Steve Martin of Rohnert Park caught this 22# salmon trolling just north of Elephant Rock.

This 18 pound halibut was taken off of Ten Mile Beach yesterday, along with 5 of his friends and a salmon. This photo was submitted by Kristen Hutson.

Pete from Upper Lake caught this 35# smoker on the troll. Biggest fish of the day so far. Happy birthday, Pete!

Kim Fitzgerald fished with the local legend for this pair of salmon to 20 pounds.

Bob Stewart captained the boat but Rob Sereni caught this 28# king off of Bird Rock today. Two other salmon were taken by the crew of the Rosemary as well.

Today's best: 6 halibut to 17 pounds, 6 salmon to 24 pounds. This was submitted by email without a note on where he was fishing. The fleet was working over Elephant Rock pretty heavy and there were fish being caught there but you'll have to earn them. The guys I spoke with described trolling the fleet as "brutal ". The fish are scattered all over, so it may be more fun to fish elsewhere, like McClure's, Tomales Point, Ten Mile, or even the Esteros. Halibut and salmon were caught on the bar and off of Dillon Beach today, so that is also a good option.

Chris Hayes of Lodi caught this 20# salmon. He was aboard the Semper Fi, which had 4 salmon and 2 halibut. They were not in the fleet.

Marty Medin of Inverness (pictured) put his buddy Bob (not pictured) over this 29.5 pound halibut. Live bait put the hook in it. They had one other halibut as well.

Luis "Bimbo" Alvarez of Lodi caught this 28.5 pound salmon while trolling off of McLure's Beach yesterday.
J D Davis and Al Roman caught these 21 and 20 pound salmon in an afternoon bite off of Bird Rock yesterday. The bite died before I could get there after work, but not before quite a few people caught fish. There were a few halibut landed yesterday but nothing like last weeks numbers. The water is warming again, though, so this weekend could be a repeat of last weekend. There were a few more "spoolers" the last couple of days so don't bring undersized gear. If anyone catches a big fish with 150 yards of red PowerPro attached to it, Steve Towne would like at least the gear back.

Salmon at Elephant Rock in 50 to 100 feet of water. This is a good place to go if you like having lots of company. There were party boats from San Francisco fishing the fleet there today. There were fish caught around the perimeter of the fleet, notably on McLure's Beach and the Keyholes. There was also a nice pair of kings to 23 pounds taken off of Bird Rock in 50 feet of water. The halibut bite has slowed way down after the wind blew for two days and cooled the water off. It went from brown to green and dropped 5 degrees. It should warm up by this weekend if the weatherman is correct.

Here's a nice 14 pound halibut caught by Lucas Poller of France. It is my understanding that he caught it at the mouth of Tomales Bay. It is nice to know that the fishing here has international appeal.

Here we have a reader-submitted pair of photos showing the 9 halibut and 5 salmon caught by Jerry DaCruz and company from space D-8. These fish were caught on Saturday, July 23, possibly from Ten Mile Beach.

Gil Mells of Princeton caught this 26# salmon off of Ten Mile yesterday. He was fishing with Ted Anderson and together they landed three salmon in the twenties.
The new fish to beat this year is John Kuhlman's 40 pound beauty. He almost didn't go fishing as things didn't seem to be going his way in the morning. Apparently things turned around.

Here is John Rosasco again, along with Dave Prater in the middle. Their success on Saturday was a mixed blessing, as it led to local legend Gerard Fitzgerald hopping onboard yesterday. The three of them boated 9 halibut on jigs at McLure's Beach, the three largest each weighing 20 pounds.

Steve Werlin of Dillon Beach speared this 27# halibut in very dirty water on the bar on Sunday. He said the water was so murky that he only had a couple feet of visibility but luckily there were a lot of halibut.
Mike Nursement of Colfax caught this 20# salmon on Sunday while mooching on the bar.

Here is John Rosasco of Stockton with a 21# halibut. John and his buddy, Dave Prater, caught 5 halibut on jigs on the bar on Saturday morning and this was the biggest.

There were halibut caught on the bar, at McLure's and on Ten Mile, with at least two boats limiting out on flatties. The divers report fish all over on the bar but the big problem was seeing them in the murk. Salmon were caught in all the same places but were not nearly as numerous as the halibut. There are also some thresher sharks being hooked by boaters off of the beaches.

One boat returned already from Ten Mile with a halibut and two salmon. He was trolling in 30' of water near Abbot's Lagoon.

Halibut action on the bar for some, with catches ranging from 0 to 5. Best results were from white bucktail jigs. There was also a striper caught on live bait. Halibut were also found on McClure's and Ten Mile. I heard of one small salmon caught out in 240' of water.

One salmon over twenty pounds from the bar yesterday, along with the halibut. Today I haven't heard of a salmon but there were several more halibut caught there. One boat had four on live bait. Outside was pretty rough and even the bar was kind of iffy at times. Tomorrow the forecast calls for south wind to 10 knots, so maybe we can get some reports from Ten Mile. Seems like there should be some fish down there.

Two salmon and two halibut landed on the bar yesterday. A few halibut from there today. I haven't heard any recent word on sharks or perch. The wind is blowing offshore and making for some uncomfortable seas on the beach. The forecast is good for Saturday and Sunday. Maybe some more fish pictures then.

The winds offshore have eased and the water is now warming up to 59 degrees and turning brown. Halibut are biting for some on McLure's Beach (numbers from 0 to 7, jigs and live bait) and I would expect there to be some showing on Ten Mile and the bar any time. Unfortunately, the forecast calls for wind later this week. With luck it will stay offshore only and won't push too much cold water onto the beach. A few salmon yesterday, almost all of them from off of the Russian River near 22 and 11.

This is Hunter Hayes of Lodi with his first salmon ever, a 26 pounder. He caught it from his dad's boat, the Semper Fi, at 15 and 7.
Mike Garello of Riverbank and a 21 pound friend, his first board fish of the year.

This is Steve Fisher of Ione and his 27 pound salmon from the Tomales Bay bar on Saturday.
Tom Treadway of Sacramento caught this 24 pound salmon in 80 feet of water near the outer bell buoy.

Here's the new board leader, a 34# beauty caught by Mr Ballinger. He was fishing off of Tomales Point, at 15 and 7. Not a wide open bite but numbers ranged from 0 to 3 per boat with more fish lost than caught. Lots of shorties.

Salmon from west of Tomales Point yesterday, from 1 to 7 miles out. Yes, they were scattered. There was even a 27 pound king caught on the bar, even though the baitfish have mostly moved out. What bait is left is on top of the bar and in the channel. There was a pair of leopard sharks up to 54" taken from near Hog Island. There's a couple of boats looking to see if the halibut are still biting at McLures Beach today. The rockfish bite has been pretty good, not too many school fish but lots of browns and gophers. Lots of small lingcod in the shallows with a few legal ones mixed in.

Halibut on McLure's beach, 30+ feet of water. Doug Koinzan of Lodi caught 2 and lost another. The salmon bite west of Tomales Point apparently has shut down. Most of the salmon boats have run up towards a bite at the river.

Two salmon from the bar today. Maybe it is finally happening.

AJ Masters posed with these 21, 22, and 22.5 pound salmon. These fish, along with a 14 pound salmon, were caught with "local legend" Gerard Fitzgerald. The fish came from due west of Tomales Point, in the same area as several blue and humpback whales. The krill was down deep but the fish were 30 to 40 feet down. Several boats had quick limits of rockfish off of Bird Rock. A halibut was rumored to have been caught on Ten Mile but so far today nothing from the bar. The bar should have fish if it warms up a little, as it has clouds of needlefish rippling across the water. Very fishy, just no fish. Yet.

Offshore wind is still keeping the water mixed up. The Bodega buoy is down but the Pt. Reyes waverider buoy reports 9.2' wind waves every 8 seconds. The weather has been pretty nice right here on the beach but not where it counts for the fishing. Once that wind finally lays down for a week or so we should see some action. There was a salmon caught on the bar today, and a halibut from there yesterday, but a few more fish would sure be nice.

High boat today caught this 19 pound halibut and lost another on the bar. The rumors I repeated yesterday concerning halibut on Ten Mile are probably false, as some very good fishermen worked the beach for a couple of scratched baits at best. The San Francisco boats must be fishing somewhere else between here and there. There have been a few salmon smolts caught on the pier. Hopefully that means good future salmon fishing.

Through different sources, it would appear that there are halibut to be caught on Ten Mile Beach and possibly even on McClure's. I hear there are commercial halibut boats running up to Ten Mile from San Francisco Bay. There was a large salmon lost at the Towers yesterday, but no wide open bite by a long shot. Still a few surfperch on the beach. 

Fish on the beach, specifically the Towers, both halibut and salmon.  Lots of jelly off of Tomales point,  from 30' to 170' of water.  Needlefish on the bar, and the occasional halibut.

Two nice leopard sharks were caught by fishermen in one of our rental boats today. The released a bunch of spiny dogfish sharks and a couple of bat rays as well. There were also two boats bowfishing for sharks this past weekend and they did very well yesterday. Today was slower but not bad.

A few surfperch and a couple of halibut caught this weekend that I heard of. No salmon due to the weather offshore. The clams took a hit on these last good low tides. The clams almost got their revenge, though, when a 12' aluminum boat (which was rated to 545 lbs of persons and gear) holding 10 people turned over right at the pier. There weren't enough pilings for everyone to hold on to, but luckily a couple of boats were close by to haul people to shore. They were very lucky it didn't happen in the middle of the channel, because it would have been a heck of a fight over that one life jacket they had.

Today's report is limited to a few halibut up to 17 pounds right by Hog Island. Drifting live bait caught them all. The action was early, while the tide was low and the water was warmer. The forecast this weekend sounds good for the bay, not so much for outside.