Tuesday, April 18, 2017

     There's a few salmon out in the deep for anyone willing to take the trip. As of today, the forecast for Saturday looks like a maybe for a trip, but things can change. At least rockfishing is now open, so there's always a fallback plan for dinner if the salmon catching doesn't work out. I haven't heard any halibut reports from Tomales Bay but the water temp by Hog Island is starting to look interesting again, as it hasn't fallen below 56ºF in the last two days. I'd be even more hopeful if there'd been some baitfish passing that way, but if they went in there they did it real quiet. I'd like to see a few pelicans crashing in the water around here, but none yet. The smaller surfperch are still biting out on the beach and there's still a few Dungeness in the bay. Gage says the stripers will start biting in about three weeks, so sharpen your hooks. Here's a successful report from Petaluma Newbie:" On Monday 4/17 my friend, his dog, and I took our boat out on the big blue for the first time. We fished off of Bird Rock (and just south) in anywhere from 50' to 120' thanks to some very friendly advice from a fellow angler, on a nice Trophy fishing boat, who could see we had no idea what we were doing. We got the lines in about 8:30 and fished until around 11:30. We left with 9 fish including a keeper ling at 28". About an hour in I tried "chumming" a mixture of Pringles and Gatorade. It didn't work. We called it when we did so that I didn't "chum" a second time. All in all we thought it was a great day and we owe it all to a friendly fisherman and to your fishing report! Thank you Willy!" If you really want to thank me you can drop off your green lingcod. Those are the best.


12 comments:

  1. Nice fishing report. "If you wait, they will come".

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  2. Yes, good fishing report and "chum" report. That water looked pretty calm but I am no master to the seas myself and will spend a few days getting used to the motion - keep your eyes up. None of us know what we are doing we just get lucky a lot.....

    Willy, how deep out are they chasing salmon 300 feet?

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  3. Dear Petaluma Newbie, what follows is said with respect as we have all been newbies. The most important thing to know about fishing here is not where or how to catch the fish. The most important thing is to understand how dangerous the bar can be and to know what constitutes safe vs. marginal vs. don’t even think about it conditions. Sadly, someone dies here every year. See you on the water!

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  4. I've heard a variety of water depths, from 150 to 300. 220 feet seems to be number that comes up most often, although the deeper water seems to have more but smaller fish. Don't know how deep they're fishing. And for the record Newbie, while I haven't hurled at sea in 20 years I have thought seriously about doing it several times. Really seriously. Sweat on the forehead seriously.

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  5. Thanks Willy.

    Newbie, as anonymous said - be smart be careful, there's plenty of calm days to fish. All those that died did NOT have life jackets on - it's foolish not to wear one. You can buy a decent PFD for around a 100 bucks, wear it! It will be your best fishing investment - ONLY if you WEAR IT!!

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  6. Thanks for all of the great feedback everyone! It's much appreciated. Safety is definitely the #1 and only priority. Rokefin my friend on the boat and his dog would agree with you that conditions were not bad at all. The dog spent a lot of time sleeping on the deck. As far as PFD's go they are a boat requirement worn at all times. Even the dog wears his Outward Hound doggie life jacket. Check em out if you plan on taking your four legged fishing buddies with you. Thank you Willy for this forum and thank you all for your feedback and info. Good luck and tight lines!

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  7. ab fish. just when you were starting to act like a ok guy you go and write something like this crap! Do you think this is funny? This is garbage! Grow up!

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  8. Ab fish you are without a doubt an idiot

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  9. So I'm without boat. Can I cast from shore and catch salmon or Hali's?

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  10. So I'm without boat. Can I cast from shore and catch salmon or Hali's?

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  11. Salmon would be a tough catch from the beach halibut would be a better target

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