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.