Sorry about the lack of posts and for "forgetting" these reports. I've been falling asleep at the computer, or in some cases, my dinner, so posting has been difficult. No fishing today, so I'm awake, and here's the report from last week from Chris DiTrani (apologies, Chris): "Hey Willy. I’m sure you’ll be flooded with salmon reports, but here’s mine! Both of these were caught within an hour of dropping the line on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I suspect limits could have been had both days but I had reasons to head in early. I swear there were some 10 footers on Wednesday, so I wasn’t heartbroken… Both of these fish were 31-32 inches. 

Thanks as always. 

Chris"  Thanks for the report and sorry for my narcolepsy. Nice work on the salmon. I hope all of the build-up was worth it. Chris moved here from the East Coast and bought a boat, looking to catch salmon, right before they closed salmon for (functionally) three years. There is a short list of people that deserved a salmon more than Chris. Very short. 

       Here's a late (because of me...) report from Swampy from the 1st of July: "Evening Willy,

A wise man once told me to catch fish you have to fish where the fish are. Today I was not where they were. Easy perch bait, but no fish today. Kicker lost its pisser, I lost my wind sock and my radio was dead when I needed my trailer. Glad I got it all out (hopefully) on this trip. See you soon, Swampy." Get it out now, Swampy. The fish are here now, and more are coming. The good stuff for halibut is just getting going, and it is going pretty good. Not so much inside the bay, as that has been abused for the last few years, but some new fish are coming in from outside, and the folks that find them at the mouth before they can ,make their ways back inside, have done well. Today, very well. Good effort, Swampy, and better luck and mechanicals next time.

   Branden Mendoza sent over this report yesterday: "Hey Willy hope you had a good 4th. We spent the weekend chasing salmon. 7 fish in 2 days. It's nice to have the season open again. We trolled crippled anchovies 1 with a flasher 1 without. The bite was great both days." Branden ain't wrong. The weekend bite was good. Sunday was off the hook, as they say. Nice work Mendozas. The salmon weren't super easy. The offshore (in my opinion, over 200' of water) bite lit off and drew a lot of boats out to the deep for good catches. It also allowed the inshore bite to light back up, as Mike Mack and Spinner smacked their limits (4 fish in the boat for 9 fish on) pretty quick in the afternoon after trying for the reported bite offshore. That afternoon bite slowed but was still good enough for me, Cameron, and Nate Buck (local lifeguard/paramedic) to catch three (lost one broke off) and miss several bites in a few hours after work. Of course, Gage came out a little later and limited (released one) but the view in front of Bird was pretty epic with four kinds of birds feeding on the boiling anchovies in 40 to  60 feet of water. Epic fishing , really. From a visual standpoint. 

    

   There's a couple of yesterday photos from Vance Staplin. Vance has been working hard to try to get us some salmon to fish for and and this year he got it. Thanks for the fishing.

    Kerry Apgar sent me this photo of Frank Green with a pile of large halibut but no note. I think this means the halibut are biting again. Since a bunch of people caught halibut today on the bar and at Dillon Beach, I'm guessing yes.

 

    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.