Why are these guys celebrating?

   Because they caught one of these. We got a couple of days off from the West wind so on Wednesday Greg Carver and Doug Bagley took the opportunity to hit the water and they returned with a salmon. Not sure exactly where they hooked it and what it ate, but my understanding is that they were between McClure's and Tomales Point in 60 to 120 feet of water (at least, somebody that saw them was in that general area, so..). There may have been another salmon taken in the same area that day. I haven't heard of any others and Gage and I didn't have any salmon bites there (or anywhere we went) yesterday but 120 feet of water off of Tomales Point was pretty much the only bait we found, and it was very, very little. It did look like a few salmon were swimming around there (there were a few "worms" on the meter) but they really need to bite to be interesting. I haven't heard of any others being caught today or yesterday. So, basically, there was a salmon, and now there isn't.

    Gage and I took Guiseppi Maselli with us yesterday and he showed us how to catch lingcod. Over about two hours we caught our limits of rockfish and lings, with Guseppi catching all three of the largest lings which weighed in at 12 to 16 pounds. Almost all the fish were caught on 2 ounce Sardine Pitbull Deadeye jigs in 120 feet of water. The heaviest fish looked like it was full of eggs, but this not being spawning season, we kept it. It turned out that the distended belly was caused by a full stomach stuffed with a giant Pacific octopus tentacle. I knew lings loved octopus, but that octopus alive would likely eat that ling. By the way, that was the foulest-smelling octopus ceviche I ever smelled. One star.

    And now for the best report of the week, submitted by Matthew Lindsey: "Hey Willy, picked up this beauty on my daughters birthday 5-25 near hog. 37 Lbs 45 inches in the beautiful weather. Also took home a nice limit of rock fish." Gage did a spit take when I showed him this photo. Right now a 23 inch halibut from Tomales is a damn good fish as there ain't many of them coming in. I'm not sure where that puts this one. I want to be happy for you, Matthew, but my jealousy is getting in the way. 

 

    A few years ago I read a report from the Bodega Marine Lab that said that global warming/climate change was going to make the wind blow more and harder here and that wind would supercharge the upwelling. Imagine my disappointment to find out that the exotics that would show up from warming would be Pacific halibut. Check out the water temp over the last five days at the Bodega Buoy (46013):

    The water temp has been unable to hit 49º. 48º is kind of a stretch. Terrafin.com shows a patch of water off of the Head that's 44º. That's a lot of upwelling. It's so much that we may see a deepwater die-off of crabs and other slow-moving creatures. It happens off of Oregon and Washington when they get a lot of deep, oxygen-poor (but mineral-rich!) water sloshing over the continental shelf. This water slides South and mixes with the offshore warm water and the Southern California bight's nearshore warm water and makes for lots of feed for their critters. It's possible that our extra wind has helped create the extra bluefin that SoCal is seeing. I'm glad something good is coming from it somewhere, because here it sssssuuuuccckkkksssss. 

    There were a few fish caught in the last few days. One boat got out across the bar on Saturday and ended up fishing in the outer bay for salmon. And caught one! That's not the only salmon to come from there in the last month or two but it probably shouldn't be your first choice of location. A mid-week weather break may find Gage fishing out in 200 feet of water off of Bird for salmon. That should be statistically better odds for catching, but often the fish don't know their stats. There were also a few halibut caught in the bay this weekend, mostly near Hog Island but a few near Marshall, as well. The halibut fishing is still far from good but the interior bay water is warming and a few schools of baitfish are moving into the bay, probably to warm up. Halibut catching can only get better.

    So, after my tears had been wiped from my eyes and the sound of my sobbing died down, I was able to hear about a few fish actually being caught here. A fisherman yesterday caught a halibut on the bar and his friend caught a limit of salmon between Tomales Point and Elephant Rock in 200-ish feet of water, 100 feet down. That feat could not be duplicated today by the fisherman, but he did have an excellent whale show at Tomales Pojnt. The greys have been relatively thick just inside the Point and off Dillon Beach in the last week or so. Some schools of bait migrating into the bay (had some big schools on the meter today across from the Boathouse) so maybe fish to come. No fish for me today at the low (54º to 55º water temps) from the Boathouse (either side of the bay) to the bar. Your results may vary, and I hope they do. People catching fish get me on the water longer, and then we all catch fish. Let's all be winners!

   Wind has been the situation here. Shore-based fishing and snaring has continued with limited success (snaring success, at least. Perch? Stripers? Not so much) There's been some small schools of bait moving into the bay, judging by the pelicans diving across from the Boathouse on the incoming tide this week. That might be an indicator of where the stripers went. The ocean water temperature has been running between 48º and 50º, so we have upwelling a go go.  A few guys have got out and bounced around outside and even caught a few salmon, but it's not as good here as it is farther South. The fish are coming, still. Hunter Smith sent in a report last Thursday, saying, "Picked up a 10 lbr yesterday at noon in 200’ and 100’ on the wire Apex off Tomales point" That is pretty much the general are where most of the few salmon are being caught. The halibut bite in the bay piddled out. The water in the back is plenty warm enough for biting fish but I've only heard of a few lonely shorties. Well, it can only get better. 

   All this wind has kind of got me down, so when Eddie Kim offered me a spot on the Polaris Supreme to go bluefin fishing with him this week I jumped for it. The bite is crazy in San Diego right now. I left the house at 4:00 this morning to get on the boat this afternoon, but got a call from Mr. Kim at 9:30, just as I was getting in sight of the Grapevine, that the trip was cancelled due to weather. That's right, it's blowing so hard here that some of it is spilling over into the rest of the state. I am mostly disappointed but a little bit of me is thinking that if it sucks here, it should suck everywhere. And I guess today, it does.

    First off, the Bodega Bay Buoy is back, baby! Our forecasts may get a bit more accuracy, as data on what actually happened in a place can help "true up" the models. Currently, that data is "wind." I think ma nature is trying to spin that little whirlygig right off that poor yellow buoy. There's a Gale Warning for tomorrow into Tuesday AM, so I guess we'll see how tough that little spinny thing is. 

   There's a few salmon out there. Not a lot, not like they're catching south of here, but some. Most of the few I've heard about were caught off of Bird Rock-ish in 190 to 220 feet of water. There was at least one caught just outside the jaws of Bodega Harbor yesterday. Is the fishing good enough to risk a beating from the wind and water for a chance at a fish burning $6 gas? Probably not yet, but fishing a mile or so from port in the lee of the head for maybe one fish seems better than running miles southeast to fish with a northwest wind on the rise, also with maybe a fish. But that's just me. 

   

   Look who dropped by for a few days. The Eddie Kim caught a few limits of Dungeness inside the bay, a few limits of rockfish in the ocean, and a few halibut inside the bay. Where did he catch the halibut, you ask? "I've never trolled so shallow for halibut before" was all the info I got, besides this photo. Now, to be fair, he'd never trolled for halibut before, but I think he may have been running out of bay when he caught this fish. It doesn't sound as good here as it does in SF, but it is warming and the fish are coming. There have been small groups of pelicans working on incoming schools of bait across from the Boathouse for the last two days, so things may be starting sooner than expected. I am officially okay with that.