Chris Thorton of Granite Bay caught this 37 pounder, the largest landed here today. He was fishing with Robert Rath. Robert had two salmon in the boat today and tied for high salmon numbers with a Kim brother (Peter). A few others had one salmon and quite a few had none. The salmon remain fickle and seemingly choose their dinner at random (unless it's your offer they bite. Then it's skill). A lot of good fishermen are coming up empty on many trips this year. I'm not naming names, but for many, many fishermen 2021 is humbling. The fact that 30+ pound toads (tyees) lurk out there makes it twice as frustrating. The only sorta redeeming factor is that most of the salmon went way North (they recently passed or are currently passing Fort Bragg) and as their 'nads start to itch they will be turning back South and passing by us again, hopefully on an inshore track. We could see some jumbos trickle by here on their way back to riverine disappointment through the end of the season. Or not. Fish are weird.

    Sorry, I didn't catch the names of this fishing crew, but the striper weighed 17 pounds and bit a sand crab in the surf. The intent was surfperch but everybody seemed okay with the alternate. Excellent fish, and nice work landing it on surfperch gear. They are easy to lose that way. On the bay halibut front, most of the reports were bad with bad equaling zero fish. One boat landed five, though. No pictures and no on-the-record comment, but my understanding is that he fished all over, from the bar to South of Hog. There are a few fish, apparently, but persistence, mobility and finesse are necessary to catch many of them. Lesson? Do many drifts, don't repeat drifts that don't produce, and when the bite is slow, size your terminal tackle down.

   Here's a photo and report from earlier this week: "Caught this 35#  beast off elephant the other day. Took me 35 minutes to land. Fishing solo .Note size 14 boot as perspective. 14 LB  test with little Loomis steelhead rod. Plug cut herring.  So tell me Oh Great One, I’m using a two hook setup. Guy on the dock said nix . Checked the regs and it says 2 hooks N of Pt. Conception are a going thang. Am I flouting the rules? I bow before your knowledge .

Peter Prunuske"  I'm tearing up. You bow before my knowledge? My ignorance is legendary. But, I can say, two hooks are totally legal for salmon and when trolled need not even be affiliated with the same lure or bait if you can figure out a way to do that. " No more than two single-point, single-shank barbless hooks shall be used, and no more than one rod per angler when fishing for salmon or fishing from a boat with salmon on board" The only distance rule is invoked when mooching when a 5" limit between your barbless circle hooks is the law. Guy on the dock is wrong. He probably also thinks gaffing salmon is illegal. He should read a book. Nice fish, and notice: No adipose fin. That's a chipped hatchery fish. I've heard that hatchery fish don't get big, but apparently nobody told your big-boned friend.

   Here's a report from Branden Mendoza from today: "Hey Willy. Trolled around today just north of elephant rock managed 1 keeper one lost. Our keeper was 32lbs gilled and gutted. Overall great day. Got it in 72ft of water 70ft on the wire with crippled anchovy. "I would totally say that that qualifies as a one-fish great day, absolutely. It sounds like rocks were pounded today, successfully. Nice job. It is way easier to lose gear  than catch fish by doing that. You've done at least one of those things (but I bet you did both.  We rock pounders don't buy gear so much as rent it).