Eddie Kim found the halibut by Hog Island on Wednesday. Live shiner perch that he caught off of the Lawson pier were the ticket. The two larger fish weighed 13 and 14 pounds. Eddie caught limits of nice rockfish yesterday in about 200 feet of water near Elephant Rock. That said, be aware that the depth limits are going to change for rockfish, probably in the next week or so. Fish and Wildlife advises calling them at (831)649-2801 or check here before going rockfishing to know the current regulations. Basically, too many yelloweye rockfish are being caught and if they don't change the rules they'll have to close the season, period. The yelloweyes have been coming in shallower than 180 feet ( I caught and released a juvenile last year in 140 feet of water) so it would be good to know your fish. Here's Fish and Wildlife's flyer. 

     There's still a few salmon around with a few mooched up in the outer bay last week and a few more caught off of Ten Mile on the troll. The Ten Mile fish I heard of came from both ends of the beach, from 40 to 120 feet of water. More guys came back empty than were successful, but there's a few fish there for the skilled and lucky.

     There were a few salmon caught at the Keyholes and the North end of Ten Mile today. It was not a hot bite, but fish are fish. They're still picking up a few halibut in the bay but you have to fight the weeds knocked loose by the wind. There's a lot of weeds. Rockfishing has been pretty good when you can get out. It sounds like there may be some boats running for tuna this week if the weather forecast holds for Wednesday and Thursday.

    Tony and Paul came by to let me know that there are, in fact, a few halibut left down on Ten Mile and that they aren't all little ones. Thanks, guys, I never get tired of being wrong. These were caught on the south end in 60 feet of water, along with a few others and a salmon on another boat. Also, there's still some decent fish in the bay with at least one boat with two fishermen catching three halibut, one on a live smelt and two on live anchovies. It ain't over yet.

     Here's a short report from JG in Bodega Bay:"Willie, This is what's down 10 mile. I'm still watching the wind offshore." He was watching the offshore wind because he's (hopefully) testing the waters for albacore today during the 6 to 12 hour weather window. The problem is, even if he finds them, it won't be until next Saturday that there's another weather break forecasted. Still, I can sit here for a week fidgeting while I wait for my next albacore chance. I did it for four years, so a week should be easy. Anyway, the other part of this report is that the salmon can still be found down on the beach. Nice fish, too.
   

   There were a few salmon caught yesterday but very few. Even the guys that fished and caught on Saturday were telling themselves "should have been here yesterday." The bait is all still there, so the salmon should return, but when they'll be there is the $64 question. Halibut fishing was slow as well, but at least the rockcod were still willing to help out with dinner.

    Steve Georgis took his boat out for these five very nice salmon yesterday. These fish were mooched at the north end of Ten Mile. Moochers, you hear me? MOOCHED. Don't worry, trollers, your technique was working well, too. Today there were several boats with limits of salmon, most of them by trolling. It's not red hot and you need to work for them, but hey, at least they're here.

     Bob and Dan from Sonoma brought in this 32 pound salmon to show off today. They had 5 and 14 pound salmon as well. The fish all came from the north end of Ten Mile Beach in 60 feet of water. There were quite a few other salmon brought in today, including a couple boats with five. These may be the fish from up north that we've been waiting for. It probably won't last, so if you have the opportunity, you should go get them. 

     These are the first albacore landed at Lawson's Landing in a few years. Thankfully, Gage caught a couple of them, so maybe he will relax about going tuna fishing (not likely). We ran to 37º 23' by 123º 03' and did our fishing within a few miles of that point. We were planning on going to 37º 11' by 123º 03' but as we were running down we saw a guy in a Cabo boat hook up. I realized that we were in a Cabo, too, so we had better fish there. We had two singles and two doubles, the first single being unintentionally released by my awesome gaff skills. Don't worry, I got more practice. It did put Gage on his keister when the line parted. Most of the fish bit zucchini/Mexican flag colors at 6 knots. I have a feeling that the guys that went further south did better but we didn't want to leave fish to look. It was a 170 mile round trip, launched at 5:45, returned at 7:00, and if I'm lucky, in bed in 20 more minutes. On the local front, I heard of one boat landing a limit of 18 pound salmon on the north end of  Ten Mile, although 60 feet of water at Tomales Point looked pretty good to me on the way in, lots of pelicans diving in groups and singles over a pretty wide area.

   Not a lot of salmon or halibut to report for today, but good news for the surfcasters. This is one of two stripers caught off of the beach this morning. Both fish were liking his ghost shrimp for bait.

    I need to go back to Labor Day to find a salmon picture, but Kelley Roy was kind enough to send in a report with a photo:"Willy-  Still out here at the 250 foot line south of Russian river. Not real hot fishing but got this guy and a few bites.  Kelley" A few bites sounds pretty good right now. There's a huge school of bait at the Keyholes and more scattered down Ten Mile but not too many fish in there eating all of those anchovies. I think I'm going to go chase ghost fish tomorrow and run after stories of albacore. Probably stories is all they are, but this will keep my gasoline from from spoiling.

   There are some salmon coming from off of Carmet to Fort Ross in 200-300 feet of water and as deep as you can get your gear. Of course, these salmon came from McClure's Beach in 60 feet of water. The McClure's bite this year has been, let's call it flaky. Good to great for a day (or an hour) and then dead for a week. Hopefully the fish stick around for a bit, but if you have the downrigger, maybe think about Carmet.

   Steven Knudsen sent in this Saturday report:"Tomales local, Eric Knudsen caught his very first keeper King Salmon this weekend trolling off Jenner at 230 feet and 75 on the wire. " Very nice.

    The rockfishing has been good in the deeper water at Bird Rock, Elephant Reef, and points south. You can fish out to approximately 240 feet and the best bite that I have heard of was 160' or deeper. Before you go, familiarize yourself with identifying yelloweye rockfish, as they have been showing up in the shallows like they never have before.

    Well, I asked for salmon information yesterday and here it is. This one was caught fly fishing near Point Reyes. By fly fishing, I mean that they were fishing in the shade created by the bodies of ten million flies. Jerrie Carter caught this 18 pounder while trolling with Herb Hansen. This was the only bite in two days of fishing, but the flies were so bad that they left soon after landing it. Today we saw no salmon brought in and only a few halibut. The rockfishing was good, at least.

     You'd think that with the slow ocean fishing, Nick Bauer would be happier about his catch. Well, the rest of us were happy to see that the fish in the bay are still biting. 

    Under his mask, Eddie Kim is smiling. This one weighed 18 pounds and was the cherry on top of his and Nick's limits of rockfish Thursday. Rockfish were caught in the ocean and the halibut from right behind Hog.

    Eddie shows us here an example of the only fish biting in the ocean for the last couple of days. The way they tasted after Eddy cooked them, that's OK. I'll take seconds, please. If somebody catches a salmon, please let me know.