Gage's two evenings of bat ray fishing from the mud flats south of the sea wall resulted in the total catch of one short Dungeness, one keeper Dungeness, and this thornback. I'm not going to say who caught the only fish, but it wasn't Gage. The few critters that bit were tasting squid before they felt the bite of the hook. Gage also gave a try yesterday for rockfish out in front of Bird but would rather not talk about that either. It's a bit slow.

   Today's report, "Hi Willy,

Crabbing wasn’t so hot for us today but we were surprised by this Mola, beautiful weather and a huge Bull Elk that came close to the water. Gotta love Tomales Bay!!!
Take care,

The Forchini’s" That is an odd place to meet a mola. I passed you today in my Whaler on my lap around the clam islands (testing the boat) and saw your boat on the beach. In my short run I was surprised by the lack of crab pots north of Marker 5 (Not that there wasn't any, there were. Just not insanity levels of them) and the crazy number of buoys floating right in front of the Landing. Is all the gear there because the crabbing is better or because it's close? I would bet the distance thing except that I have heard that a few guys have been catching there, not many crab, but dinner. 

     As far as for next and future seasons of crabbing, it appears that the season opener will be dependent on whale and leatherback turtle numbers in the area. Those numbers need to be close to zero. So, your fun and the commercial guys' house payments are dependent upon endangered species remaining endangered. I love the whales, and seeing a sea turtle around here is like seeing a dinosaur in real life. I'm a huge fan of both. I just wish that a better way to protect them could be worked out. Pitting people's vocations or even their avocations against three species trying to recover from the brink of extinction seems like there may be problems. A single leatherback turtle with a rope on it will shut down the season. Do you think there's maybe an incentive to make sure none are found? Just saying. I read Freakonomics and now I try to consider what the real incentives are behind the rules, intended or unintended. It's those unintended incentives that can really bite you in the tookus.