Not too much happening here now. Things are coming. Salmon, good halibut, wsb? A man can dream. As for the now, crab is slow but slowly picking up. Halibut? Yes, Virginia, there are halibut in Tomales Bay. Not a lot, but something. Gage and I gave it a try yesterday and got our limits after four hours. So we caught a keeper an hour, and that seems pretty good, but we've had nothing to fish for in the last three years so halibut are kinda screwed as we've been concentrating on them. One of my idols, Frank Green, called salmon "carp", as they were relatively easy to catch compared to halibut. Now, I've had my hard times catching salmon, so I'm not going to call them out as easy, but Frank said it, so... it must be. Beyond Frank, Tom Stienstra wrote a book about fishing in California and gave Tomales Bay a rating of 5 out of 10 as far as fishing.  When I read it I was pissed. Tomales is not that bad! Then I spent a little more time  fishing here and realized it ain't  easy. After thirty years trying I have found a few things that seem to work, here. There? I don't know. Never tried. Probably not, as I hear that big currents are bad for fishing in SF bay but here.... I can't tell. Less water movement here, as there's much less water. The fish are hard here, as it's an overly fished farm pond. But there's fish here. Gage and I saw no less than three sea lions eating halibut on Thursday, one on the bar, one at Marshall, and one with a huge halibut at Tom's Point. Our big ones were 12 and 14 pounds (mine was bigger. ) The fish aren't thick on the ground, nor should they be after the last few years of abuse. But there's fish.

   Aside from those fish, just know that there's been a few guys that have had their crab pots impounded by CDFW lately. One had his buoys improperly marked, as in the GOID numbers were faded. Don't let this happen/ Pens are  cheap. Another had his collected because his bouys were too big on his pots..... What? As I read the rules, there's a minimum size (5" x 11") on pots (plus a red 3" x 5") and a maximum on hoops (6" x 14") but no maximum on traps. CDFW was trying to write tickets for laws that don't exist. Why? Because the rules are so convoluted nobody knows what the hell is going on. And they wonder why license sales are falling.... I don't blame the cops. They're trying to enforce the same rules that you and I find confusing and their brains work similarly. Learn the rules for what you're doing. It ain't optional. The laws are complicated. It is easier to quit. Don't. Let the rules drive out the soft. The few that remain will benefit.

 

Gage found a keeper in the surf on his lunch break. It bit a Kastmaster. There's a few around. 

Cameron and I went out fishing after work and caught one keeper halibut and released a dozen shorts by Inverness. Not awesome but dinner tomorrow for my mother-in-law, so not nothing for sure. Also, Cameron had forgotten about early season halibut action and sullen went to smiling pretty quick with four bites in five minutes. It was never as good again, but when is it, ever. There's fish, and there's keepers,  but they're not awesome unless you're fishing here when they are biting. We hit an awesome patch. Good times.

 

     I may have to change the name of this blog to the Branden Mendoza Report. His report from yesterday: "Hey Willy we made a late run today. Got out on the water at about noon. Trolled from hog Island down to Marshall. We hooked 3 shorties and one keeper 28". We ran our usual flashers and hootchies." Very nice job, sir. I haven't heard of a ton of fish in the bay but there are fish being caught and some of them are actually big enough. It's still early and it should improve.

      This boat was spotted off of Tomales Point today. Does this mean the squid are here? Well, somebody who has a job chasing squid thinks it's a possibility. And, sooner or later, there probably will be some squid. 

       Commercial salmon season has opened as of May 1. Catching, so far, has been slow, been the weather has limited their options. Tomorrow the weather looks good so hopefully the commercials can figure out where the fish are, if there are any in concentrations above a handful. It may be that we all have to wait for the late season for the fish to really come in, or maybe the late season will have water too warm for salmon. Or maybe the water will be warm and the salmon are okay with it but we're all distracted with other fish that warm water provides. Or maybe we just wait and see. 

 

    Gage isn't the only one catching some halibut in Tomales Bay. Branden Mendoza sent over this report: "Hey Willy. Went out for our first troll of the season today. Trolled from hog Island to Inverness for two shorts and one 24 1/2in halibut. We ran dodgers with hootches trailing. We called it a successful first trip." As you should. Catching is success. Nice work. I heard of no other fish over the weekend, but i also saw very very fee boats out trying for halibut. Crab was king again, at least as far as effort. Catching? Maybe shoulda been halibut fishing. Dungeness is still very slow in the bay. Halibut ain't on fire, but.... I guess that in my mind a halibut skunk is easier to take than a crab skunk, and right now both are possible so my ego wants the easier one. 

     Also, there's some bait entering the bay. Not as much as one would want (it almost never is) but there's small critters, if the birds don't eat them all. Check out this video from a drone yesterday. You've seen birds working before, I'm sure, but this was off of Dillon Beach, and as the tide ran out the birds followed the fish into the bay. Where we want them.  Link: https://youtu.be/1zES8uA8DD4?si=P8rBhpjMEbww8Xon

     Gage is declaring halibut season a go on Tomales Bay. I guess it only takes one him catching one to make it official in his mind, but he did catch a keeper in the bay this morning. There were several other halibut caught, one close to legal, the rest so small as to be clearly short and not boated. The "close-to-legal" is a guess, as he was an attempted boat flip and unintentional release. Still, not a bad day on the bay, and fish are present. We didn't get bit until we hit 60º surface temp water which had made its way as far as Hog by low tide today. We had a sabiki out while we trolled and ended up with a half-dozen jacksmelt and three sardines. Sardines are......interesting. We only saw a few little clumps of bait, so it ain't thick, but maybe it will be? It's nice to dream. I think that the one-acre school of bait we saw coming in last Thursday was partially sardines and they have spread through the bay in a layer so thin as to be unremarkable. Yet I remark. I love live sardines for bait. Best. Bait. Ever. Cross your fingers, consult your God, whatever, but hope for more. Putting a live sardine on your hook on the bay is like putting a quarter in a vending machine in the store lobby in 1985. You're gonna catch something.