The commercial boats started dropping pots this morning at 6:00 AM and by 9:00 AM they are already commenting on the radio about how hard it is to find a patch of water free of other gear. The rest of the ocean now looks like the outer bay with buoys everywhere. There will still be crab to catch on Ten Mile but it will probably be better in the outer bay, at least for a little while. The pier has had only a few Dungeness a day but boaters on the bay are catching partial to full limits when they find the right spot. Rockfishing is good with a lot of lingcod in the shallows. There's still a big pile of squid in 100' of water just south of the Trees.

Trip Plumb went down to Ten Mile this morning and was back by noon with limits of lings and jumbo Dungeness. Some rockfish found their way aboard, too. The rockfishing should stay good for a while but after tomorrow the numbers of crab will probably drop at Ten Mile, as the commercial fleet starts dropping pots at 6:00 AM on Friday. We've had our fun and now it's their turn. The outer bay usually doesn't get hit as hard at first, so that may hold a bit longer.

This pot soaked for two and a half hours for 17 Dungeness, all over 6". Ten Mile has quite a bit of crab, at least for now. The outer bay is still going strong, although you need to be in the right spot to do well. The bay is still giving up some good crab but limits are hard to come by. The pier has had a few Dungeness every day but hasn't been impressive. The rockfishing is good at Point Reyes and gets slower as you get closer to home. I limited on lings and rockfish in to hours at Abbott's reef on Thursday. There's a big pile of squid just south of the Trees in 100 feet of water. I couldn't catch any sea bass in there but we did have crab-stuffed squid tubes for dinner. They're almost worth the time and effort.

I like it when I don't have to write anything. This was sent in by Kevin Fogal:

Another great day on the big pond with Captain Dennis Carter and Deckhand Kevin Fogal out on the Predator with up and coming Deckhand Gage Vogler, Kaitlyn Fogal, along with  Laura, Marisa, and Harolyn with full limits on Saturday and  41 jumbo Dungeness Crab on Sunday

Sunday was a much better weather day than Saturday and more boats tried the ocean for crab. The outer bay held, on average, more crab than Ten Mile. Pots in the outer bay were averaging a limit of keepers each on a 4+ hour soak. Even with plentiful crabs the pirates were out. I saw one pot from the outer bay that had the stainless wire netting cut to gain access to the crabs inside. Also, another tip: place your line leads about 20 to 30 feet from the buoy to sink your floating lines. Leading the pot end doesn't work. We had a pot "dropped off" at the boat launch that had the line wrapped around an outboard and came off when the boat got pulled from the water. The pot was returned to its owner, but don't lose your gear that way. The pier had a few crab but was slow, especially considering the number of people trying for Dungeness from it. 

The Dungeness opener was pretty good for catching crabs but not so good for boating. A boat out of Bodega Bay turned over near Seal Rock. Four people ended up dead and a fifth was hospitalized. There will be better days to go outside. The crab in the picture came from inside Tomales Bay, so you don't have to risk the rough water to catch. A couple of boats returned with multiple limits from inside the bay by 9:30. Only a few boats ventured out to the ocean with the large seas rolling in. They caught  well outside, especially in the outer bay, but they had to fight for them in the swell and chop.