Only a few halibut landed today, probably at least in part due to difficulty getting bait for most of the guys. High boat from here caught two and lost one on the three jacksmelt he caught for bait. Some stripers were caught on the beach last evening when a pair of fishermen caught nine is less than a half-hour under feeding birds. Another was caught this afternoon. I'll see you out on the beach tonight.

If anyone can tell me what kind of fish Rodney Gladney is holding I'd sure appreciate it. I'm familiar with the halibut, having seen other people catch them, but the fish on the left stumped me. Could that be a salmon he caught on Ten Mile? You be the judge.

Kapulani Chong and his buddy picked up a halibut in the middle of the sea of boats by Hog Island.

Robert Rath and Tim Lewis show off their catch, also from Hog Island. There was a lot of competition for the halibut in a pretty small area, but these guys did it again. 

    There were several quick limits of Dungeness caught today, a couple in the bay and rest outside. The report from the Keyholes was that their pots were plugged with large, clean crab. Don't worry, if you didn't get them today they'll be that much bigger in November. A mostly slow pick for rockfish a few guys did well further afield. Point Reyes and Fort Ross were kind to the fishermen that didn't mind making the run. The surfperch are also biting pretty well on the oceanfront beach. 

Hog Island is still giving up quite a few halibut with some fish over 20 pounds caught and a couple of boats landing as many as four fish yesterday. In order to keep the halibut as large as possible, I engaged in a halibut feeding program where I allowed five fish to eat my bait but didn't hook them. You're welcome, by the way. Lots of live bait is available on the fishing grounds, with jacksmelt, jack mackerel, Pacific mackerel, sardines and shiner perch all present in the channel. No salmon landed here this week, and rumors of salmon being caught by the whistle buoy are just rumors. Rumors of albacore caught 10 miles from Bodega Head are outright lies. A few boats are going to run for some likely looking water 70+ nautical miles from Bodega this weekend and I hope they catch.

More halibut, no salmon, last chance Dungeness

More halibut from the Hog Island area were caught today, up to 17 pounds. The average size was about 8 to 10 pounds. Live smelt and jack mackerel put the flatties in the box. Having excellent bait is no guarantee, as some good fishermen went without bites today, but others did ok. The last chance for Dungeness is now, as the season ends next week. Luckily there's a fresh batch of crab moving in, not many, but more than we've had around for a while.  The pictured large Dungeness was caught on the pier last night. No salmon yet, but if we will see them at all this year it will be from mid - July to mid - August.

Here's a photo and report from Friday from Matt Lindsey: Caught near hog on the Gill Collector one released that did not like the feel of the net thats still in 24 ft of water. 

There were some other halibut caught by Hog Island, as well as a couple from further back. Two fish seemed like the high numbers with most boats landing 0-1. Outside I heard of no salmon but the rockfishing was good. Quite a few Dungeness in the outer bay but slow inside Tomales.

Even though the wind has kept people from trying for salmon, they're still trying for and finding halibut. The Hog Island area has produced the most, but further back in the bay (which has been a desert for a few years) has been producing a few fish as well. The fish in the middle photo came from eight feet of water near Inverness. Boats have returned with as many as five halibut but the average is 0-1. Live bait has caught most of the fish but a couple bit swimbaits. There's a few Dungeness in the outer bay but inside Tomales Bay the bite is almost nonexistent. Maybe they're waiting for the season to end. 

For those of you that are all "pictures or it didn't happen," here's the pictures. Kurt Monser had a good day on June 1st and emailed me the proof. According to Kurt: 

"The two salmon were picked up in 20–30 feet of water just off McClure and Driftwood Beach drifting with green label herring.

The halibut 38" 28# was picked up jigging with live (frozen) squid over a sand flat just south of bird rock just north of driftwood beach."

If anyone else wants to brag, please send in your pictures and stories to lawsonslanding@gmail.com. Salmon pictures are especially welcome, as I've seen so few this year I'm not quite sure what they look like. 

Tim Lewis of Roseville weighed in both a 23 and 30 pound halibut today. The boat limited on halibut but the two biggest of the six were caught on jigs. Another six were caught nearby on live shiners. These fish came from further back in the bay, but boats also picked up halibut off of Dillon Beach and Ten Mile Beach. Lots of other bait in the shallower water (less than 200 feet) but no takers for the salmon fishermen. McClure's Beach had only lingcod today and most of them were too small. Divers tried the bar but all they could see was the water. About a dozen Dungeness were caught on the overnight soak on the pier yesterday morning but today wasn't as good.  

    Tom Cook had the last fish on the bragging board last year and now he's got the first fish over 20 pounds this year. This 23 pound halibut was caught off of McClure's Beach in 30ish feet of water on a drifted blue label herring. He limited on lingcod as well. 

    Slooooow on the salmon front but there's fish north and south of us, so no matter which way the fish are headed a few ought to cruise by here. There's some fair numbers of Dungeness starting to come in from the ocean mostly, but a few in bay, too. The halibut at Hog Island seem to be taking a break and the bar is cool and murky but could start with some fish soon. 

   This is Nico and I bet you can tell why he's smiling. The striper and lingcod both went about 10 pounds. These fish were caught pretty close to home but the exact location was not given to me. All told there were six fish in the box, and Nico here caught most of them. He allowed that Steve Towne was a pretty good netter. 

   There was a halibut caught at McClure's yesterday and some other rockfish were caught off of the Trees today. Nice Dungeness, both in size and numbers, coming from the outer bay.

Aside from one report of two halibut caught and two salmon lost at McClure's, there's just two broken rods (a Shimano at McClure's and a Lamiglas from Hippy Camp) and a sandbar sitter. Kudos to the Shrimp Boat crew for pulling the sandbarred boat back to the channel and to the sandbar skipper who continued out to get his rockfish. Kudos as well to the rod breaking fishes that lived to tell about it.

James Kell landed this 19 pound halibut while drifting a green label herring in 30' of water off McClure's Beach. No salmon, but he doesn't seem too disappointed. 

Paul Boley trolled most of Ten Mile beach for this halibut and salmon. 

A correction: Thursday's halibut came from the Laird's Landing/"Hippy Camp" area. There are fish at Hog Island, though as proved by Jerry Knedel, above, and Denny Rhodes, below. Both fish were taken on live shiners around the bottom of the tide. The guys that fished further into the bay had no action.

The salmon fishermen from here didn't bring any home yesterday but there were a few radio fish from Fort Ross and rumors of fish from 180 feet of water off of Tomales Point and Ten Mile. The rockfish bit well for those that tried for them. 

Hog Island halibut

The halibut are officially in at Hog Island. These were caught this morning on drifted live shiners around the bottom of the tide. A third one was unintentionally released.

I'm sad to report that an abalone diver drowned at Tomales Point this morning. The weather conditions were pretty good this morning with very little swell, but sometimes stuff happens. My condolences to his family and friends.
   Also today the wardens wrote up a group of six people with 160 clams. 120 of them were in pieces, secreted about their persons. Apparently, that kind of behavior will get your boat confiscated. Good to know.

Of the two boats that left from here yesterday, one did well on rockfish and the other caught a 12 pound salmon in 77 feet of water off the north end of Ten Mile on a purple haze hootchie. Kurt Monser sent in this report from yesterday: "Today June 1st I pulled in 2 king Salmon 17# & 20# mooching with herring at McClures Beach in 30' of water... Then pulled in a 28# Halibut just north of there just south of Bird rock. Epic day all around." That's a pretty good report, I'd say. For your bad report, my cousin, a commercial fisherman, caught few salmon while fishing south by Pigeon Point, but did catch two California lizardfish, something he'd not seen before in his 30+ years of fishing. He's taking it as a bad omen for the season. Also a bad omen, the salmon were eating those little blue jellyfish, the "by-the-wind-sailors," which are probably low on a salmon's list of favorite foods. I think I like Kurt's report better for my omen.