FISHING / DAN STANTON : Shogun’s Rogers Discovers a World of Fun in Fishing

Richard Rogers of Redondo Beach started his sportfishing career at age 15 when he became a deckhand on the half-day boat Redondo Special.

From 1978 to 1984, he gained experience on boat handling and learned the location of the area’s best fishing grounds.

After earning his captain’s license in 1984, Rogers decided he wanted to gain knowledge of long-range trips out of San Diego.

He was hired as a second captain aboard the Royal Polaris from 1984 to 1989.

Rogers said one of his best trips was on an overnight run. The anglers aboard the boat caught 44 yellowfin tuna weighing from 80 to 175 pounds.

When the owners of the Royal Polaris launched the Shogun in 1990 to make trips out of Los Angeles Harbor, Rogers was hired as second captain. This brought him back to Redondo Beach.

Even as a second captain, Rogers’ name has become familiar to anglers who fish with him.

Rogers works on the Shogun from November until May each year. From May to September, he skippers a sportfishing boat in Alaska. In Alaska, anglers aboard Rogers’ boat catch halibut and salmon. On one trip last year, eight halibut were caught weighing between 85 and 170 pounds.

From Alaska, he heads to Costa Rica and skippers a boat for 40 days. In Costa Rica, the fishing consists of tuna, amberjack and marlin that weigh up to 300 pounds.

Rogers, 30, said he wouldn’t trade his profession for any other line of work. He is conservation conscious and he encourages anglers to release smaller fish to help preserve the fishery.

Because of storm conditions from Sunday to Tuesday, only day and half-day sportfishing boats were able to operate.

Anglers aboard the L.A. Harbor’s Sportking returned with half to full limits of sand and calico bass. Rhonda Kaufman of West Los Angeles caught a 20-pound halibut.

Long Beach Sportfishing’s Southern Cal worked the Rock Pile and had a good catch of bass and sheephead. Gary Nishida of Long Beach caught a 10-pound sheephead.

Redondo Sport Fishing and Marina del Rey Sportfishing reported excellent bass and rockfish catches, along with some halibut above 30 pounds. Dana Curtis of West Los Angeles, aboard the Happyman, caught a 32-pound halibut.

Jerry Kruse of Long Beach returned last week from a long-range trip to Mexican waters and reported that among his tuna catches was a 252-pound yellowfin.

South Bay catches: Arthur Lee of West Los Angeles, aboard the City of Redondo at Rocky Point, caught the whopper of the week, a 36-pound halibut.

George Morales of Hawthorne caught a 22-pound halibut offshore of San Miguel Island during a trip aboard the Condor.

Carl Frank of Wilmington, fishing at the Rock Pile aboard the Hitless Miss, caught a 17 1/2-pound white seabass.