I got this picture in a text from Mike Nursement at 9:40 this morning. This halibut and another of the same size were caught by Mike and his friend on the bar. They bit live jacksmelt, as did a sand sole. Not the biggest fish of the day but a couple of nice ones. 

    A bit larger was a fish caught by Aaron Jones. This one weighed in at 24 pounds. It bit a dead herring and was caught, along with another halibut, near Mike Nursement while fishing on Mike Sandrock's Osprey. Mr. Sandrock has been making long drifts, starting out in 50 feet of water, and the long, deep drift has been paying off. 

   The winner of today's competition (Yeah, I know, it's not a competition.....Unless you're winning.) was Conner Padon of Uncle Alan fame. A couple of days ago Conner and crew had three nice fish. Today Conner went alone and landed a nice halibut and a 31 pound halibut. He was able to slide that angry area rug into his net, somehow. I'm a gaffer (and I've raised my boys to be proud gaffers) but Conner made his net work, and if it works, it ain't wrong. Nice work, Conner, and really nice job landing a big fish by yourself. It isn't easy.

    There were a few other boats with fish, but there were also the boats without any. The fish aren't thick in the water, but the few fish that are here have a few thick ones mixed in. It doesn't make up how slow the fishing is, but at least someone is trying.

    As spoken by the Led Zeppelin, the song remains the same. Mostly poor fishing. The McAlisters had a rough last few days, mostly not catching (like everybody else, mostly), but today, redemption. These halibut weighed 31 and 15 pounds. Matt Workman of San Francisco caught the bigger one, and I wasn't given the name of the other slayer, but these guys were the high boat today, as far as I heard. The word was that they lost an even larger halibut on the bar. Just losing a fish today would put them in the top ranks. I didn't speak with anybody else, but nobody else came to me with a better story, so as far as I know, these guys won today.

    For the rock fisherman: "

Quillback Rockfish Retention Prohibited Statewide, Effective Aug. 7

Retention of quillback rockfish (Sebastes maliger) is prohibited statewide in both the recreational and commercial fisheries effective Aug. 7, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced today.

CDFW projects the combined recreational and commercial take of quillback rockfish will exceed the harvest limits specified in federal regulation for 2023, and in-season action must occur to reduce the risk of overfishing. Pursuant to California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 27.20(e), when federal harvest limits are projected to be exceeded, CDFW has authority to make in-season changes, including adjustments to bag and sub-bag limits.

The 2021 stock assessment for quillback rockfish off California indicated severe population declines. As a result, a recreational one-fish limit and reduced commercial limits were implemented in 2022 to reduce catch. Further constraints to the groundfish seasons for 2023 have not sufficiently reduced catch for quillback rockfish to meet federal harvest guidelines.

CDFW urges anglers to use best fishing practices to reduce impacts to quillback rockfish and other prohibited species. These include reducing mortality when releasing fish by utilizing a descending device and relocating to different fishing grounds or switching targets if you are catching and releasing quillback rockfish or other prohibited species.

The Rockfish, Cabezon, Greenling (RCG) complex bag and possession limit will remain 10 fish daily, with a one fish sub-bag limit for copper rockfish, and a four fish sub-bag limit for vermilion rockfish. Along with quillback rockfish, take of bronzespotted rockfish, cowcod and yelloweye rockfish continue to be prohibited year-round at all depths.

To better assist anglers with identifying rockfish species while fishing, CDFW has prepared informational flyers to distinguish quillback rockfish from similar looking species, such as China and black-and-yellow rockfish. Additional fish identification materials on rockfish and other species can be found on CDFW’s Fish and Shellfish Identification web page.

CDFW will continue to monitor groundfish species of concern, such as quillback rockfish. If the current in-season change prohibiting take of quillback rockfish is not sufficient to reduce harvest, additional in-season actions such as modifications to the season dates and/or depth constraints may be implemented. Anglers are strongly encouraged to minimize catch of quillback rockfish and other prohibited species to reduce the possibility of further in-season actions in 2023 and beyond. CDFW recommends reviewing the Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations web page before each trip to ensure anglers are up to date on the most recent groundfish regulations.

For information on groundfish fishery science, management and other frequently asked questions, please visit CDFW’s Marine Region Groundfish web page." Well, you guys that have gone rockfishing in the shallows since they opened up thirteen days ago, congrats! I guess you caught so many of these relatively rare rockfish (for here) that the option will be closed. Less than two weeks! I knew that I was surrounded by a bunch of fishing baddasses, and this just proves it. Good work! And stay away from my halibut.

 

   Most fishermen today had sad stories. No bites, or the only one got away. Not so for the crew of the Uncle Al. These guys had three bites and that equaled three fish to 18 pounds. For the record, as usual, the smallest fisherman actually caught the largest fish. The fish were distributed by size related to the fisherman, not by who caught which fish. My man on the right in the photo wanted me to make that clear. I don't know his name, but I know that he caught the big one. And I know that he wants you to know that, too.

    What happened today? Let's talk about yesterday some more. Larry Varela sent over this picture from yesterday, today. This photo shows a portion of Team Alexander, otherwise known as the Evil Twins or Double Trouble, plus a lot of fish. Today the Team stayed ashore, looking for those stripers off of Sand Point. Many people lined the Point today, waiting for those pelicans to start diving. And waiting. And waiting. Gage and I were waiting, too. The pelicans never started their blitz. As far as I know, the bite never happened, but then again, I wasn't there all day. Gage and I caught two halibut, 12 and 14 pounds, both on live jacksmelt. We couldn't find the school bait. We did try trolling for halibut in front of the esteros, but we caught nothing, except...

    Our trolling for halibut ended after the second, non-existent king salmon bit the bait. I am happy that they're here, but damn. My hand was shaking a bit on the release. The hand that was saying, "Give it the wood!" was shaking. No wood was given, but I'm guessing that more fish will be going up the river this fall than were predicted. 

     Mason caught this 16 pound striper in the surf from the shore today. It bit a rubber eel. The pelicans were pounding the water and finally moved just barely close enough for him to drop that eel right on the striper's head. Instant hookup. Mason has been throwing lures from the beach for a while now and his number finally came up. You know, Mason, the first one is the hardest. Unfortunately, the second one ain't a whole lot easier, but it will come. Follow them birds.

    Angel Loera caught this 24.5 pound halibut on a live jacksmelt this afternoon. They had just reached the end of the drift and either had to move the boat or walk home. When Angel went to reel up he discovered that it was going to be a little harder than just a few cranks of the handle. He was fishing with Mike Torres and they had one other fish on that released itself. Most of the boats came back with at least one halibut today, but Angel's was the largest. The most noteworthy boat today caught one bat ray, two halibut and four thresher sharks, all while anchored. Yes, threshers. There's some bait moving into the bay and the threshers are following it. Things are getting interesting, even though the water isn't warming up.

    Gage hooked four stripers during the pelican blitz, keeping one. What are they eating? Looks like mostly anchovies, but you can see a small bullhead and a pretty digested large sardine. Yesterday some surf fishermen had 8" sardines leaping out of the surf onto the beach with them. It's probably not surprising that they hooked a few stripers during that time. Sardines make some of the best live bait you can catch, so this discovery gets double interesting. I need to get some larger sabikis...

 

     Tom Carter sent over this report today: "Hey Willy, here's our grandson, Ezra Rock, with his two stripers from the bar and sand point on our first day fishing this year, I guess we'll go again tomorrow!" Now, before you get excited, thinking that the bite is wide open, just know that Ezra is kind of a badass and your experience may by different. Ezra also caught a shark. The other two people in the boat had no bites. Most of the other boats had similar, no bites, reports. One boat caught three halibut by Marshall; another had three hookups of possible thresher sharks in the Outer Bay (possible because they all broke off 30lb leaders: could be anything, but one wonders), a striper and one halibut caught at the last minute while waiting for a pullout. A couple of boats went out and bounced around and caught some rockfish. But Ezra caught two nice stripers on relatively flat water and was back in pretty quick Stripers are fun. I'm going to guess that fishing with Ezra is like fishing with Gage, but with less hooting and hollering. Gage caught one striper this evening and his whooping was.....distracting. 

    I'd rather fish with Ezra.

 

    I talked to Nate and Robert Baker today and got a photo of Robert with his fish, but Nate's report and photos are, unsurprisingly, better. "Hey Willy, 

Robert and I got lucky making a couple drifts across the bar this afternoon and he scored his first butt of the year on a yellow Redrum in 12'. Also scored some bottom fish off of elephant Saturday and Sunday fishing with Nick Nichols using some 300 gram knife jigs and nomad squidtrex in glow and cali red. Hoping this wind and swell knocks down so we can return to deep to grab some of those chili peppers and possibly troll some Madmacs. 

Best, 

Nate Baker" I, too, hope the weather drops. So many good things will happen soon thereafter. It appears that Robert doesn't need good weather for good things to happen. Good for you, Robert. I wish that I had that skill. So do the few other guys that went out today. We only had a few boats go out and I didn't speak to everyone, but this may be the only fish landed here today. 

    I think I'm going to tie on a Pearl Sour Redrum next time.

 

   Howard Law caught this 38 pound halibut today. He caught it on a Bigfoot jig and he was fishing the bar. This fish was in and out of the net three times. Talk about a nail-biter. No other fish or bites for Howard but seemed pretty okay with the one fish. Very, very few other halibut were landed here today. When guys are comparing how many jacksmelt they caught (and a few were actually getting jealous) the fishing is slooow. At least the weather inside the bay was nice. Outside? Well, maybe next week.....

 

    Mitch Hamilton sent a report from today: "Youngest grandson on the board again, 14 lbs on a live jacksmelt by Hog island. Caught it in the 55 degree clear water from the incoming tide, he hooked and lost another about five minutes later. " Very nice job. Most of the people I heard from today did not have luck as good as Mitch and his grandson. Mostly zeros and small ones in the halibut department. There were several boats trying for stripers with no luck for a good part of the day, but one boat this evening went out and caught 10, releasing 9. There were a few rockfish caught, but getting the fish in the boat was difficult as one hand was needed to keep the fisherman in the boat. Someday the offshore wind will stop, but that day ain't today or tomorrow. But someday.

 

    I received these pictures and a text from Tom Brodsky this morning: "Yesterday's catch and release. 15 rockfish before Ed needed to return too the smoother water of the bay. Where we released 31" & 34" stripers. Both on Redrums." There weren't many halibut or stripers caught yesterday, so I'd say Ed's choice to return to the bay was a good choice for you guys. It is easier to let those stripers go when you when already have a fish box full of filets. Gage also released a striper yesterday, but I didn't hear of any others boated. Nice job, guys (even you, Gage). 

   

    Team Swampy ended up with half-limits of halibut today with their big one going 25 pounds. While I didn't speak to Mr. Swampy, his history would indicate that these fish bit live bait, probably jacksmelt or shiners. I did see him boat one on the bar, pretty close to where I caught a 16 pounder today (mine also liked jacksmelt). His bar fish came well after the tide started coming in and the water temperature had dropped from 57º to 51º, so warm water isn't needed for a bite but it sure helps (mine bit in 57º). I also caught and released a striper on the bar but had to chase pelicans almost into the breakers to hook it.

 

   Gage sent me this today: "Skip Bolton 

Yerington , Nevada 

On Bigfoot bait

35 inch" Skip caught one keeper back by Laird's Landing yesterday but had to catch his limit fish from Sand Point last evening. It looks like it was kinda fun. I went out fishing this evening in my boat and, even though Chris Brown caught a 14 pound halibut on a pearl Bigfoot Jig with me, it still looks like Skip had more fun last night. My fingers went numb and turned white, but Skip was wearing shorts and looking happy. Nice job, Skip. Both on your fish and your choice of fishing times. Here's a picture of ?Chris' fish:

      Here's a bit more detail about the striper landed on Sunday: "One fish day...better than a no fish day.

This one was on the point while water was pretty low and a good incoming flow had started. Caught on an absurdly big Doc plug, an impulse buy that I put on just to try. I will use it again. I may have caught more but was distracted by that odd hot-yellow disk in the sky. What was that?

Chris" The disk in question was the sun, a thing with which we have only middling familiarity with here. It was good while it lasted, though. Nice fish, Chris DiTrani, and well done on the topwater. For the record, topwater bites are the best. THE BEST. My jealousy burns with a fire not unlike that odd hot-yellow disk in the sky. 

  The fact that Tom Brodsky has been doing very well at the striper fishing was not the only reason Eddie Kim said yes to a fishing trip with Tom today. Whatever those other reasons were disappeared upon the first hookup. The three fish came pretty quick, and then a lot of time passed, but the time passing didn't seem to dull the smiles on these guys. Must be the fish that are keeping them smiling.

 

   Miller Time arrived here yesterday and team Miller made themselves known today with halibut weighing 18 and 28 pounds. Both fish bit live bait, one on the outside of the bay and one on the inside, but beyond that, all I know is the weights. Nice fish, though. There were a few other halibut brought in today but none as large by a long shot. 

   Here's a bit of commentary from the high boat yesterday: "3 Hali, 1 Ling smelt Drifting at mcclures. Real sloppy on sun. Got off ocean at 11:30. Fished hog no hits. Seen fish in kelp beds hooked 1 perch. Love fishing out of lawsons." Thanks, Mike Mack, we like having you out here. It's not just that your wife keeps giving us bacon-wrapped halibut chunks, but it doesn't hurt, either.  

 

   Gage sent me this yesterday: "Rich Nacarelli 22 lb striper in the mouth first thing this morning" I think it bit a Kastmaster, just knowing the fishermen involved. He was with John Cooper, a known Kastmaster aficionado, and a man (and boat) that caught halibut all week while, staying here. Not a lot of halibut on any day, but no skunks, either. No skunks is better than average, but there are some fish in the bay. Gage and I caught two to 13 pounds on Thursday by Hog. One came on its own and the other came in a quick flurry of three bites that could not be repeated. It seems that there's a few scattered schools of halibut if you're lucky enough to find them. One of those scattered schools was off Sand Point yesterday, where several halibut were caught by boaters and from shore. The tackle shop's shelves were emptied of 4 oz. P-Line Laser Minnows after a couple of people landed at least three halibut from shore using them. No halibut from shore today, but several were caught near Marshall. One striper was caught near the bar and a certain blue boat caught three halibut McClure's today.

 

   Terri Brodsky caught this 35 pound striper yesterday. She also released it, so maybe you can catch it, too. I'd like to think that I'd release that beautiful fish, too, but the jury is out on that. I have caught eleven stripers this year and only kept three of them, but none of them were like that. Maybe, at best, half that. Damn. This magnificent fish was one of a double hooked by the Fish Box on their first casts of the day. (Tom, still looking for a photo of the ten pounder...)

   Thanks, Tom. This is Nita Brodsky with her 10 pound striper. She caught this in spite of Tom chasing the 35 pounder. Nice job Nita!

 Not pictured are all of the fish they didn't catch for the rest of the day. That's the part of the day where they re-entered the world that the rest of us live in, where the halibut bite, and usually the striper bite, too, in Tomales Bay has been, let's say, poor. There have been a few halibut caught in the past couple of days. It ain't nothing, it just seems like it if you aren't one of the guys catching. I have heard of a couple of fish over 20 pounds landed here. I didn't see them, but I heard the word on the street (dirt road?). Prediction: When the offshore winds finally die and the inshore waters warm up over 60 degrees the halibut fishing will go off. Until then, it is scratch and grind.

     CDFW wants us to know,"

Francisco and Mendocino Management Areas

July 11, 2023by marinenews, posted in Fishes, Management, Regulations

North Coast black rockfish
photo by E.W. Roberts III

The all-depth recreational groundfish season will open on July 16, 2023 in the San Francisco Groundfish Management Area (GMA) and Mendocino GMA and will remain open until December 31, 2023. The all-depth, boat-based season allows fishing in these GMAs regardless of depth, outside of state or federal marine protected areas or other closures where fishing is prohibited.

The all-depth, boat-based season provides access to nearshore rockfish, cabezon, and greenlings along with deeper shelf and slope rockfish species and lingcod. Take of bronzespotted rockfish, cowcod, and yelloweye rockfish continues to be prohibited year-round at all depths.

Divers and shore-based anglers will continue to be exempt from boat-based season restrictions affecting rockfish and other federally managed groundfish, which allows for year-round diving and shore-based angling in line with current regulations.

All recreational GMAs in California are scheduled for up to five and a half months of all-depth fishing time in 2023. Additionally, in some areas during specified months, an “offshore-only” fishery will be in effect seaward (away from land) of the 50 fathom (300 feet) Rockfish Conservation Area boundary line.  Different take and possession rules apply to these seasons. The 2023 fishing seasons for each GMA are:

Southern Groundfish Management Area:

• Closed: January 1 – March 31
• All-Depth Season: April 1 – September 15
• Offshore-Only Season: September 16 – December 31

Central Groundfish Management Area:

• Closed: January 1 – April 30
• All-Depth Season: May 1 – September 30
• Offshore-Only Season: October 1 – December 31

San Francisco Groundfish Management Area:

• Closed: January 1 – May 14
• Offshore-Only Season: May 15 – July 15
• All-Depth Season: July 16 – December 31

Mendocino Groundfish Management Area:

• Closed: January 1 – May 14
• Offshore-Only Season: May 15 – July 15
• All-Depth Season: July 16 – December 31

Northern Groundfish Management Area:

• Closed: January 1 – May 14
• All-Depth Season: May 15 – October 15
• Closed: October 16 – December 31

The authorization to fish for groundfish at all depths does not supersede closures in certain state and federal marine protected areas, or other special area closures such as Cowcod Conservation Areas or Cordell Bank where specific fishery closures still apply.

For more detailed information on the 2023 recreational groundfish regulations, visit CDFW’s Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations web page. Anglers should review current groundfish regulations in their area before fishing, as season dates, limits, and depths may change in-season.

For more information on groundfish, check out CDFW’s Groundfish web page, which provides information on groundfish fishery science and management, barotrauma, and new fish identification resources for yelloweye rockfish, yellowtail rockfish vs. olive rockfish, and other rockfish species of concern."  What the CDFW is saying is that you will be able to catch rockfish without buying a lot of gas, starting on Sunday. Shallow is fun. But on the right day, don't blow off the deep water stuff. Those fish taste gooood. The catching is stupid. Just don't say no. 

 

      Sam Winglewich sent over this report this morning: "Hey Willie, over the weekend of the 4th I attempted to find the football. 

Around 400ft off the coast of Jenner, the sonar decided to be that way again,and the display turned into a depthless, featureless confetti void. So I fished blind - just looked for birds and baitfish activities, tied on an anchovy-esque Tady, and hoped bottom feeders were nearby to pick off the scraps. 

2hrs baitball adjacent resulted in way more blackcod than I decided to keep, a good Petrale sole, sanddabs punching above their weight, and 2 chilipeppers. All of the blackcod and chilipepper hacked up dead chovies on arrival. 

I'm sure Rittenburg, Football, and Fanny Shoals were amazing, but it appears a man can still break away from the fleet, feel it out, and come home with a full cooler. That or I'm the stopped clock, and I just happened to be right for one glorious, fleeting, ego-stroking moment. 

Tight lines,

Sam W " I don't think you qualify as the stopped clock. FWIW, I think that there's a lot more life out there at that 400'+ mark than we ever thought. In the 1980's my grandfather, Merle, was trying to find more fish to catch with his charter boat after Cordell was pretty well fished out. We stumbled over a few schools of mixed black cod (sablefish) and yellowtail rockfish between Cordell and Rittenburg but couldn't find a consistent sweet spot. Soon after, he sold the boat and I found out what it was like to not vomit once a week (HINT: It's nice). Maybe the fish weren't there, then. Maybe we looked for fish, like love, in all the wrong places. Whatever. Sam found them. Gage found them. Harvest Time found them. Probably you just need to look for them. Not to minimize Sam's discovery, but it seems that if you can find them without looking properly (sonar not working) imagine your results with actual sonar! All this being said, all-depth rockfish opens on July 16, and then you won't have to search or go deep. It's kind of a shame, though, because those deep fish taste goooood. Nice work, Sam. You found 'em. I still don't think it's easy, I just think you proved it's more possible than I thought. Good on you, sir.

    Eddie Kim took a break from bluefin in San Diego (or did the bluefin get a break from him???) and he stopped by for a few days to spend time with family and friends. They caught three halibut on live jacksmelt, but the peaceful family vibe may have been violated when Eddie barked at them for losing two other fish. I love you guys, too, but I'm team Eddie on fish losing. Unacceptable.(!?) Next time, all fish come aboard. On the halibut front, there's fish from Marconi to the Tomales Bar. There's more active fish farther back in the bay, but there's a few biters all over. I was even able to catch a halibut on my first cast this evening. It was barely legal, but just big enough. A couple of hundred casts later, I had missed two other striper bites and released one striper about 12 pounds. There's a few fish around. 

     The west wind is back and is predicted to be here for a while. Inshore water will cool. But on the bright side, I get more sleep. I guess that's only good for me. The not fishing makes me grumpy, my wife says. Maybe I just seem nicer to her when I'm not home. Either way, the forecast is for a better rested, grumpy Willy for the next week. 

   But before the wind hit, James Leonard had a good trip. His report: "Hey Willy. My buddy and I took our 5 kids out to Tomales to try and find a few summer break halibut. Once again, Tomales did not disappoint! We first ran down to Marshall for some trolling. The first fish was on within 2 minutes! Following that we had a few shorts, then the bite shut down. We then decided to run back to Hog for a few drifts. We had difficulties locating any live bait so we decided to just drift some popsicles. After two quick drifts south of hog we had 2 more fish in the box. The fish measured in at  23”, 24”, and 28”. I’m not sure who had more fun, the kids or the dads! " Well, no pictures of the dads, so I guess we'll have to assume the happy kids were the winners. As James indicated, there's a few halibut all over the bay. The Hog Island area has been quietly spitting out a few halibut for a while now, but apparently the successful fishermen have been keeping it quiet as an empty bay is a fun bay to fish. It's still not as good as the catching in San Francisco Bay, but it's not nothing. Mostly. 

   

   Mike Martin sent over this report this morning: "Thanks for the info Willy. Did what you said and stopped 5 miles short. Picked up a dozen sand dabs. Fished the North end of the reef with 10 other boats. Caught some nice lings and big rock fish. Had to send 2 big (10lb.) Yellow eyes back down. Tossed the Mad Macs out for about an hour trolled back up the out side of Cordell with no hits for the tuna." Nicely done. It's the run out and back that's the bad part. Maybe the cleaning, too. But the catching, well, that's good. For now.

    Scott Simpson sent over this report from the weekend: "Hi Willie, the kids and I had a great weekend at LL. I didn't personally catch anything but a buzz.  The grandkids had a pretty good weekend and I enjoyed being the deckhand working the net.  They were troopers grinding it out for 7 hours for three keepers.  I know there are at least 8 fish in the bay,  as we put them back with an inch or so to go.  They will be ready for us in a few weeks.  As always thanks for being great hosts and giving us a beautiful place to escape the valley heat." Good work getting those kids out on the water, and even better, great work putting them on some fish. Scott and crew were trolling near Marshall.

     The striper fishing is not wide open, but there are a few around, enough that even I can catch one. This was near the bar and the jig was a 12.5 oz. grape Redrum.

 

   Chris Norkus sent over this report this morning: "Hi Willy,

 

Had a great time on the bay with my kids this weekend.  My daughter Anna, caught this (our only) halibut just south of the weather bouy. It was exactly 22 inches.  We had four lines in the water and the breeze kicked up so to avoid tangles I dropped anchor and we jigged frozen herring (couldn't seem to conjure the smelt from the grass at first). We kept losing our bait and I discovered that the reason for that was we weren't moving and so the crabs were having at it- so jig faster!  Also noticed a bunch of people with hoop nets and I let a couple of them know that the dungie season actually closed on Friday. Maybe they were only keeping rock crab but who knows? Lucky for some, perhaps, that F&G didn't seem to be at the dock on Saturday.  Happy Independence Day to you, Willy!

" And a happy one to you as well., sir. Nice work to change up your methods as the conditions change. May I also suggest backtrolling (motor in reverse, sometimes in and out of reverse, to slow the boat) or a parachute or similar item to slow your drift. Covering a bit of ground in a controlled manner can lead to larger numbers of critters, unless you anchor over a school of fish, which I highly recommend. Your success yesterday was shared by many today as well. Halibut were caught from south of Marconi to the Tomales Bay bar. Numbers ranged from 0 to 4 that I heard about, with most having two. Here's another halibut:

   "Chris Ramirez from Santa Rosa. Bar on a little shiner. 18 lb" Nice fish, Chris. Chris caught two halibut on the bar today. Numbers of halibut, as I said, averaged two, but Chris' fish was the largest halibut we weighed in today. But not the largest fish....

   When you need a tractor to unload your fish you've had a pretty good day. This bluefin tuna weighed 123 pounds, gutted, on our scale, and the measurements suggest it weighed 145 pounds or so in the round. It bit a MadMac between Rittenburg and Cordell and is officially credited to Clay Bushey of Sacramento. Any muffled popping sounds you have heard this afternoon was, as you may have guessed, Gage's head exploding again. When I was informed that this fish was on its way in I called Gage, as he was still at lunch, to let him know that a BFT was fifteen minutes out. I heard a "Wha...?" "POP!" and the phone sounded like it fell on the ground. I hung up, as I had things to do. Reports are that there were many bluefin caught today from the Bodega weather buoy to at least Monterey. No reason for anybody to crowd in anywhere. Plenty of fish, and ocean, for everyone. Oh, before I forget; Nice damn fish, gents.

   This striper was caught and released last evening at, you guessed it, sundown. The fisherman looks a lot like one of the guys that caught that bluefin, probably because it is one of those guys. He was still pretty stoked, post tuna, about the surf striper. He's not wrong. When that fish finally bites... yeah, it's pretty damned good. Chances are good right now from the shore at slack tide, good being relative. You probably won't catch. But your chances are about as good as they get. So, maybe. I may have mentioned in the past that I'm a fan of Redrum Baits tube jigs for stripers, and not coincidentally, the owner is here visiting and he and his friend landed, well, let's just say over ten stripers caught and released today. Not all on tubes, but tubes were working. Gage and I went out this evening and were able to tie with them, everybody catching one fish each. Some guys had more bites with fish lost (not me; One for one) but everyone had action. All fish released, but to be fair, if stripers should be released then they shouldn't taste so damned good. Just saying.