I saw some nice rockcod come in this weekend but no salmon, halibut or albacore crossed our beach. There were some albacore caught out of Bodega on Saturday by the guys that ran northwest. There's still a few salmon out there, as submitted by Lance Bain:

Good Afternoon Staff of Lawson's Landing, I just want to thank you for providing some of the best fishing reports for the Bodega Bay area.  I keep quiet for the most part when out on the water but just wanted to say there are still a few fish around.  Landed a limit of salmon on Saturday trolling with two nice fish. One big and one alot bigger.  Did not weigh this fish but the photo tells the story just fine.  Have a good day and thanks again for the great blog and reports. Best Regards, Lance Bain (Boat - The Highlander)

No fishies today, just a weather forecast that seems to be souring for Saturday. It was never perfect for the offshore and it looks even less awesome now. 15 knots of wind seems like it might be unpleasant to run in, especially for 50 miles (57 statute). Maybe later?

I try to report what's coming in, and unfortunately I've done a good job of it this week. There's only been a couple of boats launched all week and the only fish I heard of were a couple of limits of rockfish and a couple of halibut (literally two) caught by Hog before the wind kicked back up. The inshore water is frigid again, so the already slow halibut bite has tapered off a bit more. On the albacore front, there is some water out there, 35 miles to 60 degrees and 50 miles to 63+. Those miles are nautical, by the way, meaning seven of them are equal to eight statute miles, so it's really 40 and 57 miles. The weather looks pretty good for Saturday and it sounds like some guys are going to run out of Bodega. There's an extended forecast model that shows that the weather should lay down next week and it's possible that the water could move closer if the wind lays off for a bit. There were still albacore getting caught in November last year. Probably better go Saturday, though.

Not too many fishermen and even less fish this weekend. There were some rockfish landed here and one salmon from Ten Mile close to Point Reyes and that's it. Several boats tried for halibut in the bay but none were landed. Big swell forecast for this week and wind for a few days. Good albacore numbers from 47 and 49, but that is far on flat water and impossible for most of this week. Keep the fingers crossed for a weather change by the weekend and for the water to push in, because 50+ miles is a little past too far, in my opinion.

There were some nice rockcod caught outside today and an eighteen pound halibut from Hog Island yesterday.Not too much else to report, except that judging by the numbers of nice sized Dungeness being caught and released on the pier (one guy had 13 keeper-sized males between two traps) the season opener should be good.

Robbie Schneider of Dillon Beach caught this nice 13 pound cabezon from the rocks north of Dillon Beach this afternoon. The wind has been blowing for the last week, so fish counts have been pretty slow aside from some halibut by Hog Island. It looks like the wind has pushed the hot water further offshore but it seems likely that it may push back in if the wind would just lay off for a bit. 

The winner of the Merle Lawson Salmon Derby 2013 is Gage Vogler, age 11, whose 19 pound (guts out) salmon was the first fish weighed in. It was caught trolling an anchovy on a slip rig in 55 feet of water off of Tomales Point on his brother's rod. Yes, Gage was quicker to the rod, knocking larger fishermen out of the way. Merle Lawson was known for similar agility in pursuit of fish.

Here is Gage at the weigh-in. Note the game face.

John Brezina took second place with a 19 pound salmon. Ties went to the first weighed in, so Brezina had second and Herb Hansen, not pictured, took third place with his 19 pound salmon. Herb had a double at Abbott's Lagoon and never had another bite. Also of note, Stacy Barton and A.J. Masters brought back two salmon. All told there were about a dozen salmon brought in from some pretty rough water. Merle whipped up the winds again to keep things interesting. The bay stayed nice enough for some more halibut to be taken by Hog Island.

Today there was nice weather in the morning but the salmon bite didn't follow. The mouth looked good for halibut but the sea picked up and the bar had an occasional breaker all the way across every once in a while by the afternoon. Offshore, the albacore action was great with flat water until at least 2:00 PM and lots of fish scattered across a wide area west of the north Farallon. I ran to 37° 45' and 123° 20', put lines in the water at 8:30 and ended up with 15 tuna, most in the 20 pound plus range, by 11:00. There wasn't room for more so we came home.

There were at least two halibut caught on the bar and a couple limits of rockfish brought in, and that's about it. With nothing happening on the beach, it sounds like a number of boats are heading out of Bodega Bay tomorrow to try for albacore. The Merle Lawson Salmon Derby will be held on Saturday at Lawson's Landing and this year just catching a salmon could be all that's needed to win!

There was a stiff south wind today that made the fishing tough inshore. The few boats that went out from here were all back by 2:00 without salmon or halibut. One had a few rockfish but had trouble drifting slow enough in the wind. There was a salmon taken on Ten Mile yesterday, where the aptly named Got One got one bite, one fish, while trolling the length of the beach. It sounds like there's more stripers on the bar than halibut (but not too many of either). Offshore, the albacore made a good showing with a couple of boats catching 50 or more around 44 and 18. Finally, I heard a tale of sardines and squid(!) being caught in Marshall. If the sardines are like the ones in Bodega Bay (big) then they're probably better filleted than trolled.

Quote of the day: "Everything's there but the halibut." That about sums up the bar. At the bottom of the tide there's brown, warm water, needlefish, a slow drift, but no biting halibut. I heard of a commercial guy catching a few (a few meaning 2-3) a day mooching in the usual spots (Elephant to Trees) but no one else has been able to duplicate his feat. Rockfish and sand sole for dinner for the rest of us.

Beautiful fishing weather today. Too bad the catching was so poor. A few salmon and a few halibut were caught, but there was far more effort than success. Even the rockfish were slow to bite. At least it was a pleasant day to be on the water.

Yesterday was windy and only a few boats went out to catch even fewer halibut. I only heard of one caught by Hog Island. Today there were better fishing conditions and a few more halibut from Hog. The mouth of the bay ("the bar") had cold water and no action for the fisherman I spoke with. Outside there were a few scattered salmon taken by locals. Two came from The McClure's area, one from 35 feet of water and one from 120 feet. The rockfishing was OK for the guys that tried for them.

Summer must be over, as we only launched four boats today. Of those, one had a salmon, mooched in front of the Trees in 78 feet of water, and one caught this 20 pound striper. Mike Gibson of Lodi declined to be photographed with his fish but did let us know that it bit live bait on the bar. That's all the stories for today.

It wasn't great fishing today but there were some nice fish taken. The Shada family annual fishing tournament (invitation and blood relations only) was held today and all the boats returned with big salmon. Dan Shada won with a 32 pounder. Not in the tournament but still of note, Joe Gantley landed a personal best 31 pound salmon today. The Trees had a few fish, as well as Ten Mile, but neither place was hot. Some boats went up to Carmet and further north and did OK. There were a few more halibut taken by Hog and on the bar. One of the bar halibut didn't hit our scale but looked to go over 30 pounds, easy. There was also a 7+ foot thresher shark that was unintentionally released on the bar after a 90 minute fight.

   A man was killed on the bay today when he got tangled in his crab net/pot line and was dragged over the side. His body was later recovered by emergency services. The owners and employees of Lawson's Landing would like to express their condolences to the family and friends of the victim.
   Even though Dungeness season is still two months away, now seems like a good time to remind people to be careful when you're crabbing. Even a light crab ring can pull you out of the boat if the boat is moving and the ring gets hung on the bottom. Shuffle your feet in the boat when there is line on the deck. My personal choice is to put the line over the side buoy first and pay it all out before setting the pot in the water. That way, you can make sure that there's no knots in the line and no line to be tangled up with in the boat when the pot goes over. Also, when setting or retrieving gear, wearing a life jacket is a good idea. Actually, wearing a life jacket is a pretty good idea all of the time.
   Fishing was OK today with a little of everything (but tuna) coming in. Halibut from Hog Island (high boat had 3) and Ten Mile (a couple of 1's), rockfish and lings from Point Reyes and the reefs off of Ten Mile, and a few salmon from Ten Mile and the Bird/Elephant area. Also, there was a wild card white sea bass caught by Hog Island yesterday.