There were a few salmon caught this week off of Tomales Point in 90 feet of water but the bite (such as it was) slowed down. One of the fish caught had a belly full of larval crabs and Pacific sandlance (needlefish). Popular opinion is that the fish are moving back out to the 50 fathom line (300 feet) to eat the krill balls that have reformed after the wind quit. The only fish I saw today was taken out in 220 feet of water. The same fisherman caught and released a steelhead yesterday. The Dungeness are still being caught in the bay and outside but location is important. One crabber had ten Dungeness in the outer bay on an overnight soak, while a quarter mile away another crabber caught ten for two guys in two days with twice the pots. Surfperch are finally finding their way into into surf fishermens' buckets and not just the osprey's bellies.

The cold water apparently cooled off the hot bite. There were quite a few boats out there trying for salmon, at least quite a few for a Tuesday in April, but there were very, very few fish caught off of Tomales Point. A small boat landed 12 Dungeness in a couple of hours in the Marker 5 hole. And for those of you that know Cecilia in the bait shop, here's her big catch from yesterday:

Evelyn Irene Brodsky weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and is 20.5 inches long. 

A bit more concrete information floated in over the VHF.Apparently there was a bite today in 90 feet of water off of Tomales Point with the fish coming from 60 feet down. Some of the boats had 4 to 6 fish while others were busy shaking off lingcod instead of netting salmon. The flat water and close fish (in April!) are awfully tempting if you don't have to work tomorrow (and still really tempting if you do).

We know of a couple of salmon that came in on Thursday of last week, caught in about 140' right out front off of Tomales point. They had been part of a quick bite that came and went. Wind had kept most boats off of the water up to that point. For most of the coming week the weather report is calling for 5-10 knots and flat, flat water - which is still at about 47○ at the bouy.  Today it's beautiful and warm.

Here's your official salmon season for the area between Point Arena and Pigeon Point: It's open until November 10 except for June 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 and 25 and for July 1, 2, 8, and 9. Those days, all Mondays and Tuesdays, are closed. Minimum size is 24" until August 1 when it changes to 20". You still can't keep silvers (coho). Right now the wind is blowing and has been since last week. The water temp at the weather buoy dropped from 55 to 45.5 degrees. That is some serious upwelling. On the Dungeness front, two pier crabbers caught nine keepers each before noon.

There haven't been any salmon landed here this week but we did have quite a bit of wind pass through. There were a few keeper Dungeness landed from the pier and a few more from the marker 5 hole. A crabber yesterday lost 4 pots at the marker 5 spot, so watch the current and watch the other boats.

Herb Hansen and Tom Carter declined to be photographed with today's catch so a couple of models stepped in. The fish came from 50 fathoms, near 38 18 and 123 11. They lost some others and had at least one double hook-up. Another boat fishing the same general area had six salmon by 10:30. We didn't launch any from the Landing today since the bar was breaking all the way across. The crabbing in the bay was OK with most boats getting a few. Carson City Randy just left after a week here with a total catch over that week of 34 Dungeness from the pier. That was enough for crab every night and some to take home.

Steve Werlin speared this 9.5 pound vermillion at an undisclosed location near Fort Ross. He and the guys with him also got limits of nice abs and had 20'+ of visibility. Steve and his associates tried for abalone at Bird Rock on opening day but had difficulty seeing anything through the brownish murk. "Good for salmon, bad for abalone" was the verdict. The forecast looks questionable for the opener, at least for running out of Tomales Bay. 6 to 8 foot seas at 17 seconds could make the entrance bar unpassable but the ocean outside should still be fishable if you can get there. From the sound of things, most people will be trying out in 240 to 300 feet of water. The pier had 15 to 20 keeper Dungeness landed yesterday and the marker 5 hole had at least as many crabs for the guys that tried there.