Nick Nichols sent over some pictures to accompany his victorious score yesterday. It looks like Nick made an order from "BigfishMike" on Coastside Fishing Club to get the killer spoon. I haven't ordered one for myself, yet, but my resistance is flagging. Bait caught two of the fish, so as long as tray bait is plentiful I'll be fine.....

  Here's an opening day report: "Hey Willy,

        Here is a beauty we picked up in 70 feet of water between the trees and mcclure's about 50 on the wire. We started trolling in 90+ just before bird rock and caught so many Jellies we had to start throwing them back so I figured either we go deeper or shallower to try and give our cranking arms a rest. Like you said the hot bite was not in the shallows but it was just hot enough for the first mate, not the captain of course. He weighed 21.5 lbs after being troll dressed, the fish I mean. One can only hope there's another one out there willing to brake my back up net. Although I probably won't attempt the net if another fatty comes my way the gaff is much cleaner and leaves the fish for a better picture with all it's scales.

Thanks,

-Dave new owner of the Sunrunner"   Any fish that breaks the net is a damn good fish. Successful gaffing is also very cathartic. You can work out a lot of anxiety in just a moment. If you have further net breaking issues, though, try to get a net with a deep bag so that you lift it "handle to the sky" into the boat. "Snow shoveling" big fish will break nets. I'm not saying you did, but we had someone in the shop today buying a landing net to replace a busted hoop from large-fish-itis, so it's on my mind. Nice fish, by the way.

   Kyle Maclachlan emailed this report: "Hey willy this report is for monday. We fished out of bodega and managed to find some biters for the four of us. The wind chop was 4-7’ though out the morning, but once we got located near a couple anchovie schools not far from home the bite was on! We have been waiting for a day of fishing like this for years, even with the wind chop the crew had smiles ear to ear. I sure hope some of those bait schools head into tomales bay!" That's not fishing, that's harvesting. Pretty damn nice harvest. I showed this photo to Gage and he wanted to lay down by your fish for a photo. Very nice work. 

   One other thing. I don't want to blame Eddie Kim, but too many Pacific Halibut have been caught this year and the season will end at 11:59 PM on June 30. I feel like my chances for accidentally catching a Pacific will go up by ten times on Thursday. 

 

 One boat went out for salmon today and was rewarded for the trip. Nick Nichols and crew caught their four salmon to 20 pounds in 240 feet of water, 100 feet down, half on bait and half on a spoon. Most of the (king) salmon action has been North, especially around the Russian River, but the salmon are swimming North like something is chasing them. Something is, of course. Don't worry, they'll be back, and according to Nick a lot of them haven't left. 

      Here's a Saturday report: "Hey Willie, "Miller Time" here, disciple of Swampy. On Saturday Swampy Jr , Jake, and I took the SS Seafood down to Hogs for a few hours halibut adventure. Bait was sparse. One anchovy, that proceeded to jump off the hook before it actually hit the water, one shiner and a handful of jacksmelt.  Lucky for us the small jacksmelt and shiner met their demise in the jaws of Mrs  halibut ( N) of Hogs. Incoming tide and wind assisted.

MILLER TIME"

    Here's a question from Chris P Fish: "Hi willy,

I caught a bunch of these fish (pics attached) while salmon trolling, any idea on the species, i have asked several knowledgeable fisherman of the ocean and i get i dont knows or conflicting answers. thanks for the help,

chris" Anybody have a guess? The answer is sablefish, AKA black cod. Tasty (if you keep them chilled, like hake) and part of your groundfish (rockfish) limit with similar rules. Normally they are caught way deeper than we are allowed to fish. It looks like they might be hitting kind of aggressive with two on one hook. 

   It seems that until today Eddie Kim had never caught a striper in the ocean. Today he finally found the stripers that liked his live shiners. He and the Padre had a good day back by Hog.

     Ken Heller sent over this report from Sunday: "Hi Willy,

We went out for a few hours on Sunday. Started with some great advice from Gage on how to find them and where to start. The conditions started out a bit rough but did improve by mid-morning. We tried a bit of prospecting at a few different depths and found a nice patch of markings trolling going north of bird rock toward Bodega in about 240' of water with the fish in the 175-200' range. Lost one right at the boat and a couple of marked-up sardines before landing a decent 18# King.  Overall good day with the wife and boy, wish we could have stayed longer but anytime I have salmon on the boat is a good day!

Ken" Way to stick it out in some less-than-perfect weather, Ken. We'll have to talk about listening to Gage's advice in the future, though. It's good to see the whole family out fishing and even better to see them catching.

 

 Okay, sorry that this is late. I was busy. There were a lot of reports and forgive me for messing them up, as they've kinda run together in my tired brain.

   For sure, the first king salmon landed here this season. Hey, they don't have to be giants to impress me. This gentleman was part of a group of three boats that mostly caught silvers (and released them) on the opener. This was the keeper of the group. I'm pretty sure he shared with the group. He seemed really nice, so... Even if he didn't, sir, I am jealous of the fish and title. First Salmon 2021

       The guys we all wanted to be this weekend were Ron Johnson and Vance Staplin, who brought in the first limits of salmon to Lawson's Landing for 2021. There were many other limits taken out there yesterday and some of them quicker than these guys (Boley/Fogal I see you) but they were the first from here. Vance spent several years (and probably more money than his wife is aware of. Hey, it's a boat) fixing up this Boston Whaler for ocean fishing. It looks like he's getting her dialed in. In Vance's words, "Hi Willie,

Gage took our picture and this one as well.

We caught our fish in around 260-280 feet of water north of Bodega Head.

Too much Hake and sloppy water to fish bait. Caught them on Hoochies and Watermelon Apexes 25-50 feet down. The Hake were a horrible nuisance. In some cases you would have to shake them off all of the lines every 5-10 minutes..."

   Doctor Halibut got blown off the salmon grounds but found a few of his regular prey species here in the bay. These fish were more Marshall than Hog. but an exact location wasn't offered. He's here for a few days, so the salmon shouldn't relax yet.

      Here's a Swampy Friday report: "Hey Willy,
Today’s report, one to 13 and another lost at the boat about the same size. Shiners were all we could find for bait. Got another big one today I had to release at the launch." Well, you may not be killing the halibut, Swampy, but you may have a job waiting for you at TowBoatUS. Post this photo, pelicans and, possibly, anchovies showed up. Hundreds of the dinosaur-looking birds have been feeding pretty heavy along the sand bars on the mid-tides and they're not eating nothing. If the anchovies aren't in the bay yet it's because the pelicans find them too yummy. There's a lot in the ocean now and the wind tends to chase a few into the bay, so good things may be in store for our friend Swampy and the rest of us. 

   Mara Nursement jigged up this halibut yesterday while the bait rods were being prepared. It pays to always have a line in the water. Even if you hate jigging, catching is better than not catching (until you're cleaning them). Mara dropped in and pretty much hit the fish in the head. That woman has the touch.

    Here's a Lou Zanardi report from yesterday: "Hi Willy,   Here is a pick of Steve Freeman today.  We fished 16-17 line, 280' .  2 on,  one landed, before we decided to call it a day.     
Take care. LZ" The best bite has been up North off of Salmon Creek in 200+ feet of water. That said , there's a few fish almost everywhere. There were fish hooked in 100 feet of water off of Bird yesterday. But the best bite has been in deep water but up high, near the surface, in spots without the thousands of endangered silver salmon. The commercial guys have been killing it. I heard that they have already caught more fish than were estimated to be their "share" of the total ocean catch. For sure they have caught more fish than the buyers were expecting, with their prices dropping by half this week. Either these guys are better at fishing with their established gear types than expected or there are far more fish in the sea than expected. No offense, commercial fisher-dudes, I know you're fish killing badasses, but I think the latter theory is likelier. Maybe the fish didn't go up the river last year even though they were supposed to. Maybe a lot of three year fish decided to be four year fish. Can they do that? I don't know. It's possible that they don't know that, either. If there's a higher number of four-year fish this year they may have an idea. 

   The Halibut Doctor has a son and the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. Doctor Halibut Junior caught this one today with some help from a another (senior) doctor. The Doctor catches on dead bait. There are lessons to be learned, Padawan. 

 

    I know it may not look like it, or sound like it phonetically, but, in fact, the letters S M A L L   C R A F T   A D V I S O R Y spells "salmon opener." It is supposed to be unpleasant early and then get less fun later. Of course, the guys that fish salmon for money have tried a few places and found that the best bite is pretty far out in 300 feet or more. If I was heading out tomorrow I'd probably make that my first plan. The second, backup plan would be to fish closer. The water looks right in 100 to 200 feet; brown and baity. A few have been reported as caught and released on rockfish gear in 150 feet of water, so it could happen. There's always Bodega Reef, too. And halibut. Not very good halibut fishing (the folks that I spoke to that tried today didn't think the halibut were quite flooding into the bay. They were more of the opinion that all seven that tried to enter got caught yesterday) but a few were taken near Hog. It looks like we may be going back to the conditions of a few weeks back but with a "but the salmon are out there and hungry" kicker. Aahh, good times. Good thing we sell kites and fishing tackle.

   We've been waiting for the halibut to come in while we've been waiting for salmon to open up. Well, the waiting is over. For which? Looks like both. Salmon, of course opens Saturday and halibut, it seems, are now entering the bay. This one weighed 17 pounds and was the largest of three caught here today on the bar. There were at least four others speared by daring men in rubber garments, also on the bar. The basic math is that fish on the bar are fish entering or leaving the bay. As the bay has been mostly empty, entering seems statistically more likely. Diffusion alone, right? As far as salmon, I have heard a few reports of fish being caught in close, yet when I went fishing this morning I couldn't see any commercial boats. They were too far out. That doesn't mean that there's no fish in close, only that the most catching, currently, is out in the deep. I saw very little bait inside of 200' of water on my trip today and I spent (wasted?) four hours chasing rumors of squid, sardines and anchovies for nothing but a caffeine hangover. We ended up clobbering the rockfish, and they hurled up a collection of partially digested critters that was impressive in it's variety. Most numerous was anchovies, followed by smaller rockfish, squid, shrimp, lizardfish, crabs, worms, midshipmen, and a bullhead (Pacific staghorn sculpin). Yeah, the boat was a mess. After a gray whale pooped just upwind from us later on I narrowly avoided adding to the partially digested flotsam on deck. That really stank. I'm never apologizing for my farts again.  I don't compare.

       Eddie Kim sent me this picture today. Do you ever think, hey, those Pacific halibut, they're out pretty deep and like rocks as well as sand, right? What are the chances I'll catch one while I'm rockfishing? Well, for you and I, not good. But the Kim and his crew, well, they can make it happen, it seems. This one weighed 15 pounds and came from 200 feet of water off of Elephant. As I understand it, the Pacific halibut bite right now is as good as or better than any time in my lifetime. That said, it only has to be a couple of fish around here to qualify for that. Your chances of duplicating that catch has never been better. Your chances still suck, though. Good work Eddie and crew. And don't buy lottery tickets. Your luck is spent.

 

    Okay, it's another photo of lights, but this is the first good photo. "Hello Willy,

I got a pretty good picture of the boats last night with my new iPhone. In the almost 20 years that we have had our house, this is the first time I’ve ever seen this grouping of boats at night. It was pretty awesome.

Lee W." It is distinctly possible that the fish are here. Or, at least, over there. I did hear a report from a rockfisherman that the bait in 200 feet of water off of Abbott's Lagoon was "thicker than he'd ever seen it." Whether there's any salmon in it is always another question, but.... That's a lot closer than 300 feet of water. And if it sucks, hey, there's rockfish right there.

   I did get one positive Tomales Bay report: "Morning Willie, out on the bay yesterday with good friends from Petaluma Phil Becklund and boat owner Bruce Schneider. Landed 3 fat halibut just South of hog. All on live smelt at the turn of high tide. Maybe there is a push of new fish or we were just in the right place at the right time. I’m hoping more fish are coming!

Steve Smith"  So, there's fish. Well, three less fish. It could be that there's too much food outside the bay and the fish have no good reason to come in. Someday the wind will blow again (it always does) and it could chase in enough fish of both kinds to make things easy again. Or, not. We learn more when the fishing sucks.

    I know, I know, another picture of lights. The point is, there's more of them. Now, either they're doing a lot of 24 hour road construction out in 300' of water (doubtful) or there's a lot of commercial salmon boats working the deep. Gage's connection at the Tides says they've already had several thousand pounds of salmon landed there. Some of those fish may have come from down South but most of them are from up here. The fact that the number of boats here is increasing would indicate that the fish are currently in. The weather forecast doesn't completely suck for Saturday, so, game on. Also, hear that the shortbelly rockfish are back, which, if true, would indicate a bite ate Bodega Reef just South of the MLPA. That's a lot closer than 300 feet. It would be worth a look, as nobody wants to run past fish to find fish. Just because I do it doesn't mean you should. Also, separately, my prediction for albacore is that they'll be here again this year but be kinda far. What forecasting tool do I use, you ask? Gas prices. The higher they get the likelier the chance of tuna. We crossed the $4.00 mark at Costco, so chances are good for a slaughter of both tuna and credit ratings.

   Friend of the report Swampy sent over this report: "Hey Willy,

Tough day today for me but thankfully I brought a couple catchers. Both caught north of hog at the tide change.

Swampy" My understanding is that they bit shiners. We only had a couple of boats launched today and these are the only fish I heard of. Well, salmon season is coming and hopefully that will take some of the heat off of the 20 or 30 halibut in the bay. We need to make them last all season.

 

        This is my view out my window tonight. The night has been pretty dark out since commercial Dungeness closed, but tonight the sea is alive with lights. What for, you may ask? Commercial salmon has opened here. The two lights on the left are anchored up in the mouth of Tomales Bay, indicating that these boys are from out of town and there aren't any places left in Bodega Bay. I don't know if the stronger indicator is that fishing is good here or that fishing down South isn't good. My guess is that the fishing South isn't as good as some folks would like (when is it ever?) and they're hoping for better up here. Hope often doesn't equal reality, as you, too, may have discovered. I did receive this text from a commercial fisherman, though: "Looks like your going to have some decent fishing when it opens. Off  Pt Reyes now, fish moving up and they are up high in your depth range." It sure sounds optimistic. So does the weather forecast for the opening weekend. 

     Other optimistic signs for fishing are baitfish near shore off of the beach as well as molting sand crabs. Some of the sand crabs were having difficulty shedding their old shells and were washing up on the beach this evening. The sand crab molt usually means good fishing for the things that eat sand crabs but my casting with a popper this evening resulted in my daily step count going up and not much else. Your results may vary, but I wandered home disappointed. Maybe tomorrow?

 

    This picture arrived on my phone yesterday morning at 9:30. It was a bit distracting. The photo came from Tom Carter, and I kept thinking to myself, "How could Tom catch that fish?"

    Here's the answer. Tom, like me, is a pretty good gaffer. Jerrie Carter caught this 42", 26 pound halibut. It bit a live jacksmelt. I did not get a specific location for the catch. This fish was found to be a male when it was cleaned. That's a big dude. I'm not sure what it means with the timing, but usually one sex shows up, then the other. Supposedly the halibut don't spawn in the bay, or they only spawn in the bay, depending on who you ask, but I'm betting the fish have their own rules. A big male in June means something but I don't know what that something is.

     ChrisPFish sent this report yesterday: "Hi Willy,

The not so good reports have kept me away for two months but I woke up today ready for a challenge. Spent 630-830 catching 12 smelt along the eel grass. Drifting four rods finally got a 30" to eat what I was offering right at noon like his lunch bell went off. Good amount of boats for a friday. Saw two others caught. I got off at 2pm. Beautiful conditions..." Yesterday was beautiful. Today was nice early, then it got windy from the South. At 3 PM we had gust to 28 knots at the Landing. By 4 PM the wind had dropped to 3 gusting to 6. Nice fish, Chris, and perfect day to go get them.

    Curtis Bishop of Roseville caught this nice halibut near Marker 10 on a live jacksmelt yesterday. Wait, he wasn't at Hog Island playing bumper boats? How can this be? Oh, yeah, the fish don't know they're supposed to only be at Hog. Well, it's probably for the best that they killed this confused fish. Nice work, gentlemen. Not only have you provided yourselves with some great meals, but you've also done the greater fishing community a service in removing this misguided flatfish.  

    Gage and I didn't get to talk to everyone today (boat extraction is screaming South wind is .....complicated) but it looks like high boat from the Landing was Anthony Piccardo's No Bad Days with a halibut and striper caught within five minutes of each other near Marshall. Anthony has been putting in the time and effort to figure out fishing in Tomales Bay and it appears that he's doing it. Nice job, Anthony. As a wise old fisherman (sort of) told me, don't consider fishing a competition unless you're winning. Game on, Mr. Piccardo.

 

     We are now employing passing young ladies as spokesmodels, as smaller people make the fish look larger. This one weighed 29 pounds and didn't need too much help with the large look, but still. This one and one other (seven pounds) came in on my boat today. I didn't hear any other reports but I wasn't around, haunting the ramp as I usually do. It looked a bit slow from the water, as I only saw two tight groups of boats form up near Hog, one of them for the seven pound fish. Generally, when the boats run over to you when you land a fish, it ain't because they were killing it where they were fishing before. We covered over 20 nautical miles today, most of that with lines in the water, all between the Elk Fence and the bar and almost back again. A good part of the day was spent running the motor(s) in reverse to slow the drift. Part of it was parachute in and out. It got so cold in the wind on the bar that my fingers went numb and turned white for an hour (hard to believe when you're in 100 degrees not too far away, but the Pacific brand AC was working hard today). There's a very few fish around but you gotta work hard to get them. I am whupped. This weekend has some heavy hitters camping and fishing down here and I'm hoping that they can figure out the magic to make these critters jump in the boat. Fresh eyes on the problem. The crabbing, what's left of it, has been mostly fair out in the Outer Bay. I'm hearing numbers of Dungeness ranging from zero to limits with the average being about 3 to 4 keepers per pot if you find a sweet spot. Get 'em while you can.

 

     This message is from Marin County Parks: "Hi Willy,

Miller boat launch repairs have been completed. Boat ramp is open.

" So the scratching for a few halibut and stripers is available to all, again. Water temps in the bay are up so, theoretically, things should be popping. Functionally, well.... I've heard more anchovy and sardine reports from the bay but the fish reports are kinda meh. Actually, "kinda meh" puts too strong a positive spin on it. I apologize. There's some fish in the bay but you gotta either be lucky or work really hard for them. Both together is best. I haven't seen a halibut come in here since Sunday, so I'm guessing nobody from here was lucky enough. 

   There was a commercial boat tacking around the bay this weekend, according to the Coastodian: "Hi Willy,

Any ideas what the big boat is up to?

A recreational halibut guy told me it was out all day Sunday, yet fishing. Saw it again today, no lines out I could see. No action or people on deck besides skipper." I saw the boat anchored across from the Landing on Saturday and leave the bay Monday afternoon. Perhaps he was trolling for halibut? Not visibly catching doesn't mean he wasn't trying (I look like that a lot). Possibly he was searching for herring? The herring I saw were perfect red and mostly green label sized, perfect for laying on a Styrofoam tray. I was thinking he might be looking for them for that purpose, but I could be projecting my desires, as my bait guy doesn't have any green or red label herring at this time, so neither does the bait shop. My fear is that the commercial boat was here because he heard that this was the best halibut bite going, and if this is the best, well, oy vey...

 

     These folks are happy because they caught rockfish and crab and they aren't cleaning their pile of critters, yet. In fact, about the only smiling fishermen today were the ones that went outside for rockfish. The Outer bay even had some pretty decent end-of-season Dungeness. The Tomales Bay fishermen and crabbers didn't do as well. Crabbing for reds was pretty good but inner bay Dungies were few and far between. And halibut? A local legend (in my mind, at least) in bay halibut fishing caught one today and was high boat until one more was caught this evening, bringing the Lawson's Landing daily halibut total to two. I'm not sure what the descriptive word is for a total of two but I'm pretty sure it ain't "good". Most of the seemingly appropriate words also describe unfortunate bodily functions. So, trying to stay positive here, let's just agree that the halibut fishing can only get better. And thank goodness for rockcod.

   Cannon Brunkhorst caught this 30 pound fish today. I'm told that it's a halibut, but I'm not convinced. Gage and I have been catching a few halibut but this fish, although looking similar, is way larger. Whatever it is, it ate a 14+" jacksmelt (you know, those fish I said the halibut wouldn't bite) near Hog Island today. Other people on the boat thought the bait was too big, but Mr. Brunkhorst knew better. Big bait, big fish. That rule has almost never worked for me (almost...) but Cannon knew better. No other keepers on the boat (a few shakers from further back in the bay before they got tired of the green slime. It wasn't too long. Green slime sucks.). I heard of one boat from here with a 12 pounder today. Other than that, a few guys watched a few other guys catch a few fish, mostly smaller halibut and a striper or two. The smelt will bite for bait but the school bait like anchovies, herring and sardines are really hard to catch. 

    Here's a few pictures from Tomales Point this evening. The gray whales have been putting on a show every day and these were mostly happy to show off tonight just inside the Point. The first picture is of a gray whale giving our photographer the stink eye, so maybe they all weren't into it. The last shot was just a fluke.

 

    Chris Brown decided to take a day off of killing it and joined Gage and I for a Tomales Bay trip today. We ended up with two halibut (up to 15 pounds) that bit live sardines and a striper that ate a jig. Probably the hardest thing to catch was the live sardines. We ended with with about ten over three hours of trying to catch them. All of them either got off the hooks or were bitten and killed. Our perfect-sized jacksmelt didn't get hit (I'm not counting the huge leopard shark that thought he was a seabass. Okay, we though he might be a seabass). I'm not saying the jacks won't work, just that in my recent experience the sardines were the hit. We just happened to see flippers North of Hog and stopped to chase the dream. Ultimately we had a good day but I still feel dissatisfied with our bait catching. The pink sabikis were the ticket but the size 14s shed active fish like my head sheds hair (that's a lot). I heard no other victory stories but I wasn't lurking at the ramp (only for you, Swampy) all afternoon. There were quite a few boats out for a breezy Thursday but by the way they were shifting around it didn't seem like anybody was killing it. It ain't Prime Time yet.

 

     This week had a windy start like most of the weeks this year, but it has eased a bit and this weekend we may actually get either a break or just the wind blowing from another direction. Either way, it appeared that there were some baitfish entering the bay this afternoon. My indicators were mixed pelicans, terns and cormorants hammering on a school across the bay from the Landing. The terns being involved makes me think anchovies in particular, but that could just be wishful thinking. Another indicator was a bunch of large whales (not grays, but probably humpbacks just due to sheer numbers) out in 100 or more feet of water yesterday afternoon feeding in on general area. Krill? Maybe. But maybe anchovies, too. The ocean water may still be the temperature of iceberg melt but it seems like things may be about to happen. And salmon season is only a bit over two weeks away.

    There it is, the one halibut I heard of this weekend. Gage submitted the report: "Adam Bienenstock with a 24" halibut. First halibut ever. Son caught two herring and one caught the halibut" As usual, the important part of catching is good bait and it looks like Mr. Bienenstock has a catcher of such on his team. The wind wasn't too bad in the morning yesterday but came up pretty quick today. It sounds like the herring are getting even harder to catch with the pressure from fishermen and fish. Apparently your appetite gets impaired when you're trying not to get eaten. As I recall, I never got hungry when abalone diving (back when that was a thing), so I assume that this is true for me and other small fish. I heard a fifth-hand report of herring further in the bay but the people that went looking for them this weekend found nada. No further reports of anchovies since Wednesday, and even the guy that found them then couldn't find them on Thursday. Those fish and their tails. I guess that when everyone (fish and fishermen alike) are waiting for the bait to show up and only a few arrive, those few are, well, I won't use the appropriate term, but let's just say it sucks to be them. I would assume that the conditions that sent the herring into the bay should send some other schools of baitfish into the bay as well, but barring that, bring your chum and prepare to catch jacksmelt. 

 

   I'm just going to bed and check the email, and there it is. It turns out, not unsurprisingly, that there were other fish caught this weekend. According to William Thompson, on Saturday,: "Hey Willy,

Wanted to report on my friend, Carl and I's good fortune. Caught two halibut up to 34" just before the wind blew us off the water. Didnt hear from other people we spoke to about any others caught. What I can say is the ticket was smaller sized live smelt.

-Will" Nice fish, gents, especially considering the reported lack of others. Way to be bait-flexible. Schoolie baitfish are easier to get and work better, usually, when you can get them, but when you can't....The best bait for you is the bait you can catch. And jacksmelt put bodies in the cooler.

     As there were no reports from today (possibly due to more wind?) we bring you a report from Wednesday. Kevin Marcheschi writes: "3 of us in kayaks caught our limits of halibut with some herring we caught. Halibut were from 29-35” all caught just south of the islands. We also tossed swimbaits for no takers. Sorry for blurry background I didn’t want the Facebook group knowing where we went haha" They might know now, Kevin. Nice work on the fish. I'm guessing that no matter what anybody reports anywhere, the hordes are coming. A lot of people started fishing last year and some of them liked it. No water in the lakes isn't going to help. Hopefully some kind of (limited?) return to normalcy can bleed off a bit of pressure, but I'm betting that when the wind finally eases we'll have the biggest game of bumper boats ever between Hog Island and the yellow weather buoy. Fenders out, gentlemen and ladies. Game on. And may the Lord have mercy on the poor halibut. 

 

     Gage, Guiseppe and I ended up with three halibut from 11 to 14 pounds today. All fish (and fishing) were near Hog, one by Pelican Point and two in the channel that runs by Hog. The herring did not want to play very much and were not particularly easy to catch in number. They did work well for live bait when we had them. The wind blew out of the South in the middle of the day making fishing complicated. We were forced to rig heavier weights and backtroll to stay in the channel. It worked, picking up two, one near the eelgrass and one mid-channel. There were some kayak fishermen working the edge between Pelican and the weather buoy that caught a few halibut and a couple types of bass. Our first halibut and a couple of missed bites came in the same area. The guys working the area North of Hog didn't do as well today, nor were there any anchovies there today. I'd bet that there's a few fish there (flatfish) but you'd better bring your own bait to the party. Also bring a means to slow or control your drift. The wind is forecast to be unpleasant for a while and this year, I believe them.

 

     These nice stripers were caught this morning on the North side of Hog Island. My understanding is that live anchovies were used. The anchovies were caught in the same area. Anchovies, herring, an occasional sardine, halibut, stripers; things are looking up. There's really only one indicator I'm looking for now to see if things are really finally happening.

    And there's the indicator I was looking for. If Gage is catching fish then there's hope for all of us.

   Here's a yesterday report I missed. I guess I should check the email before writing. Who knew? This is from Branden Mendoza: "Hey willy had a great trip for us today. Start fishing early this morning with no luck. But around 12 all changed. We loaded up on herring just south of hog island a little farther than the yellow buoy. Saw a halibut caught and a few stripers. We also saw a few stripers feeding on the surface. No luck with live herring. But decided to throw a rattle lure and landed my first striper ever in tomales also first ever on a lure. Overall a great day for us." I will second Branden's report with my own, less catchy report from this evening. There's quite a bit of herring in the bay in the holes off of Pelican Point. There's stripers feeding on the herring, as evidenced by rolling fish and exploding bait at the surface. I had one takedown on a livey that didn't stick. Water temps at Hog at high tide ran from 53º to almost 58º. All of the water was brown. It looked very fishy, even though the South wind for most of the day made the fishing way difficult for the middle of the day. My lack of fish in the evening was by me, not the wind.

     I received an email from Marin County Parks this afternoon: "Hi Willy,

We will be doing some maintenance on the dock at Miller Boat Launch ,target dates June 14-18. The dock will be inaccessible and boats will not be able to launch as we make repairs. Write me back or give a call with questions. Do you think a post on your blog would be helpful? Thanks, Jason " These dates are before salmon season and peak halibut, at least. In other news, there were a lot of dead crab on the beaches across the bay (West side) over the weekend but it may be molted crab shells. Maybe? I heard a scary report of hundreds of dead crab on the beach and I'm hoping that someone familiar with shed shells saw something positive instead of impending doom. I hate doom.