It's a strange year when the big fish on the board are bass. Tom Brodsky caught this 32# white sea bass off of Ten Mile beach while drifting live bait for halibut. Tom didn't seem too unhappy that he didn't catch any halibut. Those halibut that were caught this weekend came from the Marshall area, 0-3 per boat. Quick limits of rockfish for the early boats today. And dungeness crab season ends on Tuesday.

The halibut are definitely biting back by Marshall. Yesterday two boats had five halibut each, one fished in the morning and the other fished the afternoon. Fish and Game were back on the water again yesterday. While I'm sure you're all trying to follow the regulations to the letter, still, it doesn't hurt to read the book again. Those laws change every year.

Some pretty serious wind has kept most boats off the water until the last few days. The best reports were a double limit of halibut in 90 minutes at Marshall and a sporadic perch bite on the beach. The lowest tides of the year provided some good clamming and cockling in the bay and decent rockpicking for abalone outside. Of note, Fish and Game was out on the water checking boats on Wednesday. Abbers who made honest mistakes while trying to do the right thing (wrote the wrong date on the tag, used the tags out of order, etc.) were advised and corrected. Those who were over limit or had taken short abs were ticketed and had their gear confiscated. Thank you, Game Wardens. 

The rockfish opener went well for most but wasn't red-hot for anyone. Most boats limited out but had to work for them. Halibut back by Inverness and a few on the bar. Very little swell and the water has cleared up for the divers. A very good perch bite (mostly barred with a few red-tails mixed in) on the beach at sundown the last two days. Ghost shrimp was the preferred bait but once the bite got going the fish got less picky.

Rockfish opens Saturday. Finally. The forecast is good: W winds 5 to 10 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. NW swell 3 ft and SW 3 ft. Slight chance of showers. Halibut are still being caught in the back bay, so far back you almost run out of water. There are also rumors of albacore already. Bring on the longfins!