It's been a couple of years since Ron Stahl got to go fish halibut by Hog Island. His son won't take him, I'm told. Luckily for Ron his buddy Dale will take him back there because today Ron caught a 25 pounder while fishing with him. Nice work, gentlemen.

Bad news, fishermen. There's 30 pounds less of halibut in the bay. Strangely, I don't think Don Mosby feels bad about that. It doesn't look like it, anyway. Maybe he's crying on the inside.

A few more halibut today, and a few guys caught limits of nice Dungeness in the bay and in the outer bay. The low tide and shifting sands caught a few boats on the bar off of Sand Point this morning. The green can that used to mark the edge of the channel isn't where it needs to be and now the only thing it marks is itself. The channel across the bay has shifted and a trip around the back channel is strongly suggested at low tide. The shifting sand in the main channel by marker 5 buried one crabber's pot today and he was actually dragged over the side by the current and the moving boat when he hooked the buoy with his gaff. Luckily he had the presence of mind to let go and swim to the boat. Also lucky were the all the people not hurt in the boat collisions this weekend, both in the ocean on Friday and at the launch today. It's a big ocean, people. Let's give each other a little more room.

Mike Pfiefle of Lodi plugged this 26 pound halibut today. Please note the shot to the center of mass. There were a few halibut caught by fishermen in the last few days as well. One boat yesterday caught two 'buts on white bucktails. Rockfish took a beating the last couple of days but salmon didn't show up in the fish boxes here. The wind eased up for a couple of days but has returned for some lively kite-flying action.

Kip and Syd Bottomley brought in these two halibut to brag weigh in. Kip's weighed 23.5 pounds and Syd's weighed 26 pounds. They were by Hog Island and they drifted dead herring. 

Here's Rick Barry with a nice halibut from Hog Island. He fished with Rob Serini, who also caught one, on the boat with no name (yet). All told, I'm aware of 10 halibut caught by Hog over the weekend. It's not a hot bite but it's the best thing going with the wind blowing like it is. Shiners accounted for the flatties, even by the man nicknamed for his mastery of jigs. A couple of boats snuck out for a few rockfish before they got blown out. No salmon. Some surfperch and a few Dungeness (better in the outer bay) made their way ashore.

Don Mosby caught a limit of halibut this morning and left the fish biting. He was fishing by Hog Island and was out of the water by 10:00 AM. The fish weighed 23.5, 21.5 and 13 pounds. Other guys watched him do it but didn't catch one themselves, so I guess it was a good bite for Mosby only. He seemed okay with that. I haven't heard any happy words about salmon. A few guys are getting some Dungeness but not all by a long shot.

Steve Werlin was getting upset that people were catching his halibut, so he went out today and brought home a 24 pounder. He speared it on the bar. As you can see, he feels much better now.

Charlie Deason of Stockton caught this 26 pound halibut from a rental boat within sight of the boathouse. That is more halibut than I had in the boat last year. The wind is blowing pretty strong but there may be a break close to shore tomorrow morning. After that, more upwelling.

 Kapulani Chong of Lodi caught this 16 pound halibut on the bar today, along with a keeper lingcod. So, the two boats that fished on or near the bar caught halibut today. Maybe the flatties are coming in.

No fishies landed here today, just quite a few crabs, both Dungeness and reds. It sounds like the commercial boats are catching some salmon out at the hundred fathom line near the bottom. Those fish are out of reach until they come in closer. It looks like we're in for an El Niño this year, according to this report:  http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/jun/11/unusual-fish-catches-san-diego-signal-large-scale-/ That's good for tuna, bad for salmon. According to the article, the last big El Niño had yellowtail caught in Kodiak, AK.

No salmon report (or salmon fishermen- the two could be linked) yesterday but a 12 pound halibut was caught by Hog. The halibut fishing has to get a lot better before it's good, but so far it looks like we can expect a better season than last year. There are a few sardines scattered around by Hog Island as well, so hanging a sabiki over the side while halibut fishing may improve your bait quality.

Two more halibut from Hog Island for Mr. Brodsky today. No salmon that I'm aware of, aside from a few on the radio. There were some lingcod in the catch today and I saw some really nice Dungeness landed on the pier. Some offshore wind forecast for the week but it might leave us alone near the beach. Maybe.

Tom Brodsky caught this 21 pound halibut back by Hog Island today. A live shiner put the hook in its mouth. That's only the second halibut I've heard of in the bay this year, so I'd say it's not quite a wide open bite yet. The salmon fishermen averaged about a fish per boat today. The Dungeness action in the bay is better than outside, at least according to a couple boats that tried both places. One boat got 18 Dungeness in only a couple hours near Marker 5. 

So I guess full-on inshore salmon action is still to come. The guys that clobbered the fish on Wednesday found a school of salmon that liked them but nobody else. Ten boats went out from here yesterday for a total of two salmon and more south wind than anyone wanted. Winds gusting over 20 miles per hour made the guys in the center console boats wish they'd worn their raingear. No other halibut landed that I've heard about. The Dungeness action is still sort of OK, with a few keeper males hiding in with the ladies and hollow boys. The sand crab molt is coming to and end and the perch bite is slowing but still good towards the top of the tide.

All of you guys that want to run way out and buy lots of fuel, look away. The rest of you, checkout these guys. Five salmon to 28 pounds in 200 feet of water off of Tomales Point in a couple of hours. They left before limits due to Matt Porter's (holding a 22 pound salmon on the left) mal de mer. Shannon Gregory caught the 28 pounder. They were fishing on the Fynn Leigh, using herring behind flashers 40 feet down. There was brown, 53° water with quite a few birds and several blue whales feeding. 

Finally! Flatfish in the bay! Or at least, there was one. Matt Lindsey writes: "Thought you might like to see a flatty my buddy brent sailor landed sat around hog aboard the gill collector." That is one pretty fish. Now, let the halibut start flowing.

A couple boats went out for salmon today and came back with some really nice rockfish. At least one of those fish was a lingcod pushing 20 pounds. The salmon fishing, unfortunately,  was not as good . There's a bunch of tiny sand crabs in the surf and the surfperch are feeding on them. Mostly limits of perch for the surf fishermen today. There was even a striper taken, so who knows what's out there?