Yesterday I took Alec Bennett and Cameron on a nature tour of the Pacific. We covered just shy of a hundred miles of water for a grand total of one bonito. There were whales jumping and feeding, bird piles and hundreds of dolphins but no bluefin for us in the warm, mostly brownish-green water that we found at the Bodega Canyon. The outside edge of Cordell had better looking green water (that's where the bonito was) but apparently I should have ran farther offshore to find the cleaner water. Oh well. I didn't want to clean a bluefin anyway. 

  The halibut bite has been super slow on the bar and Dillon Beach. Here's a report to back me up: 

"Tried for halibut yesterday. Not even shorties. Water chocolate brown, whales, diving pelicans.Outside of that the water a little clearer, pasty green. Need some wind, and looks like we are going to get it.

Mat

F/V Candice, Retired" Well, we're getting the wind whether we like it or not, so hopefully it does some good for us. There are a few halibut in the bay (I think, he doesn't say but he usually trolls by Marshall), or there were, as a report from Branden Mendoza says:

"Hey Willy we headed out for our last trip of the year. Before I go in for 3rd and hopefully final back surgery. We decided to celebrate and try for some halibut. Ended the day with 3 big keepers. One looks like it came at the expense of someone else as the biggest had a gaff scar. We ran fresh cut makeral and a chartreuse hootchie flasher combo. Just want to say thank you for always keep up a good report always has the good info. Until next year we wish you calm seas and many memories. " Good luck on your surgery, sir. Nice finish to your season. 

 

     I was hoping for a picture from here but need to post this photo from Fort Bragg as it's my only picture. Team Nursement took Trip Plumb out for some albacore fishing today and finished with 10 when their fish box was full. Smallest fish 30#, largest 40#. Not far out. 8 to 15 miles. Seems like they're there. Not here, now, and maybe not later, either, but maybe there will be a window here. Or, you could go to Fort Bragg and catch albacore. Probably don't wait. It's a wierd year and there's no expectations except for weirdness. 

     Halibut report here is bad. Lots of tiny sublegal fish. Not many keepers. Gage and I caught three keepers off of Dillon Beach on Thursday for a pound and a half of dead squid, 5 jack mackerel,  and 5 tiny anchovies. Two keepers on a swimbait and one on a live jack mackerel.  And many, many short bites. Lots of shorts, to be clear. 

    Best report I heard today was from the inside of the bar where a legal white sea bass was caught by the Wet Dream boys. Not huge but nice fish.  Lightning strike fish. Nice work boys. See you next year, and that's a hell of a finish this year. 

 

    Harvest Time harvested a big one yesterday. They scored a giant where others did not. The report:"Plugged the boat with one yesterday morning (all my problems are small boat problems).

66” fork length, 600’, at the canyon.

How many other sport boats were out there you ask?

Zip, zero, zilch, nicht, nein, nada!

Finished up with quick limits of quality rockfish at Cordell.

Harvest Time out." I read a couple of other reports from the same general time and area and they had no bites. So I'll share this. Steve Wisnewski was right time right place. Your experience may (and likely will) vary. Super job Steve. Thanks for the heads up. And nice job catching where others failed.

   Gage went down past the salmon line (38 02) and caught his salmon limit today in 70 feet of water.  I worked today, but did get out in the evening for a quick try. I caught my personal best halibut, 39#, on a whole dead squid in 76 feet of water. Not what I was trying for but I'll keep it. 

   There's a couple of photos from Gage's trip today. He caught his salmon and got a good great white shark show on his return. Not a bad day.

      Saturday ended up really windy, but before the wind hit a number of boats were able to get out. I only heard of one nice halibut caught (Nice job, Richard!) out of several trying for them, though. Today, only four boats launched here, but at least two of them caught halibut. One boat had a couple of keepers on the bar. The other boat limited off of Dillon Beach, their first time catching limits. Good for them! They also hooked and landed a salmon. That did not work out so well, as there was a warden here checking everybody and salmon is closed. Also, even when it is open, salmon can't be kept if caught on the hooks we usually use for halibut (barbed, trebles, etc. You know, the good ones). Just to complicate things, if you have a salmon on the boat (legal or otherwise) you have to fish by salmon tackle rules, barbless hooks if trolling, barbless circle hooks with no offset if drifting, and no more than one rod per fisherman. Salmon will reopen on September 1st but ONLY BELOW THE 38º 02" LINE. You can bring salmon ashore here and in Bodega Bay but you have to run 15 to 20 miles south to fish for them. If you go and catch a salmon below the line you may not fish north of the line while the salmon is aboard your vessel. Transit only. You probably already know this, but it bears repeating. 

    Just heard this evening that Mike Mack and Spinner caught three good halibut on Saturday. I apologize, gents. Today, nada. The fish gods are capricious.

    Here's a report from Sam Winglewich: "

Hi Willie and crew, 

This bit a purple/pearl swimbait at around the tide change.  I'm somewhat glad I got burned trying to catch anchovies for hours, otherwise it wouldn't have led to me getting a 35"er on a swimbait - the biggest I've ever caught inside of the bay.

 It was a pretty somber mood on the water today. Lots of helicopters, rescue boats, ranger trucks, everyone's looking for the two missing boaters. I was told by the FD to watch out for two men and a silver/grey canoe that went missing last night. Do you know any further information about the incident this weekend? 

- Sam Winglewich " Nice fish, Sam. Lures are more fun than bait when they work. I don't know much about the missing guys except for what I read. They found both men deceased. Supposedly they launched around midnight Saturday night. It was really windy Saturday night. They were wearing life jackets. 

 

     Kind of windy today but the halibut were biting. Lots of shorts, but in among them were some nice ones. Luckily we caught quite a few squid for bait by Buoy 02. The halibut liked them.  I caught an 18# and a 23# fish and Gage, of course, smoked me with a 26# and 29# fish. We fished 40 to 45 feet of water in the mouth of Tomales Bay. We got distracted early by some bird action at the mouth of Estero de San Antonio....

    Here's another group of birds off of Dillon Beach yesterday afternoon: 

   I think there may be some bait around. Maybe. That may even be a squid "suicide ball" under the pelicans and in the surf. Strange days, but would explain our success using squid for bait.