Very nice salmon from Abbot's Lagoon to Bird Rock, just not a lot of them. Marginally better bite at the Abbot's end, 40-60' of water. Many boats without salmon but those that caught had a good grade of fish. Halibut on Ten Mile beach, McLures and a few back by Hog. Rockfish, non-existant to good depending on who you asked.

More salmon have been landed the last few days. The Alley Cat brought in four today. Dan Crosby limited out by 10:00 AM yesterday. More boats went without salmon than caught salmon, but it's still far better fishing than it was a few weeks ago when there were none. Brown water, 60-65 degrees, bait everywhere, birds working, etc. Just not many hungry fish. Some halibut coming in from everywhere but in the bay. McLure's, Ten Mile, the Keys, etc. have had a few halibut. Wind forecast for the weekend, if it happens and the water cools off we could see a spot of fish on the bar. Rockfishing has been pretty good with some larger lings starting to move in.

John Rosasco with a 24# salmon. John and Tom Gerbi caught 3 salmon, lost a 4th, on monday in 60' of water at the north end of Driftwood beach. Watermelon Krippled Anchovy near the bottom. Again, some boats caught, some not, these gentlemen doing better than most.

Aldo Freggario proving that there's still a few salmon out there. 30#, south of the Trees, anchovie in a clear FBR.

Sunday totals: about half of the boats trying for salmon caught fish. The bite has been early and late, 80 to 140 feet on water, 20 to 100 feet down. I finally caught two last night on my third night of fishing. Three halibut on live sardines at the Keyholes. One on the bar. Rockfish, slow to limits depending on which boat I talked to.

Thankfully, John Kuhlman is a better fisherman than I am a photographer. That's a 40# salmon in his hands. Nice work Mr. Kuhlman.

Terry Brodsky and her 35# salmon. Tom Brodsky (unpictured) caught a 24 pounder. Trees area again.

Vern Sasaki with a 31# dressed salmon. Vern landed this one and another over 20# this morning just below the Trees in 80' of water. At least three boats caught limits of salmon there yesterday and a fair number were caught by some other boats. It's not red hot but the fish are big and biting and it's a lot closer than Eureka. I only heard of two halibut caught yesterday and the rockfish bite was slow for the guys I talked to. If you want a salmon before they hit the river, nows the time.

Bruce Hopperstad of Lodi with a 22 and 30 mooched up in 200' of water. Bruce saw birds working and ran to them, putting his baits 35' down below the boiling baitfish.

Collin Cornett and his first fish, a 30# king from 80' of water, 3 miles from Tomales Point.

Mike Garello with his 44# salmon. Mike was fishing between McLures and the Trees in 65' of water, 50' down on the wire, chartruese Krippled Anchovie loaded with small herring, and also caught a 35# salmon. Looks like there's a few fish around.

Friday saw a strong south wind that made the fishing difficult. One halibut on the bar. Some salmon, 300'-360' of water, down deep. Strong rumors of other, larger salmon from much closer. Brown water inshore and many schools of bait. Good forecast through Wednesday. It's the right time for the salmon to start moving through on their way to the river. Returning boats this afternoon will tell.

Most of the boats are in already (not that many went out) and nobody had a fish. The wind kept everyone in the bay and cooled the water off. Good forecast for the next few days, if it holds we'll see more fish come in.

The water finally browned up today. Too bad the wind is rapidly turning it back to clear and cold. The wind also prevented anyone from getting out today, but a few boats got halibut on the bar. Joe King and Scott McHale had 4 halibut between 8 and 15 pounds. They said they missed a few other bites. All fish on live jacksmelt and lightweight gear. The tides are good for fishing the bar this week even if the water may not be as good. No salmon or rockcod today.

One boat limited on salmon (that's more than one, Got One) in 315' water. Boats on the bar averaged one flatfish per. Rumored halibut off of the front beach. Rockfish bite slow. Shark bite in bay good if you know what you're doing, many leopards, way to many dogfish.

Monday update: Nate Porter caught two albacore, not one. Sorry Mr. Porter.

Sunday report: Heard of a salmon taken at Point Reyes on rockfish gear. One boat limited on salmon at 350' of water, 200' down on the wire (he was fishing alone). Tuna trips: no fish.
Monday report: One boat had two halibut on the bar ( nice work Tom Carter) another had one. Four boats went for albacore today, I spoke with first one back. Congratulations Gerard Fitzgerald, high boat with 6. Gerard claims to have had a quad and two doubles, landing two of four by himself. Nate Porter 1, Tom Gerbi and crew 3, John Brezina, maybe next time. These numbers from Gerard who left early, if they change I will correct the record tomorrow.

Saturday report: One boat had two halibut trolling 10 Mile. Divers shot a few others on the bar. No salmon. Some rockfish. Beautiful weather today, several boats went to Point Reyes for rockfish, two boats went out for albacore, one off the canyon, one towards the Gumdrop. Forecast good for tomorrow as well, other boats talking tuna trip. Report later.

Wind. Cold, clear water. No bait. One halibut from the bar. Less wind forecast for the weekend. No worries, fishing can't get much worse.

Windy today. Six boats went out. The lucky ones caught rockfish. The others, not so much. Please, Mr. Wind, stop. Stop!

Sorry about the wait, I've been waiting for something to report. Here's all I've got: one commercial boat had 3 nice salmon at the Keyholes on Tuesday. That's it. Cold, clear water, no bait, no fish. More wind forecast until Sunday. How about those surfperch?

Sunday totals: 3 halibut on one boat from "the beach", a couple other halibut taken, mostly speared. Some rockfish. No salmon.
Monday totals: a little halibut bite on the bar at the turn of the tide, a white sea bass from Pelican Point, slow rockfish bite, no salmon.

No salmon today. Very few halibut. Probably 30+ divers tried the bar today for a handful of halibut. One boat with 3 halibut from Ten Mile beach and a slow, wet ride home. Windy. A few rockfish caught due to a fast drift. Supposedly better weather tomorrow.

Friday's report: a few salmon, a few halibut, some rockfish. Salmon from the Keyholes and Abbot's Lagoon area, 50' of water, lots of bait and brown water, not to many salmon but more than anywhere else. Halibut caught on both sides of Hog, mostly the south side, live smelt preferred. Rockfish were better in the deeper water if you could slow your drift. Wind forecasted for Saturday, less for Sunday (10-20 knots).

Thursday's fishing was slow for most. Most boats, myself included, went out for salmon and felt fortunate to come home with some rockfish for dinner. Marty Medin landed a 44# salmon at the north parking lot on Ten Mile and a few other salmon were caught but those were the exceptions. A few halibut from the north end of Ten Mile. Slow on the bar and by Hog Island. Thank god for rockfish.

I left work early so I don't know the final totals, but as of 4PM, some salmon were caught, more than on Tuesday, probably from near Point Reyes but I'm not sure. Very slow on halibut. Rockfish, OK. Lings showing up now, especially near Point Reyes. Nathan had 3 albacore caught as close as 31 miles out off of Fanny Shoals. The weather on the outside was choppy enough that raingear had to be worn due to constant spray. Still, first tuna landed at Lawson's Landing in two years.

If there are waves of salmon moving through then this must be the trough. Three salmon that I heard of, a 12# caught just off Tomales Point and two just legal from the Keyholes. Halibut were caught at the turn of the low tide, 2:00-3:30 PM, two boats had 3 fish each. Nathan Porter went out for tuna today, let's hope for some action there. The most consistent action yesterday was surfperch.

A few salmon today, very few halibut. Most boats that didn't include rockfish in their fishing got nothing. One commercial boat had 4 salmon, all big (30+) and said he broke off a few others. Popular opinion here is that, even though it is early August, it is classic late-season salmon fishing. Fish come through in waves, mostly in the shallow water (20-50'), moving north to south, usually near the bottom. Work the reefs, especially the drop-offs. Probably you won't catch, but if you are lucky (always important when fishing) you'll get a big'un. I personally like the late-season bite. If you don't catch, nobody blames you, you're not expected to catch. If you do catch, you're a hero. Who doesn't want to be a hero?

Far less fisherman today, some folks had a hard day yesterday (and some had a harder night). Those few that got lines in the water early caught a salmon or two. The others, not so much. I heard of a few halibut on the bar but didn't see them. Other than that, the only other thing to report is that some people had some gear stolen from their camps last night. The thieves were found by some of the people summering here and most of the property was returned. The rest is in the possession of the Marin County Sheriff's Department, reachable at (415)499-7284. If you had something stolen call them with a description. No guessing.

More Saturday photos

Saturday photos

P. M. Huston with his 43.5 pound salmon from near the Tomales whistle.

I only saw one halibut today. Salmon were much more plentiful, even though a third to half of the boats salmon fishing didn't catch. Those that did catch caught large fish, high teens to mid-forties. At least 3 salmon over 40# came in today, one boat having a 41# and 43# plus two fish in the 30# range. P. M. Huston weighed in a 43.5# king. The water was on the rough side but since the fish were close many people stuck it out. One boat went south of Point Reyes, then discovered that the morning's sloppy weather got worse, preventing his return past the Point. Friends were dispatched to retrieve him. Lesson: don't do that.

Yesterday's final totals were not as good as the early boat's scores. Most boats that fished the 50 foot line had salmon but only a few limited out. The bite was early, slowing after 10:00 AM. Anchovies and watermelon Apex. Halibut was very slow, only one weighed in from the bar (22#) and some divers reported that after 4 hours on the bar they had seen nothing to spear. Rockfish was good at Point Reyes, slower elsewhere. 75+ boats launched today so if there's a good bite somewhere we'll know by this afternoon.

The salmon are biting in 50-90 feet of water, Elephant Rock to Bodega Head, 25' down, anchovies and watermelon Apex. Marsha Engelbrecht shows off her fish up to 33# from off Tomales Point while John Brezina, her netter, shows off his fish.

Salmon returning to the beach?

The best place to fish today was on Don Meier's boat. Four salmon to 42# and limited out before noon. Mr. Meier was in 50' of water off of McLures Beach. So were several other boats, but nobody else came close. Next best that I heard of was two salmon to 33# from the outer bell buoy. Some other salmon came from 50-ish feet of water at Elephant Rock. It's not red hot but the feeling around here is if the wind lays off we should see a good inshore bite by late this weekend or maybe early next week. A few halibut on the bar today and a few others from past Pt. Reyes. Rockfish, slow but steady. Rockfish of note: Stacy Barton's boat brought back a tiger rockfish yesterday and a treefish today. We're interested in seeing what he brings in tomorrow.

The salmon are still out in 300+ feet of water but the fishing is spotty. Some good fisherman limited out ( while sorting through shorties and silvers to get 4 decent fish )while other good fisherman got skunked. Slow halibut fishing by Hog Island but fair fishing on the bar at the turn of the tides. Nathan Porter used a fly rod to land a 29.5# slab in 35' of water in front of the bar. Cameron Vogler reeled in a limit of flatties from the shallows on top of the bar. All halibut caught on jacksmelt. Rockfish is OK, slow steady bite with many short lings and supposedly "endangered" canaries being tossed back.