Nothing much to report here, as no one from here has gone out to try for salmon for a while. The surfperch bite slowed way down and only a few have been caught recently. The outer bay still has some decent numbers of Dungeness when you can get there. Inside Tomales the bite is slower but still doable. As submitted, " We managed a few crab over the Easter weekend from inside the bay. The grade of dungeness was not very good.....a lot of fresh molts and skip-molts too. Of the crab we kept there were some good sized males, and the meat was very good. We also managed  a couple limits of top grade cockles."As submitted by Tomales Outlaw

Anyone know what this critter is? The one Gage is holding? This is why some people don't put their shrimp pots out anymore. Alec Bennett and the Shrimp Boat crew provided this lovely example.

Does this give you a clue to the critter's identity? No, Gage didn't sneeze. The slime eel, or Pacific hagfish, slimed him. Really. The hagfish uses its slime to defend itself and can kill a predator by choking it to death on gobs of goo. The hagfish then ties itself in a half-hitch and squeegies the slime off itself. Later it can feed on the decaying predatory fish. Here's a video of their slime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb2EOP3ohnE 

How about an inshore fish? This salmon came from 80 feet of water (exact location withheld by submitter). Maybe the fish quit biting out deeper because they moved in closer? Maybe Scott Mason is just wicked lucky skilled? Time will tell. The surfperch bite is going off all up and down Dillon Beach with some redtails mixed in with the barred perch. Remember, redtails need to be 10.5" long to keep them. Dungeness crabbing in the bay is slow but there's definitely a good chance of not being skunked.

Scott's fish weighed 25 pounds and was the only salmon bite he had, but what a bite. The only other salmon I heard about was one other boat fishing 270 feet of water with two fish, both caught on a red FBR behind a hammered watermelon dodger.

The bite was slow to start today, but according to Rob Sereni, they are biting now. Rob sent this from the water to make those of us working today feel bad. 

Here's another photo from the water. Looks like the fish are getting bigger. This one weighed 17.5 pounds on the beach. There were a few other fish caught today but not too many. The bite slowed down and got even deeper, with every fish I heard of today taken at 150' feet down. Maybe we should put some lights on the lures. The barred perch are still biting on Dillon Beach.

Mark Gulliford and son of Sacramento caught salmon to 20.5 pounds today. 

Jerry Knedel and Vern Sasaki limited on salmon to 18 pounds. All were caught on lures fished as deep as 150 feet down. The action has slipped south, centering on about 38° 12' by 123° 4', or about 4 miles west of Elephant Rock. Hootchies, Apexes and the usual array of bait/baithead combos are taking the fish. Downriggers aren't mandatory for success, but almost. Dragging around a 3 pound ball isn't fun for you, the gear, or the fish. On shore, there was a hot surfperch bite about halfway down Dillon Beach. The water is pretty flat and really clear with seaweed and kelp at a minimum for great abalone diving.

The last fish on the board last year was caught by Leslie Stokes, so I guess it's fitting that Dennis, her husband, gets to be the first one on the board this year. This 20 pounder, along with a couple other fish, came from 110' down in about 260 feet of water off of Tomales Point. Dennis was fishing with Dale Fortner on the Got One.

 Eddie Parsons and Steve Towne limited on salmon yesterday. They were fishing in 240 feet of water off of the Trees, 90' down on the wire. They hooked six fish all told, one on a hootchie and the others on bait. When cleaned, the fish had squid in their bellies. Ron Johnson, on his own boat, came in with one but had numerous hookups. He is re-evaluating his hooks today. Most of the fleet were fishing out a bit further and doing well. This morning the Salt Lick 2 passed by here with 2 limits in 90 minutes of fishing. 

While I have yet to see my first salmon of the year I have heard of many being caught over the radio. With the great weather forecast for the rest of the week I think I should probably lay eyes on a fish before the weekend, if not the end of the day. The boats are working straight out in 240 to 270 feet of water, from 30 to 150 feet down. The average is about 8 pounds but there's a few running larger. Crabbing is a bit slow but it's worth dropping a few pots in the outer bay on the way out for a crab appetizer. The water should even be pretty good for abbing. This is the best time of year to dive in the weedy spots since the weed is at a minimum.

No takers for the salmon from here. 20 knots of wind kept the ocean active today. There were still quite a few Bodega boats out there, though, and they found some fish. The New Sea Angler ended the day with better than half limits with fish to 16 pounds. Fish were caught as close as 5 miles out off of Tomales Point. The crabbing was just OK in the bay. There was a large sea lion tossing around a halibut in front of our pier today, so maybe there are a few flatties around this year.