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.