So Eddie Kim took a mysterious stranger out halibut fishing with him today. Apparently this mysterious stranger's job was to gaff fish and take Eddie's picture, as Mr, Kim did all the catching, or so I hear. Big fish weighed 17 pounds, all fish caught near Hog and all fish bit live shiners. And tomorrow it is supposed to blow, hard.

    Tom and Lorraine Lovato sent in the report from last weekend:"Hello just want to share our fishing trip with you. My family had a wonderful time and the crabbing. Well let the pics tell you. Fished both on the beach and the pier. Caught 2 off the beach and 4 off the pier on Friday. Then myself, Son, Nephew and Dad caught an additional 22 on Saturday off the pier. By the time the group photo was taken my  Son, Nephew and Dad ate 4 for lunch. 

Thank You for making our trip possible. Every one was extremely helpful." Thank you, Tom and Lorraine. Glad that you did well on the crab and happy that we could help. Not everybody did even close to as well as you guys and a lot of people went home without a crab last weekend. It's nice to see somebody's crab mojo is working.

   Here's a picture from yesterday. The salmon weighed 21 pounds and was caught in 270 feet of water off Bodega Head and 175 feet OTW. There were quite a few other salmon caught in the same area, 270 to 300 feet of water, 175 to 190 feet OTW. The 16 pound halibut was caught near Marshall on the Fluke. 

  Eddie Kim had a few dry runs while halibut fishing this year, but today Eddie caught his limit by Hog Island with the big one weighing 18 pounds. Okay, Eddie, you can relax a bit now.

   There are a very few halibut getting caught in the bay now, but this 17 pound fish caught by Marker 5 on a dead anchovy yesterday can give us all hope. That, and a second halibut caught on the pier on Thursday. The Dungeness crabbing dropped off on the pier (probably from more traps in the water than there were crabs) but elsewhere in the inner and outer bay the crab were still pretty abundant. Marker 5 area had a lot of Dungeness that were about an eighth inch short but there were enough jumbos mixed in to make limits for a few guys.  

   The Miss Anita was intentionally run aground at Salmon Creek beach yesterday to keep from sinking. Everyone on board were okay but the boat broke up in the surf soon after. Good work and quick thinking by the captain saved lives, but I guess we'll have to find a different boat to follow...

    The new, secret halibut lure is the sabiki, at least when fished by this gentleman. While fishing for jacksmelt from the pier he hooked and landed a 24" halibut around noon today. Well done, sir. It makes a person think that there may be few more lurking in the clam channel....

    Kristen Highfill sent in this report and photos from last weekend:"7 inch crab off the pier! Two days of full pots! All big. Monster surf perch of the beach! Awesome week at Lawsons Landing. Family had a crab feast and fish tacos. Best fresh food! Such a great Fathers Day week! Thank you!!" I'm glad the perch and crab decided to cooperate for you. Remember when I said crabbing was slow? That was so last week. The Dungeness have moved into Tomales Bay as well as the outer bay. This morning one group had 24 Dungeness in their four traps on the pier. I'm kind of surprised that halibut could even find a place to lay on the bottom with all those crab there...

   No salmon brought in here today (it was more than a little windy) so here's a picture of yesterday's salmon:"Herb, Rich, and myself 2 12 pounders 1 26 pounder and a couple of dinks at 15 and 4 on Tuesday" That report courtesy of Tom Carter. I guess that knowing they're out there is almost as good as being there catching them. Right?

    How about salmon out in 200 feet of water? That's only about halfway to where people were fishing on Sunday and Monday. These fish were caught at about 80' OTW, about where the krill is showing. Dan Riffle and crew were forced off the salmon grounds by 1:00 PM by the wind, but that was enough time to fill their crab pots. Yes, the Dungeness are apparently showing up in the outer bay, just in time for the season to end in twelve days.

   I am aware of only one halibut caught today, but Wayne Puroy of Lodi caught a good one. This 20 pounder bit a dead, previously frozen anchovy near Hog Island. The dead bait has been outfishing the live bait (not counting the live anchovies) so far this year, but I don't think the shiner perch should stop being worried. 

    The Good JuJu 2 limited on salmon today, finishing their day with a triple hookup. They, and many other successful fishermen, were trolling in the area of 38º 12' to 38º16' by 123º08'. The krill layer was down about 70 to 100 feet and most of the fish were hooked at 80 to 120 feet OTW (there were a few outliers at 60 and 140 feet too). Rotary Salmon Killers seemed like a common theme. There was a salmon lost in shallow water at the Keyholes, so there may be a few others in close, but the best bet is a downrigger and a longer boat ride. There was a halibut caught (and a few bites missed) on the bar today, but before you divers head out here, just know that you should probably bring a white cane with your speargun, as the water is browning up rapidly.

    So Kevin Fogal comes to Dillon Beach for 24 hours and it becomes the Fogal show. Last night, standing literally in Gage's footprints from a half-hour before, Kevin caught this nice striper while perch fishing. He and the guys around him (and yes, Gage before him) did well on the surfperch.

    Today Kevin went out with Dennis Carter on the Predator and they landed three keeper salmon and lost another. Most of the boats were working out in 270-300 feet of water off of Bodega Head and Tomales Point. The magic depth depended on the boat, with guys hooking fish from the surface down to 120' OTW. The consensus seemed to be that the fish were higher first thing in the morning and then went deeper. The fish came on the usual assortment of gear, Anchovy Specials, RSK's, watermelon Apexes, purple haze hoochies, etc.. Inside the bay one boat caught a limit of halibut for two guys that fished, I think, way in the back in the shallows. They were the exception for the weekend with most guys struggling to catch one if they were lucky. 

    A break in the wind the last few days (it only blew hard in the afternoon/evening) has provided a few fishermen the chance to catch a few halibut. No big ones, but a few keepers around Hog Island and at least one caught in the clam channel today. Fishing the clam channel during these low tides is kind of like parking on the freeway, but someone made it work. The successful guys that I spoke with used live anchovies and jacksmelt. Out on the beach the surfperch have been biting pretty well, especially at twilight. Last evening the guys that stayed longer were hooking up steady, some on the Berkley Gulp! sandworms and some on sand crabs that they plucked from the surf. No stripers, but the strong currents should have a couple biting. A halfway decent weather forecast for Sunday means we may see a few salmon landed on the opener.

    Ed Falkenstein sent in this picture today:"From left to right; Caleb, Lenea, Eli and Jax smoked the surf perch using camo and blood red gulp worms. Just north of the potato patch."

    There's a striper or two in the surf with the perch. They'll eat the Berkley Gulp! worms, too. The halibut bite in the bay hasn't panned out for the guys I spoke with, but then again, the weather wasn't what I could call good, either. There were a few rockcod caught out of here today before the wind blew the boats back into the bay. Salmon opens in a week on the 17th, but the way the weather is I think I'll be buying another pack of Gulp! worms before I get a tray of bait.

    

   The rockfishing was slow over the weekend for the couple of boats that ventured out. There were some halibut caught in the bay but nothing this side of Tom's Point (at least that I heard of). It sounded like dead drifted bait was outfishing the live bait, a fact that the recently arrived shiner perch at the pier really wanted me to tell you. A few boats did okay on the Dungeness inside the bay but for the most part red crab were for dinner. I heard of a few surfperch caught but my go-to guy didn't try so I can't say of it was good or bad. Of course, no abalone diving this year and probably none for a while. If you're looking to get wet, a good place to do it would be at one of the urchin clean-ups. Here's a link to the news of the last one: http://www.mendocinobeacon.com/general-news/20180531/divers-make-a-day-of-it-urchin-clean-up-addresses-kelp-ab-die-off  It looks like the next clean-up will be at Albion Cove on July 21-22.