Rejoice! The CDFW has spoken and traps are still legal here! For a little bit. Figure that by May it is rings again, but until then, traps are in! For more info, here's the announcement from CDFW:

Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program Update - Apr. 3, 2025

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham has assessed entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) and announced the continuation of the 25% Gear Reduction in Fishing Zones 1-2 and implementation of a 30-fathom Depth Constraint. The Director also announced the continuation of the 50% Gear Reduction and the implementation of a 30-fathom Depth Constraint in Fishing Zone 3 and a Season Closure for the commercial fishery in Fishing Zones 4-6. The 30-fathom Depth Constraint and Season Closure will be effective April 15, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. A crab trap restriction for the recreational fishery in Fishing Zone 4 was also announced, effective April 15, 2025, at 6:00 pm. A Fleet Advisory will be maintained for all Fishing Zones for both the commercial and recreational fisheries. The next scheduled risk assessment is expected to occur on or around April 21, 2025. The full news release can be found at the CDFW News Room and for more information, please visit CDFW’s Whale Safe Fisheries webpage.

    So nothing changes here for us sporties. The commercials need to move their gear inside of the 180 foot line if they don't already have their gear there. They still only get to use half of their "permitted" gear. In Monterey (Area 4) they must quit traps and commercial fishing by April 15. So, if you crab around here with traps, rejoice! Next year's rules will be different and choices about seasons and gear will change, so don't get used to the current mess of rules as the rules will change by next Dungeness season. What are those rules? They haven't decided yet, so when they do I'll pass on the info.

   Good news? Only that a very confused Greater Tern flew around here for a bit today. I had been thinking this, and then it was mentioned in a thread on Coastside, so it must be true, but when the terns really show up there's anchovies or other small bait about for them to eat. Good for them, good for halibut, good for us. Here's to hoping that misguided fool of a bird was right. 

  Poor optimists. 

   

      Much like March 1st, the Northwest wind is blowing like mad today. Happy spring, everybody! And it's not just the wind that is making it spring; the pelicans are back. Or they were for a bit this afternoon, but the sight of pelicans diving on bait in the middle of the bay for a half an hour was enough to lift me out of my fishing funk. For a little bit, at least. Just seeing somebody catch fish elevates the spirit, even if the guy you're watching is way better than you'll ever be. At least it is the confirmation of possibility, and in the pelican's case, they don't live here when there's nothing to eat. Let's hope they stick around, because that should mean there's baitfish, and baitfish mean there's other things that eat baitfish. Like Alec Bennett, but also halibut and salmon that we probably won't be able to keep. They're coming. Soon. Not soon enough, but soon. 

    Crab reports have been sad. My cousin the commercial crabber had a 650 pound pull after better than a week's soak. That's a little better than a crab per pot per week. No bueno. He has a pretty good idea idea on where to put his traps, too. Better than me, for sure, but I don't make my living on the water, just my reason to live. Inside the bay the numbers have been similarly poor. A few are being caught by boaters and snarers but the reds are mostly what you see in the buckets. A very few are getting some decent numbers, but it's mostly grim. The clutch and molt should be ending soon and the crab should start showing up again. A sure way to tell that the crab are coming is the word from on high that traps around Monterey and commercial trap fishing to Point Arena will be ending probably around April 15, not because whales are present in Area 3 (us) but because they should be present by then. Should be is good science, right? Hey, I should be a millionaire. Some guys I went to school with are. Same science. Whatever. Summary: Crabbing sucks, it will get better but soon you'll have to use rings again. Not yet, but figure May.

   Deep rockfish are open this month. The weather doesn't look to good for the next few days but who knows? It could happen before the month's out. Maybe. 

     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!