We had a weather window for a few days here and the fish were biting, so we've been working days and fishing into the evening (I guess that makes my wife a weather widow?). Gotta strike while that iron is hot. It turns out that after you turn 50 it gets harder to burn the candle at both ends. I'm comforted by the fact that Gage is complaining even more than I. Then again, he did reel in more fish. Even so, I've been leaving out some facts and reports because I've been a zombie. I'm still a zombie, but here goes, with apologies.

   John Derenzy sent in this report yesterday: "Hi Willy,

I managed to catch my first limit of Tomales Bay halibut yesterday trolling frozen herring between Marconi’s launch and Marshall.  I also released a couple of shakers and broke off my only decent fish with a really crappy attempt at a net job.  I want to catch some of these bigger fish I see you post pictures of but the last time I went near the bar in a kayak was a nasty swim and the closest I’d like to get to drowning.  Happy fishing thanks for the blog!

John"  Nice work John. May I suggest gaffing your obviously keeper halibut? A gaff is way easier to use one-handed. It takes a little practice but works really well when fishing solo. Just like golf, you swing through. The blood is a bonus, although maybe not on a kayak.... Also, you gotta pick your days for the bar. On the right day it's a pond. The murderous days you fish elsewhere. 

  Before I go further, there was a question as to the numbers. Generally, the numbers that people may give over the radio or in this report work this way. The fish we caught today were at 38º13.8'  and 123º 03.5'. As everything above Point Reyes (on the 38º latitude line) is above 38º, we drop the 38 as it is redundant. Same for anything over 123º. So our numbers today were 13 and 3. It puts you within a mile. If you are using decimal degrees like Google Maps likes, divide the number by 60 (13 minutes divided by 60 minutes gives you a decimal fraction: 38.21666667º by 123.0500000º). Or, change the settings on your GPS to reflect what everybody else is using. Plus, it sounds saltier, and that is reason enough. 

    I don't have any information to go with this picture, but I know a Cannon Brunkhorst when I see one. Gage hears Cannon's footsteps behind him. The Doghouse (with Cannon aboard) was running in with limits (for four? Five?) as I was running out this morning. I had to deliver a cat to the vet at 8:00 AM so I didn't get to go early. I wasn't even going to go as the forecast called for wind later in the day and, as I would be in my Montauk and don't like to get the **** kicked out of me, I figured halibut in the bay would be my thing today. Gage called me at 9:00 freaking out because he needed more lead balls and bait. "We can't get the lines in before they're bit!!!" First world problems. I decided to go. I caught my limit in about ten minutes but released the second fish, thinking I could do better, then second-guessing myself as I went for over twenty minutes without a bite. It turns out that the salmon won't bite when a fish is already on the hook. Once the sablefish was released the salmon bite continued and the sablefish (black cod) incident was the only time I went for more than 5 minutes without a bite. My fish weren't big but they were damned friendly. The fishing was almost as insane as Gage.

    Speaking of Gage, there's talk of a calendar. We're trying to find a format big enough for his ego. So far, no go. Today's fish weighed in at up to 23 pounds. It took a little over an hour to get them as there were a lot of silvers and lost fish. The bigger ones came from near a pod of actively lunge-feeding humpbacks where large salmon could be seen leaping from the water next to the whales as pelicans and murres fed aggressively. This would be the 13.8 by 3.5 numbers. Everything is moving more or less northwest, though, and pretty quickly, so tomorrow? It was the fishiest conditions I can remember seeing and the fish responded accordingly. The 15 pound halibut was caught on the bar on a jig. I heard of a few more stripers caught on the bar today, too. The owner of Redrum baits and his buddy Jesse had caught and released five when I was going out and I believe that they landed a few others after. Wind for the next few days, which sucks. But at least I can get to bed at a reasonable hour.