The outer bay yielded 13 crab in six pots after a three-day soak for the one boat that went out. The pier saw about 15 Dungeness yesterday and the boater that tried in the bay had four Dungeness and around 20 reds. The surfperch are out on the beach but the ones that were biting on Sunday were pretty small. Still no leopard reports.

    No fish pictures to share, but here's a picture of some of the local fishermen demonstrating how they spend their time while they're waiting for salmon season to reopen. These birds were taken near Biggs, not here. I don't think that many ducks have flown over Dillon Beach this year.
    The crabbing is OK with nice, slow currents letting the crab move around. The ocean has been rough with some really big seas, but that should get the crab moving around as well. One crabber reported almost a limit of Dungeness from the pier so far this morning (9 crabs). No reports of perch or leopard shark. At this point it looks like there will be an abalone season this year since Fish and Game will be making the abalone cards available starting on February 15. The season is scheduled to open on April 1st, except possibly in the Fort Ross area where Fish and Game is considering a later opener of June.

Not too much to report except for slow crabbing from the pier. Lots of rain, if you like that. I don't have any reports from any boaters or from anyone fishing from the shore. I think most people stayed home to watch the 49ers. Good call. Next week has no football and good crabbing tides, so maybe something to report then.

Finally saw a fish come in on Sunday. Unfortunately it just one that washed up on the beach. It was a longnose lancetfish, a deep water fish that is rarely caught by sportfishers but apparently washes up on beaches every so often. The seagulls found it first, so no picture. The crabbing was on the slow side last weekend with some strong currents making the catching difficult. For those that crab from the pier, we just took the float out this morning, so the best spot is now open.

They're picking up a few Dungeness on the pier the last couple of days. One crabber caught 7 by 2PM Wednesday, another caught 5 yesterday, and so far today a third had 4 by 8:30. The outer bay has been just okay. No reports of fish landed.

The currents are strong this week, making the crabbing a bit slower in the bay. The outer bay had a little better showing this week for the boats that went out on the two nice ocean days. The weather has been great but the ocean has been big. According to the pros, the big swell should get the crabs moving around again, hopefully sending a few more into the bay. It definitely seemed to stir them up a bit in the outer bay. Fishwise, a few people have tried for surfperch but I haven't heard any after-action reports. The couple of guys that I talked to that tried for leopards did not catch.

    You never know what you'll see while out on the bay. This is the first bobcat I've heard of in the bay, but that could be because nobody is looking for bobcats.
    The crabbing is decent in the bay and on the pier. The outer bay seems pretty picked over. In three hours of crabbing the outer bay yesterday we caught 11 Dungeness, not even as good as some people did from the pier. Rockfish and lingcod are closed now, so ocean fishing is limited to crabs, sand sole and sanddab. In Tomales Bay leopard shark is open all year. Halibut is open all year too, but of course catching halibut is limited to the warmer water months. They're coming...just not soon.