This past Saturday, I had the chance to fish aboard the Queen of Hearts out of Half Moon Bay Sportfishing. Run by the incredible husband-wife duo Sherry (kind officemaster, mean tuna fighter, incredible storyteller) and Captain Bob (fishing boat captain, tuna slayer, rockfishing expert), the Landing, Tackle Shop and Boat are a truly warm, friendly operation.

We loaded the boat up with frozen squid and 35 intrepid anglers and, after a funny and informative safety session by Deckhand Mike, we headed south. The trip took us about 90 minutes south to an area between Pigeon Point and Ano Nuevo - an area Capt. Bob called "Thompson Point." Once we arrived, it was instantly "fish on!" with beautiful black rockfish the main stay. We 35 anglers, some complete newbies and many old veterans, quickly found ourselves with singles and doubles of nice 1-2 pound blackies caught on shrimp flies and squid strips in 30-80 feet of water. The weather was flat calm, the sun was almost breaking through, and the waves were slow 4-6 foot rollers - what a day to be out on the water!

We slow picked at the rockfish for the remainder of the day and ended up with healthy limits of Black and other mixed Rockfish, a handful of greenling, and then 5 nice lingcod to 8 pounds. One (un)lucky angler from San Francisco had the largest ling, but decided to opt out of the boat jackpot (doh!). He still walked away with a brand new SportfishingReport.com shirt, though! Capt. Bob also awarded a new spool of Izorline (and the jackpot winnings) to the Jackpot winner - a tradition he has had for years!

While Sherry makes you feel at home in the landing office, Bob and Mike run a wonderful on-water operation. Bob is a communicative, funny, and information-rich captain. He made the newest fishermen feel right at home on his beautiful, fast boat. Mike is a skilled deckhand and an incredibly hard worker (he hasn't had a day off in weeks!). Fishing with them is always a pleasure - so you should really come on down and fish on their daily Rockfishing trips along the San Mateo coastline. Unlike other landings, you can be fishing within 15 minutes of leaving the Harbor, catching nice quality rockfish and lings!

I look forward to future trips on the Queen of Hearts in coming months - I can't wait to check out their Spring Salmon trips, too!