Early report from the second opener: They're still biting. Lost one, shook a silver, missed a bite and landed one 12# keeper in outer bay in a half hour in the dirtiest water I could find. Bird was clear and empty of bait. Water bumpy but no gale yet.

    Later report: Four boats from here besides me went for salmon. One had six, one had 4 (limits), one had one, and one caught a couple shakers. Not red hot, but not bad. The weather was non-awesome but fishable in the morning.  The guy that limited stuck it out until the late bite started at 3 for his last fish but returned kinda wet. All in outer bay fighting the weeds. I heard a rumor of a bite by the Russian River as well. 

      It's obvious that salmon season reopens tomorrow.  For the uninitiated, the tell is that there's a gale warning.  The last gale warning was the last opener. Good times. On the plus side, the wind this year has been milder than predicted, at least early in the day, so opportunities may exist for the bold. It would be a shame if we didn't hit the quota before the end, and if the wind stops the water will boil, or nearly, and salmon won't be an option, or at least, a fun option. Fishing 300' on the wire is like working a Waldo in a nuclear reactor. Remote control fishing. It works, but it ain't like fishing 60' of water. Let's get them while we can.

    Halibut in the bay has been slowing as the water has been warming past happy temperatures. It's pushing 70 degrees in Marshall and that's too warm. Unless you're swimming, then cool. But halibut-wise, no bueno. 

Salmon reopens August 1st

 

        As I have nothing to report on here but wind, here's a report from Kelley Roy: "Willy, was a busy few days last week. Thursday in FB for albacore then on to Eureka for halibut with Steve Wiz and Dave Alexander.

 

Great trip"   Looks like a great trip to me, too. Now that salmon is over in Eureka they can concentrate on other things, and the other things are biting. Nice of you to let Dave catch the largest Pacific for your group. The albacore are officially biting at Fort Bragg and the tuna water is close, five miles or so, although some of the better catch numbers are coming from 12 to 25 miles out. That water extends down to where a trip from Bodega or Tomales Bays is doable (not with current weather) but far with the edge at 62 miles. I've  made that run before but driving to Fort Bragg seems like the more sensible option if you've got a roadworthy trailer. Otherwise, it's only July, so it seems likely that closer options should be available before the season passes us by. California halibut will have to do for us here until maybe salmon will reopen on Saturday. Probably only half of our local quota were taken during our 26 day season, so it seems likely that we'll get a reopener on the 1st of August. We should know by this afternoon, here.  Fort Bragg and Eureka may just have to stick with albacore and halibut, as their salmon catches were 73% and 77% of their much lower quotas.  UPDATE: We get August uncut for now. Fort Bragg gets August 1 to 9. Eureka gets to concentrate on albacore and halibut.

 

    Jim and Scott (or is it Scott and Jim?) Alexander, Larry Varela and Richard Tamagni trolled off of Dillon Beach on Thursday in the wind for these nice halibut. There were some other halibut caught on the bar but they weren't like these. Nice work, boys. It's probably no surprise that they went back there today. I didn't hear if they caught any more halibut, but...

     .... they did manage to catch this 53 pound white seabass. Richard Tamagni had to go home but the twins' dad Terry stepped in to help in this team effort. Excellent work, gentlemen. 

  Cameron sent me this photo with the cryptic message:"Margaret Morgan and Lee Gutierrez " A look at the big fish board says that Margaret Morgan of St. Helena caught a 24 pound halibut today, so I assume that this is her. So there were some halibut caught on this windy day, and I'll bet these folks are with St. Helena Appliance. They usually catch fish, and this seems to fit the bill. Nice fish, Margaret and Lee. 

 

    Larry Laackman hopped in the boat with me and my wife Monday evening for a troll on Lake Pacific. Usually flat water makes for a slow bite for me but we ended with with three salmon again, the largest, caught by Larry, weighing 28 pounds, again.  We seem to have plateaued. It bit a tiny hootchie behind an 8" flasher in front of Bird.

   Tom and Jerrie Carter limited on halibut to 25 pounds on the bar yesterday. Live jacksmelt and a bit of skill was the ticket. Tom's not supposed to be lifting heavy things, so Jerrie may need to adjust her fishing methods.

   A fishing report from yesterday: "Evening,

Spent the day sweating under the hot sun. Turn the thermostat down. Ended up with 3 fish for the two of us on the bar. Had enough action to be done early but obviously we didn’t want to sweat in camp. Will try again in the AM.

Swampy"    Seems like there are (maybe were?) some biters on the bar. Nice work, Swampy, but I bet you can do better.

    My wife and I went out again last night but couldn't get a 28 pounder. She was okay with this 26 pound fish, though. Bird Rock again, small hootchie again.

   Today is the last day of the early salmon season here. The fishing was mostly not awesome, which sucks for the guys that fished it but bodes well for a second chance in August. We shall see if the guys that waited were correct. Albacore started biting at Fort Bragg just in time, as their salmon season has ended. I guess we'll take a week for halibut and rockfish and hope for another salmon chance.

  This is Rich Nacarelli with his 17 pound halibut, one of seven caught on his boat on the bar today. The halibut are stepping up as salmon take a break.

    Last salmon for nine days or so. Paul Giese caught this 25 pound salmon off of the wreck on a watermelon Apex  this evening. He was fishing with John Daleuski and Alec Bennett, both excellent netters. Catch numbers of salmon have just been released up to 7/15 and it looks like we will have August for salmon, or at least a good part of it. Poor fishing, now, means more fishing. Good?

     I knew Swampy could do better. His report from today:"Afternoon,

Took Al and Brian out to chase some flatfish. Had leftover shiners from yesterday and hit the bar early. Done by 8:45 to 17 pounds. Great day."  That seems great to me too.