There's a rumor circulating among local salmon fishermen that there are no salmon to be caught out there. Why, that couldn't be farther from the truth:

    Doug Bagley caught this 25 pound salmon on Wednesday. It, and one other salmon that did not choose to enter the boat, was caught off of Bird Rock.

   David Gonzales landed this 28 pound salmon on Wednesday. He caught it (and lost another) at Buoy 02 (the "Tomales Whistle", even though it's a gong now). See? Two salmon were landed here in the last four days. That's not "no salmon", it's "almost no salmon", which is completely different. The fact that both of these guys lost a fish would seem to indicate that there as many as two other salmon out there. Go get 'em! There were a few other salmon caught during the past week, a couple in the outer bay, a few at the Keyholes, a few more from Tomales Point to Elephant. But not very many and very few in the same place two days running. The current thinking is that this slow salmon bite can't last and the fish will bite again soon. And I'll keep saying that until it's true.

    Thank goodness for halibut. While they aren't biting wide open, they are biting, and the halibut that recently entered the bay are still being caught between the Elk Fence and the bar. Gage and I tried for salmon yesterday for two hours, then gave up to reality to caught anchovies and jacksmelt at the Trees and took them into the bay. We finished with three halibut to eighteen pounds, one on a Bigfoot tube jig, one on a jacksmelt and one on an anchovy. We caught those across from the Landing. Our visit to the bar resulted in six short halibut. A neighboring boat doubled on stripers. Other boats caught halibut from Hog to the bar in the last couple of days, mostly around the low tide.

    It turns out that UPS now delivers halibut! Not really. This 18 pounder was caught today across from the Landing. Live jacksmelt. It fought like a 25 pounder. This is the only fish weighed in here today.