Another day, another Eddie Kim photo:"Cousin Jimmy and I worked hard for these. Caught on anchovies and 1 on shiner" Mr. Kim works the area around Hog, and as you can see from the photo, these fish, while not monsters are also not typical back bay fish. There were some guys that did very well further back in the bay today, numberwise, but the closer you got to the front of the bay the larger the average size. Coincidence? I think not. There were a lot of halibut caught today, again, and in my opinion it is due to an influx of fish following the anchovies combined with mild tides. But, my opinion is worth exactly what you pay for it. 

On the salmon front, the one fellow I spoke with that went out for salmon ended up fishing for halibut before noon. Was it because he limited out early? In a word, no. He tried the 80 to 100 foot area in front of Bird and saw nothing but cold, clear water and jellyfish. He saw a lot of jellyfish, though. I did receive a tip from a friendly commercial fisherman,"Fish off bird rock to elephant, at 40 fathoms, shallow. Go down anywhere from 6 fathoms to 9 fathoms.  Darker hoochies, like watermelon or deeper green, chrome spoons." For those that don't know, a fathom is six feet. That is serious commercial speak. I feel saltier just copying and pasting it. I'm also gonna give it a shot tomorrow. 

Here's a report from Breck Davis:"Hello,

I took my girlfriend,Debbie,out on Tomales bay thru Westside,Sorry,blowing hard yesterday,southwind,we did run to Lawsons and try to drift there by the shore,wind was fierce,blowing incoming or outgoing tide.

She caught 3 live anchovies,fished hard for them,1st one she got a reel screamer by hog,nearly spooled her bait casting reel and lost it,WSB? 

Next one got a bat ray on anchovy and fouled the anchor line,talk about a heavy hoist-100#s to get it released, 3rd one got lucky,she caught a 24" halibut @ yellow weather  buoy,as she was reeling up to go in, Southwind was gale force by then

Fish was caught on my blue Starcraft Blue Balls,by the way I have been using Jeff Akers Marine for outboard repair on Blue Balls and other boat,from Lawsons....Breck" Jeff Akers was one of our mechanics for a long damn time. When our shop closed he went solo but is still in the area. In my opinion he's a damn good mechanic. My opinion is based upon the fact that he taught me most of what what I know about outboard repair. The outboard breaking I taught myself. Jeff is a bit overwhelmed by the number of people calling him for repairs but it's kind of his fault for being good. Also, nice work, Breck, for putting your woman on some fish in some pretty difficult conditions.

And another report from a familiar name (and now face):"Hey Willy,

Nice to finally meet you and get down there for our first trip of the year, my boat is no longer a tractor virgin. Here is the promised picture of Tuesday’s fish. Big fish were 16 and 17 pounds caught a good bit north of hog on shiners. Wednesday the boat limited In the same area with 9 fish with the big fish being 16 and 17 pounds. I think I see a pattern......

Thanks, Swampy."  Not a bad pattern, I'd say. Nice to finally meet you as well. Way to drive a boat. You did a great job trailering in difficult conditions. It wasn't pretty but it was very functional. Nice damn pile of fish as well. Sorry Gage talked your ears off but, hey, don't say "striper" in front of him. That's your fault.