So there's these stories of salmon swarming out at the weather buoy. On Saturday these guys heard them but decided to give it a go at 15 and 3 (That's 38º 15' by 123º 03' for the uninitiated). There were fish there but spotty and scratchy, so after a couple of hours and a couple of fish they pulled gear and ran the 14 miles to the "spark plug." Imagine their disappointment when they could hardly get lines in the water before the fish bit. The fish weren't huge but they were enthusiastic. These guys were back early enough to do a bit of jigging by Hog and caught a halibut as well. I heard from another source that the fish near the weather buoy extend down the coast to at least Pigeon Point. It's not a solid carpet of fish but there's pockets of salmon out near the drop-off. Some of these fish have been eating krill but many of them have lighter, orange flesh and have mixed fish in their bellies, including some anchovies and shortbelly rockfish. Maybe that's where the baitfish have been hanging out. There's still fish to be caught in closer for sure, but if you don't mind a long run for salmon it sounds like they're out there. Consider it an albacore practice run. It's like a half marathon.
    The halibut also bit live bait back by Hog, probably because it was pretty difficult to catch any live bait, at least for the guys I spoke with. I did hear there were some larger schools of (non-biting) baitfish near Hog now, so there's probably a few fresh halibut in the bay as well. For those without a boat, there's still surfperch being caught and this week should be a good time to catch a striper on the incoming tide in the evening with a full moon coming up. If I can keep from falling asleep on the couch you may see me out there. 

     I received this text and photo from Tom Brodsky yesterday morning at 7:52 AM: "Early bite" My guess is that this cryptic message means that, even though the previous day he fished from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM with only a scratched bait, his morning yesterday was much more productive. 180 feet of water in front of Bird, as I recall he told me later. I have heard of some other good numbers of fish caught off of Bodega Head and down to Elephant (rumors of a bite at 4 and 3? Perhaps someone fishing for a scout?) but mostly all early. Today the only salmon fisherman I spoke with had one and released another off Bird before 10:00 AM. Then the bait faded away with the bite. It seems that the fish may have moved down to Elephant later in the day (judging by reported boat traffic) but I haven't seen a fish from there yet.
     I did talk to one halibut fisherman today. One halibut (kept) and one leopard shark (released). I believe the location was Hog Island related. Not quite the success story I was looking for (neither was the salmon story; I need body count if I'm gonna catch) so I'll probably leave them fish alone tomorrow. That, plus it looks like we need to change most of our campsites in the next four days in order to comply with the recently released Covid rules from the County. It's weird that campsites outside in the open air and sun need to be separated by six feet or more yet hotels get all of their rooms. I guess that after the all the protests with all the people close together outside and then there was the huge spike in illness I never heard about because of it, I guess that clued people in to how dangerous camping or other outdoor activities really are. Thank God my family and employees have survived this long. FYI, this ain't political, at least it isn't if actual science dictates the rules. Otherwise it's just someone picking winners and losers, and while I kinda expected to be a loser it still hurts. If someone can explain to me how people camping 20 feet away from each other is more dangerous, Covid-19-wise, than a hotel, I'm always interested to learn. Oh well, at least I still have a job, I guess. So far, better than some.
   Anyhoo (this bothers Cameron, so...) there are still some sandcrabs molting, so surf fishing for surfperch wouldn't be off of the table. The ospreys are killing them, so they're out there, just maybe not in range of your cast. If history is any indicator there should be a striper bite in the surf between Sunday and Thursday in the evening. It is my mission to outfish the Gage during this window. We shall see.

    Here's a couple of pictures from yesterday:

   The salmon looks big but the halibut seems more impressive. It probably helps to be smaller and wear a pink hat. I'm currently looking for a nice pink hat.
    Today we had far fewer fishermen but the one brave soul who launched to fish stuck his nose out front (you have to look) and then ran back to Marshall and trolled for halibut (you don't have to stay). He ended up with a couple of keepers.
   Okay, I try not to do these, but damn.... You know, sometimes you see a boat with some custom addition that doesn't look that well done but the owner is really happy and proud of it, so you let it slide. Let them have their fun. Boating is supposed to be fun, right? But every once in a while you see one that is potentially harmful or fatal. The following pictures show a boat in the terminal phase of what one of our mechanics (I can't recall if it was Jeff or Nate) called "Small Boat Syndrome". Usually this applied to boaters that wanted (or needed) a larger vessel for all of their crap. This boat has been "extended" to facilitate carrying more people. The flotation in the seats (and the seats themselves) have been removed for more room for bodies. And I'm not sure if this is a 15 horse main engine with a 20 horse kicker, or maybe it's, not twins, but stepbrothers? You make the call:

    

    A bit slower on the salmon today. The South wind was back again and so was the cussing at it. Everybody I spoke with had at least hooked a fish for a bit, but these krill fish seem pretty skilled at slipping the hook. The two fish in the picture failed to slip the hook and came ashore with Travis Barton and company. They would have had more except the nincompoop launching them was able to get the boat trailer stuck in the mud on the way in. Some people have to work at doing stupid stuff but I seem to be a natural. Everybody got to wait an extra half hour while I got a bigger tractor to (barely) pull out the boat and start over. Sorry... There were other salmon caught but I didn't hear of anyone from our launch really whomping them. It sounded like the dark water where the fish were caught yesterday kind of wandered off.

    There was one fisherman I spoke with today that caught a few halibut on the troll but the live baiters had a hard time trying to drift liveys at trolling speed in the wind. 

    

While I didn't catch the report from the halibut guys today I did get a salmon report. These three fish came from 120 feet of water in front of the Trees, about 35 to 50 feet down. I also heard of another two fish caught in the same area, one in 120 feet, another in 75 feet of water. If you like South wind and you weren't out fishing here today, well, you really missed out. If you don't like the South wind you really didn't miss much. The salmon fishing was better than yesterday but yesterday was way slow. Saturday seems pretty likely to be better but then it gets windy on Saturday night through Sunday. Gage tells me Tuesday looks like the day to put some serious hurt on the salmon. We shall see.

   

    Brandon Hodson submitted this report this evening:"Hi Willy long time listener first time caller.  Thanks for the only website worth a damn to those of us that fish here, and for all you do at the landing.

We trolled off bird and the trees in 200’ and finally got one with 145’ on the wire.  Melissa’s first fish so she’s stoked.  Sounded like mostly crickets and a few shakers out there today.
Cheers,

Brandon" The crickets are all I heard about earlier in the day. One secondhand report of three fish caught in 140' in front of Bird, but by the time I heard it it could have been three fish 140' OTW. I'm not sure that my downrigger has 140' of wire. Looks like I might get the chance to find out this weekend. The weather looks good even if the catching is slow. A few more days of calm water should allow the bait and salmon to concentrate and I imagine that this weekend there will be more than a few boats out scouting. Chances are, somebody will find them. 

    We had a little impromptu soiree for Gage this evening, as it is his 18th birthday and graduation from high school. Just a few friends at separate picnic tables at the waterfront. It was funny to notice that when the birds started diving across the bay on a school of something most everybody ended standing up, staring at the tiny white dots going up and down saying "Anchovies?" It's good to surround yourself with like-minded people.  We may not agree on a lot of politics but we can agree on fishing. And yes, the baitfish were moving into the bay on the incoming tide. Whether they were anchovies or not I don't know but the birds were terns (I think; tiny white dots) which would seem to indicate something anchovy-sized. 

    Wind today, and worse wind tomorrow, a bit more milder wind on Wednesday. But by Thursday things really change and the weather forecast for the next few days after looks pretty good. So Lawson's Landing will be open for day use only starting on Thursday. We will be starting slow and easing into it, but there will be boat launching. It turns out that we have to put Gage to work since he's too young for unemployment and he's already run out of money. Life is hard all over, it seems. He turns 18 on Wednesday and needs to get in as much work as he can before the next virus surge shuts us back down. At least then he has a shot at going fishing on the government's dime. I guess he takes after the old man. It is a shame that he has to work because it sounds like there's a few halibut coming from the Northern reaches of the bay. Not the bar, yet (although with anchovies coming through the bar could get interesting for stripers on a fast tide), but North of Hog Island and in the channels between Tom's Point and the mouth of the bay. The fast moving water by Marker 5 can hold stripers and halibut. Not, generally, when I try but it can be really good on occasion. When this wind drops it seems likely that there should still be few salmon around the same general are they've been showing up in (Bodega head to McClure's, 120 to 220 feet of water) since they've been there pretty much since the beginning of the season. Especially if the whales are there. 

    The salmon bite was good again today. I couldn't keep them attached but I saw a lot of guys that did. Cameron here caught our only fish but it weighed in at 22 pounds. I lost two others but at least I never had them on long enough to get emotionally invested in them. From what I heard later I should have dropped deeper, later, as the fish slid further down the water column. All of our bites (which were early in the day) came at 50 to 70 feet down, probably not coincidentally where the thick krill layers were. The whales seemed to be doing a fine job of corralling the krill and the salmon were definitely more active near the feeding whales. Looks to be a bit windy the next few days but by Thursday, maybe, a new weather window may open.

I saw a nice 22 pound halibut caught near Hog Island today, and even more exciting to me there were a few tiny schools of anchovies migrating into the bay. It looks like we're approaching about 1% of last year's anchovy numbers but that's way batter than it's been. This wind may send a few more in. Don't be afraid to fish around the anchovy schools if you can find them. Not only do they make great bait but every fish you want to catch eats them and can be found near them. Yes, even bat rays. Especially bat rays when I'm fishing.

     There's quite a few hungry salmon from at least McClure's Beach to almost Bodega Head, and from 120 to 200 feet of water. That I witnessed, at least. Conditions looked good even shallower. I dropped in on bait in 90 feet of water off of Bird and trolled through constant krill out to the fleet in 140' where I hooked (and lost) my first fish. There were several whales scattered through the area (perhaps some blues or finbacks? Sei whales?) and the sound of their feeding is possibly what's attracting the salmon. Whatever is calling the salmon in, they're there and have been for a couple of days now. Probably not coincidentally it's the same place that salmon have been caught (off and on) since the start of the season. It is reasonable to assume that they may stick around (off and on) for awhile. I also saw probably 500 pelicans flying North at just before sundown tonight. I am hoping that means the baitfish are moving this way. 

    Gage heard that there were some nice salmon caught off of Bird yesterday.  He heard similar stories a couple of other times recently and we dutifully got up early and ran out to the hot spots to discover that it was over and the fish were gone. So when the alarm went off this morning and I heard the wind rumbling over the roof, I rolled over and went back to sleep. Of course, this time the fish were still there. Word is that the guys that were able to stay in their boats (it was kind of snotty) did very well on some nice sized fish in 180 to 200 feet of water. You guys were lucky the cooler didn't show. You're welcome. And for the record, correct, I don't pass on all the info I hear. The surest way to never get another secret tip is to make public a secret tip. When it ain't a secret any more or it's only my secret then I can share.

 

    So instead of salmon fishing the Gage and I tried a little jigging for halibut around the turn of the low tide. Go figure, it works. A white tube jig worked along the edge of the eelgrass beds North of Hog Island was the ticket for me.

 

   Here's a report from Fish Lips "Hey Willie,

 

When the salmon aren’t biting, this is always a welcome alternative… Rock Salmon!

 

Not real big ones but they were willing and plentiful just off the point. Provided one heck of a fish fry for about 10 of us.

 

Always appreciate your reports ~ Thank You," Big ones are for bragging, these are the ones you keep for yourself. 

     Mike Martin sent me picture to give me hope. Strange that it made me feel bad. "Hey Willie just wanted to pass on this photo to give us folks up north some hope. This is from a friend this weekend" Part of me is excited that this kind of fish could be a possibility this year. Another part of me is thinking that my chances just dropped because now there's one less. Either way, good on this masked man. FYI, social distancing or no, if I catch a fish like this you will be seeing my face. Otherwise, how could you tell if I was leering?

     I received another note earlier in the week from Harvest Time :"Yesterday crabbing at Abbott's was kind of dismal we got a handful of small keeper Dungeness and some rock crab. Rockfish at 200' was easy limits and good grade. Lingcod were chomping we got 5 for 3 guys. Salmon were cold, so we trolled up a 12# hali near the harbor entrance and called it a day." I have heard of a few salmon caught North of Point Reyes this past week but not very many. Halibut has been better with live bait taking fish around Hog Island. There's even been a few stripers in the mix and even a rumored WSB. Miller Park boat launch is open so you will have company if you head out. 

Now I don't want to startle anyone, but I caught this striper in the surf. It was a keeper but not by much so I let him go. It's been two years since I last caught one on the beach, so when kit bit I almost didn't remember what to do Almost. For the record, a three ounce Hopkins No Equal Spoon will cast a long way and catches fish, too. Gage and I also fished some live bait by Hog Island for one keeper halibut this afternoon. It should be good and tender after the chewing it got from a friendly harbor seal. We had a hard time making bait for halibut, as the jacksmelt didn't want to play today. We caught four in 40 minutes. The one that caught was a bit over three inches long. Small bait, small fish, they say. Gage also brought some grass shrimp he caught earlier and tried fishing a blob of them for halibut halibut and striper. We still don't know if grass shrimp catches those, but leopard sharks seem to love them. A lot. 

    I received a note from Brad Stompe about Sunday fishing: "Willy,

 

Lots of fish food off Bodega Head to 10 Mile Beach out to 300’ but little sign of salmon.  Water temp was a pleasant 57 degrees which should get the plankton growing and help brown up the clear green water out there.  Four hours of salmon trolling never produced a bump.  Being the first time out in quite awhile I really wanted to come home with dinner so switched to rockfish.  My usual spots near Elephant were only producing small fish so it took some searching to find a honey hole, but I did and came back with a limit.  Back at Bodega I asked around about salmon and it was skunks all around."  Well, as I like to say when I strike out on salmon and bring home rockfish instead, "Fresh rockcod is better than salmon any day." Sometimes I think it's actually true. Way to save the day, and may you be sick of eating fresh salmon by the season's end.