The only report I have is from Brad Stompe: "Hey Willy,

Headed offshore for some deep-water rock fish Monday and was not disappointed.  We picked up 3 limits of quality rockfish and 3 limits of ling cod to 16 lbs.  Most of the lings were caught on sanddabs, though we had some hit iron too.  We were greeted by two CAF&W fish checkers and one warden upon return to Bodega harbor.  It was a pleasant encounter, but we were thoroughly checked for everything fish related.  I mention this as a reminder to those that have a productive day on the rockfish grounds with multiple people on board.  Keep close track of your fish count and then double check.

On a different note, I would like to give a shout out to the Vogler table at the recent Golden State Salmon Association dinner.  There were some very generous donations made and a good deal of raffle winnings going to the table.  For those of you reading this that are not members, please consider joining.  It is only $35 and they work very hard at advocating for the salmon we all so dearly love to pursue.

Regards,

Brad Stompe" Thanks for the report, Brad, and thanks for the nice words. We love salmon fishing, so we figure that if you want to throw your money at something, throw it at something you love. Nice job on the rockfish. It has been very slow for the rockies in shallow water.

   There have been a few stripers and halibut on the bar, more striper than halibut. The good striper fishing requires getting close to the breakers. A gentleman yesterday almost found himself in the break. If you're not sure, sit it out. The halibut bite has been slow but there's keepers being caught from Pelican Point to the bar. South of Pelican is the land of shorties and sharks and not much else. Dungeness crabbing mostly sucks. A few guys are catching a few in the bay but only a few. Outside is a desert. Usually the crabbing picks up at the end of the season but not this year.

Other things to be found on the bar are marlin, or should I say, the Marlin, the one of the CDFW patrol boats. And if you think they're out and about a lot now, wait until next week. 

     Here's a report I missed from Sunday. According to John Wertz, "Hey Willy,

We spent 10 hours chasing rockfish and Lings  from Bird Rock to north of the closed areas today with Jigs,(lost a few [as is usual], squid, and prayers. We only boated two brown rockfish. We heard of one 24” Lingcod caught off of Bird Rock in shallow water. Boats were moving around as if to say “We’re not having any luck here.  Let’s move.” Beautiful conditions today and as I always say; “It could have been worse; I could have been working.”" I'm glad you feel that way. My worst days fishing are when I'm sitting there, not catching, thinking that I could be painting my house. I guess John is still happy. Good for you, John, that's probably a healthier mental state than I maintain. If it makes you feel any better, John, from all the reports I heard from over the weekend, the rockfishing was really slow for everyone that didn't run offshore for the deep water. The deeps were good, but the shallows were belly up. Actually, John is probably mentally well enough to not feel schadenfreude, but for the rest of you fishermen that didn't do well on the rockfish over the weekend, you had good company.

\    Trisha Cumbra caught this eleven pound halibut yesterday near Marker 5. It bit a live jacksmelt. Trisha has been trying for this fish for a while and it finally happened. I'll bet it tasted pretty darn good.

    Sorry, but I was out of town. Here's some reports, briefly, in no particular order, as I'm sort of brain dead right now...

    "Evening,

Saw some halibut caught today and got a couple in the boat as a well. Jake’s girlfriend (first time fishing) caught her first fish today, the smile says it all. Uncle Bob got his first limit with a 17 and 15 landed by Al who got  a clicker as well. Enjoyed a good day on the bay.

Swampy" Very nice, Swampy. This email was from Friday. Looks and sounds like some fish were caught. No reports of fish chewing the gelcoat off of boats, but fish, which still sounds pretty good. Nice work on catching, Swampy, but you're not supposed to be exposing young people to addictive things, like catching. Another poor soul following the path to tackle shop damnation....

    Branden Mendoza sent over these pictures and report: "Hey Willy. Got back on the water after some time off due to surgery. We did our usual flasher hootchie combo. Landed us a ton of shorts a giant bat ray and a nice 32 inch halibut. Overall a nice day and we were happy to be back out. Also managed to snag a mackerel on the sabiki. " Good to see you're back. Nice work on the keeper, as I haven't been able to catch anything but shorts in the back. If you catch another mackerel you might try trolling it while you're halibut fishing. The macks will troll alive all day if you don't pin their mouths shut and my first seabass bit a (drifted) mackerel. Halibut like them, too. Nice fish, sir.

   On Saturday sport salmon opened up north. While we wait until the 27th for salmon to open here, Mike and Mara Nursement went to Fort Bragg and put some pink meat in the bag. Says Mike, "200ft of water 60pulls 24oz weight watermelon flasher small and small watermelon apex." Yes, it's not here but soon it will be. And it looks like there's fish north and south of us, so it seems our chances of success will be good, weather depending. 

   

  Also on Saturday, Vicky caught this 25 pound halibut. I'm not sure of where or how, but halibut now outnumber white sea bass on the big fish board. 

   I'm afraid that this time I have no name or the weight of the fish but I do know that this striper was caught from shore, probably near Sand Point. I also know that surf stripers are the best. Well done, sir.

   When Eddie Kim texts you and asks if you want to go fish with him and the Pacific Queen Killers, you say yes. Then beg the wife to go. At least, I did, and begging works. Even luckier, the fortnight of no bluefin biting ended during our trip, as the New Lo-An found the fish late Thursday at a place called the Condom. We ran most of the day Friday from our yellowtail bite at the Coronados to almost the Cortez bank to get some blueys. It was good. I can still hear Eddie Kim yelling "Biter!", probably because he did it so often. After my drive home a team of locals assembled and we processed fish, ate sashimi and drank beer and champagne. It was good. And late.

    Also, this:

    

    Wow, check out that upwelling! The wind sucks (and there's been a lot of it) but it is fighting the "ocean heat wave" by bringing up that deep, cold water. Only once this year has the water temp dropped below 50º at the Point Reyes wave rider buoy and it didn't last. June is supposed to have the coldest water of the year here, and it does, but not as cold as it should be. That said, there should be enough upwelling and warming for the plankton to bloom and the anchovies and salmon smolts to eat, if not their fill, maybe enough. Water temps are tracking like in 2015, and if you want to know what that means you can look back on this very blog and see the reports. 2015 was a strange year, but another year like that might damage my shoulder from all the high-fiving. It's looking like a repeat, of sorts. Strange things are afoot in the parking lot of the Circle K. 

   I heard of a few fish inside the bay this week. There was at least one white seabass caught near Hog and Gage picked up a bass with stripes in the same vicinity, both on Wednesday. There's been a few halibut in the same area. There are occasionally catchable sardines and mackerel by Hog to use for bait but it hasn't been as consistent as one would hope. Those sardines would probably make great salmon bait when the time comes. They're blue label-sized beauties, when you can find them. Crabbing has been really bad in the outer bay and down and Ten Mile for Dungeness but a few are still being caught inside the bay. Not many, but any is better than what I've heard from outside. 

 

   Malachi Curtis sent over a new report today; "Back on the water with my dad Monday and after a slow day with a few missed takedowns I finally connected with my first halibut, 29 incher around 1:30. Monkeys off the back now so hopefully we can get a few more." If you had a good time catching that fish, Malachi, and it looks like you did, you may have just switched monkeys. Welcome to the club. Success is addictive, or at least, that's what Gage tells me. There's not a lot of halibut out there after three years of abuse, but there's still some volunteers willing to bite and the reports I've heard aren't bad, but aren't good. There's some fish, and a few guys are getting them. The bite has been from Tom's Point down to Marshall. I've heard of a few limits. Please note the scar on Malachi's halibut, lower left. It appears this halibut may have pulled through a gaff at some point in it's past. Or a diver's spear. I think that when we start repeat catching the same fish, the fish bucket is getting low. I expect a few more will venture into the bay from outside, as the bait seems to be coming in (in tiny schools) but the ocean has been reported to be pretty barren. Halibut, like many fish, prefer eating to not, so it seems that some of the hungrier models may find their way into our neighborhood.