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. 

 

    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.

 

   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.