First, a recent report from Zack Jessee:"Went out crabbing in Tomales over the 16-17 and had decent luck. Tried out some new cone shaped crab traps I just recently acquired and soaked at night to hit a slower tide. We were able to grind out a 2 man limit of dungeness and kept some monster rock crab as well. They all tasted great! The new traps fished really really well, but were a real pain to get crabs out. Sadly lost one trap to the sea. Thanks for the continual updates!" The bay is hard on traps, even on a slower tide. Good job on the limits. Crabbing has been pretty slow but it looks like you've got the grinding figured out.
    Surfperch fishing has been mostly slow. The storms keep erasing the holes the perch like. These storms aren't supposed to bring much swell, so by this weekend there may be some surfperch catching to do. The rain will probably not help the leopard shark fishing from shore but might make the deep holes in the bay good places to try from a boat.
    This year's salmon season won't be determined until April. What we get for a season depends partly upon what they expect for this year and partly on how many showed up last year. Not enough fish returned last year  (105,000 out of a minimum of 151,000) which is bad, as salmon will continue to be considered "overfished".  What did show up was a lot of two-year-old fish, indicating an expected ocean abundance of over 400,000 kings for this season. These would be the salmon that were spawned during the heavy rain winter of 2016-2017. Go figure, more water means more fish. With luck that will translate into more opportunities and more success for this year.

Gage has reconnoitered a new couple of holes in the area bracketed by the gatehouse and the first few campsites and he likes what he sees. While I unfortunately do not have a hand for a size comparison, I'm assured the good perch were 10-12 inches, with mediocre amounts. The swell made the going tough, but rest assured, Gage's prowess carried him through, though he insists that better weather would've improved his numbers. He was hoping to land stripers, as it is getting to be that time again but he was disappointed. On the subject of weather, it's been deteriorating fast, with higher swells yet on the horizon. Conditions should improve by Tuesday if the forecast holds. 

Crab snares are slowly but steadily pulling in Dungeness for those braving the intermittent rain. No one went out in a boat today to try the bay and I hope no one tries until the weather lies down. So, I don't have a fresh bay report for you.

Had one special request for Gage's preferred recipe for perch. It's worth nothing that he's pretty big on catch and release, but the few he holds onto are typically large. Per Gage: "I would scale, gut, and take off the head and then either pan fry in butter or bread it first." Feel free to comment your favorite if you've got one.

  Gage's hand tells me that the perch are here. Not big ones, but he found quite a few fish in a hole near the rocks. They're liking the Berkley sandworms.
   I received an email about Bob King:"Hey Willy
Here’s to Robert! Talked to him a few years ago and I listened to his story, at first I thought it was just an old man telling a story.  first time I had met him, and then I realized what a fool I had for venturing out without the proper gear. Scared me straight up.
Richard from Sacramento " Yes, when possible let someone else's mistakes help you correct your own. A float coat, a safety line and a waterproof VHF handheld radio with GPS seem like good things to have for a solo fisherman. I almost fell out of a trolling boat while albacore fishing solo years ago. I teetered on the rail and luckily fell into the boat instead of over the side. Just the memory makes me queasy and my palms sweat. At least with a second person you have someone to get you (or at least kill the engine). Plus, halfsies on gas.