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.