Bob Wilson of Petaluma shows off his 28# halibut. Unfortunately, it dwarfed Marty Medin's 18# halibut which caused Marty to hide his face. Both fish bit live sardines drifted in front of the parking lot at Dillon Beach, "where all the boats are."
Tom Brodsky, Tom Gerbi, and Lance Seppi with a 24# albacore caught "south of Cordell". Not bad for a noon start and back by 4:45pm.

The sardines and mackerel are still abundant in the bay but the halibut bite has slowed to almost nothing. Maybe they're full. A few halibut are coming from in front of Dillon Beach. Ten Mile Beach also had some action, mostly from the North parking lot to the old Coast Guard lifesaving station. Lots of needlefish schooling along the beach in that area. Krill were jumping out of the brown-tinted water out in 25 fathoms. There's enough feed out there that even the rockfishing is on the slow side. Most boats that tried had slow limits of overstuffed browns, coppers and gophers. Tuna water starts at 19 miles out. Four albacore were caught just outside of the Point Reyes waverider buoy. The forecast is good so go get some feathers wet this weekend.

Halibut in the bay from Pelican Point to Marconi. Live bait seems to be the ticket, although trollers are still catching as well. The schools of bait have thinned out a bit but good numbers of sardines can still be caught in the deeper holes. No reports from outside the bay this week due to the weather. Good forecast this weekend, though, so maybe I'll have something good to tell you on Sunday.

Sharon Mason caught a 15# white sea bass on Sunday, along with some halibut. The baitfish are still in the bay which still makes it the top place to fish. Some halibut from Ten Mile over the weekend but most of the effort (and the catching) came from Hog Island and points south.

Quick update:  Don Lindsey of Esparto landed a 32# halibut at Hog Island. There were 4 other halibut in the boat with Don and his fishing partner. Maybe Hog Island would be a good place to try?

The sardines and mackerel are scattered throughout the bay. A pretty good number of greedy halibut are still getting hooked despite their gorging on baitfish. Another bass appearance, this one a 12# striper from the Marshall. Ten Mile beach handed one boat five halibut this morning, so the bay isn't the only option for flatties. The rockfish have also been biting pretty well with some boats limiting in an hour or two. The wind is forecast to blow but the bay should be fishable for most of this weekend.

And the bass retake the lead on the big fish board at Lawson's Landing. Carl Perrigo landed a 26# white sea bass on Thursday. Aside from the fact that it bit a Zoom fluke and was caught in the bay, the only other information from Carl was that it tasted real good. The halibut have been biting off and on near Marshall. If you find the schools of sardines and mackerel then the halibut (and maybe seabass?) aren't too far away. From the weather forecast, the bay looks like the best (or only) bet.

Lawson's Landing's first tuna of the season were landed here on Sunday. The boats went to the Gumdrop seamount. Another boat landed five tuna a bit closer, 16 miles below Cordell. The wind came up and is keeping the rest of the tuna safe for now. The rockfishing was good with a 15 pound ling landed here on Sunday. Halibut fishing was hit-and-miss as was the surfperch bite. The halibut divers have been spearing a few on the bar. There aren't many halibut there but the few that are coming in have been twenty pounds or more.

The halibut bite in the mouth of the bay is finally starting. It's not red hot yet, and the divers aren't seeing any, but yesterday the Carters landed a 23 and 26 pound halibut there. Better numbers of  halibut are coming from further in the bay, mostly south of Pelican Point to Marshall, but the bar fish are larger on average. A few halibut were caught at McClures Beach and on Ten Mile Beach as well. Fair to good rockfish action outside with some nice vermillion and coppers showing.