Out of a half-dozen boats that tried for salmon yesterday, one had a keeper. Of course, that meant that the rockfish took a beating, at least from the guys that tried for them. No halibut, and mostly poor crabbing, but one boat caught two limits of Dungeness in the bay yesterday. He was working the channel north of Marker 5.

The already slow salmon bite eased up a bit yesterday and we only saw one come in by closing time. Lots of bait schools in the 120 to 180 feet of water area but just not that many salmon, yet. I heard that there may be more fish further south and out but still not what anyone would call a decent bite. The rockfish still bit well. The Dungeness action was similar to the salmon bite. Where are those halibut?

A few salmon landed here today, finally, up to 16 pounds. Most boats went without, and I only heard of a one boat with more than one, but still, salmon.  Even better, the fish came from from 140 to 160 feet of water and from Abbott's Lagoon to Tomales Point. Lots of schools of bait. The 16 pounder bit a watermelon Apex, but I didn't get the scoop on any of the rest. The guys that went rockfishing did well but going deeper than 120 feet meant returning a lot of canaries. I thought I might get to see my first halibut of the season this past weekend but alas, it didn't make it into the boat. Crabbing was slow but I saw a few Dungeness headed for boiling water. The guys that did best this weekend were the Fish and Wildlife officers. I didn't see them today but I assume that they were home, icing their writing hands.

   No salmon to report this week. There were a few rockfish and surfperch caught (not by the same people) and a very few Dungeness. Lots of shiner perch for bait on the pier (at the bottom of the tide, at least) and even a couple of sardines caught, but no halibut landed yet. The clams took a beating in the last few days. A gentleman from Mill Valley came on Sunday to go try his luck for salmon and ended up leaving with a limit of clams. He didn't actually dig for them. He just picked them up off of the grass by the turns in the road. Fish and Wildlife officers were checking cars at the entry gate and apparently somebody called their buddy, who panicked and dumped his extra clams within sight of the salmon fisherman. It's not as good as catching fish, but it's better to return home with dinner.
   Fish and Wildlife officers were all over today, too, and a lot of people got checked, both on the water, on the mudflats, on the shore, and in their cars. They had checkpoints up north checking the abbers and boats and trucks down here checking the clammers and abbers. Many moonsnails were returned to the bay, but the local fire departments and soup kitchens are going to be eating a lot of clam chowder. A group got ticketed on Monday that had just paid off their $3000 in fines from a previous ticket. I guess they needed to sell a lot more clams to pay off the debt. I guess that didn't work out.

   I took a little walk along the water's edge today with my GPS and drew this nice map of the current location of the sand point compared to where it was a few years ago. I'm hoping that the right point in the wrong place is better than the wrong point in the right place. It appears that an actual channel is forming again, so maybe soon we'll be able to cross the bay the short way. But, if the wind keeps blowing the sand point around, the pier may end up as a beach boardwalk. 

   There has been a lot of bird feeding activity on the incoming tide, and on my walk today I found a dozen 2.5" anchovies washed up on the beach. A bit too small for bait but a good sign for later in the season. Last weekend there were also some shiner perch caught on the pier at the bottom of the tide, so maybe we'll see some halibut here, soon. The weather buoy by Pelican Point shows water temps ranging from 54° to 59°, so there may be a halibut window at the bottom of the tide. Lots of candy bar and larger jacksmelt are getting caught on the pier. The crabbing on the pier is verrry slow.

   One more thing, for those of you new to the report that don't know what places I'm talking about, here's the link to the page with the maps: http://fishlawsons.blogspot.com/2013/07/fishing-spot-names-revisited.html

Here's your weather report:

At least someone doesn't mind the wind.

James Bastedo caught this 16 pound salmon 80 to 100 feet down (they weren't sure) in 140 feet of water off of the Trees. Aside from a short ling, it was their only bite. Yesterday a boat tried the 38° 16' by 123°9' area but found cold clear water, no bait, and most importantly, no salmon. The strong winds mid-week really stirred things up. One boater had 8 Dungeness in Tomales Bay today but nobody else came close to that number. The rockfish are still biting, at least.

It is with mixed feelings that I present Gage and his catch. I have feelings of pride, since he's my boy and I'd like to think that I taught him how. But when he caught the fish next to me and then started telling me how catch fish, it kind of made my jaw clench. I couldn't even argue, because I couldn't get a bite.  Gage caught this 7 pound striper on a black and silver pencil popper in the surf. He told me that I need to let it sit longer before I pop it, "like a minute." There's your tip of the day. The wind has been blowing too hard to do much more than surf fish but there might be a salmon window on Saturday. Crabbing is slow.

Paul Boley picked up these two salmon at 38°16' by 123°08', or 300' of water off of Bodega Head. He caught them at 80' and 100' down on the wire. There were other boats catching fish in the area as well. Nothing on the meter but the commercial fishermen were talking about their fish being full of krill.

    Kris Gaiero thought she'd snagged bottom, but luckily it was just this bottomfish. Tim and Kris ended up with limits of rockfish and near limits of lings from right off of Tomales Point in 60 to 30 feet of water. Tom Cook limited on rockfish as well but couldn't connect with a salmon. Even the commercial boats are having trouble. On the radio, high boat had 20 and the rest ranged from 0 to 6. 

    This odd-looking thing was picked up off of the beach. After a bit of Googling, it looks like it is half of a Pacific giant octopus beak. I didn't know that finding one on the beach was even an option.