One more fish for the day. Nicki Vogler caught this 32 pound white sea bass at last light on a frozen squid south of Elephant Rock. Luckily our evening photo shoot turned into a fish catching opportunity.

Mr. Porter caught a 37.5 pound sea bass today, as well as a starry flounder. Frozen squid was the ticket. He was fishing "by the squid." He saw a few others caught on boats near him. There were quite a few salmon caught today, but so far the dozen or so salmon landed may have a combined weight less than this sea bass. Salmon came from Ten Mile to a bit north of the outer bell ("02") in 60 to 100 feet of water. No halibut landed, at least, not from the bar.

There were a few salmon caught off of the far end of Ten Mile today in 60 to 80 feet of water on the bottom. A few others came from "north of Bird," which I guess is Tomales Point? A couple of the salmon weighed in the teens and the rest were, well, legal. The bay had a few halibut in it and the ones that were caught were spotted like they may have just entered the bay. Rockfishing was just OK and required a bit of effort to limit. No stripers landed in the last few days that I heard of, but the birds have been feeding heavily just off of the end of Sand Point on the outgoing tide.

The salmon and halibut bite has slowed to a trickle this week, but at least there's still stripers to be had in the surf. No guarantees, of course, but there's been a few stripers landed almost every day. Poppers and iron are the tools of choice. On the water, rockfish has been the best bet, although there are still squid around so there may be a chance for sea bass. I tried for WSB on Thursday, along with a bunch of other people. I saw one guy hook a double and land neither. I also saw several boats pull into a pile of birds eating a ball of squid at the surface and net some squid right next to a guy that was fishing said ball of squid. I think that qualifies as a "dick move". So did the guy fishing there. I left and went rockfishing, which was very good and very peaceful.

Most of the salmon landed in the last few days came from Ten Mile, especially the far end of it. The Predator caught five nice salmon yesterday in 50 to 80 feet of water near the Coast Guard buildings (old US Life-Saving Service). They also caught a 15 pound halibut and lost something that nearly spooled them. The one boat from here that went that far today caught his salmon limit fairly quickly but found too much seaweed on the beach to fish for halibut. The outer bay is still full of bait but not full of salmon. The weather is questionable at best for the next day or two.

Lynn Keehn of Woodland caught her first halibut today, a 12 pounder. It bit a smaller-sized jacksmelt by Hog Island. Lynn and company decided to stay in the bay due to the fog and questionable ocean conditions. The forecast three foot swell  was actually six foot and packed a bit of power with it this morning, making for a bit of a break on the bar and other shallow spots. A few boats did head out this morning and one of them, following an old track line on the GPS in the thick fog, ended up too close to Tomales Point and got flipped over. From there their luck turned better as the boat righted itself and motor kept running. Kapulani Chong was able to get back in the boat and radio for help, as he couldn't get the boat owner, Tom Gerbi, back in the boat. The radio call was pretty garbled since the microphone was full of water, but Kerry Apgar understood "flipped" and "point" enough to direct other fishermen to the area. Rober Buckenmeyer and Helmuth Himmrich found them and were able to pull Tom into the boat between sets of breakers. Kapulani ended up driving the rolled boat home. They are lucky, lucky, lucky. 

  

 Reed Backer of Novato went fishing in one of our rental boats with his brother Tony and he caught the second largest California halibut that I've seen here. 48 inches long and 45 pounds, it bit a live jacksmelt in the channel by Hog Island. It broke his landing net, but not enough to get away. Nice work, gentlemen!

   There's still bait and salmon in the outer bay but not as much as there was a few days ago. The one thing there's more of is seaweed. Most of the salmon are pretty small, but as few salmon as have been around this year I'd find it difficult to release a keeper. Most of the fish came from just east of Buoy "2" and scattered all over the water column from top to bottom. 

The bite slowed down a bit today, probably partly because the south wind sped up. Still, everyone I spoke with had salmon and about half of the boats caught limits, maybe not as big as they wanted, but limits. Halibut fishing was slow (except for the drift, which was too fast).

They say the clothes make the man, and I'm told that these boots make the man a salmon killer. Scott Alexander used them to catch this 24 pound salmon, one of the six fish in their limits today. It wasn't quite a wide open bite for salmon today but it was better than most of the other days this year. Salmon were caught from the "TB" buoy just past the bar to the esteros and down to Elephant if you wanted to go that far. Most of the fish came up higher in the water instead of having to pound the bottom, although the pictured salmon sure had a red belly. The guys fishing squid for halibut will need a new trick as the halibut didn't want any today. Rockfishing was pretty good.

The wind blew pretty hard but that didn't stop a few boats from heading out today. They found salmon in front of Elephant, Bird Rock, and even between the inner and outer buoys. Most of the fish were smaller but some teens to 27.5 pound salmon found their way into the boats. The halibut bite was a bit slower on the bar but dead squid for bait put fish in most of the boats. Hog Island was slower still for halibut but there were still a few picked up. A shark fisherman near Hog picked up a few leopard sharks and then had his rod and line broken by a freight train hit. Perhaps another WSB?

Remember when you were little and you thought that monsters lived in the dark? It turns out that it was true. This monster bit as the last light faded and weighed in at 55 pounds. Robert caught it after nailing the salmon at Abbott's Lagoon. Several boats returned with limits of salmon from there yesterday, but today was windier but much slower. They bit so well yesterday that I almost limited. Reports from points north, like Salmon Creek, Carmet and Fort Ross sound more consistent for salmon. Halibut on the bar and back by Hog Island has picked up again and a few guys have done very well fishing dead squid for flatties. The rockfish bite has been pretty good for most guys. There's still stripers getting caught from the beach. I saw about a 12 pounder (caught on a popper) get carried in today and heard about another one yesterday.

There are a lot of smaller salmon scattered off of Ten Mile and there was one large one, but Kim Fitzgerald caught it. A couple boats limited out on the smaller variety. There were also limits of halibut taken in the bay near Hog Island. The salmon bite seemed to be better in the afternoon, so maybe get your halibut in the morning and your salmon after. And then hit the lottery.

Mike Mayry picked up a salmon yesterday, so he thought he'd get a matching one today. Unfortunately he'll have to get another, as this one has a seal bite mark on it. Mike caught both salmon by trolling between the Trees and McClure's in 90 to 105 feet of water. A few others were caught there this weekend but not too many. Better action has been coming from Ten Mile, especially the southern portion. High salmon boat from here landed six fish to thirteen pounds today and they fished closer to Point Reyes than here. A few halibut were caught by Hog Island today, and I heard that one boat landed twelve halibut on live jacksmelt south of the island yesterday. The rockfish bite was slow in the shallower water but there were still some nice black rockfish brought in.

Some more salmon were landed today with the high boat landing four. Most of the successful boats had one, but most of the fishing boats were unsuccessful. Halibut in the bay was still not happening but there were a few taken in the ocean, the largest one weighing 23 pounds and was caught by a legendary salmon troller in 90 feet of water. A hefty striper was spotted jumping out of the water just inside the sand point this morning and seconds later the water where he had jumped erupted in foam. Unfortunately, the foam was from the dozen jigs cast towards the fish splashing in the water. The fish's current whereabouts are unknown at this time.

I like this picture way more than yesterday's photo. I'm afraid that I have no information to go with it, but hey, look at the fishies. There were some salmon caught today as well, not many, but the two boats that caught went "south of Elephant." Tomorrow looks like a pretty good day to try the same thing. The wind may still be blowing further out and the water might be a little bumpy but the wind is supposed to be light near shore. The halibut kept their mouths shut today and even the bait was almost impossible to catch. With the wind dropping the schools of bait should start forming up again and the water should warm up pretty quickly to halibut comfort levels.

Here's the fishing report:

See, there are still stripers on the beach. This one weighed 17 pounds, had one eye, and it ate a popper. There were some others caught yesterday and today, but as the full moon wanes, so does the surf fishing. The wind is blowing further out to sea, so the water is unpleasant in the morning and rough in the afternoon when the wind comes ashore. A few boats have gone out but only one returned with salmon today. The weather is supposed to get better by this weekend, and it better, or we'll be shoulder to shoulder on the beach trying to catch the day's one striper.