Bodega Bay is the Sonoma Coast's working sportfishing harbor — a calendar built around Pacific salmon, rockfish, lingcod, Dungeness crab, and the occasional albacore push. Trips run from inshore rockfish runs out to Cordell Bank, the 1,286-square-mile federal sanctuary that holds 44 species of rockfish.
The harbor
Bodega Head — a 4-mile-long promontory — shelters the anchorage from open Pacific swell. The harbor runs two marinas, a public launch ramp, and two fishing ports, with the sportfishing fleet sharing dock space with an active commercial salmon and crab fleet. Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center is the primary charter operator on the harbor.
Grounds
Grounds run from inshore reefs out to deep offshore banks. Cordell Bank, the national marine sanctuary established May 24, 1989, rises to within 115 feet of the surface and is sport-fished for albacore and salmon — the sanctuary holds more than 246 species of fish, including 44 species of rockfish. Local charter guides put the offshore rockfish banks roughly 25 miles out, with bluefin and albacore water about 18–30 miles west of the harbor.
Regulations
Two MPAs ring the nearshore. Bodega Head State Marine Reserve (9.34 sq mi) prohibits take of all marine resources. The adjacent Bodega Head State Marine Conservation Area (12.31 sq mi) allows Dungeness crab by trap, market squid by hand-held dip net, and pelagic finfish by trolling — including salmon, tunas, and yellowtail. Charter boats fish outside these zones.
Getting there
Highway 1 is the access road. The town runs a warm-summer Mediterranean climate with a 53.5°F annual mean temperature and 28.9 inches of annual precipitation — the rain front lines up with the November–March wet season common to the North Coast.
