This halibut was caught very close to the launch at Lawson's today. It bit a P-Line Laser Minnow. Does this mean that halibut season on the North end of the bay is now open? Well....... let's just say your chances of success are probably better but are still far, far from good. Farther back, near Inverness, a few boats this weekend caught a few, but many boats didn't get a fish. Three gents in a Defiance boat had three halibut on Sunday, the boys in the Wet Dream had two, and a couple of boats had one each. Almost everyone said that if they wanted lots of fish they would have gone to San Francisco Bay, but that fishing on Tomales Bay was much more peaceful. Even the fish weren't bothering them very much.

     Branden Mendoza got a little bothered on Sunday: "Hey willy. Just wanna start off with thanks for the reports you do they are always very helpful and much appreciated.  We headed to Inverness today and trolled for about 3hrs in 10-14ft of water and managed 2 shakers and a 26in keeper. Over all we had a blast. Again thanks for always making great reports " I don't make the reports, Branden, I just write them down. Thanks, though. Nice job on the keeper.

    The surfperch fishing has been pretty good, not for everyone, but for many people. Not so much limits, mostly, but some good dinners. I snagged a couple of soft-shelled sand crabs recently, so it may be that the molt is on a bit early. The perch fishing has been much better than the Dungeness crabbing with most crabbers only getting a few if they're lucky. Even the few guys that went to the outer bay found it slow. It should pick back up, as the end of the season is only a month away and usually the crabbing picks up at the end of the season. Let's hope the crab know that, too, and follow through.

 

 

     I checked my email before I started writing last night but didn't check again before I finished. Sorry, Tim, but here's your report from yesterday: "Hey Willy, just thought I would send a Striper photo to you.Was on the beach Thursday 25th from about 4:00 to 7:00 Pm. I Threw plugs for a long while up and down the beach for nothing. Switched to perch gear at the top of the tide, and 10 minutes into my perch fishing I get slammed by this 30.5 inch bass ,go figure ,lol. Not much to show for the perch effort but I'll take the bass. Tim Peelen" Damn nice surf fish, sir. I'd have posted this report earlier tonight, but the weather was so nice I headed out to the beach, too.

    Guess what? The stripers are biting striper gear, too. This 30", 10 pound linesides (Yes, Tim's was bigger. Barely.) bit a Halco Roosta Popper in maybe 18" of water right at 7:30 PM, about 10 minutes after the listed high tide. It's possible that Tim's fish may have liked his striper offering at the stroke of high tide, too. Tomorrow's "sweet spot" will be probably around 8:00 PM, but keep in mind the fact that the stripers don't read this report and may fail to bite at all. But that's fishing. On the other hand, I saw several people with stringers of surfperch walking back in from the beach this afternoon. I don't think you'd be wasting your time soaking some Berkley Gulp! Sandworms on the incoming tide tomorrow. You may not catch but you wouldn't be wrong doing it. Surf fishing had a better success record than halibut fishing in the last few days. I heard of one boat from here that caught a barely keeper 'but and a few shorties, but mostly there's a lot of boats in front of Inverness and there's more dodging boats than reeling in fish. As the water warms and the fleet thickens, wandering off from the pack may not be a bad idea. The fish near Marshall should be starting to bite, and even if they don't the fishing outside of the bumperboat court may be a bit less stressful. 

      Dungeness crabbing is still on the slow side, especially inside the bay. There are some Dungies being caught but not a lot of them and they're mostly, let's say, not pretty. Marker 5 has been okay and a few guys are catching some by working really hard to the east of the yellow buoy. Halibut fishing has been similar, slow but a few guys are doing well. Gage and had our good day last week, but since then there's been an elevated effort that may be cooling the bite a bit. Even with a cooler bite, the fish counter mentioned that one day last weekend she counted over two dozen halibut brought in at Miller Park ramp. The assumption is that they came from way back. The few boats from here that tried for halibut last week caught their only fish way in the back. Some effort was expended trying to get a halibut near Hog or further north to bite, but those efforts were not rewarded. Yet. Conditions are looking correct, we just need the last ingredient, the halibut. Soon. By the way, the word is that the limit on halibut will be two starting on June 1st.

    On the 15th of May rockfish opened outside of line of waypoints roughly describing the 50 fathom line. Cordell is still verboten, but Rittenburg Bank is now kosher. There was a weather window today so Gage and I took the Dark Lord on a 30 mile run to the previously forbidden zone. It was a bit choppy on the run out and took about an hour and 45 minutes to get there. The ride home was about an hour and twenty minutes. The fishing wasn't long and we limited on quality rockfish in less than an hour. Only two lingcod, which is way slower that I remember for them there (Back in my days on the party boat we would limit on lingcod there. Perhaps the season is too early, as would normally run there in August and September), but the mix of yellowtail, olives and bocaccio (Bocaccio were notoriously wormy back in the 1980's. These fish are large but younger and I didn't see any critters in our filets today) with one big vermilion made for a good pile of filets. We conducted a very scientific taste test this evening, frying up a gallon Ziploc of filets in a thin beer batter, and the universal response was to go get more. There were five boats there that we could see, including the New Sea Angler, but as the year progresses and the weather gets better it seems likely that the barely one square mile of reef of Rittenburg is going to get worked over hard. Today the schools of rockfish were stacked almost a hundred feet high in 320 feet of water. I recommend a trip, either in your own boat or booking a trip on a party boat. This is the fishing of forty years ago. My ears are still ringing from Gage's whooping and hollering. Go, This tiny Cordell lite will not be as awesome for long, and if enough yelloweye are determined to be "taken", the deep water season will end early. 

    I was submitted this photo and request: "Hey Willy,   How about posting this on your blog (for a week or two🤣). Got to make sure your battery is in good condition before you leave. 😊" Good advice, even when it's also a brother-in-law burning a brother-in-law. Actually, maybe then it's especially good advice. 

   The halibut fishing is much better in San Francisco Bay. Striper fishing, too. Don't come to Tomales Bay. Gage and I had a pleasant day back near Inverness trolling for limits of halibut and a 17 pound striper yesterday. There were no other boats until we were done, when there was one. If you've been fishing SF you wouldn't like it. None of our six halibut were big. The fifteen or so shorties we released (without netting; all boat-flipped) were treated with respect (as we are hoping to see them later) but the almost 20 bites we missed were hurtful. We could have done without the two bat rays completely. All action was in 12 to 16 feet of 60º water. Action peaked around the high tide. Bites were on bait, hootchies and on P-Line Predator lures (five bites, two keeper halibut for the Predators). The striper hit a straight bat. I didn't hear any other halibut reports. I did hear of some very good surfperch fishing (and catching) out on Dillon Beach proper. As usual, the Berkley Gulp! camo sandworms were the ticket. The perch bit on the incoming tide.

 

   It has been slow. Even so, the halibut are biting here, slowly. I heard of a fifteen pound halibut on Saturday at Marker 5 on dead bait and another, earlier, outside :"I fished outside the bar about ten days ago for a thirtyish inch but, but never having gaffed before I f$$ked it up. Lost off the gaff, but still hooked, it ran to the bottom at seventy feet. I was shaking when I got a second opportunity. But again it came off the gaff and this time it broke the leader. It was 8:30 with the full day ahead so I was stoked. But only two shakers for the duration. Went back last Thursday and fished same area for one shaker.  Temp was 54.5 degrees

Hunter" So the fish exist. It ain't just Gage, although he caught one keeper and two shakers in 45 minutes back near Inverness on Saturday evening. There were another two caught by Marshall on Sunday. On Wednesday the Fish and Game Commission will be discussing an emergency reduction in the California halibut limit and it's likely that the limit will be dropped to two fish by the end of the month. It's not a permanent reduction, at least for now, but the way people are catching in San Francisco Bay, and without salmon to take some of the heat, a temporary pause on the three fish limit may not be a bad thing. According to Sportfishingreport.com, as of today the Lovely Martha alone has landed almost 1600 halibut this year. CDFW thinks this reduction can reduce total take of halibut by 13%. Maybe leaving a few spawners might be a good thing.

     Deep water rockfish opened here today. The shallow stuff won't open until July 16, so until then Rittenburg Bank will be SRO on the calm days. Luckily for the rockfish, the way the weather usually is this time of year they may not have too many visitors. Crabbing has been pretty good in the outer bay but as of today we are back to nets and snares only, no more traps. Traps will reopen for red crab only on August 1st. 

    We had ten launches today but most of those were clammers (they did well). I talked to two boaters that went fishing and crabbing in the bay (the only two that I pulled out) and they did pretty well. One had a halibut and one keeper Dungeness. The halibut came from Inverness and the crab from Marker 5. Similarly, the other boat caught in the same places but had an earlier start. Three halibut for Mr. Wertz (two from Inverness and one from Marshall(!)) and six (or eight? I forget) Dungeness around the Fiver. Mr. Wertz also found a top-to-bottom school of shiner perch at the weather (yellow) buoy. That's a pretty good sign. Not as good as the numbers of confirmed halibut being caught in San Francisco Bay (According to sportfishingreport.com, the Lovely Martha party boat has already landed 1191 halibut for this year. That's a number that can't be argued with.).

    Gage took a couple of buddies out fishing this evening. It ain't SF, but the fish are biting. They fished for about 90 minutes for three keeper halibut and a couple of shorts. Travis and Dario seemed happy with the fishing. Again, it ain't SF, but then again, it ain't SF.

    When Eddie Kim asks you to go fishing with him, you don't ask questions, you just go. So I went fishing with him on the Polaris Supreme this last Tuesday through Thursday. I had a great trip but didn't catch any tuna. I did learn a few more things, though. If you can't catch you should at least be paying attention to the guys that are catching. Seeing what they're doing can't hurt, even if sussing out the why eludes you. I'm still writing notes. One thing I learned is that the Polaris Supreme now has really good internet, so when I received an email from Chris Norkus asking about where to crab in Tomales Bay I was able to answer. The following is the email chain: "Hey Willie,

 

Firstly, thanks for your fishing report page!  Always entertaining and informative.

 

I didn't get out crabbing much this season (weather, work, boat issues, emotional issues-lol).  I got out on the Petaluma river on Friday and verified my recent steering repairs were good so halibut beware (?)

 

I had put my conicals away thinking too late for crab and then read Sunday's and last Wednesday's reports of post-clutch opportunities and some limits inside Bodega and Tomales Bays.  Off work today and the wind is still blowing (we lost a nice tree in yesterday's gusts) so thought I might give Tomales a try for some keepers.  Would like to launch at Miller if I can time the tides.  Can you give me a clue as to where to drop my gear?

 

Thanks, I appreciate you!

 

Chris

Nobody gave me specifics but I watched at least one of the guys working the edge of the channel by Marker 5. I'd guess 15 to 20 feet of water 

Willie,

I got out for a couple of hours yesterday and did well working three conical nets north of marker 5 in about 20'. Six keepers- a couple of them 7".  Probably could have limited but I wanted to haul out at Miller before low tide. I was alone out there but there was a line of trap floats in the same spot. Thanks for the tip!

Chris  

" Those are some pretty nice crab, Chris. The crabbing should, theoretically at least, get better as we approach the end of the season. Unsurprisingly, the end of the trap season will come a bit earlier, as the recommendation to CDFW indicated. "

CDFW Announces Depth Restriction for the Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery in Fishing Zones 1 and 2 and Recreational Crab Trap Prohibition in Zones 3-6 to Protect Humpback Whales 

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham has assessed entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) and implemented a 30-fathom depth constraint for Fishing Zones 1 and 2 (Sonoma/Mendocino county line to the Oregon state line) effective May 15, 2023 at 12 p.m. (noon) for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery. Traps used in the commercial fishery will be prohibited in waters seaward of the 30-fathom contour as defined in Title 50 of the Federal Codes of Regulations, Part 660, Section 660.71. All vessels must also carry onboard an electronic monitoring system capable of recording the vessel’s location while engaged in fishing activity using GPS coordinates at a frequency of no less than once per minute during fishing operations. Electronic monitoring data must be made available to CDFW upon request for the duration of the fishing season and 60 days thereafter.  

Recreational crab traps will be prohibited in Fishing Zones 3-6 (all areas south of the Sonoma/Mendocino county line) effective at 12 p.m. (noon) on May 15, 2023. CDFW reminds recreational crabbers that take of Dungeness crab by other methods, including hoop nets and crab snares, is still allowed through the close of the season on June 30, 2023. 

These restrictions are being implemented to minimize entanglement risk for humpback whales as they return to forage off the coast of California. Based on historical migration patterns, CDFW anticipates humpback whales will continue arriving in the coming weeks and has determined this action is needed to reduce entanglement risk. 

Fishing Zones 1 through 6 also remain under a Fleet Advisory for both the commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fisheries until the season closes in each Fishing Zone. CDFW reminds all commercial and recreational fishery participants to implement best practices, as described in the Best Practices Guide. All anglers should be prepared to act quickly to remove fishing gear from remaining open areas should entanglement risk become elevated. For more information related to the risk assessment process, please visit CDFW’s Whale Safe Fisheries page. For more information on the Dungeness crab fishery, please visit CDFW’s Crab page, including FAQs for the 2022-23 commercial fishing season and a Compliance Guide for Electronic Monitoring." If you can't make it out before the 15th, Chris Norkus says don't worry, the hoops are working. The crab numbers should theoretically continue to improve as the season approaches the end. Theoretically, not necessarily. 

   Gage says that the halibut are actually biting. He caught this limit back past Marshall on Wednesday. Within ten minutes of putting lines in the water Gage hooked a triple. One was a for sure keeper and was welcomed aboard. The other two were released. Gage rebaited and trolled back through his sweet spot. Double of obvious keepers. Gage then went home with his twenty-minute-limit. Three boats tried to duplicate that on Thursday. One caught his limit. Two had no bites. There's fish, but they're not spread out.