Sorry, Clint, I don't know your last name, but I'm not sorry that you caught this lingcod today. Actually, I'm sorry that I didn't catch it, so there is some sorry on my part. This ling weighed 28 pounds. That's a big ling. Yes, a small portion of this one was eggs, and we should all probably let those breeders go. But, I think a lot of rockfish and other small ocean critters would argue that a few less lingcod may not be the worst thing to happen to the earth. There's still a lot more lings out there and right now is their season for lovin'. Good on you, Clint, and don't read the comments that will inevitably follow. They're just jealous. The rockfish appreciate you. Heck, I do, too.

     So, when we may use traps? Not yet, it seems. I was going to copy-and-paste the report from CDFW but it's easier to, as Nancy Reagan said, just say no. Maybe as soon as December 31 in our area, but it depends on how long the food stays around for the whales to eat. Whales, like bluefin, are here for the eating, not the company, and will leave when the eating gets scarce. The 200+ pelicans eating anchovies in Tomales Bay a few days back seemed to indicate that the day the food runs out ain't today. Maybe soon, but not today. 

   The crab don't care about the company and can't move quick enough to follow the food, so we can look to them for a different opinion. Kind of unsurprisingly, their opinion seems to be, "meh". They are crabs. Crabbing results have been poor on average with a few folks doing okay. A pair of crabbers today limited inside the bay but, "We pulled the gear all day. All. Day." They pulled out around 4:30 and worked their rings, as they said, All. Day. That was a tired pair of dudes. That's about the best crab report, but I have two more. Three local gents (I use that term because appropriate nouns are considered improper) caught 28 Dungeness in the Outer Bay in three hours yesterday. The one guy that was tasked with the pulling looked worked over. But, to be fair, he didn't look all that good before they went out. One other report came from the snarers on the beach in front of the Boathouse. One guy said that he spent all of the daylight on Saturday snaring for nothing, then caught seven keeper Dungeness between 5:00 and 7:00 PM. Sunday was similar, but he caught a limit of ten after dark instead of seven. We all aren't him, so our mileage may vary, but I've heard that crab are nocturnal and are more active then. It may even be true.