Monday, May 28, 2012

Stephanie Fenrich of Sacramento caught this 20 pound salmon while fishing with John Pile yesterday. Altogether five fish were landed here yesterday and four of them were in John's boat. The action (for some) was off of Tomales Point in 120 feet of water. Further out the water got colder and the krill disappeared. There were a few fish caught off of Point Reyes by boats from other ports but the best numbers of fish were coming from nice and close. There were some decent numbers of Dungeness caught in the bay this weekend, both from the pier and from boats. Fish and Game paid a visit on Saturday with six wardens in boats and trucks and they ended up giving one guy a ride. Apparently they take it personally if you break the law twice in two weeks. It looks like the wind comes back tonight. Perhaps a kite report will follow.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Aside from a slow but steady trickle of Dungeness crab from the pier and a couple of muckets (small but legal salmon) caught on Monday I have nothing to report but wind. We have had plenty of that, though. If the wind drives the upwelling and the upwelling feeds the plankton and powers the whole oceanic food chain, then we should have plenty of seafood this summer.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

There was another 20 pound salmon landed on Sunday, but since then, nothing brought in here. The fish that are being caught are big and are coming deep (100' to 150' down) and north (Salmon Creek). I guess you just put your downrigger out until it runs out of cable. The bait that was in the bay has headed elsewhere. Good water temp by Marshall but no halibut. There's still some keeper Dungeness in the bay. There were a few Dungeness caught on the pier today, as well as an angel shark. The shark got tangled in the harness of a square crab trap. It was released angry but unharmed.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Ron Johnson got his name on the big fish board first this year with this 24# salmon. Terry Fogal caught the 20# salmon ( modelled by Nathan Porter ).


Flat water and biting salmon today. Herb Hansen had a limit of 13 pound fish by 8AM. He wouldn't say exactly where, but the word is that the 50 fathom line (300 feet) has a lot of bait around.

Friday, May 11, 2012

There was a limit of Dungeness crab caught off the pier yesterday. No salmon landed here but some of the boats out of Bodega reported some nice fish caught out in about 300 feet of water. There's been a few guys trying for halibut back by Marshall. There's warm water back there and quite a few baitfish around, just no halibut. Yet. Yesterday the ospreys were flying back and forth packing surfperch back to their roosts but the fishermen couldn't get the perch to bite. I guess it helps when you don't have to wait for the fish to get hungry. The super low tides are over for a few weeks so the crabbing should pick up even more. Still no leopard shark reports.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

The currents are strong with the low tides this weekend, so the crabbing has been a little slower. The wind last week broke loose lots of seaweed to funk up the crab gear, which complicates things. I didn't see any fish come in, but one clammer reported seeing a 20-pound-sized silver fish jump out of the water across from Tom's Point.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Finally some flat ocean today but no takers from the Landing. It sounds as though a few salmon made it onto some of the Bodega boats. The fish were a bit scattered (not surprising after all the wind) bout could be found from 200 to 270 feet out in spots of bait and krill. Wind tomorrow, maybe fishable on Saturday, Sunday looks promising if the weathermen don't change their minds about it. Some decent crab off the dock in the last two days, not a bunch but enough to make it interesting. There's bait in the back bay, mostly small herring. By small I mean smaller than red label herring, 2"-3". That's smaller than most of us like, but if that's what the fish are eating I can learn to like it. The bait is scattered about but seems to hang around Marshall. Maybe halibut soon?