I don't have this gent's name, but I got the important details: 15 pounds, Saturday, on the bar, on a live shiner. The "on the bar" part got me interested, as aside from one a diver saw a few weeks ago the bar has been deserted. Or has it? 

      Not too much else to report except for lots and lots of bait behind Hog Island. One fisherman today reported 500 yards of baitfish flipping. There are anchovies, mackerel, and sardines. Lots of sardines, about green label size.

     No salmon today and not bunches of halibut but apparently a few were taken. Well, at least this one. The wind stayed moderate on the beach for most of the day so the bay was fishable even though the ocean wasn't by the afternoon. Lots of people trying the surf but no reports from there. Am I going to have to send Gage out there? Come on, work with me, people. Just OK crabbing, but still a lot better than it will be in a few days.

     Jerry Trafton sent in these photos from the 19th : Couple fish caught in Tomales Bay on Sunday by Jon Berglund 

    There were a few other halibut caught by Hog on the weekend but much more fishermen than catchermen. The wind has blown all week on the ocean and the water isn't warming up any out front. The grunion just ran on the beach, which you'd think would be a good sign for halibut and stripers from the shore, but aside from a half a dozen hearsay reports of full moon stripers the only fish I've seen on the beach were the grunion. They are supposed to run every two weeks on the full and new moons, so maybe when the water warms a bit more we can catch a few halibut from the shore. The tip of the sand point now has a major channel (20'+ deep) right off the end of it and if you fish there you may see me. Or Gage. Probably Gage.

     The finale for Dungeness is here, and the crabbing in the bay has been on the slow side, although last Sunday one boat limited with 60 keepers from pots dropped in the outer bay. Red crab will remain closed for a while, as the last test at Pillar Point had one crab (out of 12) fail the testing. Maybe in August they'll open. I remember playing this guessing game with Dungeness and sucking at it, so I'll quit now. No more salmon landed here. I think the salmon catchers will be back next weekend, so we can see if it was luck or skill that put salmon in the boats last week. My money is on skill.

     So that rumor of a sea bass in Tomales Bay is confirmed. 55 pounds, caught by JD.

    The halibut fishing in the bay was a bust for most of the fishermen I talked to yesterday. Lots of boats, lots of bait, not so much for the halibut. I heard of a possible white sea bass caught by Hog yesterday, but rumors were as good as it got. These fellas above decided to got out into the ocean and try for salmon. At least they wouldn't be crowded, they thought. It turned out that they couldn't relax because the salmon kept biting. How annoying! Two boats caught six salmon out in 200' of water, 150' down. 

     I'm not sure if this guy is smiling because of this excellent striper he caught this morning or because he knows I spent two hours fishing in the exact same spot last night with no bites. Probably the second one. 

     Steve Towne is selling his boat. Here's a pic of it. He says,: Complete turn key and ready to fish salmon and tuna ! Fully loaded, to much to list. This boat has been maintained by the Lawson's landing mechanics and is above average condition . For a complete list of equipment please call or text Steve at 707-775-8716, price is $17,000.00  OBO , boat is currently at Lawson's Landing

     Jim Handel of Concord caught this ten pound ling out by the outer bell buoy ("02"). He and Dennis Stocking landed five for the day on live shiners. The live shiners have been working on the halibut by Hog Island as well. There's been quite a bit of striper fishing in the last few days but the catching has been slim. We're coming up on the full moon on Sunday, so you'd kind of expect to see a bump in the evening striper bite. Guess we'll see if the moon thing holds true.

     Here's Chuck Lackey with a nice surf striper. He writes: Thanks to a tip, I managed to get this beauty striper off the surf by the dunes on Saturday. It was hungry for an F-18 Rapala. What a blast. It felt good to have a hook up after no flatty's bit my bait all day. My co angler and good friend  Mike Wright managed to get a Halibut though. He was the one Saturday that his name wasn't mentioned. Another fun weekend at the Landing. Hooked for life and can't wait to get back down from Grass Valley. Thanks again.

     I need to find out where he got his tip from, because Gage and I whipped that water into a froth casting lures until after dark on Sunday and caught only salad. Not very good salad, either.

     Scott Bergenstock and his grandson picked up these two halibut on Saturday. Scott reports: Got these two on Sat. with my grandson, He pulled one in just S of the #7 marker, we were next to the yaker who got the 19 lber, also a guy caught one on a sabiki rig in the same area, so we dropped one of our live baits down, and bam, nailed one.  and the last one we got was 40 min into the tide coming in by hog.  All  live bait.

     This halibut had the worst day of his life today. Phil Voong tricked him into eating a live jacksmelt. Phil caught him from a kayak back by Hog Island and the fish weighed 15 pounds.

      

    Here's another pair of halibut from yesterday. Mitch Hamilton reports: Nice day with my grandson. Caught on live bait back by hog island. Sounds like a pretty good day to me, and from the smile in the photo, I'd say Mitch's grandson would agree.

    Looks like there were a few halibut caught by Hog Island today. This photo and report was submitted by Michael Weese: Caught this 19 lb halibut on 6/11 in a kayak west of hog island near marker 7 on a live mackerel. Lost two others and had a few bites. Great day in the bay.

     Mike Wright caught this familiar looking fish. There were several halibut brought in here today, mostly caught on live bait. There were a lot of people working the surf today, too, but nobody shared any reports from there. The weather was nice enough that standing on the beach all day was kind of a winner, whether you were catching or not. Of course, it's always nicer to catch.

   I'd like to tell you that this is but a sample of the striper action today, but in fact, this is the striper action (at least so far) for today. There were a half-dozen or more guys out there skipping lures for a few hours, and Nathan Porter and Mason Lessard were the striper lottery winners. These were taken on the incoming tide. 

     Rockfishing was OK until the wind blew the boats in. Halibut was slower today, as was the crabbing. There are a few of these guys back by Hog too, if you are interested:

     Here's a report from Sunday:

Hey Willy so Sunday I saw Mike W and crew catch a lot of halibut in their secret spot they left for a while so I went over to their hole and grab one before they got back I used a large live bait that took my frozen anchovy

Richard

     Yesterday there were a couple more stripers from the beach and some other halibut by the weather buoy near Hog Island. Crabbing was slow for most. The red crab are really enjoying the closure and have been eating well on all the crab bait. They should be big and healthy when the closure is finally lifted. Testing of the reds has been ongoing and it looks like they might open in another month or two if the current trend continues.

   Today's big fish was this 28 pound halibut, caught by weather buoy at Pelican Point (Hog Island) on live bait. They had four flatfish aboard, all on live bait. 

    This striper was caught last evening, along with a few others, about halfway down the beach. Me and ten other guys tried by the north end of the beach and got nothing but tired, wet, and sandy.

    This gentleman walked out from the walk-in tent site area to catch this striper today.

     Big fish of the day for the Landing was a 20 pound halibut from Hog Island caught by Mike Williams of Santa Rosa.

     

     Joe Lemansky caught this 10 pound halibut on live bait near Hog Island at the high slack tide from his kayak. He said lots of other people had fish.

     These guys weren't smiling about the crabbing, as most people reported slow action on the Dungeness. The halibut fishing was pretty decent, though. Rockfishing was OK but the water outside wasn't quite as nice as advertised in the forecast. Surf fishing was OK too but the big tides made for a lot of weed in the water. Seaweed, don't get excited.

Is there nothing that duct tape won't fix?

     While I'm waiting for a fish to come in so that I may report it, I thought that perhaps a helpful tip would be nice. What do you do if your steering breaks on your outboard powered boat? The safest bet is to get a tow back home. But is there is no tow available and you must save yourself, here's how to convert your remote-steered motor into a tiller outboard. NOTE: Emergency, get home use only, and only at an idle, as higher speeds could rip the hood off the motor and you lose control and die.

   Alec Bennett and the Shrimp Boat model the duct tape tiller.

Shhhhh... No halibut here. Definitely not biting jigs by Hog.