What do you think of a guy that goes out and catches (in his boat) a 28.5 pound halibut, a 24 pound salmon and thresher shark while his (ex?)buddies are lucky to scratch up one little salmon in another boat? This happened yesterday. It appears all is forgiven as he went out (and returned) with those buddies today and they all caught salmon. There's some salmon in 50 to 80 feet of water, from at least Tomales Point to Elephant and probably further both ways. The baitfish (Anchovy? Sardines? Nobody tells me ...) have finally arrived and the salmon are happily gulping them down near shore. At least, they were there today. The wind machine has fired up and is set to run for the next few days. It seems that when things start to really happen the wind kicks up to shake the Etch-A-Sketch. Things will change, but some of that bait will likely find its way into Tomales Bay and the East part of the Outer Bay (Bodega Bay proper). Live bait may become easier to catch in Tomales and salmon might be in front of the Esteros. Maybe.

Here's a report from yesterday from Nick Nichols and Greg Rothhaupt :"Limits of rockfish for both of us. Trolling past Bird towards the point 4:30 pm double hookup landed this one. 2 more passes 2 more hookups. 65' water, 55' on the down rigger. Lost them. Got really windy and sloppy. Had to go. After launching we only saw one other boat all day. Great day!!"  Nice work, gentlemen. Nice mix of critters, and good on you for finding your own fish. I need to try that.

It brought a tear to my eye when Eddie Kim checked in to the campground a few days ago and when he took his family out for three salmon today (weighing 19, 20, and 22 pounds) it made my heart grow a size. That feeling rapidly went away when I had to keep working while other people kept bringing in fish. Now I'm dead inside. I've been waiting since last season for fish on the doorstep and now somebody else is catching them. Oh well, the season is young.

The live bait has been hard to come by for most but the halibut have been kind enough to bite some dead stuff lately. Better then half of the boats that I spoke with today that had been halibut fishing had at least a fish or better on dead bait. Best one was two halibut and a striper (Go Dentones!). Somehow there's still fish to be caught near Hog Island. I was told you caould almost walk boat-to-boat, but if you choose to do that please mask up. Also, boaters, please allow at least a six-foot space between your boats when drifting for halibut. It's for more than social distancing.