Cameron sent me this: "Missed his name, but a 14 pound striper yesterday afternoon from shore on a live smelt".  Good work, missed name person, as stripers from shore have been pretty rare lately. Especially fourteen pounders.

   Ah, the comment says this is Robert Baker of Folsom, who tricked his father into going to get lunch while he caught fish. Another Gage.... Good work, Robert, and nice gaffing, Robert's mom. And I'm sure the lunch was really good.

 

     Gage hit the water at 6:00 this morning and was able to scratch up a few bites before the wind hit the beach. The two stripers he kept weighed 19 and 32 pounds. He missed several short halibut bites on the bar. 

 

   It was a tough salmon day today. Not that you can tell from this picture of Eddie Kim, Dave Nguyen, and Doug with 26 and 22 pound salmon. Good job, boys! This is the high boat from here. Two other boats had one salmon each. Everyone else was just jealous. Except for...

      .....the Tomales Outlaw(s) that gave up on salmon and caught rockfish instead. The Outlaws are eating well tonight.

   The salmon bite slowed over the weekend. The probable cause was a plethora of trolling boats. A lot of pressure in a small area in relatively shallow water will turn the salmon off. Remove most of the boats and they come back. Most fishermen returning to Lawson's yesterday had zero to two fish. My wife and I went out last night after work and after most boats left and caught three. Gage and Amanda got a later start for two. We both lost one and shook a coho. Less pressure, more fish. Amanda's fish:

    The bar had some halibut over the weekend, not wide open but most fishermen had one or two. The cold water slowed the bite but didn't quite kill it. 

    A report from the water from Alec Bennett says the fish are still biting near the wreck of the American Challenger. This is number two for him and Johnny. There's a fleet of boats but a few biters it seems. 

    Later reports are that there were very few biters. The boats that did well were mostly using very small lures, as the fish were eating very small anchovies.  Do with that as you will.

   Gage sent me this belated photo today with the note: "Anthony Piccardo 21 lb striper and a halibut on the bar Sunday" I'm afraid this got lost in the "oh crap I'm taking the wife fishing" thing last night. Sorry you were missed, Anthony,  but nice fish. Those weren't misses, obviously. 

 

    Wednesday the halibut bit like crazy on the bar just before the turn of the low in 57 degree water. Gage called me, I called Alec Bennett and grabbed Leo Hernandez. We caught our limits in an hour to 25 pounds. Yesterday, after some more wind, the water was 52 degrees and two hours of fishing yielded one 22 pound halibut. Shoulda been here yesterday.  The fish are still there but much more lethargic. How do I know they're there?

    Tom Carter caught this 22 pound halibut on the bar today. He and Jerrie came back with two fish total. If the water was warmer they would have had their four fish and done it sooner. Probably. 

     James Ludovina caught this 26 pound salmon yesterday in front of Bird Rock.

Salmon is still pretty good with catches ranging from zero to limits with more consistent happiness to the north, especially for those that ran up to the Russian River and beyond. Tomales Point to the Trees still had some fish to share and were a lot closer.