Peter and Beth Honebein caught a nice mixed bag of fish to 22 pounds today. All of their action came in an hour just after noon. They fished from Buoy 02 to McClure's, saw lots of bait near Tomales Point but hooked fish at the South end of their trip. All bites on the dreaded green RSK. We only had three boats head out today but the Honebeins were the only ones that wanted to talk about it.

    Here's a report from last week:"Hey Willy,

Sorry for the late report but a friend and I got limits last Wednesday and 5 on Thursday. Live bait in a channel north of hog. Next time I will report sooner!

Thanks, Swampy" An earlier report would have been nice, but including a photo of where I caught a fish more than makes up for it. On Tuesday I picked up a halibut on the bar and another almost within the frame of this photo, both on live jacksmelt.   

    Wednesday there were a few salmon caught near Abbott's Lagoon and a couple of others from 50 to 80 feet of water in front of Bird Rock. At that time there wasn't very much bait at Bird but the howling South wind yesterday must have blown some in because by last evening there were many blackout-the-meter schools of anchovies between Buoy 02 and Bird Rock in 60 to 90 feet of water. There was at least one 20 pound salmon that bit at gray light. It looked a lot like last year in early October when there were quite a few fish there. Maybe tomorrow's wind won't blow it all out?

There were some salmon caught on Ten Mile last weekend but it wasn't what most guys were calling a good bite. A few boats caught limits but most boats returned with 0 to 1 salmon. Abbott's and the Keyholes were the better locations. The couple of boats that tried for halibut down there returned with none. The rockfish bite at Point Reyes was really good, at least. Inside Tomales Bay there were some halibut caught. Saturday was better than Sunday for reasons only the fish know. Sunday was especially slow near the yellow weather buoy. The water is still warm and there's still quite a bit of baitfish around, so it ain't over, it's just resting. Dungeness season is on the horizon so the State is starting the domoic acid testing this week with results to follow in October. Fingers crossed.....

     Eddie Kim took an extra set of Thumbs with him yesterday: "2 limits, 3 lost at boat, 2 shorties. South of Abbott's in 50 ft" The forecast has some windy afternoons for the next few days but the mornings should be good for a run if you don't linger.  If you don't want to leave the bay, that's okay too, as the halibut have been biting pretty well. Of course, most of the boats are fishing around the yellow buoy and catching some fish there, but there have been fish caught from the bar back to Marshall. Remember, the fish have tails and they use them. They could be anywhere and they probably are.

    Here's a salmon report:"Here's a picture from Sunday. Picked  this one up in the afternoon along with 2 lings and a rockie... Also hit 5 halibut south of hog on Sat, they were all around 24", only kept one for dinner." This fish may have been the scout as more moved in there yesterday. A fair number of boats caught salmon there today. It is far from wide open but there haven't been many fish around so a few is pretty good.

    Eddie Kim and his pal caught their limits of halibut in three hours yesterday. I think the fish may be in. Mr Kim likes to fish near the yellow buoy (where everybody else fishes) so my guess is that he was in his lucky spot.

    Gage finally got his tuna fix. 25 albacore (all we had ice for) by 1:30 at or about 38º 30' by 124º 05', or about 54 nautical miles from Tomales Point. The water hit 68º. It was a long day but Gage will be ready to do it again once his sunburn fades.

    Here's a bay report from yesterday:"11 lbs halibut caught on a dead anchovie by hog today, thought you might want for the fish report. Any salmon caught out front today?     

From Zach the fish counter" Nice job, Zach. Yes, there were salmon caught out front yesterday, mostly from out in 300 feet of water or so. 

    Here's another Tomales Bay report:"Willy- One heck of a day somewhere near Hog Island. Feeling super stoked about the 37 incher on the boat when a pole in the rod holder about broke in half as a 38 incher ,over 25 pounds swallowed a live smelt. What a fight!

Noah Raggio"  Very nice. It looks like there's still a few fish around Hog, then. Or there were.  There's still a few schools of anchovies around Marker 10 but the schools are small and hard to target for bait. Looks like the jacksmelt work, though.

       There's a few fish inside the bay, some of which are bad for your drag washers. These were caught yesterday on live bait (I think anchovies) but I didn't get a specific location. The threshers tend to like the warmer water, so I'd guess Marshall area. There were a few other halibut caught back there by another boat. Today saw a few more halibut from the bay and a salmon caught out by the Keyholes. Tomorrow we get a break from the wind for a day so there's a few boats that'll head out for salmon. I'm hoping they find some.

    Thumbs sent me a picture and note this morning:"Beau Kirby with a solid 14# ...he is the twins cousin...first thing this morning on sp minnow striper was full of very large sand crabs...would you mind posting...from your side of day beach" I do not mind posting this at all, since I haven't anything else to post except for maybe griping about the weather. The wind blew the salmon and bait back offshore and replaced them with cold water. It's a great afternoon for the kitesurfers but here on the beach the tents and E-Z Ups blowing around are a little dangerous. It looks like a little break from the wind mid-week but probably not long enough to bring the bait back inshore. Oh well. Maybe we'll have an October like last year.

    Here's a couple of reports from the weekend: "I've been reading your blog with pleasure for years. Last weekend my daughter and I launched our kayak off Lawson's, and she caught her first salmon, trolling off Bird Rock. Big fun in a tiny boat!

Fred Hoerner "  That is awesome. I find it hard enough to land a fish in a larger boat. I can't imagine myself successfully doing it from a kayak. Good work, both of you.

     Kelley Roy submits:"Hello Willy

Everybody was chasing salmon on the beach so we had all the Lings to ourselves Saturday   (PT Reyes). 
Chased Salmon later with the fleet on the beach and ended with some fish, one going 22 lbs. the entire GG sport fleet was invading the beach!!

Let Doug Vincent know we caught the salmon at Costello’s sidekick Lagoon" For the record, that's a solid Abbott and Costello reference. Nice sized lings, boys. Check out that water behind Herman. Warm and brownish and flat. Now it's cold and clear and bumpy. It also holds far less bait. Where do they go so fast? We get a small window to fish the next couple of days but it doesn't look like we get another warm-up and schooling shallow-water fish for another week or so if the weatherman is right.

     I didn't see any fish come in today except for Mathew Carney's 34 pound striper. I guess that'll do. The fish bit a previously frozen herring on the bar. They didn't have any other bites but then again, they didn't really need any more.

     Mason Lessard limited to 21 pounds on salmon yesterday. He was fishing at Elephant Rock in 38 feet of water on the bottom. A hootchy (no color noted, but I have become  big fan of the purple haze) hooked both, so it seems likely that he trolled them up. The weather got pretty nasty yesterday so catching them early was a good plan for Mr. Lessard. Other fishermen did very well at Elephant and the Keyholes and at scattered locations on Ten Mile, but the further South they went meant the longer the run home in a rather unpleasant sea. I know of at least one gentleman that sat out the fishing today as he was still too sore from the ride home yesterday (with limits).

    Some folks didn't have to leave the bay to catch a nice one. Will and family (from Sacramento) caught this 16 pound white seabass on a previously frozen herring while drifting about two miles South of Hog Island.

   Kapulani Chong and Tom Gerbi scored these fish early on Saturday. Three of them were over 20 pounds and the little guy weighed 15. They were on Ten Mile dodging party boats at the South end.