Another commercial boat went down yesterday. The Susan E had stacked their gear and they were headed in when they went down. Luckily the Argo was nearby and picked everybody up. The Argo was close enough to see the Susan E go bow up and slip beneath the surface. Here's the whole story:  https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/3-commercial-fishermen-rescued-off-sonoma-coast-by-fellow-crabbers/  The moral of this story is, it happens faster than you think. When these guys first noticed something was amiss they called for assistance but thought they had lots of time. Within a few minutes they were swimming. By the time most us realizes that the boat is taking on water, the boat has been taking on water for some time. When you feel her start to wallow and get sluggish you're probably already approaching the point of no return. There is a certain point when the water comes in faster than you can do anything about it. Beyond that point, you're going to be swimming. If you think you're taking on water, try to find out why and make it stop, but get everybody else in a lifejacket. Make sure you have one available, too. Preferably, you're wearing it already, but when your trying to figure out where the water is coming from, speed is critical. If you're alone, life jacket and radio call first before looking. If you're among fishing boats, call them first. The guy off your starboard side might not be Coast Guard but he's right there. Call the Guard on 16 next. If you aren't mid-fleet, reverse the order. Call the guys with a helicopter first. Then alert the fishing fleet. Close is better than professional but professionals can get to you faster if distance is a constant. 

    By Monday evening we should know our options for salmon season this year. I'd like an earlier opening than last year but I'm not sure how much I want to run out ten miles for salmon at $7 a gallon when they probably will be pushing up onto the beach by mid-July. I hope they will. I'm going to be trolling from the boat launch. I may fish the tides just to ride the flow out and back. I'm going to bet that most boats will have more people on them this year just to share the price of fuel. Just don't overload yourselves. 

   How's the crabbing? Well, there's a few being caught by the shore snarers and a few more by the boaters in the bay, but it's far from awesome. The Outer Bay has so many pots in it that one more dropped in may cause another to slide ashore. Tim has a few pots already established out there and his report yesterday was two and a half day soak, ten pots, two barely keeper sport crab. The next wave of crab is probably on its way (they always are) but it ain't here today.