This is Tyler Holland of Auburn with a 42 pound salmon, Ryan Robie of Lincoln with a 31 pound salmon, and Jim Clark of Auburn with a 24 pound salmon. And another salmon. These fish were caught in less than 80 feet of water, inside of where most of the sport fleet have been concentrating here. Irt turns out that there's some fish all over, 10 feet to 300 feet, but they mostly aren't easy. That makes them interesting.... Nice fricking job, Tyler and crew. Those jumbos are hard to hook and even harder to land...

   Peter Kim went out today and caught a limit of salmon to 21 pounds. The bite picked up today, not as large of fish as Tyler and crew caught, but good enough. The bite had slowed on Thursday and Friday with less limits but still most boats catching a fish or two. Halibut, not awesome but not a waste of time. 

    Interesting fact: Normally when Dungeness closes the traps become legal. This year, nah. No traps until probably January, best case, it looks like.

     Most people are interested in salmon now. But Frank Green is a halibut man. This one one weighed 20 pounds. If somebody is going to catch a 20 pounder during this week's halibut bite, not shutdown but downturn, Frank would be the guy.  Good to see you, Frankie. Keep at it.

   Dan Dentone has been here for a week, waiting for salmon to open, then waiting for weather to get them. Today he caught salmon. Four in the boat to 20 pounds. The bite had been dead in the middle of the day the last few days, but today they bit all day. Dan's first fish was landed at 10:30 and he was back by 1:00, so midday is okay. Nice job Dan.

    No stranger to this report, Cannon Brunkhorst wants us to know that yes, the fish are biting. For him. This was also a twenty pounder. Cannon is a fish killer. 

   Overall report: Salmon is pretty good between Elephant and Tomales Point.  Maybe even farther South but I haven't heard any reports. Halibut? Last week. This week it's salmon. Maybe next week,  halibut. 

 

    Gage says they're biting if you can stay in the boat. The weather buoy was reading 13 feet at 7 seconds so I slept in. Gage fished on his knees and as soon as he landed this 26 pound fish he came back in. Luckily there's some fish in the outer bay. Most of our other launches ended up staying inside Tomales Bay. Miller Time stuck it out and had half limits by the time thay decided they'd had enough. Mike Mack isn't bothered by rough water and caught his limits for two.

   Dean brought his kayak but the wind was a bit sketchy, so he fished off of the beach. No problem, as he caught a 16 and a 24 pound halibut. The wind pushed the baitfish off of Dillon Beach and into the bay yesterday and it appears that a few halibut followed them. Nice work, and nice fish Dean.

   Miller Time with their fish today. I believe the largest was over 20 pounds. 

   Mike Mack and Spinner caught their limits to 29 pounds by 10:30 this morning. Mike complained of a sore arm. I'm sorry, Mike, but no sympathy from me. You guys hammered them pretty quick in less than ideal conditions. Good work. No sympathy, but good work.

 

     When the CDFW announced the opening dates for salmon in 2025 I thought, "Well, now I now when the wind will blow." I was wrong. The weather was beautiful. So this year I figured it would be all good on the opener.  Nope. Got a gale warning for the opener. Eventually I'm right. The wind never got as bad as predicted, but it never got as good as anybody wanted. We announced yesterday that we wouldn't launch today, but the the weather only sucked in the morning, so we launched a couple of bay fishing boats. One guy self launched early and went out and banged a quick limit of salmon in the outer bay, so they're out there. I saw maybe a dozen boats in the outer bay this morning (only kite surfers by the afternoon)  and I heard a few fish caught out of Bodega. 

 

I had to sneak out early today as I had a meeting at 8:30 and the wind was supposed to start blowing at noon. I  hit the water at 6 and had a few live squid for bait by 6:30. Over to Dillon Beach proper, in front of the parking lot. Anchovies boiling out of the water, birds diving. Seemed legit. Dropped in two lines with live squid and a third with a live large jacksmelt, as the big jacks are thick in the 'chovies. Missed a smelt bite, then missed a squid bite. Then I cast out a Redrum jig and started working it back near the bottom.  Third cast and hookup. Felt like a halibut. Then it ran. Fifteen minutes later I had a 43 pound white seabass in the boat, shaking hands, and a rapid heartbeat. I ended up leaving before the real bite started. I was shaking so bad I could barely hold a rod. Other people did very well. 

    Foreshadowing. This is the concrete this afternoon near the scale. Lots of blood and fish slime in vaguely halibut shapes. And why...?

   Cameron sent this picture with this note:"13, 16, 26, and 27 lbs for the Dentone crew. Live squid off the day beach. A personal best for Dan at 27, and an impressive debut for Macie with the 26." Nice job Dentones! The slabs are coming in and you're capitolizing on it. 

 The Carters whupped them again. They were there for the bite and caught four quickly, so quickly that Tom barely had time to gaff them all. But he did. 

    The halibut bite on the day beach was epic but short today. Gage took his buddies Mason and Dario fishing and they finished by 11 with limits of stripers and halibut to 29 pounds. Good day.  Now the wind is blowing and will blow for the next few days.  Obviously, as salmon opens Saturday.