The picture isn't from Tomales Bay but the fisherman is, so: "Hey Willy

Not super local, but worth a pic-hooked into this 45 lb, 47" cali hali outside the Golden Gate. It bit a live anchovy in 60 fow. Biggest one I've ever seen in person.

I'd like to see one of these in Tomales one day!" They exist, my friend. Not many, but I have seen its equal from Tomales Bay five years back. (I'm old enough that five years back is the same as "the other day"). That is a badass fish and worthy of much jealousy. Nice work, Matt Shapiro. 

    Not too much to report today as we only only launched three boats, so our sample size is kinda small. The one important takeaway is that, yes Virginia, there are (or at least, there were) salmon at Abbott's. One of the three boats limited out in short order there, never mind the howling south wind. The wind will likely be similar tomorrow, howling in the midday from the south, but there are (or were) salmon of a good quality there, so if you're willing to trade a beating for a fish, you know where to go.  No halibut report today but I did catch a fourteen pound striper in the surf this evening. On a topwater. It was as glorious as one would hope. 

 

   I have been reliably informed that these fish are salmon, and not just that, king salmon, the kind you can keep. The larger of the two pictured weighed 27 pounds, gutted.  Kelley Roy and Herman Rinkel caught three of these so-called "salmon" today near Abbot's Lagoon in 70ish feet of water. It isn't wide open, but it ain't dead, either.

    Mike Mack would agree :"Salmon Saturday skunked 4 takedowns no fish. Sunday 24lb on incoming at Driftwood, out going Bird 23lb John had 4 takedown 2 at boat lost all 4. What a great weekend thanks to Lawsons and crew for making it great." Nice fish, boys, and we are all glad to see them. It appears that both fish are hatchery fish and chipped, as the adipose fins are clipped. What does that mean? These are some of those rare tax dollars at work that we can probably all agree are well spent. The halibut fishing today was pretty darn disappointing. I heard of a couple caught but both bait and halibut were hard to come by for most. And finally, the tuna water is far, far away. I am awaiting another push of warm water. 80 miles is too far. Even for me and Team Costco Gas.

 

   Watch out for this guy. Gage sent me this picture: "Gabriel of Sacramento 28 inch halibut from the beach on a Gulp! Sandworm" That's right. He caught this halibut on perch gear from shore. A lot of guys couldn't catch one with the "right" gear from boats in the "right" places today. Gabriel doesn't need conditions to be "right". He just needs water. Probably.

  

 I also received this report from Rokefin: "Willy, not stellar but not too bad today. Fishing seemed slow for the most part but we did pick up 2 nice lings Pt Reyes and Herman got this nice salmon on our troll home in the last 30 mins of our day. Saw one other salmon netted but nobody talking on the radio about catching....." It was a tough day out there for most fishermen. It looks like you guys did better than the average that I heard of. There was some radio talk of a bite off of Fort Ross but I didn't see any fish from there. Hopefully it is indicative of fish moving south. I heard of a very few other fish hooked and even fewer landed. There's a huge mass of bait at Elephant/Keyholes but no salmon eating it (yet). Halibut in the bay wasn't much better. There were a few caught but halibut were even harder to catch than the bait today.

 

   

 Cameron sent me this report from today: "Also promised these fellows I'd get them on the report. Trekked into town early for live anchovies, and it paid off. Bait proved hard to catch, besides giant smelt. They got these three over the course of several hours off Pelican Point, right in the channel. Also lost what was either a really nice halibut or a ray/shark. Mostly a slow day from what I hear otherwise, but I heard of some guys doing good with jigs in the same general area." That about sums it up. The bait didn't want to play today and the halibut won't play with you if you don't have good bait. Well, unless you're a good jigger. I saw Jigger John pull in today, so I guess we'll see what proper jigging can do. Giant smelt can work for bait but you're looking for a very particular halibut (a large one) to be able to eat the bait and you still need to feed it a lot of line. And then some more line. And then maybe a little bit more. And then....well, you get it. That smelt should show signs of digestion. Most halibut fishermen today had 0- to 2 fish and not too many more anchovies than that.

   Salmon sign is present outside but the salmon themselves were once again not forthcoming. There's some bait (in some places, more than some), whales and birds feeding, a little color to the water, but no biting fish. We must be between groups. It is not uncommon for a slump in the salmon bite around now. This would be the time when (in a normal, non-Covid year) we would hold the Salmon Derby. The salmon fishing is so bad now it's like the fish didn't get the message that there would not be a derby this year. The weather did get the message, at least, and should be calm this weekend (Cameron and Gage now call rough water "Derby weather"). 

    Here's a report from Swampy :"Another great trip down to the bay. Had to split by 1 today but we ended up with 5 fish to 20 pounds north of hog and west of Eddy. Al got to net my fish today!

Wanted to let you know how impressed I have been with the staff down there. Very friendly helpful bunch, must help working at that beautiful place. Gotta take a fishing break for some honey dos but will hopefully see y’all soon.

Swampy" Swampy's kind words are especially meaningful to me, as I watched him and Al catch four of those five fish very close to me. Lets just say it was close enough to hurt a little. I caught one about 12 pounds in the hole just north of the split channel marker and then drifted north to witness Swampy's greatness. What was weird was that his magnificence being exhibited so close to me hurt my pride something fierce. Like, physically hurt in the center of my being. And then I was like, "Wow, that's what people feel like when they see Eddie Kim pictures". And then I chilled out. Swampy is a halibut specialist. He spends quite a few days on the water pursuing one critter in pretty much one area. I go once a week. That's a lot compared to most, but it turns out I'm a generalist opportunist. What am I fishing for? What's biting? It turns out that going for easy stuff doesn't make you a better fisherman.  It also turns out that I'm okay with that. If you feel like you can't compete with a guy that fishes every day, don't fret; you can't. Is he going to fish out the fish? No. Is he going to catch more than you? Probably. Fishing isn't math, and weird stuff happens. You could limit before he gets a bite. But probably not. 

     Enough whining. In other news, the one boat that I spoke with that had gone down to the beach (Ten Mile)  experienced a lot of baitfish,  a good whale show,and a halibut hooked and released with gear attached. Soooo, there's life there. The fish will probably follow. Maybe? We are at the perigee of the in-season salmon bite. It can only get better. 

   Albert Ligh of Elk Grove caught his little ol' 31.5 pound halibut today, along with one about 20 pounds and another keeper. You've had a good damn day when your fish around 20 pounds isn't worth the time to weigh it. It's also a sign of a good day when you catch all the fish on the boat. It is a bad sign of getting invited back for most people, but luckily for Albert he's a nice guy so Swampy (a real good netter, says Al) will probably let him fish with him again. Probably. 

    No salmon reported from the ocean today, although I heard that there may have been one caught by Hog. This happens occasionally (not to me). Please, if you hook a salmon in the bay verify that it's a king and not a silver, as silvers are what run up the creeks of Tomales Bay and they'll start coming into the bay soon. They're also endangered and very expensive. For the record, there is no such thing as "incidental catch", so it needs to be a barbless circle hook if you are drifting bait. I did hear that some brown water (red tide?) has made an appearance and hopefully that helps the fishing improve. Halibut slowed down today but there were still quite a few caught. The bait catching was so difficult that the halibut should have been biting better (if you believe that the halibut and bait bite opposite each other). It was not a good day to learn how to catch your own bait, but the guys that know how and have extra helpings of patience were able to get some. 

    The following is a video that most of you have probably already seen, but since I've been running my mouth about watching where you're going I gotta post it. This happened on the Columbia River near Buoy 10. Please make note of how quickly the boats go down. Then use Google Shopping to find a good deal on a float coat. Because, damn.....

    While I'm not sure who caught what, I do know that Ezra (the gentleman on the right. Well, actually, the gentleman in the photo) had to be involved somehow for fish of this caliber to be pictured with Tom Carter without Jerrie in the photo. The larger one weighed 19.5 pounds; the lesser, 16. The fish ate live bait, but not anchovies. An unhealthy lust for jacksmelt was the cause of these halibuts' demise. That, and Ezra. UPDATE: I got confirmation of the fact that we all suspected; Ezra caught the big one. 

    

    Hey, you remember back on the 22nd when I reported that a couple of salmon were caught off of Bird? Picture or it didn't happen, right? Mike Mack sent the picture, so it looks like it happened. It sure didn't happen for anyone I spoke with that ran out of here today. Good bait and whales out in 300 feet of water but the most important thing was lacking. Most of our fleet went after halibut and did okay. The anchovies were playing coy today and weren't very bitey. It was probably a good day to catch jacksmelt for bait. I didn't talk to every halibut fisherman but the ones I spoke to caught flatties. It ain't wide open but it's pretty good. The rockfishing out front was solid for the guys that tried, not stupid easy but a pretty steady pick of quality taco fare. 

 

    Joe Winn and crew limited on halibut today by Hog. All fish ate live anchovies except for the first one that ate a tray anchovy. I take this to mean that it wasn't super easy to catch anchovies. Joe tells me it's worth the trouble, though. Big fish weighed 26 pounds. It was also their last fish, and after boating it they gave their remaining liveys to another boat. These are gentlemen. I wonder what it's like to be one?

    On the salmon front, out of several boats trying, there was only one caught and it was out in 200 feet of water off of the middle of Ten Mile in a mess of jellyfish. One. The fishermen tried for a few hours for a repeat but were only rewarded with more jelly. I think they caught the salmon. I know you wanted it. Heck, I wanted it. But the Riffles caught it.

  

     Cameron sent me this picture yesterday and I forgot to post it for him. It is part of the SBS series. As some readers of this blog are educated in the Navigation Rules, this picture brings up the question: What is the proper day shape to be deployed here? Also: When does a boat become a train? Is the operator of the towing vessel a captain or engineer? Why was the person in the last boat paddling astern? So many questions, and only one with an actual answer.

    Finally, here's a definitive answer to why I'm wrong about my interpretation of the Navigation Rules:

"Thanks for the safety remarks.  Most of the Bodega commercials avoid the shallows when the sporties are there, going where there may be less fish but also less headaches. When I troll shallow with the sporties, I only have my 2 forward lines out so I can make fast turns when the unexpected happens.  I know a couple of my compatriots do the same.  A troller with his floats out cannot make tight turns.

In addition to the hazards you mentioned: 

There are a very few crusty old commercials on the coast (none in Bodega, fortunately) that have a reputation for never turning when approaching another boat, sports or commercial.  One from up north was down several years ago and caused enough problems that we reported him to the coasties.  Bullheadedness can be found everywhere.

When we troll the shallows, we usually have our 50 lb. leads near the bottom, and troll the contour lines on the chart.  From the bird to the elephant that means we have to turn out when avoiding another boat.  Sometimes that means crowding a boat outside us. Looks bad, but but unavoidable.  We have to crowd each other sometimes for the same reason. Locking a lead in the rocks is costly at best, and can result in breaking a pole and worse. I switch to Ch. 9 in there, so I have a chance to explain what I will have to do if that comes up, and hope the guy I’m crowding is listening. Usually I try to fish outside the sports fleet but not out into the jelly. On the beach it is less of a problem, dragging in sand rarely causes a problem, and who knows, maybe catches a halibut.

One of my pet peeves is when a sporty is running along, watching his plotter for a bait ball, and stops to mooch right in front of me.  Happens a couple of times each year.  I do the best I can, and haven’t yet hit anyone.  Some people are just clueless.

I guess the bottom line is to accept that some people are ignorant, stupid, inexperienced, or just plain aggressive, and try to avoid them.  Like the asshole who rides your bumper on a narrow road, or runs a late yellow or red light in front of you.  Do your best, and try not to let those types get to you. As one old commercial years ago would say on the radio, “Take it easy, take it light”.

As a former sporty I can see both worlds, and at I’ll soon have to give up commercial and return to a sports boat. I’ll be on my beloved ocean as long as I can."  Thank you, Anonymous Commercial Fisherman, for educating me and anyone else that needed it. I get it. Apologies to Local Legend and Tyeebones. I have read the book and got my Boater's Safety Card, and I've spent some time on the water (and lived! So far...), but clearly I have things to learn from the more knowledgeable, of whom there are quite a few. I will say, though, that when two guys that are waiting for the other one to turn actually hit each other, that's awesome. The ocean is large, not infinite, but comedy is where you find it. 

     Today's salmon report from Lawson's Landing is......nada. Cold, clear, empty water is all that exists near shore. On the plus side, no jellyfish complaints. From some radio intercepts the salmon still exist, just out deeper. The successful salmon guys were in 250-260 feet if water off of Bodega Head fishing 140 feet On The Wire (OTW for those just learning, meaning 140 feet down on the downrigger) or at 150 pulls for lead droppers (150 pulls of line from the reel for those fishermen that attach a weight with a sinker release. The pull of line usually goes from the reel to the first guide). I'm glad the fish still exist but disappointed they aren't shallow. Shallow fish are more fun. The halibut (and importantly, the anchovies) were still biting today, just not quite as well as yesterday. 

      

      So I whined about not getting any other pictures when I posted yesterday. Post-posting, I discovered that, in fact, a report with photos had arrived. Sorry. "Hi Willy! I read and love your reports all the time. Your writing is very witty and entertaining!  I go by FrankieB.... my family and friends and I were just down there last week from the 11th - 18th. Lacie Whittington from Nevada City caught these Nice Lings.... My buddy Kenny Reische nice Lings , and myself FrankieB with an actual Birthday Salmon Memorable: note the rather large Rockfish with a Seatrout half choked down.... It tried to eat it as maybe a last meal while in the fish box... never seen that before so I just bought a new 2020 Raider fishing boat a few months ago and I’ve been getting out more than usual, so I’ll report info when I do get out and again thanks for your reports!!! here’s to better days of fishing" Looks like you had some pretty good days already, Frankie B. The fishing days can get better but they can get a lot worse, too. 

    As for my comments a few days back about right-of-way, let me just be clear: I have no ill will toward commercial fishermen. They have a hard job. I have trolled alone quite a bit and maintaining a watch while running a single rod is complicated enough. Running six lines with multiple leaders while standing behind the cabin? I can;t do it. Commercial fishing is a good way to make a fun pastime into a grind because now you have to go fishing to (hopefully) pay the bills. I don't think their steering is as impaired as a net boat as I have seen commercial trollers turn pretty damn tight when they want to. That said, a lot of the smaller boats are one man crews that have a hard time both fishing and steering and we all need to give them the right of way for our sake and theirs. Technically, they are required to maintain a proper watch, again, for their sake and ours. It's just that besides jackass sportfishermen (like me), there are rafts of bull kelp, whales, large mola mola, and other single-manned commercial trollers to avoid. Perhaps a back-up camera in the window with a screen in the cockpit? A mirror? There's probably a fix. 

      First, on the salmon front, I only heard of three caught out of here today. Two were caught at Bird and the other I have no information. The two were caught by Mike Mack after a troll from Tomales Point to Abbott's and back to Bird. The water was cold, clear, and devoid of baitfish. It might be time to look offshore again. Given a few days to warm up and the anchovies to school up I imagine we'll see some numbers of salmon showing up. Until then, if one were to try shallow I'd probably work the reefs. I wise old fisherman once told me, "In the absence of bait, troll structure." He actually didn't say it would catch fish but at least it gives you something to do. 

    

    The wise old man also told me, "In the absence of other fish pictures, post Eddie Kim."  Well, he would have, probably. Eddie says: "Limit by noon 13lbs biggest.  Wish they were a little bigger tho" The story of my life. Not the limit, the wishing. I know of at least one other experienced fisherman that limited on halibut today. No complaints about catching bait today, which probably means the anchovies are getting ready to leave the bay. Good for salmon fishing, at least. 

     Fish and Wildlife did indeed perform what appeared to be a major bust. It seems that they had been watching someone who was a regular clammer here. I know very little more except that there were several law enforcement vehicles and officers involved here and that perhaps search warrants were executed somewhere else at the same time. A press release is surely forthcoming but it probably won't be for quite a while if they have to follow up on other leads from their searches. A significant number of the clams being taken here are being illegally sold and the CDFW is aware and watching, even if you don't see them. Like the Terminator, they "have detailed files." I just hope the pictures they have of me don't make me look fat. 

     My telephoto lens isn't working on my phone so I couldn't get any good pictures of overladen vessels (but I saw a lot of them). Luckily I have friends. 

The Coastodian sent me a Miller Park report: "Miller park a complete cluster this morning.

Nobody appears to know what a tide chart is

Boat on end, “good buddy” motor won’t start, clogging up a mud-filled ramp. Guys still launching, playing bumper boats."  Well, I thought bumper boats was just for salmon trolling and drifting for halibut at Hog, but I guess it could work for other things, too. Gage watched a guy hanging off the side of a broke-down inflatable boat drift into a running outboard motor that the operator had shifted into neutral only an instant before. He thought he was going to see a different kind of red tide. It would be funny if it weren't so...... Nah, never mind. It's funny. I know I'm not supposed to think so, but after you watch a bunch of people treat their lives as if they have no value and they do it day after day after day, you start to agree with them.

    I'm glad the low tides are pretty much over for this year. Maybe I can get my head straight in the off-season.

   Here's a report from Swampy from yesterday:"Evening Willy,

Have had a blast the last few days down here.  Today was slow on the halibut front with two 7 pounders boated. Could you check with Gage to see if he can identify this 20 pound fish caught north of Hog and south of Eddie?" Yes, Gage says that's his fish. You described exactly where he left it. Just bring it back on your next trip and we will release it directly into a frying pan.

    Eddie Kim and Doug Bagley put the hurt on the halibut on Tuesday and bruised them again on Wednesday. Thursday Doug went back to work and the halibut decided to just chill. The chill may have been caused by the cold water entering the bay on the incoming tide. That cold water chased in some more anchovies but if halibut were following them in nobody I spoke with could tell. Gage and I launched at 9:00 and quit at noon with one fish caught near Marker 5. We made two long drifts and the only reason they were long was because I got to practice my backtrolling. With the wind and current  going the same way we were drifting at 2.5+  knots. I generally troll slower. Putting both motors in reverse slowed us to 0.5 to 1.0 knots. The nice part is that you could pick where you wanted to fish and drive over it, like trolling. The bad part is that I had to drive the whole time while Gage worked the gear (which he had to do a lot. We found all the seaweed, I think. There couldn't be any more). Just saying, another tool in the arsenal. At the time we left Mr. Kim had a halibut but his drift through the channel (even with his parachute out) was crazy fast. Let's just sum it up by saying it was tough out there. It looked to be even tougher on the ocean as the wind didn't wait very long today to go to town. The forecast is worse tomorrow and then we get another reprieve. 

 

    The Swampy himself got into the photo this time : "Evening Willy,

Slower today but we got a couple good ones. Four halibut for three rods with a 20 being the biggest 

Swampy"  Damn nice fish, Swampy. I'm guessing live bait again. Well, he didn't buy any bait, so acquired bait seems likely. All I know for sure is that the seagulls were happy and well fed on the beach below his campsite.

    On the salmon front, one boat came in with a fish and another had two big ones (20+). It sounds like the bite (such as it is) may have moved a bit South. Thank goodness for rockcod.

     As far as the striper bite in the surf, it may be good but the extreme amount of seaweed pushed up along the shore has Gage frustrated and quitting. "It kills me to know the fish are there and biting but I can't get them." Welcome to my world, son. 

    This evening we got to sit outside and watch fires burn in every direction but West. I'm hoping that what we saw up North was trees burning, but it looked like homes. From here you could see fires in Jenner, Austin Creek, Berryessa, and West Marin. It seems the world's aflame again. Where does one evacuate to? We're pretty much full in the campground already (since we are at 60ish% capacity with Covid-19 rules). Everybody else is pretty much the same rules. It's all bad.  

 

 

    Brian Miller caught this 27 pound halibut today, making him the winner. He and Swampy limited on halibut, catching them on live "whatever we could catch", which included anchovies, shiner perch, jacksmelt, and even a random juvenile rockfish. They couldn't catch much bait (a common theme, lately) but the bait they caught worked. There were a few caught on dead bait today as well. Other than that I heard of only one salmon caught (Tim) off of Tomales Point. The weather was about as unpredictable as it gets with winds randomly shifting directions, blowing hard then hardly blowing, rain, lightning, but no snow. 

   As to the comments in yesterday's post about two vessels possibly colliding, I hadn't heard about that but it probably happened. It happens every year. I realize that commercial guys, especially guys that fish alone, have a hard time working the pit and driving the boat at the same time. But the rule is, you need to watch out. It is literally Rule 5. And commercial trolling does not make you a "vessel engaged in fishing." That's defined in Rule 3. We all need to watch out for each other and move out of each other's way. It's not just polite, it's the law. If someone is a jackass and not looking where they're going then you need to avoid having them hit you. It's actually Rule 8. Everyone is responsible for collision avoidance. And two guys trolling into each other is generally just hot jackass on jackass action. There's a lot of rules (you can see them here) but Rule 8 is the one to take to heart. Stay out of each other's way. Nobody has the right of way, there's just some boats that have a harder time avoiding you so you need to do a good job of avoiding them. 

RULE 3 General Definitions For the purpose of these Rules and this Chapter, except where the context otherwise requires: ......... (d) The term “vessel engaged in fishing” means any vessel fishing with nets, lines, trawls, or other fishing apparatus which restricts maneuverability, but does not include a vessel fishing with trolling lines or other fishing apparatus which do not restrict maneuverability;

RULE 5 Look-out Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.

 

     This is a 30 pound striper. Unfortunately, I don't have the names of the gentlemen that (I believe) boated it, nor any info on where it was caught. Believe me, I am sorry, too. I want one, the same sick way Veruca Salt wanted a goose that laid gold eggs. "I want it now!" That quote is from me, not Veruca.

   Today was a very weird weather day, as you may have experienced. Lightning, thunder, wind from 17 directions, rain, warm temperatures (here), more lightning. In the campground it was the E-Z Up apocalypse. At one point this morning we may have had the highest density of men wearing only their underwear outside in the world. This would be during the pre-dawn windstorm when almost every RV had a scantily-clad man outside it frantically trying to crank in his awning before it ripped off. Some failed. But at least they looked good doing it (I'm throwing them a bone. Awnings are expensive and they need the morale boost). Anyhoo, the weather didn't seem too conducive to catching fish. Yet, some did brave the elements and succeed. There weren't that many fishermen today (for some reason random bolts of electricity from the sky keep most fishermen off the water) but those that braved the elements generally had fish tales. Almost everyone had a tale of a big fish lost.

   Now that's how a Tim Nelson photo should look. Mike Mack with a large salmon. All is actually right with the world, no matter what the media tells you. Here's the proof. "After the tornado this morning we went out and cut one salmon in a 106' of water off the trees at 45 pulls "

    Her's another post from the weekend: "Hey Willy

 Here’s the other lingcod. There’s one more big one there for sure. Because it broke broke my line clean off:( Great seeing you and the boys,  hey if I win the lottery I’ll help you build a new pier, promise!

Richard"  Careful, Richard, written contracts are binding. We will definitely take you up on that. 

   Gage took his significant other out for surf striper fishing this evening. The rest of us mere mortals gathered near the Gage were not able to catch (well, nothing caught but seaweed, but a lot of that was caught) but at least someone did. Fourteen pounds on the scale. Looks like a keeper.

   Her'es a picture of desperate striper surf fishermen. Yes, the fish bite when it gets dark. Just not necessarily for you or me. 

      You hear a lot of things. Some of them are true. There were probably some albacore caught out of Bodega Bay today. Maybe. There was definitely a bluefin caught at Cordell, not a tanker but one in the 30's (something actually catchable). Fort Bragg boats did well for albacore but the further they went Southwest, the better. The closer they got to 39º 00" by 125º 00", the better. For the uninitiated, that is farrrrrr. Luckily, today they had farrrrr weather. The salmon bite was slow but the fish that were caught almost made up for it. Halibut action was good but bait collecting was bad. The rockcod stepped up today and provided those in need of a morale booster with the needed tug on the line. Case in point:

   "Hey Willy,  thanks for the hot tip on your O so secret spot! We were able to get limits of nice rock cod and one lingcod.

Richard On the Defiance" This was yesterday's report. Here's today's "Hey Willy, wanted to let you know 5 limits of rock cod  and one beautiful ling for five guys on my boat today in your oh so Secret spot  By the way if you see about a five or 6 foot sunfish Lit up like a Christmas tree that’s not my gear or downrigger ball on it it was the boat next to me... Richard" Damn nice ling, Richard. The secret spot is Elephant Reef, folks. Try to leave a little space between the boats. Shading the sea floor will make it less productive. I hope the mola (sunfish) is okay, because he has a whole lot more jellyfish to eat.

    Here's yesterday's Kim report "Lost 4 nice hooks ups and landed 5. The biggest were 18 lbs & 15lbs." Part of Mr. Kim's secret to halibut success is knowing where to get bait. He sent me a text within a couple of hours of his launch to show me his three buckets of live anchovies. By his count it took 40 anchovies to get those five fish and he didn't try to finish their limits after the livey's ran out. I'm told that once you've run through that many baits the only thing to do is go home, clean fish and have a shot of the Glenlivet.

     This is "Kyle and Jimmy from American Canyon with a 21 lb salmon and an 8 lb vermilion" That vermilion looks like it might have eaten a smaller, keeper salmon. Nice mix of critters.

    Another good mix, but a bit larger :"Jim Dellasanta of Napa 30 lbs" Gage sent me this text and I think he means the salmon weighed 30 pounds, not Jim or the ling.

    I think something is wrong with this picture. Usually when Tim Nelson sends me a picture it's of Mike Mack with salmon. This is the wrong guy with the wrong kind of fish. "Gage stopped by our camp with with his monster out of the surf thought I would send you a picture" Location and lure were Dillon Beach and an SP Minnow.

    

    Kenrick Young caught the larger of these three halibut, all three of which were caught, you guessed it, near Hog Island. There were halibut caught North of, South of, and along side of, that island. They really liked the live anchovies but those anchovies really didn't want to get caught. Jacksmelt will work, luckily. 

    Eddie Kim took a couple of guys out for salmon today (Thumbs was in the house) and they caught three salmon near Abbott's Lagoon. They had two doubles, one of which resulted in a lot of excitement but no fish in the box. I'm told that the fish were doing the kamikaze toward the motor. There was a lot of bait between Abbott's and Elephant in 20 to 100 feet of water and a lot of it was being eaten. The bite at the Trees/McClure's  (such as it was; most of the boats there watched a few others actually catch yesterday) died today. It looked kind of weird without a bunch of boats there. Tomorrow is another day, though,  and I would expect it could be worth the time to make a tack through the area tomorrow before heading to the bite further South. 

 

       Tom Treadway, Isiah Machado and Tito Machado won the salmon fishing today at Lawson's Landing. The largest weighed in at 28 pounds and the smallest pictured, while not weighed in, hardly qualifies as small. Their experience today captures the salmon situation right now. When they landed their sixth salmon (not pictured; legal but not as impressive as these beasts) a neighboring fishermen yelled at them that they had to leave as they were limited on salmon. Two takeaways: First, that's not the law. You are allowed a 20 fish limit, two of which can be salmon. You may continue to fish, just not for salmon (even though you must still conform to salmon rules as you have salmon on board). As the Treadway group caught salmon, rockfish and halibut in the area they could continue to fish. Second, If a neighboring boater knows how many fish you have caught it's because he hasn't any. Nobody catching fish pays that much attention to another fisherman. And if you are paying that much attention, maybe you should be concentrating on your fishing. It is also indicative of the fact that most fishermen came up short today. Even Gage (gasp!) couldn't catch a keeper salmon today (he quit and caught halibut instead). A few guys whomped 'em and a lot of guys didn't. Fishing....

   Speaking of guys that were whomping 'em. Woodrow Deloria of Placerville caught this 32 pound slug today. His personal best, I think I heard him say, and for sure the largest salmon on our bragging board. So far. Gage has you in his sights, Woodrow. But you probably shouldn't worry. That's a damn nice fish.

  Here's another two-for-the-price-of-one picture. When your son is sending you pictures of his bait it means the fishing is slow. But when your son sends you pictures of a sardine he caught while trying for live bait near Hog Island it get's you excited for the possibilities. Live sardines are like halibut catnip. And yes, this sardine caught a halibut. 

    I heard a rumor today that somebody fishing out of Lawson's Landing caught two bluefin out at Cordell and got spooled by another. That's a damn fine rumor and I'd like everyone to close their eyes and picture me catching a couple of 150 pound bluefin tuna. That's what I'm doing. It's all I've got, as, to the best of my knowledge, nobody from here even got close to going out there in the last few days. Onemore posted a report from a Tuesday reconnaissance in the comments on Sunday's post. Good signs, but no fish. By the way, thanks for looking. From the scattered reports it appears the bluefin have slipped back south of Monterey, for the moment. Things change, as they always do. They'll change again. Maybe even for the better.  Don't worry, if history is any indicator I will blab about any tuna caught here, and if I catch a big one I will talk about it until you're sick of hearing it. And then keep talking...

 

      The salmon fishing has been on the slow side but a few people have been been catching. One boat this morning came back in so soon I thought that he had forgotten his bait. It turns out that he limited on salmon. There was another boat that had never salmon fished before that caught two. For those of you that didn't catch (cough Eddie Kim cough) consider these stories aspirational. It can happen to you. It just didn't happen to you today....

 

 

 This halibut, caught on the north side of Hog, weighed 15 pounds. It bit a (gasp!) live anchovy. There were a few others caught as well. It would appear that Hog Island has a few fish around it again. There may even be a few closer to the mouth of the bay. These large fish that have been getting caught probably weren't all sitting in the bay for the last few years waiting for the day they could eat someone's hook. Probably. But it seems likely that some of these fish just arrived.

Brian Tillinghast sent in this report from last Saturday :"Hey Folks, expected bait and fish would be scattered after windy week, but thanks to Willy's Thursday report and Gage's reinforcement of such on our tractor launching through the clamming armada Saturday morning, was able to mooch up one nice fish pushing up to the Trees against that south wind in my little Montauk in about 70-80ft of water and then drifting with wind and sea anchor back up to Tomales Point, trying to stay bit inside of fleet. Missed one other good bite " I'm just glad that I'm not the only missing good bites. I miss a bunch of the bad bites, too.