Last weekend a few of the boaters had very good success on the Dungeness in the bay, but I haven't spoke with anyone that's done nearly as well since then. The pier has consistently had a few but not too many. I haven't heard any reports from outside the bay due to weather that's sketchy at best. I heard some salmon return numbers that sound optimistic for a good season. It surely won't be as good as the jack count would seem to indicate (2.1 million predicted fish probably overshoots reality by 10 times or more) but it should allow for a decent opportunity to fish for salmon. I've been hearing that last year wasn't a very good year for catching salmon around here, which was news to me. Perhaps it wasn't as good as some years but it was definitely the best year out of the last five. How did you do? Better, worse or average?

There were a few Dungeness landed on the pier the last two days. One fellow I spoke with caught 3 Dungeness and 7 reds today, most of them in the morning. The clam and cockle tides are starting up. No super tides yet but good enough for the cockles, if you know where to go.

Two crabbers caught their Dungeness limits across the bay yesterday. The pier was slow. No other word got to me. The regulations for this year are still to be determined for salmon. The local meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 28 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.at the Sonoma County Water Agency, 404 Aviation Blvd. in Santa Rosa. I hear that the Pacific Fisheries Management Council are considering a one fish over 26" limit for this year. This meeting is your opportunity to voice your opinion. Sure, it probably won't help, but sometimes it just feels good to vent. Another note, this year you may not allow your abalone to mix with someone else's abalone, at least until you've properly attached your tags. Just one more little step to remember.

I saw a few nice Dungeness come in from the pier last weekend, both from nets and (especially) the snares. The crabbing in the bay was slower than usual for most boaters, although there were a couple that were pretty happy. The outer bay was not worth burning the extra gas. No reports of fish.