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.