On Wednesday one of the regular pier crabbers caught 7 Dungeness in his first pull of the morning. Thursday, another regular caught 13 in his first pull and landed two more throughout the rest of the day. Most everyone else were catching far less, but at least we know that the crabs are here. Boaters on the bay are consistently catching a few Dungies. Outside, the outer bay is definitely showing signs of wear with numbers and size both dropping. You can still count on catching dinner, at least.

The crabbing is still ok but definitely not red hot. Dungeness numbers in the bay continue to drop with most people still catching a keeper or two but not many limits. The pier catching is erratic with some days being pretty good but the majority of days are slow. The outer bay still has a good quantity of keepers, if you can get there past the bar. The swell has been large and the bar has been breaking, so think twice before trying shoot outside. It is much better to eat crab than have them eat you.

The good news is that there are less commercial crab pots down on Ten Mile. The bad news is that they're leaving because the number of crabs is dwindling. My catch for Saturday was 26 Dungeness in seven pots in a three-hour soak. We limited on rockfish and caught three lingcod. The outer bay was showing signs of wear as well, with sizes and numbers dropping. Inside the bay was business as usual with some guys doing well and others lucky to catch a few reds.

So far today two guys have limited out on Dungeness on the pier. Also, if anyone is interested, there is a whale in the bay, directly across from the pier. You can crab and whale watch.

There were some nice rockfish landed yesterday with some of the blues weighing five pounds. They were caught "out off of Ten Mile" along with some nice Dungeness. The outer bay had Dungeness limits for the guys soaking gear there, but you can tell that there has been over five weeks of high-grading going on. The average size isn't nearly as impressive as it had been. The pier is still pretty good if you know what you're doing.

The crab bite is slowing down out in the ocean. Yesterday's totals from the four boats that went out, each with two guys, ranged from limits of mostly sport-legal crab on the high side to a low of four. Ten Mile had crab for me last weekend but only barely. We averaged 6 crabs per pot for seven pots on a three-hour soak. The rockfishing was good and we limited out while we waited for the crabs. Some of the best results were off the pier yesterday with at least two people catching limits and the others catching dinner. The early crabber today had three Dungeness by 8AM. Your results may vary, but these midweek pier guys are doing as well or better than the boaters.

We're having some of the nicest weather of the year and there is hardly anyone here to enjoy it. The crabbing on the pier slowed down again, probably due to the fast currents, but there's still a few keepers coming in. If you run down to Ten Mile be prepared to dodge a lot of buoys. I heard that there's 500 pots just by the Keyholes (Kehoe Beach). There's still good numbers of crab down there, but probably not for long.

Here's a firsthand report from last weekend: "My contribution today is spent 3 hours with 2 traps and a snare around Marker “10” and got skunked! (well aside from some undersize rock crab and a humongous starfish..).  How can crab be so fickle?" Unfortunately the crab is like wealth; it is unevenly distributed. 

Here's my sons, Cameron and Gage, with today's catch. Cam got a 4.5# copper and Gage caught his first ling (Cam's first gaff job). We limited out on Dungeness on Ten Mile and caught half limits of rockfish in two hours. Other folks did well on the rockfish in front of Bird Rock. There were some nice Dungeness caught on the pier this weekend, but as usual, some did well and others, not so much.

Apparently the crabs were just waiting for everyone to go home. I saw one limit come off the pier by lunchtime today and most of the other buckets have Dungeness in them as well. Steve Towne landed a limit from his boat in the bay before 9:00 AM and another boat landed four limits before 1:00 PM. The currents have slowed down this week, so that might have something to do with the good crabbing as well. Great weather today and more forecast for the weekend.

I saw a beautiful 7"+ Dungeness landed on the pier yesterday morning. He must have been waiting for the crowd to leave before he made his move. The pier is the emptiest it's been for over a month. The campground and store will remain open over the winter. Looks like some great weather this weekend. The commercial fishermen settled on a price for their crab so there will be a lot more buoys to dodge on the ocean and probably a few less jumbo crab available.

The Dungeness crabbing slipped a little more this week. The best report from the pier was a from a fellow that caught six on his best day but was averaging three a day for the week, all on snares. Boaters in the bay were still catching dungies, but the sweet spots are getting smaller and less sweet. The outer bay is showing signs of wear, including empty pots and females with eggs. You can still catch limits out there but you definitely need to tend the gear and move pots that aren't producing. Even Ten Mile can take some effort.

The crabbing is slowing down inside the bay, especially on the pier. The strong currents throughout most of the day probably aren't helping. The strong winds and large swell are making the ocean a definite no-go. Friday looks good for boating weather but tomorrow will still probably be best for eating turkey. Happy Thanksgiving, whatever you end up doing.

This is my son Gage with his crab catch of the day. It was furry and I believe related (distantly) to king crab and box crab. Here's a close-up:

If anyone can put a name to this critter I'd sure appreciate it. 

The Dungeness crabbing this weekend was a bit slower in the bay. The pier was definitely better for those using crab snares instead of traps or nets. 

There were at least two limits of crab taken from the pier yesterday, one limit by a crabber working three traps and one by a crabber working crab snares. The outer bay produced well for the guys crabbing there yesterday, and the reef off the end of Tomales Point has some nice lingcod available for those that know how to fish it. Live smelt would likely work, as well as slow trolling large herring as near the bottom as you can afford.

Good weather so far today, but there's a big swell and a chance of rain for the next few days. There's still crab in the bay, at least. Outside, the outer bay is still good and Ten Mile is fantastic, especially near Abbott's Lagoon. I got a limit of 7"+ Dungeness there yesterday from two pots soaked two hours. The rockfishing was just okay.

Randy from Carson City went home Sunday, so the rest of us have a chance on the pier. There were a couple of jumbos caught there yesterday that Randy missed. The bay still has crab but you definitely need to find the right spot to do well. Don't be afraid to move around if you aren't catching. The outer bay still has quite a few crab but it helps to work your gear a bit to keep the bait fresh and move the pots to the sweet spots. Ten Mile beach has a lot of Dungeness but the numbers may not hold for long, especially after commercial season starts. One crabber dropped five pots near Abbott's Lagoon on Saturday. He checked them in four hours and had an average of 22 crab per pot. He freshened the bait, reset the pots, and returned on Sunday for an average of 9 crab per pot. That's still plenty of crab, but it doesn't look like there is quite as many crab as Fish and Game had projected. The rockfishing over the weekend was slow.

The weather was wet and windy for most of today, but that didn't stop people from crabbing. The pier was the same as it's been with a few doing well and everyone else watching. The bay kicked out a nice grade of crab for the boaters that weren't afraid to get tossed around a bit. The ocean had lots of Dungeness but even larger swells breaking across the mouth of the bay. Only two boats went out and both made it back. The second boat rescued a couple of kayakers that got a little more fun than they bargained for.

This picture is from late June of this year but it demands to be seen. On a one hour soak, Randy from Carson City pulled up 37 Dungeness in this pot alone. 8 were big, legal males, 23 were legal-sized females with eggs and the rest were short. Only the legal males were kept. His other pot had 25 Dungeness. This, at the end of the season when the crabbing was "no good." So far today, Randy has 9 keepers from the pier. The outer bay is still kicking out lots of crab but there's a few females starting to show up in spots.

Ten Mile has lots of Dungeness. Nate Porter set four pots for a two and a half hour soak and had to throw back eighty keepers. He had tears in his eyes while telling the story. The outer bay is still good and there's decent numbers of crab inside Tomales Bay, but it sounds like there's no waiting at the big beach.

So far today about 15 Dungeness have been caught on the pier. Unfortunately for everyone else, 13 of those crab were caught by one man. He will be watched closely.

Christian Valenti, pictured, and friends caught 42 Dungeness and 38 rock crab on Saturday, and 39 Dungeness and 6 rocks today. All were caught inside the bay, from a boat. The outer bay in 50 to 75 feet of water is holding a lot of crab, but probably not as many as last year.

Yesterday's revised totals: the pier was only good for a very select few with most people catching nothing. The beach casters had a little better distribution on their crabs but nobody really loaded up, at least that I spoke with. Boaters in the bay had widely varied success, with catches ranging from 0 to 41 Dungeness. One of our rental boats landed 18 Dungeness. There were crab pot raiders working other people's gear, so watch your gear closely. Make sure your name is on your gear. The outer bay had really good numbers of crab for those that dared the bar crossing. Today looks bad for trips outside with a forecast of 10 to 13 foot seas.

The lucky crabbers are getting some nice Dungeness on the pier (which opens at 7am). There's a few coming in from the shore casters with snares as well, but so far the average is 0 to1. The boaters are doing better but there's no guarantee of success that way either. One boater returned before noon with a limit from around channel marker 5, very pretty crabs but a little light. The crabs hadn't filled in after the recent molt. The ocean is better than yesterday when a boat got swamped and sank on the bar, but it still isn't quite nice out there either. The three sunken boaters were rescued by a passing boat.

Here's part of a press release from Fish and Game regarding the Dungeness crab opener on Saturday: "The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) reminds sport crabbers that traps and nets for Dungeness crab may not be set before 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 5.

"Crab populations appear to be robust this year, especially in Central California, coming off a record harvest during the 2010-11 season," said DFG Senior Environmental Scientist Pete Kalvass, who oversees the Invertebrate Management Project. "This could mean another great season for recreational crabbers."

Crab pots (or traps), loop traps and hoop nets are all popular methods for catching the tasty crustacean. New regulations this year require hoop netters to raise their nets to the surface to inspect the contents of the net at least every two hours. Any undersized crabs and incidentally caught fish and invertebrates can then be more quickly released. The main purpose of the new regulation is to ensure that each fisherman closely monitors his or her gear and does not allow any equipment to be abandoned in state waters. Trap fishermen should also closely monitor their traps because lost trap gear can continue to fish and adversely impact the fishery by becoming a self-baiting "crab killer". "

One 14 pound halibut out of a kayak today. The water is cold and clear but this fish didn't care.

Update: Two halibut today, one caught off of Dillon Beach and one speared in the clear water on the bar. The one boat that went for rockfish had no bites until he started slow trolling for lingcod, then he caught three lings and a cabezon. There was another reel-screaming hook-straightener off of Dillon Beach parking lot as well.

Not too much to report on. Sharks in the bay, leopards mostly, and one boat got spooled/hooks straightened three times off of Dillon Beach yesterday afternoon. Lots of Dungeness crab in the bay. Today is the last day of salmon season. Rockfish ends on December 31st, so at least you can fish for them while you're soaking crab pots. Historically, the rockfishing gets good this time of year.

A while back I posted on here for the Dillon Beach Tuna Club. They had a few spots open for a long range trip and were looking for someone to fill them. Here's a taste of what you missed:

 Rob Serini and Steve Towne hoist a pair of nice yellowtail (hamachi to you sushi lovers).

Wally Frei poses here with his yellowfin tuna while Bob Warren fishes in the background.

Not a recently caught fish, but a photo recently submitted by Chad Hansen. I don't know how much the halibut weighed but I think we can guess that it bit a jacksmelt. This victory is from July 2007.

One halibut was caught in the bay on Thursday and a halibut was caught at Abbott's lagoon today. Not too many fish in the report, but not too many fishermen either. The water turned very clear in the bay in the last 24 hours, so it should be a good opportunity for divers on the bar. Lots of Dungeness cycling through the nets on the pier, many of them large, so things still look good for the opener in two weeks.

I didn't see any fish come in yesterday or today, but then again, there haven't been many fishermen either. The water is still warm and brown outside. Actually it was too brown for the divers that tried the bar on Tuesday. The didn't see any halibut, but that's not really a surprise since they could barely see the bottom. There were a couple of halibut caught on Ten Mile on Tuesday but Wednesday's wind prevented a repeat performance.

Here is Herb Hansen of Dillon Beach with his 35 pound white sea bass. He lost the other sea bass but caught three halibut. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but that's a smug expression on Herb's face.

When someone calls in to the shop on the VHF and asks what the limit is on white sea bass, I'm not sure whether to answer him honestly or just call him the names running through my head. Apparently, right now Herb Hansen is somewhere on Ten Mile with a sea bass on board and another hooked. The beach produced only halibut for the boats that tried the past couple of days, although a few salmon were hooked and lost. The bar and the bay had a few halibut over the weekend, but not as many as earlier in the week. There's been at least one caught today, so far. Yesterday a couple of the local divers tried for abalone on Tomales Point and found a lot of empty cracks and crevices but only two keepers. Apparently the red tide affected the abs here as well.

More halibut from the bar today. One boat caught two and missed five bites. Divers speared a few as well. The weather looks good for the weekend with light wind and small seas forecast for the area.

Nancy Burgenger caught her first halibut today while fishing with Denny Rhodes. It bit a live jacksmelt. There were five halibut caught on the bar today and two from Hog Island, all on live smelt but one. The loner hit a white bucktail jig.

There's a big, dangerous sea outside today, but that's okay, because the halibut were in the deep hole inside the bar, and they were hungry. Two boats fished there with three fishermen and landed eight halibut, four on live smelt and four on jigs.

Three divers tried the bar today and top shot was Dr. Steve Werlin with an 18 pound halibut. There were five halibut speared on the bar yesterday. Actually, four were speared and one was stunned by a shot that did not penetrate the skin. Dave Cerini, the failed shooter, grabbed the stunned halibut by the gills and brought him to the boat, all while free diving.  

Pius Kuhn of Lodi caught this 34 pound salmon off of Bird Rock today. This was his only bite. So far, the radio report from Ten Mile sounds slow.

John Morozumi caught this 24# salmon off of Tomales Point today. He was trolling near the bottom in 60' of water. There were a few halibut and a striper caught on the bar, all on live bait. The water was not nice today.

No salmon landed this week, but no salmon fishing either. The rain kept most people off the water, but the two boats that fished the bar caught halibut. A pair of divers said the visibility was pretty bad on Tuesday but still speared three halibut. The water is still warm and brown, so, weather permitting, the fish should still be out there.

Top boat for Sunday was John Rosasco and Dave Prater of Stockton with 6 halibut and a salmon. All the fish came from Ten Mile and were caught while jigging. There was a limit of salmon and a few other singles from the Towers area. Another boat had three salmon while trolling in the area of Bird and the Trees. All in all, quite a bit of salmon action for October.

This one's not a keeper but it's sure a looker. This sunfish (mola) was about 6 feet long, which is pretty large for one around here. They can get much larger, up to 14 feet long and over 5000 pounds. This is one of the few critters that eat jellyfish, so if you see one, please leave it alone to go do his job. They've got a lot of eating to do.

Yesterday's catch numbers ran from 0 to 8 fish landed, with the average being around 2 fish. On Ten Mile there were more halibut taken than salmon, but the top boat from here (the local legend) had an even mix of 4 salmon and 4 halibut. McLure's had nothing to offer but seaweed but the bar had a few halibut for the determined few that fished it. The south wind blew pretty strong through the middle of the day making fishing difficult, especially for the guys that drift. The weather looks better today but not too promising after that.

Ten Mile had salmon and halibut but not a lot of either. Numbers ran 1 to 3 fish per boat. One fisherman limited quickly on salmon, then spent three hours trying for halibut, while two others caught halibut but couldn't catch a salmon. The best action was on the bar in the Carters' boat, where they caught four halibut to 23 pounds and a salmon. The rockfish cooperated for all that tried for them.

A salmon and a halibut from the bar today, and a couple of lingcod from off the point. The salmon was trolled up and the halibut bit a bucktail (hawg raiser) jig. The south wind prevented anyone from going down to Ten Mile, so no report from there until tomorrow. Good weather forecast for tomorrow and Saturday.

   Greg Ladner caught this 24.5 pound salmon off of the Towers yesterday. There were two other salmon in the boat as well, all caught in 50 feet of water (because sometimes the waves broke in 40 feet). There was a huge swell on Ten Mile but the bar was just periodically lethal. A 25 pound halibut was caught on dead bait across the bay from the pier by Kathy Larson. The ocean is way happier today and there is at least one boat fishing the Towers, so perhaps a good report will be available later.
   On another note, California DFG just started a new mobile website so that you can check up on MPA fishing areas and closures from your Apple or Android smartphone. The website is: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/m/MPA .

Two halibut from the bar today, both on jigs. Another boat tried trolling by Marshall but no bites. Big swell today, so nobody went outside to play. Maybe tomorrow.

A good fisherman tried the bar and caught a salmon and two halibut, plus lost another halibut, all at the turn of the tide. Another good fisherman tried out McLure's today with no success. My guess is that there will be a few more boats on the bar tomorrow.

While it was slower for some yesterday, at least one boat caught limits of halibut and salmon at the Towers. He said he didn't have to get too close to catch them. There were a few other salmon caught yesterday, but none large enough to hang on the scale. A few halibut from the bar and outer bay.

The swell is less today but the fishing is slower too, so it kind of evens out. That didn't stop John Rosasco of Stockton from catching this 26# white sea bass on a jig. John was fishing at McLure's and landed a halibut as well.

There's a big, scary swell  making the bar break occasionally, and the weeds are bad in most places, but there are still salmon and halibut coming in. The salmon came from Ten Mile in the general vicinity of the Towers and from the outer bay near the south estero. Two boats fished the schools of bait near the estero; one limited on nice-sized fish and the other never had a bite. One striper landed on the bar. Halibut came from Ten Mile, McLure's and the bar, but great caution is advised in all three places due to breaking waves. No halibut is worth your life. This is the situation we get every couple of years when the swells the halibut bite happen at the same time. This is the halibut's chance to get even. Don't let them. If it seems like the fish are too shallow to be safe, they probably are.

The salmon were biting on the bar, off Bird Rock and off McLure's beach on Tuesday. On Wednesday, aside from a salmon on the bar, the bite shut down north of Elephant. The fish moved down to the Towers yesterday with boats fishing there landing from 1 to 6 salmon, some of them in the 20's. Today the swell is up and no boats have launched from here, so no telling if the fish are still there. There were a few halibut landed at the Towers and a couple of fish jigged up in the bay but nothing on the bar. The water is 57 to 59 degrees and brown and the needlefish are there, so there should be halibut. If only the fish knew that.

Vern Sasaki and Jerry Knedel caught these 22# and 30# halibut while drifting live bait on McLure's but they chose not to model them. They had Nathan Porter stand in for them. And yes, the weather is so nice that Nathan is wearing shorts. Where are you?

 Bob King caught this 20.5 pound king salmon while trolling bait with no flashers yesterday.

Gage Vogler reeled in this 13.5 pound "good fighter" while fishing with Lance Seppi. Gage said they were fishing on Ten Mile and caught their fish on "bag bait" without flashers.

Fall is here and most of the summer crowd has gone home, so the locals are reclaiming their old roosts. There are less boats on the water but the fishing is still decent with boats averaging half-limits of salmon this weekend. One boat had five halibut and two salmon from McLure's Beach yesterday.

McLure's, the Keyholes, and the north end of Ten Mile had some decent salmon action yesterday with fish up to 21 pounds landed. The vast majority of fish were 25" to 27" long, but any legal fish is a good fish in my book. Just enough halibut were landed to prove that they still exist. The bar was marginally the hot spot with a few fish from the deeper holes. The rockfish bite was ok. A boat fishing in the bay (he wouldn't say where) landed a couple of nice leopard sharks.

Good sailing weather forecast for the weekend. Fishing, less so. The water temp outside has dropped 5 degrees since Wednesday. The mouth of the bay had a water temp of 51 and was clear. The only catching I heard of today was a couple of salmon from Abbott's Lagoon, and the two guys that caught the fish looked beat up and hypothermic. The National Weather Service's experimental pinpoint forecast suggests that it may be fishable near shore this weekend, but not comfortable.

If anyone is looking to fill their freezer with tuna and yellowtail, there are still two spots open for the Dillon Beach Tuna Club's charter on the 92' Shogun. It's a five day trip out of San Diego, October 20-25 2011, and will run $1743.65 (that includes Mexican fishing permits and 15% tip). If you are interested see Nate in the Landing shop, call (707)878-2244, or email him at longfin63@gmail.com .

The halibut are biting on the bar and on Ten Mile, not hot, but not too bad either. There has been a sporadic salmon bite in the Tomales Point to the Trees area. Tuesday there were quick limits there. Today the keyholes had a flurry of salmon activity, as well as on Ten Mile from Abbot's Lagoon to two miles north, 30 to 70 feet of water. I didn't hear of any big salmon but the time is right for a few trophies to be passing through.

The divers found halibut to 33# on the bar today, but the fishermen couldn't get them to bite. Some nice salmon were taken at McClure's and Ten Mile (north parking lot) again. Quite a few jellyfish on McClure's too, but that's really only a problem when you aren't catching.

  Jim Stewart caught this 22 pound salmon while fishing with Dave Pile. It should have been a 23 pounder, but a sea lion tried to steal the fish from Jim but only ended up with a bite.
   There was a decent salmon bite at Abbott's/the Towers and some nice ones caught on McLure's. There were halibut on the bar, but also dogfish shark and a lot of weeds, so you had to earn the flatties. There were a few halibut caught on Ten Mile as well, with some of the salmon fishermen catching a halibut or two.

AJ caught this one today on Ten Mile. 24 pounds, caught on the troll.

Even when the conditions are bad, a good fisherman can still coax up a few fish. Here's two halibut from across the bay and a ling from Bird. Pictured are Fred Meyer, AJ Masters and Steve McKinney.

I'm sure most of you abalone divers have already heard about the die-off, but just in case you haven't, here's a link for more info: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110907/articles/110909674?p=1&tc=pg So far, it would appear that the abalone here haven't been affected, but I think it would be safe to assume that there may be different regulations regarding abalone next year.

Here's Scott Mason with a limit of salmon he caught while trolling last Saturday, 9/3. The big one weighed 22 pounds.

For those of you unfamiliar with some of my landmarks, here's a cheat sheet.

Good halibut bite on the bar and across the bay from the pier. Too bad the weather is making it unfishable. Outside there's a big sea and there's a strong south wind blowing straight across the bay making the drifts short and fast. There have still been some fish landed, though. Yesterday the Shut Up and Fish landed five halibut across the bay, three of them 20 to 21 pounds.

The last couple of days saw a nice salmon bite at the south end of Ten Mile, from the old Coast Guard lifesaving station down, and a better bite at Bird Rock. The Bird action only lasted for a day but it was close and steady, while the Ten Mile bite was a few short flurries. McLure's had some halibut and a few salmon as well, including a 26# salmon yesterday. Probably the best bet is still trolling between the Trees and outer red buoy in 40 to 60 feet of water, as close to the bottom as you can afford. The fish aren't stacked up in there but they are definitely passing through. There was a great halibut bite on the bar early in the week but it fizzled out by Wednesday when even the divers couldn't find any. A few were back yesterday but not like they had been. Catching bait has been quite a chore for the halibut fishermen, so be prepared to start extra early in order to catch enough. The rockfishing has been as slow as it gets for most people trying.

Most of the fishermen that worked the beach caught fish yesterday, mostly halibut but some salmon were mixed in. There are still a few salmon right out front, like the 23# salmon that was caught right by the outer red buoy. Tom Cook caught this 24# salmon, above, in the same area the day before.

Dave Prater of Stockton caught this 20# lingcod yesterday. While we've seen a lot of lings coming in this year, not many of them even approach this size. Dave finessed it with a 3/4 ounce jig on a light rod.

It is hard to believe that out of the 12 halibut caught by this crew, none placed in the tournament. I guess eating a lot of halibut is pretty good consolation. Pictured is Dave Prater, Brandon Kundert, Jim Van Ruiten and John Rosasco. Apparently, jigging for halibut works.

First Place and $1080 went to Aldo Freggario with this 26 pound flatty. The BBQ after was good fun and a nice way to remember our friends. There were many fish stories told, and a few of them were even true. A lot of people are looking forward to the 2nd Annual Tournament. 

 Second Place and $360 went to Harolyn Nelson with this 19# halibut from the bar.

 The 1st Annual Ivan "Doc" Hayes and Charley "2Duck" Kundert Halibut Fishing Tournament & BBQ is over and a lot of fun was had by all. Third Place went to Jerrie Carter with this 18 pounder. She won a Penn 320GT2 reel.

Yesterday saw some good salmon and halibut fishing for some and nothing for some others. Team Fogal landed 9 halibut and 5 salmon for 3 fishermen at the south end of Ten Mile, but according to the radio, so far today the boats fishing that hot spot are fishless. McLure's spit out a few more halibut and salmon yesterday, but the guys that limited on halibut there on Saturday didn't get bit at all on Sunday. Some nice salmon were caught at the Keyholes in 50 to 60 feet of water. The boats that trolled down Ten Mile until they found fish seemed to do OK. There's about 30 boats from here out looking today.

There were some nice salmon and a few halibut taken today. Ten Mile Beach, from the north parking lot to just north of Abbott's Lagoon, was pretty good for salmon. Fish were caught in 20 to 60 feet of water, especially at the color change. The bar and McClure's had some halibut action and a few salmon were hooked in the area too. The rockfishing recovered today as well.

Belay the last report about a bite at Abbott's - it was over before I reported it. The rockfish didn't bite today, only a few salmon, and high boat had 4 halibut that were caught on almost every beach we have here. Good luck tomorrow.

Very slow on the water today, except for a salmon bite at Abbott's Lagoon. The word on the radio and from the boat that returned from there was that there was a fairly consistent bite of small to large size salmon from the lagoon to the first parking lot. Since nothing else is going on, this looks like the best bet.

Here's a fish from last weekend. Derek Fairchild emailed this: " kinda late, but look what we found on the bar. 22#. 30' of water up the beach towards the esteros a ways. spinning herring with green hootchie. " Nicely done, Derek.

Well, the fishing should get better for the weekend because it can't get much slower now. There were two salmon landed here yesterday, one of them from Ten Mile, and no halibut that I heard of. Luckily there was a decent rockfish bite. The water is about 55 degrees and clear and there is some scattered bait around. Perhaps we just need a few more boats out looking.

Patty Stahl of Loomis caught this nice 23# salmon while trolling with her husband, Mike, yesterday. There were a few other fish caught, but not too many. The rockfish took a beating from frustrated salmon fishermen. The halibut bite slowed down as well but not quite as bad as the salmon. The wind is supposed to star blowing again this week, easing up around Thursday. That should cool the water off and hopefully shake things up a bit. Less of the red tide bloom probably wouldn't hurt the fishing any but will close the nightly light show. For the shark fishermen out there, my boys tried casting lures to the glowing sharks as they swam by, but apparently the sharks aren't interested in biting things with a glowing fishing line pointing at them. Dropping bait to the bottom is a good way to catch the many Dungeness crabs walking by. It's still a good show, though.

Tyler Lipton of Granite Bay caught this 20# halibut on the bar on the 26th.
Jim Moore of Fallon, Nevada caught this 30# halibut on a frozen sardine while drifting the bar on Friday. Both of these halibut were the first halibut ever caught by these gentlemen and will be difficult to top.

First, a little catch-up. Here are future local legends Haley Porter, Cameron Vogler, Gage Vogler and Paige Cato, all of Dillon Beach, showing off the largest of their total of 14 salmon caught between two boats (there were three adults helping) on August 2. There was a boys versus girls fishing contest and both sides claimed victory.
John "Johnny Sandbar" Bartholomew caught this 27 pound salmon while trolling on the 19th. In the picture, the thing under the salmon is a pelican trying to figure out if he could fit the fish in his beak. He couldn't.

Joe DaCruz and Tad Bowers show off some of their (and Jerry DaCruz's) catch of 1 salmon, 6 halibut and 6 sole from Ten Mile on Thursday. If you look closely you can tell where they were fishing.

Ten Mile has been pretty good for halibut this past week, with a few salmon thrown in as well. McLure's has also been good for both species. Tomales Point and the Trees have been good for salmon. When I say good, I mean that there were fish caught. Not too many salmon limits anymore but some decent scratch fishing. The rockfish have been a bit slower. Some of the slow could be caused by the fish feeding all night. We are experiencing a bloom of bioluminescent dinoflagellates, or light-emitting plankton. The ocean glows with every movement in the water. It is a bad time to be a small fish, since every movement lights up an "eat me" sign. Last night we watched no fewer than 6 sharks feeding right at the pier, and those were just the ones near enough to the surface that we could see them. One shark chased a fish onto the beach. It's a heck of a show but probably not good for daytime fishing. The wind is forecast for Monday and Tuesday and if the water cools off the lights should go out.

The halibut are on the bar. So far I've seen 5 limits go by from there. Live smelt has been the ticket.

There was a pretty decent bite today with everyone who targeted salmon getting at least one keeper. Not too many jumbo fish but legal ones. Elephant reef, McLure's and Bird were the scenes of most of the catching. The halibut bite was slower today with only a few fish landed by Hog. The water is warming up a bit, so the bar may be an option soon. Good rockfish action.

Ron Johnson found some fish on Ten Mile yesterday, including this 30# salmon.
Lance Seppi caught this 34.5# king off of the Trees on the troll.
The DaCruz brothers caught this halibut and 6 sand sole on Ten Mile on Friday. If you like sand sole there are many to be caught on the big beach right now.

Mike and Mara Nursement of Colfax caught these 24 and 28 pound salmon off of Tomales Point today (Mara caught the larger one). They went through four trays of bait to get them.
Here is Larry Nies of Lodi with one of the halibut being speared on the bar. This one weighed 25 pounds.