Here's the report that I was trying to post last night when I fell asleep: "Came down to escape the heat and get my Dad Ed out. Glad I brought him so I could get some netting practice. Perch were easy, Halibut were caught all over the bay but only by my Dad. Us other two watchers were impressed. See y’all soon.

Swampy"  Nice fish, and nice job, Ed. The catching has been a bit slow, so it is good to see someone catching some nice fish. Swampy is a fish killer, but it seems that when things look tough, he turns, as many of us do, to people with more experience and better luck. Go Ed. Show 'em how it's done. Actually, maybe you could show me how it's done. 

    In other Wednesday news, the sardines are back and they are thick in the water at the deep hole at Pelican Point. Yesterday there were some big stripers feeding on the sardines judging by the stripers that were successfully landed. Today the sardines were there but no stripers. Gage and I caught some sardines in the hole and then moved off toward Hog Island and caught our four halibut there. One other guy saw us doing that and caught his limit there. I didn't hear of many more, but don't give up; it is possible. The fish are there (somewhere) and they like sardines. A lot.

   Gage would like everybody to know that the stripers are still biting, somewhere out there in the fog. He was using a Redrum tube in pearl white. Stripers care less about water temps. The water is warming up, though, and happiness should be on the way soon. 

     Wind-driven cold water has slowed the halibut bite in the bay north of Hog Island, but, not killed it. A few biting fish remain. Trip Plumb and Rich Chapin caught a 22 pound halibut off of Dillon Beach proper today. They were trolling live jacksmelt. They also hooked and released a 14 pound salmon (Their estimation, and as long-time commercial fishermen, their guess at weight is probably gilled and gutted.) and a 100+ pound sea lion, also released. Actually the marine mammal released itself, although I have been reassured that Rich and Trip didn't want it and were planning on releasing it anyhow. They also said that their combined 174 years of fishing experience was the main reason for their success. I don't have enough years of experience to argue that, even if I wanted to.

    Other halibut fishermen had mixed reviews. Catch numbers have ranged from a lot of zeros to four in the box. Success, numberwise, seemed to increase south of Hog, as the water was warmer there and the fish were more active. But the larger ones lived north, as usual. just not plentiful. as usual. Bait catching, depending on who you asked, ranged from nearly impossible to easy with the majority in the hard category.

    Rockfish, now that the wind has died and you can get there again, have been a bit slow as 49º water makes everybody a bit sluggish. As the worst of the wind lays off the next few days we should see a corresponding interest in eating by these fish, too.  Luckily, stripers are less concerned with water temp and more concerned with eating, God love 'em. They bit this morning, and Cameron almost outfished me. Almost. The old man still has a few tricks, but not many. But all I need is one.

 

    The weather was bad yesterday and the forecast was for better weather today. Instead, we got crappier, foggier, windier weather. It was more than a little disappointing. John Rosasco was more than a little disappointed to drive all early morning in the dark to get here and discover that the wind was blowing, and blowing pretty hard. He tried some spots that weren't biting in the wind, and then tried one more, right across from the boathouse. He hit it during the turn of the tide and hooked this personal best 34 pound halibut on a jig. The fish would look larger except for the fact that John is a large man. If you know John, this picture is "Damn! What a fish." Otherwise, the fish seems small next to him. John is known here as Jigger John, as he has been jigging up halibut since well before jigging was cool (if it ever was). It sure worked for this fish, and countless others over the years. If success is cool, then John here is making jigging cool. Nice damn fish, John. Nobody else even tried to weigh in a fish today. It sucked. Except for Jigger John.

 

    As usual I missed some things. Here's a makegood as re-submitted by Tom Carter: "While Nolan was catching those halibut down the bay last Tuesday we were fishing on the bar in 62 degree filthy water with our grandson Ezra Rock from Santa Cruz and picked up these two fish!" This is before the wind hit. Good job, Carters, and I heard thirdhand that Ezra was almost pulled from the boat by one of these fish. Only almost. Clearly Ezra stayed in the boat and landed the fish. Nice job, Ezra, but as a story teller, it sounds more awesome when you're actually dragged over the side. Wear your life jacket, Ezra, as I like a good story but I like you more. 

    George Lowery sent over this report today: "White sea bass caught near hog today " This is not the only keeper white seabass caught today. It might be the largest. But if you've never caught a white seabass your personal best (probably shorty) is waiting for you here.

 

    Most of this week's reports were bad. Very few halibut were caught. A few guys did okay, but most did not. Here's one happy story: "Nolan's got a couple so far this morning", this morning being Tuesday morning. Nice work, Nolan, and thanks for the report, Mason. Mason, and also, Nolan, are masters of live bait fishing. In Tomales Bay, that also means live bait catching. Nolan has it figured out. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, it seems.

    I took Chris Brown (Bigfoot Baits) and Pieter Jones (Redrum Baits) out for an after work trip on Tuesday. The stripers didn't really put in an appearance for us. Well, not quite true; we saw a few rolling and chasing bait but only one stuck to a hook. So we went for a quick halibut drift. Fricking Chris caught two before I could get my line in the water. It was kinda humbling. Well, not kinda. Humbled am I. But a fair gaffer I am, as well.

   

    Tom Brodsky sent me this picture yesterday. He and his fishing partner caught four stripers, keeping the two smallest. They also went on to catch two halibut, all on tube jigs. Nice fish, Tom and crew. I was out with Pieter and my brother-in-law, Greg Ladner. We caught one striper and three halibut to 25 pounds (Pieter). There had been a tremendous striper bite on Wednesday and I expected it to continue, but the fish had other plans. Where they had been, they now weren't, and where they were yesterday, for a little bit, was on the beach. The surf guys were catching the stripers and the boat guys really weren't. It seems that a school of stripers pushed a school of baitfish up against the beach and then had their way with them. Gage got a call from surf fishing buddy and suddenly he was gone from the lineup of boats. He anchored his (actually he borrowed my) boat on the inside of Sand Point and he and his crew ran across the point to cast into the surf from the beach. It worked.

    Gage's crew: Travis Franceschi caught a 22 pound halibut and Todd Damrosch caught a 21 pound striper, both in the surf. They and Gage also released three stripers, only one of which was caught from the boat. Nice fish, boys, and both of those fish are bucket list. 20+ pound striper from the surf? On the list. Any halibut from shore? Also on the list. 20+pounder? My bucket runneth over. Jealous? Yes I am. Gage says they're top boat. I think Brodsky is. Also, both Tom Brodsky and I caught our fish from the boat. IMHO, you can't be top boat while standing on the beach....

   Today's reports were worse, as the wind has cooled off the ocean and that cold water is seeping into the bay. After 61º water, a shot of 50º water is sure to give the fish lockjaw, and even the surf fishermen are getting ice cream headaches when the wind blows off of the water. There were still a few halibut and stripers caught today, though. Wear a stocking cap and throw Kastmasters and tubes.