There's still been a few limits of Dungeness crab coming in from Tomales Bay. Known crab whisperers Eddie Kim and Thumbs spent Friday on the bay for a couple of those limits. Most boaters are catching a few Dungies but aren't having the same success as the whisperers. Shore snare fishermen are catching a few and occasionally doing better than some of the boaters. Winter storms have scoured our beach down to a flat, gentle slope making launching and retrieving of boats impossible at high tide without a saltwater bath for the launch vehicle. As someone that has had a wheel fall off of his pickup, I recommend not taking that bath.

   Mitch Hamilton found some crab yesterday :"Managed to scrape up 14 nice big crab out of the bay on Saturday, grandson #2 Lucas showing off one of the bigger ones." Those are some big bugs. Nice and clean, too.

    Here's another Saturday report :"Hey Willy,

Took my 84 year old dad out yesterday for a last shot at rockfish and the hopes of picking up
a few crab off 10 Mile.  I was not too surprised to see as many commercial pots on the sand
off Abbotts but was surprised to see pots on all my rockfish spots.  A 4 hour soak produced
4 crabs out of 5 pots.  The rockfish were pretty tight lipped.  We managed to keep about 6
assorted rockfish and let a few shorties go.  Slowest fishing I've had out there in a while. 
Even the New Sea Angler came in late which is rare for Rick.

So that's it for me.  It'll be all about ducks and maybe sturgeon until salmon season.

Brad Stompe" Some really big swells earlier in the week probably helped to slow the crabbing and 
fishing. 

     Here's a bit of a sneak peek at what's coming for the 2020 sport Dungeness season: 

"In Aug 2019, FGC approved an MRC recommendation for DFW to explore possible “common
sense” recreational management measures and consider including the recreational fishery in
its federal habitat conservation plan/incidental take permit application (see Exhibit 1). In Nov
2019, DFW presented MRC with six potential management measures for the recreational
fishery (Exhibit 2):

1. Trap limits - currently the recreational fishery does not have a trap limit

2. Stamp program - currently there is no participation reporting structure

3. Enhanced gear marking - currently only a GO ID number is required

4. Service intervals - currently there is no service interval requirement for traps

5. Gear configuration - currently there are no requirements that specify scope

6. Director of DFW authority for in-season action - current authority is split between DFW

and the legislature (commercial trapping) and FGC (recreational trapping)" 

What does it mean to us? Likely there will be a tag sold like an abalone report card, except the 3 to 10 
tags that come with it will need to be attached to the pots or buoys you intend to fish. Possibly a report
card to self report when you dropped and pulled your gear. You may have to punch a hole in your tag 
on the buoy when you pull gear. There will be a limit to the amount of line you can have on your pot 
relative to your depth that you are fishing. It'll be great.

    These fellows had the the bay to themselves yesterday. They started crabbing over by Marker 5 in the channel and did pretty well there until the wind chased them off. They finished their limits in the "clam channel" just east of the pier. They caught more there than at Marker 5. Most of the crabbers are only getting a few Dungeness inside the bay, but these guys aren't most crabbers.

  Got a couple of reports to share. Here's one from Brad Stompe :"Hey Willy,
Just reading your post on Tuesday's crabbing.  I was wondering if the crab were still there after the storm and discovered they were.  On Tuesday a 41/2 hr soak produced easy limits for 3 in 90’ off Abbots.  Fished 7 pots.  Rounds pot had 2-3 crab, square pots 10-20.  Bait was salmon heads and Duck carcasses.  Rockfish were plentiful plus 4 lings to 10 lbs.

Brad Stompe
Mary Francis - Grady 228"
   And one from Mike Martin :"The counts are down a little but still averaging 10 per pot in 180-200 straight west of Jingle Bells. We were averaging 15-18  a week ago. By the way we use commercial pots. Not sure you can keep light gear on the bottom that deep.

“Please don’t rob my pots”

Mike Martin"
  Commercial gear should start splashing tomorrow morning so the crabbing isn't going to get any better. There's a report of an entangled whale swimming around already, even without the commercial pots in the water, so you can be assured that changes to crabbing regulations will be coming sooner rather than later.

    Here's a report (sent Tuesday) from Harvest Time :"Yesterday we dropped six traps in about 80 feet near Abbot’s. After about 3-1/2 hrs. we had our rockfish so went to pull the traps. Every one of them was empty. After we went in we talked to another guy who had same results. Do you think this could have been caused by Saturday’s big swells?" That is possible, as big swell will make the crab move deeper. In yesterday's comments Sucka-Fish reported "dropped 5 pots yesterday (monday) 3 hour soak. 2 at 100-115 feet. 3 at 150-160 feet. 10 keepers. 6 in one of the deeper pots." Depth seems to be a factor. I talked to a returning crabber yesterday that caught limits in 75-90 feet of water but he spread his pots out over a few miles on Ten Mile and he said that the south pots were best. So, here's your four theories of why no or few crab:
  1) Big swell. The big swell stirs up the bottom and the crab don't like it. The do like that it uncovers clams, though, so a smooth spell will bring them back in.
  2) Squid spawn. Squid eggs taste bad to many creatures and a large mass of eggs will send crabs looking for someplace better to feast.
  3) Sometimes they don't bite. Just like every other critter in the sea, there are times when they get lockjaw. Predicting those times accurately is a mystery to me. If you figure it out, call me.
  4) Sometimes they aren't there. Except for times when the crab are crazy plentiful, they just aren't spread evenly across the bottom of the sea. I've tried soaking my gear all day in places where they aren't and it doesn't work. I like the technique used by crabber I spoke with, the "shotgun" method. I dropped my seven pots over about three miles of Ten Mile beach from 60 to 90 feet of water. The best for numbers is soaking all your gear where the crabs are. If you aren't positive on the crabs' location, next best is to try several spots and then only a couple of places need to be good.
    On the fishing front, not much happening except for some good rockfishing when you can get out to them. Inside the bay the herring are starting to move in so there should be a few stripers chasing them near Marshall. I haven't seen any surf fishermen except for the ospreys. The birds are catching, at least.

   The possibility of changes to the recreational Dungeness crabbing rules is more than a possibility. CDFW will be holding a webinar on Tuesday evening to discus proposed regulations. Here's their notification, from their calendar:
3 — Recreational Dungeness Crab Regulations Scoping Webinar, 6 p.m. An informational webinar regarding potential regulation changes for the recreational Dungeness crab fishery to improve accountability and reduce marine life entanglement risk. Potential measures include pot limits, catch reporting, surface gear restrictions, service interval requirements, marking requirements and changes to in-season management. Additional details will be made available on CDFW’s Whale Safe Fisheries webpage at www.wildlife.ca.gov/conservation/marine/whale-safe-fisheries. For more information, and to be added to the interested parties list, please contact whalesafefisheries@wildlife.ca.gov.

I haven't seen the proposed regulations so I can't comment on them other than to say, remember how easy it used to be? We have all been living in the good old days.

     Kerry Apgar forwarded these pictures from Nick Nichols. No text with them, but my skilled photo interpretation would indicate that the rockfishing is really good by Point Reyes and the crabbing is really good on Ten Mile. I believe that this was Nick's maiden voyage on the salt with his new boat and it looks like he's pretty happy with it. This new boat is big enough that he had a second station installed in back because the run from the forward helm to a rod with a fish on it was so far you would need to to take rest breaks. Well, I would.
     The crabbing inside Tomales Bay has really dropped off. It was slow at the start and three weeks of heavy pressure hasn't made it any better. Ten Mile and the deeper waters (150'+) have been steadily good but getting harder to get to with the ocean weather steadily getting more winter-like. The Tomales Bay bar claimed two boats over the weekend (a Whaler and an inflatable) but thankfully no lives. Whoever the guy was that was dropping pots on the bar on Saturday morning and almost got flipped, glad you made it back but don't do it again. I hope the brown stains in your underwear don't come out.  Someone coming in that gets your rope in their prop and ends up flipped by a breaker is someone you just killed.
    Also in crab news, the commercial season is delayed again for whales. There's still a bunch of whales around, and if enough whales get entangled in gear the commercial season will get shut down for years. If you think that means we would get free reign of the crab then you should pay more attention to the world around you. First them, then us. Right now the "commies" are taking one for their team and ours.

 

     Here's a three hour soak in 60 feet of water at the Towers on Ten Mile (about the 38º 06" line). A half pound of squid in the bait jar caught 14 Dungeness, all keepers. It made me wonder why I dropped four pots until I pulled the next one and found only two crab in it. "Pirates!" I thought. Then I noticed that the door wasn't latched and I vaguely remembered dropping the bungy hook over the frame, not into the wire, and realized I had pirated myself. So, I basically need to run extra gear to make up for my carelessness. I'll need to buy some extra gear, then, because the crab numbers will start dropping soon after the commercial gear starts dropping. There's a chance that the commercial fleet will end up crammed into the area between Point Reyes and Gualala, depending on the outcome of the next crab test from Duxbury Reef. Should that happen you'll be able to walk on the buoys. Fingers crossed for a clean test. Ten Mile and the deeper water (150'+) will still have a lot of crab for us (over 5.75" and less than 6.25") but I think we all like to catch jumbos.

 The crabbing inside the bay has really dropped off. There are still some Dungeness getting caught but I only heard of one guy this weekend that was happy with his total. The average has been 0 to 2 with a couple guys catching half limits and one fellow with a lot of gear catching 28. 

Veteran's Weekend 2019

    Of the many boats launching from here this weekend, these folks were the only ones tha didn't go crabbing. It looks like specializing pays off. The largest ling weighed in at 17.5 pounds and the weird looking fish on the left is a wolf eel. 

    Thumbs sent in a picture of this big ling, caught at Point Reyes on Dungeness opening day. He says it was pushing 30 pounds. There's some big lings out there right now. This time of year the largest ones are usually females full of eggs, so if you get a photo and let them go, that's okay too. 

   The southern three-quarters of Ten Mile Beach has a lot of crab. Doug Bagley and I dropped seven pots along the northern half on Thursday. The two pots closest to Keyhoe Beach had a combined six Dungeness. The other five traps averaged 12 per pot. The outer bay has some decent crab if you can soak a pot overnight in the right spot and be the first to pull it. Otherwise it's been difficult. A few guys are still catching fair numbers of Dungeness crab in the bay but there's way more wrong spots than right ones. Most bay crabbers are doing well to catch a couple of legal Dungeness. As long as the weather keeps cooperating, go south if you can. The rockfishing is really good down south, too, in case cleaning a bunch of crabs isn't enough for you. Commercial season is on the books to start this week, although I heard a rumor of a single bad crab in a recent test, so there may be further delay. 

    Here's an excellent report from Kyle Maclachlan: "Just wanted to share some pics from our crab opener. We worked 3 pots and had 3 good pulls.  My 22” pot had 10 crabs, 2nd pot for 8 and 3rd had 16! All were from ten mile beach and the fish were from point reyes reefs. Couldnt believe the t- shirt weather down at the point. Hopefully a catch like this is worthy of the fishing report, I always follow the reports, thanks."  Absolutely worthy. It doesn't look like the dirty water bothered the crab or the rockfish, at least for you. There is a CDPH warning now for crabs caught south of Point Reyes (to Pigeon Point) and north of Point Arena. It's the standard "clean 'em before you cook 'em" warning for two crabs that were a few parts per million over the warning threshhold. The crabs out of Bodega and Tomales Bays have tested okay and the other areas should be clear before the commercial fleet gets their chance at them on the 22nd.

     There are some nice Dungeness inside Tomales Bay and in the outer bay but the guys getting decent numbers are really putting in the time and fuel to drop and test, then move and drop and test, trying to find the place with the crab. Letting your gear soak all day where the crab aren't is not a good way to get your limit. These guys know where the crabs are. Or were. 

    Mike Mack and Tim Nelson made a run down to Elephant on Saturday for some ling cod and they found them. The big one was in the mid-twenties. It was nice to see a few fish among all the Dungeness madness.

The weather was fantastic today but the crabbing was kind of average for the opener. A few guys killed 'em and a lot of guys didn't. The outer bay was spotty with limits for some and scratching for a few for some others. Ten Mile Beach was very good for the boaters that didn't mind spending a little more on gas. I talked to one boat that ran up to the Russian River in 60 feet of water and it sounded like that was not the place to be. The longish stretch of flat seas has probably let a lot of Dungeness move in close to shore, so dropping your gear shallow may help.

    Not too much fishing going on. I guess everyone is prepping their crab gear. Nathan Porter, John Brezina and I gave the albacore one last try yesterday. We ran out to 38º 28' by 123º 54', or about 45 nautical miles from Tomales Point. I didn't get skunked (barely). Nate caught eleven and John caught five. I guess a few tuna didn't know that it was over. Also not over, there were a couple halibut and a striper caught back near Marshall on Monday The rockfish have been biting pretty well, too. As of the time of this post, no health warnings for domoic acid in the crab. Remember, no traps in the water until 12:01 AM Saturday.

   Joe Downing took advantage of the flat ocean today and ran to the Point Reyes reefs. He only got one bite but that bite was a 22 pound ling. If you're only going to catch one, make it a good one.

    Tim Nelson sent over this report from Sunday:"Caught these two on straight bait in the South Bay, Mike also caught a shaker halibut and a silver salmon." The north end of the bay has cold water and I couldn't find any bait in it yesterday. Two hours of looking around and then chumming for no bites or sign makes me think that the live baiting for halibut is over. Looks like Tim and Mike are still catching with the dead stuff, so do as they did if you go. 

    There's been a couple of barely-over-the-line crab test results, one from Fort Bragg area and one from Duxbury, while the retest from Bodega Head passed. What's it mean? For us sport guys, probably the season starts as planned with warning from CDPH to clean before cooking. For the commercial guys, their start should be on the 15th but could be delayed due to domoic acid and weight testing and whales. Whale entanglement is a huge issue for the commercial fishermen and will become an issue for us as well. Here's some tips to minimize your chances of being the guy that kills a whale:

BEST PRACTICES

• No excess lines should be floating at the surface. Floating line should only be between the main buoy and trailer.

• When changing set location across depths, adjust the length of trap lines by adjusting shots (i.e., measured length of line) to maintain taut vertical lines.

• Avoid setting gear in the vicinity of whales whenever possible.

• Communicate the locations of high whale activity with other fishermen.

• Maintain gear to ensure lines and buoys are in good working condition and will not break under natural conditions causing gear to become lost or irretrievable.

• All gear should be clearly marked consistent with applicable regulation.

• Use the minimum amount of scope required to compensate for tides, currents and weather.

• Remove all fishing gear by 11:59 pm on the last day of the season when gear is no longer allowed in the water.

   That first one there that says no floating line? That's a damn good rule. 

    Mason Lessard texted me this report just before 10:00 this morning:"Live report... north of Hog island channel marker, Tom Carter's drift ( I mean Jerry's ) lol ....caught on one of the two live jack smelt I managed to catch." I don't know how he finished the day but that's a good start. It is funny that sometimes it's harder to catch the bait than the halibut.  

    This 11 pound halibut also came from inside the bay today. I didn't get the specific location but I know this blue boat trolls around Marshall quite a bit. They also had a couple of barely keepers that they safely returned for next year. 

    Just so everyone is reminded, for the week before Dungeness season opens it is illegal to drop a crab trap in the water. It has been that way a couple of years now, but there may be a change coming for 2020. Should the California Fish and Game Commission agree to it, we may get a 12 hour pre-soak next year, meaning you could drop your pots at noon on the Friday before the opener and pull them at midnight (or even better, the next day). It is not official yet but from what I hear it may actually happen. 

     Here's the best fish of the weekend. Caught on Sunday, this 29 pound halibut was brought in by Jay Meeks of Valley Springs. I may be a bit late in reporting it, but I can tell you it was caught on the bar. It was also probably the only fish from the bar for the weekend as the water was calm but cold. Cold water doesn't completely stop halibut from biting, it just makes it very unlikely to catch. Plus, maybe when they're this big they're better insulated. 

    We had to do at least one more albacore trip, so Tuesday Nate let Alec Bennett and I catch a couple more than last time. Four for us and six for Nate. We fished within a few miles of 38º 28' by 123º 55', or about 45 miles from Tomales Point. The ride wasn't too bad but it definitely didn't feel like summer out there. It did feel like Dungeness season is coming. In an open boat you wear your cabin and I needed a few more layers of cabin. Inshore, there were a couple of salmon caught out in the deeper water but there's no sign of last year's "October surprise" near-the-beach-salmon-slaying happening again. At least the rockfish will still play with us.

      Here's a good halibut picture from Noah and Nancy Raggio: "Hi Willy. Mom and I went in search of Halibut on Tuesday of this week. Found several schools of anchovies but they were more interested in getting away from us then getting on the hook. Put some time in and caught smelt for the live well. Mom lowered a lively one down into the deep channel just south of the number 10 marker near the yellow buoy. This heavy, 33 inch beauty swallowed the smelt and proceeded to pull down hard on the rod. We had several other takedowns during the day but they somehow evaded our double hook set ups. What a great Halibut season this has been. Mom and I both agree that Tomales Bay is one of our favorite places on earth." Thanks for the report and thank you for confirming that the halibut are still biting. We've had very few boats going out which makes for very little to report. From what I hear the salmon is about as slow as it gets but I did see a bunch of birds and whales working a couple acres of bait at 38º 18' by 123º 08' in about 300 feet of water off of Bodega Head on my way in from tuna fishing. No confirmed salmon in there but that area has been fairly consistent for a few fish this year.
    Some of the domoic acid testing results are in and it's good and bad. So far the tests have occurred at Bodega Bay, Half Moon Bay, Monterey and Morro Bay. All of the crabs have been good except for two crabs from Bodega Head area. Point Reyes, Russian River and Salt Point had all good crab. The two "bad" crab were at 43 and 58 parts per million (30 ppm being the action level) so they're close to being okay. My guess is that we will open on time with a possible "clean before cook" order from the Health Department. Commercial season will probably open on the 15th but may have a "blackout" area around Bodega Head. It sounds like their season will close for sure on April 1st to minimize whale interaction with their crab gear so they will be pushing hard for the season to open on time. Of course, how full the crab are and what the buyers are willing to pay will could also set their opener back. So complicated. For sure, though, all of us "sporties" should be replacing our rotten cottons and making sure that our GOID numbers are still legible on our buoys.

Late update:

    These three guys wanted to let us all know that, yes, the halibut are biting. Not bad for a couple of hours' work. They didn't say where they went but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't far. It was around the bottom of the tide.

     The albacore tally for boats from Lawson's Landing yesterday was:

Nathan Porter     8
Ed Parsons         5
John Brezina      4
Willy Vogler      2

Yes, I stink. Nate caught 7 before I had a fish in the boat. Nate and I started at 38º 27' by 123º 45' and the other guys stopped shorter on jumpers. Last bite was at 38º 19' by 123º 39' in greenish water. Most bites were in 57º water near the 58º temp break. Mexican Flag was the top color by far. The ride out was bumpy but the ride back was nice. The forecast looks good for Friday/Saturday and the water is moving this way. If you go I wish you Nate's luck, not mine.

    A couple of days of grinding finally paid off for Helmuth Himmrich today. When you're having a good day to get one bite, Helmuth had two bites, one of which stuck. The salmon was in the one school of bait that he saw all day in 55 feet of water at Elephant.

    The halibut bite isn't red hot but there's a few being caught. Michael Del Gallego landed two at the turn of the low tide near the yellow weather buoy. I heard of a few others from the same general area. There's a weather window for albacore and it sounds like there's quite a few boats making the run out of Bodega Bay tomorrow. The weather doesn't look quite as good for Monday, so that's when I head out (I hope). Good luck to all that run and better luck to the guys that share numbers.

     These gents landed a mixed bag on Sunday:"3 limits on cod, 1 ling 1 salmon" I believe that the salmon came from in front of Bird Rock. There have been a few salmon caught there as well as at McClure's and Abbott's. By a few I mean very few, but any salmon this time of year is pretty good. 

    Eddie Kim caught this one yesterday:"Lost one at the boat then trolled for 6 hours before getting my last salmon of the year! " I hear that in October the salmon taste like pumpkin spice. I haven't heard of any halibut caught the last few days but there's still a couple of salmon swimming by out there (although BEWARE! There are some salmon inside that bay. Silvers. You don't want them.). The water should warm up a bit this week and let the anchovies school up and move back in. If the forecast comes true we should see better salmon numbers this weekend and maybe an albacore run Monday or Tuesday. No domoic acid test results yet.

    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.