It's a heck of a thing when lightning strikes you. If you heard thunder this morning, this is why. Paul Piazza of Graton caught this 28 pound white seabass while surf fishing. It bit a white fluke. Your results may vary. This is the second white seabass I've heard of caught from the shore here during my lifetime. It had a belly full of anchovies and was probably following a big school that slid into the bay earlier. That school is probably near Hog and has some salmon chasing it as well. 

    Gage was chasing the salmon this morning before work and he found his two to 22 pounds. There's some fish by the wreck but the bite slowed dramatically after Gage left. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

      Gage and I headed to San Diego to fish on the Pacific Queen on Eddie Kim's charter. We got there in time for the bluefin bite to die (it went off from Santa Cruz to Cordell instead) and the wind to come up. The boat still finished with 243 yellowtail and a bruised and tired group of fishermen. In the meantime there were a few reports I missed. Here's one from Ron Johnson:

"My wife's cousin Sue Munson is visiting from Minnesota aka ice fisher person caught her first salmon today 21lbs." It's almost as cold as ice fishing. Nice fish, Sue

He further reports from yesterday, "And today Sue got her first Halibut on the first Jig drop..... 45 seconds in she says I think  I have one on. The morning lasted 'til the wind blew us off. Picked up 3 in an hour or so. I'm sure you have heard the salmon quota has been met and our season closes Sunday.😥" Yes, last chance for salmon here. The weather forecast is crappy but there may be a morning window. Nice work on the halibut. Also yesterday: 

     

Jack and Connor caught this 22 pound halibut.  Connor has been looking for this one all summer. Nice job, boys. 

Mike Morgan sent in one last report before he went home on Tuesday:" Hey Willy I caught a 19 pound halibut and Teddy caught a 10 pounder down by hog island," Nice way to finish up  Mike. Good to know that few fish have made it back to Hog.

 

   How's a pair of salmon weighing 23# and 21.5# for your first time salmon fishing? Sydney Closterburg of Los Banos knows. She has yet to learn the pain of loss or the dull ache of grinding all day for nothing. Look at that smile. Good for you, Sydney.  Your day will come, but it ain't today, and that's a damned good day. These fish were caught at McClure's. 

   I didn't catch his name, but this gentleman walked up with this 24 pound halibut just after I weighed Sydney's salmon. I know it bit a swim bait though. Halibut was mostly slow in the bay today with the bar being particularly dead. Hog Island had a few though...

   Of course, if anyone is going to catch a halibut it'll be Frank Green. He caught not one but two by Hog. I heard there were six in the boat for four guys. Big fish (Frank's, duh) weighed 14 pounds.

   

   "Jigger" John Rosasco and his nephew Seth caught three salmon and a mystery fish (He Who Shall Not Be Named). The two largest salmon each weighed 20 pounds. Michael I'm the upper picture had a 17.5 pound salmon. No weight given for the Voldemort, nor location for any of them. John's big boat is broke down, so I'm guessing they weren't too far. 

 

    Here's a Wednesday report from Cameron:"3 hour limits from a stretch between Bird and Trees, mostly on straight bait."  Nice fish, and close. Here's another Cameron entry from Wednesday :

        "Tom Brodsky and crew wound up with 5 to 21 lbs gutted. Didn't catch location." I heard the location was between Elephant and the Keyholes.  Other boats did well there too. Of course, yesterday when Gage and I went there the bite was kaput. We caught our three salmon between the Trees and Bird in 50 to 80 feet of water. 

    Mike Morgan caught the only halibut on his boat yesterday, a 9.5 pounder. Not sure of location but they've been pretty firm on their bar to Tom's Point fishing, so I'm guessing somewhere in that mile of bay is where this fish ate his jacksmelt. 

   Mike also sent me this picture of David Gonzales with this caught today 20 pounder. Nice work David. There's been a good salmon bite at Carmet for a few days but I heard it slowed today.

  Okay, the Carmet bite may have disappointed but it seems a bit farther north was okay. "Russian River. 60’. We had 5 fly bys and lost one at the boat. Then.. in 20 minutes at Noon had 3 fish 32, 18,16. Turned a crappy day into a good one." The fishermen are Wyatt Zanardi (top photo) and Steve Freeman (lower). Kind of this year's story, right place, right time. When they bite, maximize your opportunities as they don't seem to bite for long. Have a spare rigged up rod if something goes awry with the one that caught. Redundancy and speed. Nice work gents. 

 

     Dave found a few more surf stripers biting and got a photo of this one. Dave's a Kastmaster guy, so I'm assuming that's what the fish bit. He fought a lot of seaweed for this critter. Nice job Dave.

    Frank Green is moving a little slower but still knows how to get baits into halibut's mouths. Four guys fishing and two fish for the boat, both Frank's. These ones came from near Tom's Point but there were quite a few caught earlier on the bar. Bait has been hard to catch in the bay and Frank and the boys missed the morning bite while trying to make bait. The guys that caught were jigging. Salmon has been kinda okay with some scattered action from Ten Mile to the Russian River. I lost two and landed one last night at Tomales Point in 50 feet of water. 

    Another place you might try is the Trees in 60 to 70 feet of water. There's eight less fish there but it's worth a try.

Another Mike Morgan photo from today. Mike Gonzalez and Howard Cotham both caught 21 pound halibut and share today's bragging rights.