Yesterday's hero (let's be honest; he's my hero every day) was Jake Showaker who put the boat over a 22 and 24 pound salmon. Jake was fishing between Bird and the Tomales whistle (which isn't a whistle any more but we still call it that. Buoy "02" I believe) and beating the rocks with his downrigger balls. Someone was watching him....

    ....and that someone was Mike Sandrock. He caught a 23 pounder today (the one missing from Jake's spread) in Jake's shadow, thumping rocks to the tune of a downrigger ball lost. Expensive, but he caught when many others were not catching. Good job, Mike. Thanks for proving that they still exist. The moon is fading and the fog is coming, so we will likely get a bite this week, but as today was Mike's last day to fish before going home his decision to risk gear for fish was, in my opinion, a good one. It worked. Also, I sell gear, so...

     That gear caught these fish yesterday. We had a double on stripers after a half-hour of casting with no bites. One got off at the net but the other found its way aboard. The halibut weighed 16 pounds and bit a perfectly-sized jacksmelt. How big is perfect? It depends on the size of the fish, but in this case a six inch  smelt fit the fish's mouth perfectly.