to get certified to marry people and has married people on the Huli Cat. Tom ran the first albacore trip out of Half Moon Bay to demonstrate the albacore were again reachable by boat off the Central California coast in the mid 1990’s. Tom held a seat on the California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative as a Central Coast Regional Stakeholder group Member.