Leo Hernandez has been trying for a striper from the beach for a few months. Wednesday he got to join Alec Bennett and John Daleuski for a striper run. Leo caught two. He told me that maybe he'd fish with me sometime if he didn't have better options. Gage told me that at Leo's age. Gage better watch out. More footsteps...

   Miller Time had a bit of a slow start to the salmon season but got them dialed in on Wednesday and Thursday with three nice fish each day. These are Wednesday fish. Today no salmon (two halibut)  but that was the story for most fishermen. It's been a bit of a spotty bite with fish biting for a short time here and there, but today the spot got bleached and the bite slowed even further. Maybe they'll be hungrier tomorrow. 

   Cameron sent me this report and photos Wednesday:  "Ludovina brothers picked up 4 halibut to 23 lbs at the bar on live bait. 

Rockfish was good for those having a hard time with salmon. Talked to a few boats with limits. This young gentleman was extremely proud of his copper. " Nice work, Ludovinas. The halibut aren't easy but the fishing (and catching) is about as good as it can get right now. Lots of fish from Tom's Point to, well, the ocean proper. The bar, Dillon Beach, the Esteros, Ten Mile Beach, all have proven fish. And the young gentleman should be proud. That's a nice Copper. Remember everyone, Coppers have a limit of one.

    Another Cameron report, this from yesterday: "Kyle Woodward picked up a 39 lb halibut across the bay yesterday afternoon. They were checking gear while trying for red crab, and he was dragging a dead herring across the bottom, just for funsies." Not a typo, 39 pounds. Their net was too small. No gaff. A nearby boat loaned them a net. They broke it but landed the halibut.  Nice job gents. Should have bought a lottery ticket, but this makes for a better fishing report.

   Another Cameron report: "Paul and Angie Burns of Lincoln picked up their first ever boat limit of halibut and landed Paul on the board with a 20 pounder. All picked up at the bar on live smelt." They've been watching the report for a while and decided that they could do that, too. Turns out they could. Not immediately, this is a process with a lot of learning, but they learned and practiced and then did it. Limits. Good work folks. Next, let's talk salmon...

 

      Salmon fishing has been slow.  Luckily these folks didn't know it and went out off of Bird Rock on Monday and caught 3 to 29 pounds. Isiah Machado caught the big boy. With the nicer weather people are finding some salmon all over now, from the Russian River to at least Elephant Rock with most boat concentrating on the outer bay from Estero Americano to the outer buoy off Tomales Point (02).

    Felix Summers of Fair Oaks caught this pair of halibut to 22 pounds on jigs at the bar on Monday. Yesterday he and his significant other limited on 10 pounders on the bar using live jacksmelt. I think he's getting this halibut thing dialed...

   Dave from Rohnert Park caught this 26 pound striper on a Kastmaster on Monday afternoon. This was a fish of 10,000 casts. 

    Luke Alexander caught this 25 pound salmon yesterday, one of four landed on the Double Trouble on their troll from Elephant to Tomales Point in the afternoon. 

 

   Early report from the second opener: They're still biting. Lost one, shook a silver, missed a bite and landed one 12# keeper in outer bay in a half hour in the dirtiest water I could find. Bird was clear and empty of bait. Water bumpy but no gale yet.

    Later report: Four boats from here besides me went for salmon. One had six, one had 4 (limits), one had one, and one caught a couple shakers. Not red hot, but not bad. The weather was non-awesome but fishable in the morning.  The guy that limited stuck it out until the late bite started at 3 for his last fish but returned kinda wet. All in outer bay fighting the weeds. I heard a rumor of a bite by the Russian River as well. 

      It's obvious that salmon season reopens tomorrow.  For the uninitiated, the tell is that there's a gale warning.  The last gale warning was the last opener. Good times. On the plus side, the wind this year has been milder than predicted, at least early in the day, so opportunities may exist for the bold. It would be a shame if we didn't hit the quota before the end, and if the wind stops the water will boil, or nearly, and salmon won't be an option, or at least, a fun option. Fishing 300' on the wire is like working a Waldo in a nuclear reactor. Remote control fishing. It works, but it ain't like fishing 60' of water. Let's get them while we can.

    Halibut in the bay has been slowing as the water has been warming past happy temperatures. It's pushing 70 degrees in Marshall and that's too warm. Unless you're swimming, then cool. But halibut-wise, no bueno. 

Salmon reopens August 1st

 

        As I have nothing to report on here but wind, here's a report from Kelley Roy: "Willy, was a busy few days last week. Thursday in FB for albacore then on to Eureka for halibut with Steve Wiz and Dave Alexander.

 

Great trip"   Looks like a great trip to me, too. Now that salmon is over in Eureka they can concentrate on other things, and the other things are biting. Nice of you to let Dave catch the largest Pacific for your group. The albacore are officially biting at Fort Bragg and the tuna water is close, five miles or so, although some of the better catch numbers are coming from 12 to 25 miles out. That water extends down to where a trip from Bodega or Tomales Bays is doable (not with current weather) but far with the edge at 62 miles. I've  made that run before but driving to Fort Bragg seems like the more sensible option if you've got a roadworthy trailer. Otherwise, it's only July, so it seems likely that closer options should be available before the season passes us by. California halibut will have to do for us here until maybe salmon will reopen on Saturday. Probably only half of our local quota were taken during our 26 day season, so it seems likely that we'll get a reopener on the 1st of August. We should know by this afternoon, here.  Fort Bragg and Eureka may just have to stick with albacore and halibut, as their salmon catches were 73% and 77% of their much lower quotas.  UPDATE: We get August uncut for now. Fort Bragg gets August 1 to 9. Eureka gets to concentrate on albacore and halibut.