Gage caught this perch yesterday afternoon. It was in a striper's stomach. One of a pair of stripers he caught. That's a big damn bait. Gage's bait was a Redrum tube which was much smaller than this surfperch, but it still worked. Apparently the stripers don't need you to match the hatch. God love 'em. 

    Gage and I had an obligation to provide fresh fish for a fish fry this evening. The weather looked.... like maybe? It worked. We had time for maybe as many as seven drops before the wind hit fully and we had to bail. One Petrale sole, 14 black cod (sablefish), seven big chilipeppers, three tiny greenstripes and a hake are what we caught in about ninety minutes before we were driven off by Gage's desire to live. The wind line moved a bit and we had to bail. Just as well, as cleaning all them critters took a bit of time. This evening's taste test results were that the hake and sablefish were excellent, but the striper was the best. 

    One other report from Marshall.  There's some halibut back there. Not many, and not big, but fish. Five for one boat today. 
 

 

Here's actual details about a halibut caught here last Saturday: "Willy,

Nice to meet you in person on Sat. Here's a pic of the 35' halibut caught in about 30' off the beach between Dillon and Bodega. I was trolling that contour line. That's a 16 oz jig for perspective. Also hooked this decent ling at about the same time (let go in the water). Was trolling tandem parachute jigs just off of the bottom, the so-called "Mojo Rig" that we used back east when we had no idea where the fish were and wanted to burn some gas. I much prefer casting with the engine off!

Don't feel any obligation to me to post about this - I'm just sending in case you want the content to keep what little buzz there is going :).

We're out there for the week next week so I'll be on the beach a few times with my bag of plugs. We'll see if I can still fit into my wetsuit...

Chris" There is no buzz in the very few fish being caught, so there isn't any buzz to keep going. There is, at least in my case, an interest in different techniques. I've already been checking out the Mojo Rig on Ebay. It probably won't help me, but at least I'll be a better equipped poor fisherman. Nice work, Chris, and I hope you get a surf striper. 

   Here's a Rittenburg report: "Hey Willy, 

Made the trek out to Rittenburg on Saturday and it paid off handsomely. Quick limits of rockfish and lings. My buddy Sam pinned a monster ling on the first drop with a 10" white curly tail grub and a 24oz head. All of the other lings and most of the rockfish bit a 500 gram pink/glow flat-fall jig. Brought up 1 yellow eye that was over 20lbs - that was the only fish we had to descend. The only challenge for the day was getting down through the chunky yellowtails. Took our time coming back in and enjoyed watching the whales doing what they do. Bringing the family down to camp 7/3-5 and hope to get a shot at some fish from the surf. See you all then.

Best,

Nate Baker" For the record, I like the chunky yellowtails, especially when they have the decency to swim 150 feet up and can be caught on bass gear. I don't dodge them, I catch them. And eat them. The yellowtail and the widows are excellent fare and fight well on light gear. They clean well, too. But the deeper reds have been the forbidden fruit for quite some time now, so I understand the desire to get them. Just don't dismiss the worthy. Nice job, Nate, and good on you for taking the chance and choosing your time successfully. It's a long run, but damn, the fishing is good. 

    I heard of one halibut today from the bay and a couple of short Dungeness limits from the outer bay. There were some crab caught from the shore, not many, but other than that.... Well. It was peaceful.

 

  I try to report the fish, and there aren't a lot to report on, but here's one from today: "15lber at mcclures on smelt" For the record, Mike Mack sent me this photo, the smelt was live, as I understood it, and the fish bit soon after they dropped their lines in, drifting from 50 feet to 20. Mike and Spinner didn't have any other halibut bites, but they fished the right place for cold water, in my opinion. It seems to me that McClure's will provide in the "cold", as I understand it. 51ºat the beach today. That's cold water. There were a few other halibut caught today, but not many. I took Chris Brown (of Bigfoot Baits) out this evening and we determined that the fish just weren't there. Yet. But they better watch out when they show up. We gonna get you.

    Doug sent me this picture this afternoon. I don't know the fisherman's name but I have an idea about how he was feeling at this time. This striper came from the surf here at Dillon Beach, and this beach isn't even in the top twenty beaches for stripers. But when they bite (Finally!) you generally don't need to measure them to see if they're a keeper. Catching an unlikely one is so much sweeter than an easy one. Nice work, sir, and I hope you appreciate that fish as much as I do. 

   Speaking of stripers, I heard about a guy catching three today (and stretching a hook on the fourth!). A man in a 13 foot whaler throwing a tube jig made the fishermen around him feel pretty crappy. As far as I know, nobody else around him caught any, but this mystery man put on a clinic for twenty minutes of other people's hell. Good on you, sir, even though the folks around you didn't like you very much.

    Also speaking of stripers, the only person that I spoke with today that caught a halibut (and I spoke to several boats of fishermen) was a gentleman trolling (East Coast-style) for stripers off of Dillon Beach. He caught a 35" halibut instead of a striper. He seemed a little disappointed but I think that will pass. Most of the fishermen I spoke with couldn't even make eye contact, as a blank here seemed so horrible after the recent orgy of halibut slaying on San Francisco Bay. But, as I've said before (and it likely seems I'll be saying it again...) this ain't San Francisco Bay. There's a (very) few fish around, and if you catch one it's probably a good one, but don't be surprised if it doesn't happen. The offshore winds will eventually drop and the water will warm up and the fish will come in. Eventually. When it finally happens the fishing will seem easy and you'll wonder what you doing wrong before. Let me answer that now. As I wise man once wrote, "fish where the fish are, not where you think they are." You can't catch fish that aren't there (I'm not talking to you here, Paul Boley. You can. I'm speaking to mortal men like myself) so don't beat yourself up for not catching fish that aren't here yet. Patience, Grasshopper.

    Also, apropos of nothing, two reminders: Rockfish is closed here inside of a line of waypoints indicating 300 feet of water until July 16,  and crab traps aren't allowed until August 1st. Just saying. For no reason at all.
 

    

      Sucka-Fish (or Chrispfish on YouTube) sent in a report from today: "Hi Willy,

Went to the bar today, not the one with liquor, the one with halibut.  I took your advice and drifted from 35 to 10ft.  On the second drift right when the tide was turning at the bottom, I gave my 1oz Redrum a big cast, on the 2nd or 3rd bounce off the bottom I thought I snagged up, a few seconds later I felt some nice head shakes.  It ended up being my PERSONAL BEST 37" 25lb halibut. We drifted live shiners, smelt & frozen squid for not even a bite.  I guess the green rubber darting around is more interesting.  Tried a little inside the bay as well for nothing.  Crabbing was good close to the fishing spot at 55-70ft.  On a total of 10 hoop net pulls we managed 17 keeper male dungeness.  Every pot was basically the same. 2 keepers with 15 little ones. So pack your bait well if you're going to try during the last week, the little ones are hungry.

Chris" There's not a lot of halibut here, yet, but you found a damn good one, Chris. And on a lure with the rod in your hand is the best. I, too, caught a fish on the Redrum. Yesterday I landed a 16 pound striper on a 1.5 ounce grape (purple) Redrum tube. Gage and I were trying to catch one of those halibut all day but had to settle for three stripers hooked in three casts (after 500? 1000?  fruitless casts), only one of which made it to the boat. We trolled Dillon Beach for three hours for a total catch of three anchovies which we then used on a couple of drifts past Marker 5 for just as many fish (0).  Ah, but I digress. My jealousy made my mind wander. Nice fish, Chris. 

    This gentleman walked past me about 5:30 this afternoon. He'd just landed this striper at Sand Point on a 2 ounce spoon on 12 pound fluorocarbon line. He seemed pretty happy. Four hours of casting, then, boom. Victory. I like it when determination pays off.

    

     My apologies to Chris DiTrani. I knew his story but I fell asleep while writing the report last night. Chris knew that he had a good story, not quite as good as Cannon's, but pretty darn good. : "Saturday at the bar.  Wish I had the blowup on camera. Fish came out of the water  just like a striper hitting a plug. This was one of two halibut and one small keeper striper for the day. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/F8YCSebl91M?feature=share

Chris" Chris said it was slow fishing. Not for here on Saturday, Chris. I think that there was a boat with five halibut but they fished for longer with many more lines. I have two, possibly attainable, bucket-list fish. Both are halibut. I'd like to catch one from the shore and I'd like to catch one on a topwater. If it is the same fish, well, even better. But my two seemingly attainable dreams came true for other people on Saturday. Maybe it can happen for me. I hope that my wife will bear with me on the time I'm going to spend out there, now. Well, not quite now. The wind is blowing, hard. It should, this time of year, as June is historically the windiest time of year here. The southern California-style "June Gloom" of overcast and light winds has, it seems, blown away. The wind sucks today, and casting from the beach actually could result in your lure blowing back into your face. That hurts, for the record, both physically and emotionally. The emotional scarring is deeper and lasts longer, BTW. Anyhow, nice job, Chris. I am jealous. Bucket-list. 

 

    These folks were camping here at this time last year and saw quite a few stripers get caught off of Sand Point during their stay. They planned on bringing fishing gear this rime to go get them. Then they left it at home. Saturday morning they bought a pair of $50 rod and reel combos and a couple Kastmasters and few hours later returned with these fish. As I recall, the striper weighed 9 pounds and the halibut went 11.5 pounds. By 4:00 PM it was shoulder-to-shoulder at Sand Point, but as far as I know these were the only fish caught there all day. Damn nice fish, and way to make everybody else jealous. A halibut from the shore is a bucket list fish for me....

      ...but not for Cannon Brunkhorst. Not anymore. Cannon thought it would be a good idea to tie a halibut rig baited with a frozen anchovy to his crab snare. It worked for a 15 pound flatty right in front of the store. Perfect location, because I get the impression that Cannon likes a good audience. Gage was wicked jealous that a ten-year-old thought of it first. Nice work, Cannon,. Gage hears your footsteps.

   Another report from Saturday: "Hey Willie,

In the off chance that the wind lays down enough to fish the ocean before the end of June, I submit this report with the hope that it provides useful information for those that may venture out.  We celebrated Father's Day a day early because that is what Ma Nature said we should do and fished for crab and sand dabs north of Bodega.  My 88 year old dad what chief crab measurer while my son and his fiancé pulled the hoops and pitched shorts and females.  We pulled 4 limits of crab with a handful of truly jumbos mixed in in 4.5 hours of effort with 7 hoops.  The crabs were in 60 feet of water, not 65 or 80' (we tried).  While letting the hoops soak we ran out to 95' and dropped in for sanddabs.  Last month they were not there, today they were.  We ended up with 96 of the little buggers.

For Father's Day we will sleep in, finish cleaning up and listen to the wind blow.

Wishing you and all the other fishing dads out there a happy Father's Day.  You have raised one hell of a fisherman.  I can only imagine how good he will be when he reaches our age.

Regards,

Brad Stompe

Grady 228 battleship grey, Mary Frances" Nice work, Team Stompe. 40 Dungeness in mid-June sounds pretty darned good, and with the current counts being especially low on average, 4 limits is damned good. And a bunch of sand dabs on top sounds even better. Thanks for the info.

     As stated, the crabbing is mostly bad, although a few are being caught by boaters and snarers inside the bay. 

    

    Mike Riker sent in a report from today: "How’s it going Willy,

Fishing inside the bay today was a bit of a grind however deckhand Tommee Riker was able to land his first and second Halibut. One other shorty was released to get bigger for next year. While checking out his catch, he found this fish had shrimp in it stomach and a small fish that look like a young lingcod. Never seen that before. We hope this is a sign of fish moving in from the outside. Any thoughts?  Thanks for the honest reports.
Cheers!

Mike" Nice job and nice fish Tommee! It was slow going out there for us as well with only two halibut in the box when the south wind finally drove us off. Of course, Gage caught them both on Bigfoot jigs. I guess mine didn't work. Our earlyish start chasing stripers didn't pay off, with no fish for us. Maybe a couple of missed bites at most. Three boats worked a patch of water near the bar for a total catch of one striper for Hizzoner, The Right and Honorable Dark Lord himself, Dr. Steve Werlin. I'm sure he deserved it. When the non-bite was finally acknowledged the boats scattered. The boat that went to the bar proper caught two limits of halibut. That boat held Ed Parsons and (Sauron wishes he was) the Dark Lord. 

 Dammit.

   An interesting note: All of the halibut caught by He Shall Not Be Named, Ed Parsons and Gage were dudes, except for one. As our understanding goes, first the hens come in, then the dudes. I guess we missed the hens, except for the tail end of the run last weekend. But sausage fest has begun! About two months earlier than last year. Does that mean that the halibut catching will end earlier? Maybe...

I'll tell you in October. Most importantly, nice fish Tommee!

   Three evenings of fishing for stripers and no bites for me kind of got me down. The Gage calls me this morning at 7:38 : " They're biting! I just hooked two in two casts!" Honestly, there were more exclamation points in his actual words, but time and space doesn't allow for it here. Let's just say that his animated tone (animated like a cartoon character) motivated me to hurry. No salmon fishing and slow halibut fishing means things are slow in the morning, so I went fishing. At 8:00, as I pulled up alongside Gage at the bar I saw Alec Bennett reeling in his second striper of the season (third ever, I believe. He shook off his striper Jonah today and seems much happier). Then the bite died. By 8:35 Gage and Alec left to try for halibut. Gage jigged up a 14 pound halibut yesterday after his pal Anthony Piccardo landed two across the bay from the Boathouse, then told Gage. Gage went over there. I stubbornly stuck it out a bit longer, and at 8:45 hooked my first striper. Two casts later I called Gage with my second fish hooked up. Suddenly, he was back! By about 9:15 it was over. I think Gage (Bigfoot Baits purple tube jig) landed one and lost a couple of others, Alec (chrome Kastmaster) landed four, and I (purple Redrum tubecracker jig) caught three. Four were kept and four released. The stripers ran 10 to 15 pounds. The halibut yesterday averaged a bit less, but didn't need measuring. It ain't wide open but it's far from sucking. The same can be said about the crabbing. As usual, a few guys are doing pretty well and many crabbers are only catching a few. Hot spots? Mostly in the few guys boats, but if I was going to try I'd go work the outer bay if possible, otherwise it's good old Marker 5. 
   

   Harvest Time gave the deep water (and his electric reel) a shot on Tuesday and it seems that it worked out for him. He caught his chilipeppers (and sablefish, and hake) out in 550 feet of water where the earth falls away from the continent towards the abyssal plain. Others have found the fish in water as shallow as 375 feet. Average seems to be 450 to 550 but the data points are still limited as we are all new to this. Look for a haze on the bottom. If you go, please share your successful depth so that we can build a bit of knowledge. That part of the ocean is big, and we can all pool our info to help make it a bit smaller for searching. Thanks for the info, Steve.

    I got a phone call today that led me to believe that yesterday's report made people think that the bite is on! Let me clear: The bite is not yet on.  It is coming. There are some halibut out there, and some of them are huge, but your chances of catching any of them are small. Unless you're Jeremy from Sacramento. Facts don't apply to him. Probably, you're not him, so don't think that you're going to go out and catch lots of halibut here. Those fish are coming but mostly haven't crossed the bar, yet. There are signs that they are coming, though.

    Thankfully for all of us, Gage was able to reassemble his exploded head. The glue joints were cemented fully when he caught his first striper on the bar this afternoon. Those joints were extra-cured when he caught his second striper. #1 weighed 10 pounds, and the deuce was 12. I launched as he pulled his boat out and arrived, yet again, at the post bite. Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, I'm told. You may make your own decision about my still going fishing as I could actually see the conditions change as the tide shifted. Gage saw a halibut caught near him today. Steve Cato and his friend landed a nice, high-teens striper on the bar today. Another striper was landed near Hog today. Is the fishing good? No. Is there a chance? Yes, but... it ain't good. The water in the ocean is unseasonably warm (54º, the average being 50º) and if the usual wind and upwelling stays away we may see the halibut come in early. It's just like the halibut to step up in the absence of salmon and give us something to do instead of chasing salmon. Those halibut are givers. They sure came through in San Francisco Bay this year. Emeryville Sportfishing boats have landed over 6200 halibut so far this year. You don't catch that many fish if they are overfished. They might be overfished now.... Well, the future will pay for that. The bulk of the halibut are coming, here, and most people will have given up on them by then, and that's okay, too. More for me, and luckily for Gage's head, more for him, too. But if you want to come out in the late summer and early fall your chances of not having your head explode will be much better than now. Also of catching fish.

    It seemed like a pretty slow fishing day today. Then Gage got a text from Joe Winn with a picture of stripers in an ice chest. Gage was supposed to be actually working, but instead went running outside to see if he could see where Mr. Winn was fishing. Instead, he found this gentleman with an almost broken net and a fifteen pound halibut. This fish was caught near Hog Island. Gage's head exploded a little bit.

   Joe Winn and crew came by with their catch. Gage's head exploded again. One halibut, six stripers. They returned from the direction of the bar. 

   Cameron Smith put the second fish on the big fish board today. This 31.5 pound halibut bit an A-rig in about ten feet of water. Where? That small bit of info wasn't shared. But rest assured, Gage's head exploded again. Withing minutes of Gage getting off work and launching his boat, another fish was brought to the scale...

    This one that Jeremy from Sacramento caught definitely broke his net. 30 pounds and it bit a broken-back Rebel. Gage and his buddy Mason took off at 5:00 in his Whaler and shortly after Cameron hopped in with me to go load up on stripers and halibut. At around 7:30 we returned, tails between our legs and no fish in the box. We're considering this a building week. The fish are starting to come in. Apparently some big fish. I'm not calling it good yet because I can't catch one, but I will say that it's way better than it was. Opportunities exist on Tomales Bay from front to back. None of them are fantastic but they exist, and for now, that's good enough for me. Now I need to go clean up from all of Gage's head exploding.

 

 I missed posting last evening because I was frying fish at an impromptu fish fry at Gage's new house. Sorry, but those fresh chilipepper rockfish filets were sooooo good. Gage took a couple of buddies out to "end of the world" (where the continental shelf falls off) on Wednesday and they caught limits of chilipepper rockfish fairly quickly once they found the fish in 450 feet of water. Here's the photo:

   Gage is still smiling because he hasn't started cleaning their 30 fish. His smile dwindled a bit yesterday after we returned from Rittenburg with thirty rockfish, one sixteen pound lingcod, and nineteen petrale sole (to five pounds). We'd never caught petrale sole before, but after just eating some for dinner, damn.... Petrales are on notice. Watch out. They taste gooood. For the record, and for any wardens monitoring this, Gage gave his Wednesday chilipepper filets to his mother on Wednesday, freeing him up to catch these fish on Thursday:

   He didn't catch all of them. Ed Parsons and I helped. The petrales and a few sanddabs were caught about five miles short of Rittenburg in 350ish feet of water. The sole were biting so well we almost skipped going rockfishing, and after eating a few I may skip the rockcod next time. But probably not. We stuck to south end of the reef and only caught the one ling, but the schools of yellowtail and widows peaked up to only 150 feet down. No problems with yelloweyes until we tried to concentrate on catching lings. Then they swarmed. The downrigger and Seaqualizer worked well to get them back down. I'm not sure if the fish lived after, but they didn't die where I could see them, and that's the American way of dying, so good enough for me. We counted 42 boats on Rittenburg including us. Other guys tried different locations in order to beat the crowd. A report from one of them: "

Hey Willie,

Finally got a shot at the deep water rockfish Thursday taking advantage of a beautiful day on the ocean.  We ran to a secret spot about 30 miles SW of Bodega Head fishing in 300' of water.  Turns out about 20 other boats were in on the secret.  Reports had been good for lingcod so I started out with a 12 ounce jig head and 10" glow scampi tail.  My friend Craig put on large speed iron and had three nice size rockies in the boat in short order.  Not having a bit on the jig in 15 minutes I was about to reel up to switch to iron when my rod bent over.  There was no apparent strike, just looked like bottom.  I pulled back and there was no give so I reeled down to give it a snap to free it up when I felt the head shakes.  It was now game on with a major tug-of-war for the next 20 minutes.  Imagine our surprise when instead of a big ling appearing under the boat this big halibut shows up.  Craig did a great job of getting a gaff in it and we both hauled it over the side.  Not a bad start to the morning.  We did not manage to fill out our limits of pacific halibut, but we did find plenty of lings and quality rockfish for limits of both.  The lings ranged in size from 15 to 27 pounds and the halibut weighed 45 pounds.  I'm sorry I can't tell you my secret spot, because if there were 20+ boats there on a weekday I can only imagine what it will look like on a weekend.

Regards,

Brad Stompe

Battleship grey Grady 228 (Mary Frances)

"  There were quite a few guys looking for those Pacific halibut yesterday. Nice fricking job, Brad. I'd say more nice things, but bitter jealousy prevents it from happening. Damn.

   Photo evidence that the surfperch are biting. Stripers? Well, let's talk about the perch. Sand crabs, prawns, and Berkley Gulp! Sandworms have been the best baits, but these were caught on a 1 1/4 ounce Stingsilver chrome jig. Bait generally catches more but the artificials are more satisfying. Crabbing has been mostly poor for Dungeness but a witnessed a spot of hope from the outer bay yesterday. I don't know where from out there, but somebody found limits of some nice crab. 

 In the absence of any fish to talk about, I'd like to repost a couple of comments from the last post, as some people don't read them (Why not? They are usually more interesting than my writing and often better informed). In order of comment:

"

Tilly said...

Perhaps too much fishing pressure on small shallow narrow bay is catching up quality wise?, always couple stripers around but after all the large females that were harvested last year not expecting much sadly. Price we all pay for posing with big "piles" of fish to be Instagram heroes. If you want some sport action just back from boat camping trip up on Lake Shasta, lots of spotted bass every day on topwater surface baits always lots of fun as an alternative, nice to have full lakes again"

"

 Alastair Bland said...

Tilly has inspired me to offer up my observations. Others' experiences may differ, but here's mine: Over the past 10 years, the productivity of Tomales Bay's halibut fishery has plunged to where it's barely worth going anymore. I'm a free-diver. I used to never even mention that, hoping to keep a good secret to myself, but it doesn't really matter now. The fish appear to be almost gone. As recently as 2016 and 2017 I would see an average of 3-5 fish per outing - sometimes 6 or 8, sometimes 1 or 2. I usually managed to spear a halibut somewhere along a 2- or 3-mile transect. Things have changed, especially in the last 3-4 years. In 2022, I went diving 21 times in Tomales Bay, between Pelican Point and the Bar. I brought home 2 halibut all season, both on the same day (speared 10 minutes apart). In the entire season, I saw or spooked just 7 halibut. 2021 was equally poor for me - 3 fish in the boat in about 20 trips. For anglers on top of the water, it's appealing to imagine on a slow day that the fish are "there" but just aren't biting. Diving adds an extra layer of visibility to what's actually going on under the surface. As far as I can see, the fish are not present anymore. I always have worried that the fillet tables stacked with halibut, and the urge to post reports on the Internet, would catch up with us, as Tilly suggested. I think that may be where we are now. I hope I'm wrong and that things turn around.

In case anyone is wondering, the most halibut I took from Tomales Bay in one year was roughly 10, in 2016.

I'm curious: Does anyone have a Tomales halibut perspective that strongly differs from mine?"

"

 Tomales Outlaw said...

Predatory fish such as halibut and stripers generally enter the bay for one reason....to chase baitfish. While some species of fish can be caught there year-round, Tomales is mainly a seasonal fishery, that ebbs and flows with water temperatures, fish migration patterns and most of all...the presence of baitfish. No baitfish have yet entered the bay in any quantity. I have fished the bay for over 15 years regularly, and my best days for halibut, and stripers, have been when there is a lot of bait present in the bay. Herring, anchovies and even large numbers of smelt account for this. When the bait is there, the fish are there.

Not many species actually spawn in the bay. Some sharks, and bat rays account for the major spawning species inside the bay. Yes, halibut and stripers do spawn in the bay, but not in large numbers. This is my personal observation, and not based on any kind of first-hand science. Just the observations of a fisherman. This has been the best halibut year in recent memory in SF Bay........a few years ago we had the same in Tomales. When this occurred the bay was glutted with bait.

I don't disagree with the added attraction social media can give to a fishery, and as a result the added pressure on said fishery. But they good days and big fish will return. My main point is that bad fishing in Tomales Bay is not so much a result of fish caught there in great numbers, but also in fish caught elsewhere in great numbers that would one day be present in Tomales, as a direct result of chasing the bait schools.


Outlaw"

     I mostly agree with these comments. I also am concerned for the lack of fish. I know guys that dove for halibut on the Tomales Bay bar for decades and have given up (a few have aged out. You know who you are...) as the surefire body stacking from the 1970's though the 1990's piddled out to the lots of swimming and very little shooting of the recent times. The bar bite has definitely died. Except for when it's awesome. I, too, have seen periods with damn few biting fish. Just so you know, Mr. Bland, when I don't catch any fish I comfort myself by saying there weren't any fish. The thought of drifting over fish that won't bite my offering sends shivers down my spine. I reject it! I also refuse to get one of those cameras that can see what fish are looking at your bait. I DON'T WANT TO KNOW THAT FISH WERE THERE AND NOT BITING. Nope. But I digress, as I do. I don't know what's going on. I have some ideas that are probably wrong. But first, here's some background information. I starting "working" on a party boat when I was eight. At that time for me, "working" meant going on the boat, helping set up gear and then fishing. I also puked a lot. Lord have mercy, a lot... That was 1978. I heard stories of schools of yellowtail rockfish boiling at the surface at Cordell. I saw one of those in probably 1980 to 1982. (It was awesome) When I started we limited out on big rockfish every day we fished Cordell. When we occasionally fished Rittenburg (Merle Lawson called it "A-hole" to keep it a secret) it was a hell of big lingcod (hell if you were a rockfish. Good times to anglers). By the mid-1980's we were fishing in 500 to 600 feet of water looking for fish, then trying to find hard bottom with rockfish in the area between Cordell and Rittenburg. We, and the other party boats and drag boats had fished out arguably the most productive rockfish spot in central California. My family sold the boat in 1985 and I finished my tour of duty on it (less puking by then, but not no puking) under different ownership in fall of 1986. It was like selling a played out gold claim. By 2001? 2003? I don't recall the date, but CDFW agreed and closed the deep water to fishing for rockfish. Can you overfish something? I think yes. Going back to Rittenburg 20 years after it was almost empty and seeing these huge rockfish humping your lures, well,,, They fixed it. Will it last? I am confident that our current regime at CDFW will not be asleep at the wheel and will shut down our deep water party earlier that we would like, primarily due to too many Yelloweye rockfish being brought to the surface. Even descended properly, some will die, and that's actually part of the equation allowing fishing out there now. And you know what? Fine. I understand, now, that limiting access is probably a good thing. I kinda understood then, but seeing 1980's numbers of fish again made it real. Sometimes swatting your hand away makes it better for everyone. Maybe a two fish limit for halibut is the right thing....

   Having said that, do I think overfishing is trashing the Tomales Bay halibut fishery? Well,,,, I don't know. It still seems to me that there more fishermen in the past. And actually, there's a bit of evidence to show that. Pictures first, because they're pretty: 

    These are aerial photos of Lawson's Landing in 1979. There are only three boats moored, so this is likely in October or November. Most of the things floating in the picture are floats that would hold two boats during the summer. I count 28 floats. That's 56 boats. There's another 18 pilings for single, larger boats, three of them currently occupied. That's 74 boats just from Lawson's in 1979, not counting day launches. Now, on a good day, we might hit 60 launches, but the average is much lower. But Miller Park is much more active, probably. I have no numbers there, but I do have this: Sport Fishing Licenses 2022: 994,138 1979: 2,229,885  So, there's been a 55% reduction in fishing licenses sold in California since 1979. I remember more people fishing in the past, and apparently the CDFW agrees with me. I will say, the size of the fish have dropped, so the larger, egg-filled critters of the past were likely slaughtered by our forefathers (I caught (speared) my first halibut in 1993. Started trying to catch them in 1986. It took seven years and for some of them I was fishing with a local legend, Merle Lawson.). The larger the fish, the more eggs. Halibut grow slower than rockfish, even though otoliths say that rockcod get crazy way older. The rockfish sure recovered faster, if overfishing is the issue. There was also a tagging program in the 1980's through part of the 1990's in Tomales Bay trying to prove that the halibut in Tomales Bay were resident, rather than transient. At least one of those tagged fish was recovered in Half Moon Bay. Having made that run myself, I can say that's a long way from home. The tagging program was ended. So, what's going on with the fish? I'm pretty sure that I don't know. I totally sympathize with the guys saying that there's too much pressure. It feels like that to me, too, except that I've seen even more pressure in the past. We could still be suffering that that pressure, as the halibut grows slower. Or.... another factor is water temperature, Why is the limit in SoCal still five halibut while we are reduced to two (three in a normal year)? Maybe because water temperature is an indicator for juvenile recruitment. It's always warm in the Southern California bight. Here in NorCal, the prediction for global warming, according to the big brains at the Bodega Marine Lab, is more wind, meaning more upwelling, meaning more cold water. Sorry, no links, it's late, but that was a reported in the media effect of warming. I was pissed, as I wanted to catch yellowtail here. Nope. It appears that their forecast is for colder water and colder species. Maybe that accounts for more Pacific halibut here. And even Santa Cruz? I'm sure that I don't know. Way, way too many variables. What I do know is that, the last few years, when the wind and upwelling finally quit in late July and the water warmed up the halibut were here and bit the hooks in ways I can't compare. When they showed up, well, the Gage and I hurt them, as did others, but the rule remains: You can't catch fish that aren't there. But if you fish where the fish are.... booyah. Alastair, please try more in August through early October. I think that the global warming thing is finally screwing me, but not in the way that I expected. How unexpected!

     The last report wasn't a fishing report and this isn't a catching report. The wind has been blowing outside so the deep water rockfish have been safe for a few days. The halibut in Tomales Bay have decided to relax and not chase baits, apparently, as the last fish caught that I heard of was on Tuesday. That lone keeper was accompanied by three shorts, but that doesn't make for a photo spread with Gage laid out behind a pile of fish. It's more like snatching victory from the jaws of defeat (I usually do the opposite and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It's easier and requires much less fish cleaning). At least there's crabbing, right? Well, sorta. There's reds and rocks, but the Dungeness catching that usually picks up at the end of the season hasn't followed through. I guess the crabs don't read this report. Stupid, illiterate crabs... There's a few Dungeness being caught, but only a few. Reds can be caught in bulk across the bay in the coves but the bigger, fancier models are hiding out, even though they shouldn't be. Well, at least the surfperch are biting. Usually. It is possible to not catch them, but they have the best success rate now. Good striper fishing should be starting any time, but again, the fish may not know this. My short trip in the bay on Thursday was not productive, even though the pelicans swore that there were fish in a couple of different spots. Those spots included the mouth of the bay and mid-bay in front of the Boathouse. Hopefully, your results will vary. There are a few schools of bait coming in, so hopefully all those things that we want to be following the bait will be coming as well. Here's to dreaming....

 No fishing report, but people have questions about the halibut limit. Rumor was (apparently within CDFW and it spread that June 1st was the active date for the emergency reduction in the number of halibut you can take. Well, we are governed by a bureaucracy and bureaucracies work slow and sloppy most of the time. That's a good thing when they are working to reduce your rights, IMHO, but in this case they're trying to save a few halibut for next year. It's probably not a bad thing. It also hasn't hit yet. The Office of Administrative Law hasn't ruled on the emergency regs, yet, but when they do it will go into effect. Immediately? The next day? Five working days after? I don't know, but I'm leaning hard towards the next day. I think a closure may require five days to go into effect, but a reduction in the limit may be almost instantly in effect. Before you go fishing, check here: https://fgc.ca.gov/Regulations/2023-New-and-Proposed or here: https://cdfw.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=c00c82e1f32a49e99c747e2411e3439e   I heard that at one point today the CDFW website said the limit for halibut was now two. They switched it back, but I'd believe the FGC first. Well, check both. Weeeeellllll, maybe stop at two fish. You may not be legally required to stop short, but it may be that you won't have to take a day off work to fight a ticket. Even if you win, you lose.