So the report: Slow. One of the locals has a few pots in the Outer Bay and has been averaging around five Dungeness per day of soaking. His last pull was thirteen crab for two days soaking, so maybe better?  It's probably fresh bait pulling more crab early in the soak, but one can dream. Maybe they're coming in! (Spoiler: They aren't, yet. Soonish they will, but the clutch is likely in session, and soon traps will likely be closed as the whales return with April showers.) Shore snarers are getting a few but far from limits. It is the seasonal slow time, but it should get better as we approach the end of the season in June. 

    The last I checked, these were the final options the PFMC came up with for salmon season this year. Only one is no season! The other two options have very limited seasons with short four day windows and a maximum number of fish allowed to be caught. The photo above shows the actual numbers and they're slightly different, but the important thing to know is that, if one of these two fishing options is approved there's a good chance that all the fish will be caught during the first window. 6500-7000 fish for the whole state in four days seems totally doable when there's a pent up desire to catch some of these fish that we've been having to let go. If the weather is good there will be hundreds of boats hitting the water at Santa Cruz, Moss Landing and Monterey and they will catch them all, as the fish usually haven't made it up here yet. But, early June usually sucks, so we have a chance at a second opening. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, though, a s I hear the chance for any season is 50:50 and secondly, there has never been a year in which sport guys fished and commercials sat it out, and the commercial offering is, well, crap. Ten fish per boat per week? I don't think any commercial could afford to do that, and if they did they'd need to high grade like heck just to break even. I don't think the commercials will go for it, and if they don't go fishing there's a good chance we won't go fishing. So, halibut and rockfish take it for the team again. Good luck, boys.

   On the rockfish subject, it appears that the PFMC has approved a plan to open up the deep water around Cordell Bank. It will become official when it becomes official, and that day might be a while. Someday we can fish around Cordell, and as someone that has fished at Cordell before (I'm old enough that it was legal....) it is awesome. Or was, at least, and after making a pass over it while trolling for bluefin last year my fishfinder says it looks super good now. Let's hope that we get to find out this year. 

    On the deep water rockfishing subject of "can I make it out there in my boat?", well, if you're not sure, then no. And if you've never been out there but you're totally sure, then no. Go with someone who has been before. Charter a trip on a six-pack or make a run with Rick on the New Sea Angler and see what it takes. The six-pack option would be closer to your situation, so probably that. Make sure of your forecast before you go and be prepared to bail and run home with nothing if the forecast goes south. The worst weather I was ever in was on the second day of a three day run of "winds light and variable to 5 knots" when the wind came up to 30 and 1 foot seas were breaking 15 to 20 feet high 25 miles out and I was in a 16 foot Whaler. The forecasts are usually right, but if things satrt looking questionable don't be an ass like me and stay. Run Home. I wish I had. I'd sleep a lot better with less nightmares. I saw the 20.5 foot boat in front of me broach twice in white water on the way in. I thought I was going to be picking bodies out of the water. Tom Gerbi and Bob King were making a small patch of calm water in their wake right behind the boat and I was staying in it until a breaker would come in from the port stern quarter and I'd back off (as they have the right of way). I thought I was dead. I didn't die, but pick your days better and give up and go home earlier. Or just go with a guy that knows.

    On surfperch, the wind that I have been whining about (and will whine about some more, I assure you) has actually done what it is supposed to do and not just added sand to the beach in front of the Boathouse but added some structure to the beach. I haven't heard any catching reports of surfperch but the structure in front of the beach looks good on the north end of Dillon Beach. You have to cast around a bunch of surfers, but there's bars a go-go there. Fish? Maybe not yet, but if you build it, they will come.

.

  Good news if you like wind, because we have it! We have so much fresh air that you can barely stand up. I realize that spring isn't officially here until March 20, but, hey, who are we kidding? On March 1 the northwest wind hit and has stayed (except for yesterday), which to me means spring. Spring sucks. Yes, tiny animals, longer days, colored eggs. I know, but here it also means wind, and the wind, well, blows. Having said that, it also tends to build up the beach that washed out over the winter, not just in front of the boathouse but even off of Dillon Beach proper, where all structures were removed by the huge swells this winter. No more bars or other high spots to concentrate fish. But the wind is blowing, and as much as I hate the wind I also appreciate it for building the beach and structure and for upwelling all those nutrients that the baitfish and baby salmon will be needing to survive. Yes, it is the very definition of a love/hate relationship. To be fair, the wind doesn't care what I think, so all the emotions are on my side of the equation. But hey, unofficially, happy spring!

   On the subject of beach fishing and structure, we don't have any. There have been some people trying. I didn't see any fish, but some of them kept coming back every few days, so I thought they must be catching something. Then they quit coming.... The fish will return, especially as the wind continues to build structure, but until then, here's a report from Branden Mendoza: "Hey Willy. Just wanted to give you a heads up. We've been out doing some surf perch fishing out on Doran beach. We've been using ghost shrimp from the mud flats. We've done ok. We got 6 Red tails 2 weeks ago 3 keepers 3 shorts. Went out last Saturday caught 6 but Red tails 1 keeper and 2 striped perch that we kept. The main reason for this report is we were walking past a group the was there before us and they and a 24 inch striper in the bucket that they caught on prawns. Thought it was some positive news and I share it. Thanks again for all the reports and updates. "  Fish of any kind sounds very impressive to me, Branden, but multiple fish are even better. Those perch are pretty tasty, especially fried up whole with a few slits in the skin....  wow. And saltwater striper is its own thing. Yes, I'm currently eating fish from my freezer of an unknown vintage, and the taste makes me think of, well, fresh fish. Because this stuff sucks. Come on halibut, and April, please give me a weather break on the right day because deep water rockfish opens April 1 and I need some fish that is actually good.

     The last two days every time I drove down our road I saw fishermen with surfperch. Well, fisherbirds. The ospreys are hammering the perch, possibly black or striped perch as they seemed awful dark from below. The problem with relying on ospreys for fish reports is that ospreys aren't limited to shore fishing for perch as we are. The fish they're catching could be from anywhere. Both blacks and striped perch prefer rocks and kelp, not sand, so I'm guessing the ospreys aren't working the shoreline here. Also, I wrote this part a couple of days ago and then fell asleep, and now, two days later, I haven't seen an osprey since. So, I guess there were some fish but you wouldn't have caught them anyhow, and now they're gone. Helpful, this is not, but illustrative of the ocean and nature in general, it is kinda okay. At worst, it's a story, and stories have been lacking, so....

   Crabbing, as usual, has been slow, but, as usual, a very few have done well. Yesterday almost everybody coming into the store had none, reds or Dungeness, but one guy in the afternoon came in and reported that he had limited out. His methods were not shared, only his success. So, as usual, the reports are probably not, but maybe? The outer bay has been slightly better and a couple of guys with traps out there have been limiting, but those limits come with several days soak on multiple pots. For a day trip guy, you'll probably catch a couple but numbers are hard.

    The results of the salmon meeting can be summed up pretty easily: No. It won't be decided until April, but if we didn't have enough fish forecast for last year and this year's forecast is even less, and the recent forecasts have been hopelessly optimistic (like, 2x), and even the PFMC admit that their models leave a lot of questions when confronted with reality, well, no. So, it ain't for sure, but if I was a betting man I wouldn't be loading up on salmon tackle for my tackle shop. And I didn't. Go halibut! And stripers! And rockfish! Deep water rockfish will open next month on the first. There's a chance that there will be a day or two in April that the weather is good enough to make the run to Rittenburg. It didn't happen on a day that I had off last year, but this is a new year. Good luck to us all!

    I post reports as they come in, so here I am, three weeks later, finally writing something. Fishing report? Not so much. Mostly a place keeper. But, while I'm here, a few things...

    Friends of the report have been doing okay, close to limits of Dungeness, in the outer bay in relatively shallow water. They've been servicing their traps at four to eight day intervals and there's been no "jumbos!" claim, just dinner. The commercial guys are getting about $8 a pound at the dock which is an economic indicator of two things: Market interest and availability of product. Low catch rates plus high demand equals a situation approaching (but not even close) to the chicken egg situation (ducks, be afraid). My guess is that the guys going home with crab are taking many that aren't commercial legal. That's fine, but we all dream for jumbos. It's the same work to clean a jumbo crab and a barely sport legal crab, and it's not no work; there's some effort. Is it worth it? Heck yes, but at the end of the job we all would like a larger pile of crab meat. So the big pile isn't happening, but crab is there for the catching and eating. Just bring something else to eat, too.

   This year's salmon season looks like it's going to be a lot like last year's salmon season. The seasonn won't be determined until mid-April, but forecasts will be released on Thursday. Returns to the rivers have already been shared by the PFMC and they aren't awesome. In the Sac system, as expected, returns to the one river it counts (the Sac proper) were appalling yet again. Everybody else killed it. Trucked fish lived and river fish died. I'm sure that there's no significance to that similarly appalling correlation. How could just the difference of going down a river make that much of a change? Maybe it's the lack of water. And that's water that ain't coming back. You can fight it, but you ain't gonna win unless you're Elon. Money talks, and if you're reading this, well, might as well shut up. Adults are talking about water. We need to get more trucked, factory fish, fin clipped, because the fight for water in the river has been lost. No matter what your politics are, when Gavin and Trump can agree on a thing like draining the river, well, that thing is a done deal. Done. Stick a fork in it. Let's figure out another way to go fishing, because natural born fish are goners. Also, when guys that are so different can agree on something so contentious, how different are they?

   Since halibut seems likely to be the main menu item yet again this season, I guess we should speak about them for a moment. The halibut bite in Tomales Bay seems to follow San Francisco Bay's bite by six to eight weeks. So far, it sounds like the bite hasn't started in SFB, so ... maybe later. For those new to the early season fishery, the farther back the better when it starts, as the bay warms from back to front, and warmth is the key for biters. Halibut can be in super cold water but they tend to bite when it's warm and they're happy, so... Simple math: Fish when they bite and you'll catch more. They're coming.  Just not yet. But just know that I'm feening for a fish hard, so when it happens I and then you will know.

 

     Here's a drone-produced photo of the things making a bit of noise around here for the last month, These sea lions have been chasing herring in and around the bay, and they talk a lot while they're doing it. Last summer when the sardines came into the bay the sea lions also made an appearance en masse. I will be trying to pay more attention to distant barking. These guys were photographed on January 21 at the Sand Point. They were chasing herring, as expected. I am aware of only a few attempts at herring in Tomales Bay this season but not aware of any success, other than these sea lions. Were these herring coming or going? At this point, probably leaving the bay but anything goes, it seems. Just because herring did most of their spawning in the past between Christmas and the end of January doesn't mean that it's still so. But it's probably mostly so. 

    Crabbing has been kinda okay for the guys with lots of pots soaking in the outer bay. A three to seven day soak seems to help on the numbers. There have been limits but no high grading. Inside the bay has been tough, as heavy tides and loads of fresh water have made the crabbing slow. In both cases there haven't been a whole lot of takers. From shore the snarers have mostly been blown and washed out by more weather than crab. It looks like a few breaks in the weather this week, so maybe better numbers? Time will tell.

    A hopeful report for future salmon follows. It appears that this year is probably a no for salmon again, but maybe later? We'll see: "

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: California Department of Fish and Wildlife <cdfw@public.govdelivery.com>

Date: Thu, Feb 6, 2025, 4:28 PM

Subject: CDFW Partners with DWR and Fishing Industry to Diversify Salmon Hatchery Release Strategies

To: <wvogler@gmail.com>

CDFW recently released more than a million fall-run Chinook salmon fry into the Feather River

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at top a lake, mountains in background with field of flowers in foreground and the CDFW logo and CDFW News at bottom

Feb. 6, 2025

Media Contacts:

Jay Rowan, CDFW Fisheries Branch Chief

Steve Gonzalez, CDFW Communications, (916) 804-1714

Fry fall-run Chinook salmon in the American River. 

CDFW Partners with DWR and Fishing Industry to Diversify Salmon Hatchery Release Strategies

In a collaborative effort to increase the sustainability of California's salmon populations, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has partnered with the Department of Water Resources (DWR), as well as ocean and inland fishing groups to continue a pilot project aimed at diversifying salmon hatchery release strategies.

As part of a broader initiative to expand salmon hatchery release strategies, CDFW recently released more than a million fall-run Chinook salmon fry into the Feather River. These salmon fry are released shortly after hatching, which mimic the same life stage in the wild when they would swim up out of the gravel. Typically, fall-run Chinook salmon released from the hatchery are about six months old and 3.5- to 4-inches in length. This technique was first introduced at the American River at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery in 2023.

This marks the second fry release in the Feather River this year, bringing the total number of fry released to approximately 1.8 million. These releases are in addition to the Feather River Hatchery’s typical target of 6 million smolts (a young salmon that is ready to migrate from freshwater to the ocean, usually around 6 months old) as well as the additional 3.5 million smolts and sub-smolts CDFW aims to produce at the Feather River Hatchery in 2025.

"This pilot project underscores the importance of collaboration between state agencies and the fishing community as we adapt to the challenges posed by climate change," said Jay Rowan, Fisheries Branch Chief. "By diversifying hatchery release strategies, we aim to boost salmon populations while ensuring more fish are available for both harvest and conservation efforts."

Due to the small size of salmon at the fry stage, traditional tagging methods such as coded wire tags cannot be used to track these fish. Instead, the performance of these releases will be monitored using Parental Based Tagging (PBT). This innovative approach involves collecting genetic data from the parent salmon at the time of spawning at the hatchery. The genetic information will then be used to identify and track the offspring when they return to the river, helping to assess the success of the fry releases.

“Our organization has long been an advocate of adopting genetic PBT for fisheries management,” said James Stone, Executive Director of the NorCal Guides and Sportsmen’s Association. “Adaptive salmon management is the future of improving and sustaining our fishery, which is needed now more than ever. PBT provides flexibility in hatchery operation and release strategies to maximize juvenile salmon production, including the promotion of natural spawning. We are pleased to partner with the department on the implementation of this new technology and commend them for taking this next step.”

The fry release project is being conducted in coordination with DWR, which owns the Feather River Hatchery, and with input from both commercial and recreational salmon fishing groups.

“On behalf of the California salmon fleet, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association (PCFFA) is committed to restoring our fleet’s ability to harvest California salmon and feed California communities. Diversified release strategies offer the best opportunity for a cohort’s success by mimicking natural systems, allowing fish to learn to be fish sooner. This approach provides hope that bold and decisive actions can strengthen population health, enhance genetic diversity, and contribute to the long-term resilience of salmon stocks," said George Bradshaw PCFFA President. “We appreciate CDFW’s collaboration with the industry to address the salmon crisis by increasing hatchery production and implementing diversified early life stage release strategies. Reintroducing fry releases not only expands production capacity but also takes advantage of early in-river conditions that benefit fish health.”   

Diversifying hatchery release strategies is a key element of the California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier, Future, a statewide initiative aimed at ensuring the resilience of salmon populations amid impacts of climate change. In addition to the Feather River releases, similar pilot studies are also underway at the Nimbus Hatchery on the American River, further expanding the scope of the project.

The pilot studies are expected to provide valuable data that will shape future hatchery release strategies, ultimately helping to bolster salmon populations and improve their chances for survival in the wild.

For more information on this project and other salmon conservation efforts, visit the CDFW website at www.wildlife.ca.gov."