Thursday, June 25, 2020

     I received this text and photo from Tom Brodsky yesterday morning at 7:52 AM: "Early bite" My guess is that this cryptic message means that, even though the previous day he fished from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM with only a scratched bait, his morning yesterday was much more productive. 180 feet of water in front of Bird, as I recall he told me later. I have heard of some other good numbers of fish caught off of Bodega Head and down to Elephant (rumors of a bite at 4 and 3? Perhaps someone fishing for a scout?) but mostly all early. Today the only salmon fisherman I spoke with had one and released another off Bird before 10:00 AM. Then the bait faded away with the bite. It seems that the fish may have moved down to Elephant later in the day (judging by reported boat traffic) but I haven't seen a fish from there yet.
     I did talk to one halibut fisherman today. One halibut (kept) and one leopard shark (released). I believe the location was Hog Island related. Not quite the success story I was looking for (neither was the salmon story; I need body count if I'm gonna catch) so I'll probably leave them fish alone tomorrow. That, plus it looks like we need to change most of our campsites in the next four days in order to comply with the recently released Covid rules from the County. It's weird that campsites outside in the open air and sun need to be separated by six feet or more yet hotels get all of their rooms. I guess that after the all the protests with all the people close together outside and then there was the huge spike in illness I never heard about because of it, I guess that clued people in to how dangerous camping or other outdoor activities really are. Thank God my family and employees have survived this long. FYI, this ain't political, at least it isn't if actual science dictates the rules. Otherwise it's just someone picking winners and losers, and while I kinda expected to be a loser it still hurts. If someone can explain to me how people camping 20 feet away from each other is more dangerous, Covid-19-wise, than a hotel, I'm always interested to learn. Oh well, at least I still have a job, I guess. So far, better than some.
   Anyhoo (this bothers Cameron, so...) there are still some sandcrabs molting, so surf fishing for surfperch wouldn't be off of the table. The ospreys are killing them, so they're out there, just maybe not in range of your cast. If history is any indicator there should be a striper bite in the surf between Sunday and Thursday in the evening. It is my mission to outfish the Gage during this window. We shall see.

15 comments:

Tailout said...

Fished yesterday from bird to Tomales point in 180', 100' OTW. Good bite in the morning. Watermelon Apex. Late morning the bite moved to the North. Saw a party boat from the city, must not be a bite below the point

Capn Al said...

Tailout, thanks for the report.

Fish slayer said...

Hang in there Willy o wait am I allowed to say that shoot anyhoo fish on brother only the strong surviving right now least u have your finger on the pulse for the fishing

Capn Al said...

Anyone have some insight to the fishing conditions for salmon for this Saturday out of Bodega?
Checked several wind and sea condition sites for fishing last Saturday,6/20/2020 and they all seemed to show excellent conditions almost FAC, but it sure was far from it. It was just doable. Any info. would be appreciated.
Thanks

Tailout said...

Check windy.com and noaa for swell, timing, w/w height. Looks good Saturday for the morning bite. Going to come up and blow Sunday, Monday then maybe lay down. Anyway that's the way I read it. what say you....? Anybody

Capn Al said...

Tailout,
I check Windy, NOAA graphical , Bodega Buoy Forecast, Surf Forecast and the least accurate is 5 day forecast. i checked those sites before i go out and it showed FAC for last Saturday, nope, I saw boats coming back to WestSide at 7AM; however, we did make it to Fort Ross slowly for some nice lings and rockies. I'll be launching at WS at 6 AM and hope to be back at the ramp by 2PM, as usual. Thanks for your reply, I do appreciate it.

stoker said...

thanks for all the reports and sorry to hear about the covid requirements,SUCH A CROCK OF CRAP!

Unknown said...

Always appreciate the report.

JRS said...

Stoker wins the Internet for a day!

Sucka-Fish said...

trolled 630-12. off tomales point 200-220ft. most fish 88' otw. tons of whales, so many coming up close to the boats, got a little nervous a few times, but what an amazing sight. 3 keepers for 2. 20 pounds, 10lb and 5lb. 3 shakers. lost 1 big one after 1 minute of it pulling line. a few other that didnt get hooked. krippled anchovy out preformed watermelon apex. i heard good things at 400ft near weather bouy. Thats my update...

Harvest Time said...

Thanks SF!

JRS said...

Nice work, nice post Sucka!

Capn Al said...

Ahoy Tailout,
Nice chatting with ya on the briney. The weather and sea conditions were outstanding. You scored well with the pinks, I and my crew unfortunately kept the skunk on board, at least We did have a fantastic show of whales, spooky at times. I guess I have to start making some 3 lb. balls to get down deep or hypnotize my fishing partner and boat owner to put one on his boat. Anyways, thanks for the chat and good fishing to ya Matey.

Al on the Nyla B.

Tailout said...

Back at ya, too bad you guys didn't catch. We flat got lucky! Went out on the 17 line till we saw bait on the screen, and put em in and had a double before we could sit down. Water depth was 200'. 125'OTW straight bait. The fish were a smaller grade that the last few trips. 8-10 pound average. We were done early. The whales were circling the krill and diving all around us,very scary at times. A few times we were sure they were going to hit a downrigger cable.

Capn Al said...

Tailout
10-4 :)