It is still possible to catch enough Dungeness for dinner but you'd better have a backup plan just in case. Inside Tomales Bay is probably the best bet, but not by a large margin. The rockfishing is excellent and the lingcod have finally come in to spawn. Rockfish closes on Sunday night and the weather should be good this weekend so if you want any more fish this year, now's the time.

According to the news reports the Dungeness crabbing is very slow. They are correct. There are some sport-sized crabs to be caught, not many, but people are catching a few for dinner. There are probably as many being caught in the bay as out at Ten Mile. The rockfishing was very slow during the nice weather last weekend but has drastically improved since. On Wednesday three boats limited on rockfish in 90 minutes. The best bite was pushing the 120' mark from Elephant Rock south.

More effort than success to report. Most people crabbing are catching enough for a nice crab dinner as long as there aren't too many guests. Ten Mile beach is loaded with crab pots, sport and commercial. The outer bay has a bit less effort and even less crab. Tomales Bay proper has had a pretty good showing, especially for a slow year. I had felt pretty good last Tuesday with 8 crabs for 8 pots on Ten Mile until I spoke to a man who had landed 6 crabs with two pots on the pier. Rockfishing is slow for most but a large number of mackerel and sardines are off of Ten Mile so fresh bait is available and fun to catch on light tackle.

The weather was great on Friday and most of Saturday, giving crabbers and fishermen a chance to go outside the bay. The outer bay held a few legal Dungeness and many, many short ones. Ten Mile beach was very particular about where the pots were placed and what the pots were baited with. Apparently, hanging bait is great if you want starfish and red crab. Otherwise, stick with squid. Rockfish catches varied from quick limits of quality fish for some to others scratching for a few keepers. Elephant reef seemed to be the most reliable place to catch decent numbers.

The ocean has flattened out and boats are makingit to Ten Mile beach for dungeness crab. A few have limited out but most are able to get dinner and not much more. I landed 8 times as many crabs today as on my first trip out last season (that makes 16 crab today) so I think it's a better year. The numbers (such as they are) probably won't last too long beyond the commercial season's opening on the 15th, but judging by the numbers of just barely undersized crabs we returned (and the reports of others) maybe there will be some sport crab around in June 09. At least next year's opener looks good. For this year, there are a few in the outer bay and more on Ten Mile. The numbers were better the further south the pots were and 50-60 feet of water had better returns than 100-120. Starfish were a menace. Rockfishing was slow to slower but if you move around enough you can find some that are biting.

The weather was not very pleasant for the dungeness opener. Quite a few people braved the wind and rain to try for crabs from the pier, and while there were legal sized dungeness taken by some, most folks had to be content with some red crab for dinner. The forecast has the weather laying down later in the week so maybe we'll have some better reports for next weekend.