Well, I guess I missed out on a heck of a bite while I was in SoCal. Not to worry, that bite mostly died when I returned. The few stripers that my boys and I caught swan far away soon after we caught a few on Saturday. The wind has churned up a -10ºF temp drop in the water, and to cold-blooded creatures, that drop is like a fever to us warm-blooded critters. They don't feel good. And not feeling good seems to make them not bite. There have been very, very fish caught at this end of the bay since the wind started. The fishing, in a word, sucks. Well, the catching does. 

   The bluefin  and other tuna have had a few moments in the last week, but mostly they have disappointed as well. The next six weeks should be the sweet s for actual catching. Only time will tell.

      The bite on the bar slowed, and the number of boats out fishing slowed even more. More room for the rest of us. The wind is back for a few days, so that may have a bit to do with it, too.  Gage called the owner of Redrum Baits and told him about the striper bite we had on Saturday night. Pieter was here (from San Diego) by noon on Sunday to give them a shot. In true fish fashion, the stripers bit in the morning on Sunday (nice job, Mr. Brezina, on your limit) but in 24 hours Pieter only had two stripers. Six halibut, without trying for halibut, but still... He headed to San Francisco Bay today to try greener pastures. Here's a report from last weekend when the stripers did bite, though: "

My brother Dave Gatlin and I fished off the point sunday morning. I got 1 15lb striper on a x-rap! 

Saw whales 100 yds out and saw other people getting halibut!

How do I send videos of the whales?" Nice job Matthew! Those surf stripers don't come easy here. There's been a young gray whale in the area and it occasionally cruises by the sand point, slurping up invertebrates in the mud. I don't know how to upload the video on here, but Matthew posted it on the Tomales Bay Fishing Facebook page, as I understand it. Between the whale and many, many birds feeding there, on occasion, it indicates that there's some schools of baitfish passing through there again. There have even been a few thresher sharks seen jumping from in front of the shop to the point. It's go time. But no guarantees. There's no certainty in fishing.

 

   No posts for a bit, as I was fishing in San Diego with the Eddie Kim charter on the Pacific Queen. It was good. Limits of bluefin, 25 yellowtail, 20 yellowfin and 6 dorado. The hurricane only made driving down difficult but didn't mess with the fishing. Thanks to all the folks that showed up for a fish cleaning and packaging party on Thursday night, and special thanks to Tal Roseberry for his fish cleaning expertise and for bringing along the "Death Star" of vacuum sealers. Two and a half hours to clean and package 20 fish to 130 pounds may not be a record but it sure seemed more like a party than work. I should have posted earlier, but sleep got me first, both on Thursday and Friday nights. I actually ate last nights dinner tonight, as I finished cooking it last night but fell asleep before dining or writing. It was a good trip.

   I got this report from the Tomales Outlaw on Wednesday: "Made the run to Timber Cove and found a school of blacks and olives. Hope you guys have a heavier vehicle coming home than you did going down." We did, thanks, but only because I let Gage get back in it. Three days on a boat and there's a question about who's driving home with whom....Anyhow, that's a pretty serious run from Tomales Bay, but those are some nice fish, so nice job, Outlaw. Also, good timing, as it seems that the shallow water. fun fishing is about to end, six weeks after it started:"

Fish and Wildlife Closes Nearshore Groundfish Fishery in Mendocino, San Francisco and Central Management Areas

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced that as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, the 50-fathom Rockfish Conservation Area (RCA) boundary line for the Mendocino Groundfish Management Area (GMA) (Cape Mendocino to Point Arena), San Francisco GMA (Point Arena to Pigeon Point) and Central GMA (Pigeon Point to Point Conception), will take effect.

In these GMAs, recreational boat-based groundfish fishing will be ‘offshore only’ and allowed only seaward (away from land) of the 50-fathom boundary line, defined by straight lines connecting waypoints (50 CFR Part 660, Subpart G). Shelf rockfish, slope rockfish and lingcod may be taken seaward of the 50-fathom boundary line, while it will be unlawful to take or possess nearshore rockfish as defined in Title 14, Section 1.91(a)(1), cabezon or greenlings at any depth. In the Southern GMA from Pt. Conception to the U.S.-Mexico border, these same ‘offshore only’ rules will take effect as originally planned on Sept. 16.

During the ‘offshore only’ fishery, fishing gear shall not be deployed shoreward of the 50-fathom RCA boundary line when shelf rockfish, slope rockfish or lingcod are possessed onboard the vessel, however vessels may transit shoreward of the 50-fathom RCA boundary line with these species in possession if no gear is deployed. Additionally, vessels fishing in the adjacent Southern GMA and transiting back to the Central GMA must adhere to the ‘offshore only’ provisions effective in the Central GMA and shall not return with nearshore species aboard. These changes do not apply to shore-based anglers or divers.

CDFW is carefully monitoring the harvest of quillback rockfish from both the recreational and commercial fisheries throughout the state and has taken a series of steps in an effort to reduce quillback rockfish mortality. On Aug. 7, retention of quillback rockfish was prohibited statewide, followed by closure of the recreational nearshore fishery in the Northern GMA, on Aug. 21. Newly available recreational data from the Mendocino, San Francisco and Central GMAs for the second week of August showed double the estimated recreational take and indicated the 2023 quillback rockfish harvest limit specified in federal regulations has been exceeded. This additional in-season action authorized by Title 14, Section 27.20 (e) to adjust the fishing depth is necessary to prevent further overage.

CDFW urges anglers to use best fishing practices to reduce impacts to quillback rockfish and other prohibited groundfish species. These include reducing mortality when releasing fish by utilizing a descending device and relocating to different fishing grounds or switching targets if quillback rockfish or other prohibited species are encountered. CDFW recommends reviewing the Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations page before each trip to ensure anglers are up to date on the most recent groundfish regulations, including a complete list of authorized species.

For details regarding the quillback population estimates and how these changes were developed, please see CDFW’s Quillback Rockfish In-Season Informational Briefing. For information on all groundfish regulations visit CDFW’s Marine Region Groundfish page.

Pursuant to California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 27.20(e), when federal harvest limits are exceeded or projected to be exceeded, CDFW has authority to make in-season changes, including adjustments to bag and sub-bag limits, seasons and depths." I'm sure you all heard that already, but it still must be said. There must be a bunch of quillback killers out there in order to shut down the season. Good work, killers. I guess we'll all have to work the deeps until they shut that down for yelloweye abuse, probably in September or early October.

    As I wasn't reporting, I think a few people thought I was ignoring them. Sorry, just distracted and without internet or wakefulness. Here's two reports affiliated with these photos:"Hey Willy, 

Went out with Nick Nichols on his Raider Saturday and Sunday. Spent most of Saturday trolling Madmacs and Halco 220's with no luck but we did stop by Rittenburg for about 30 minutes and got our limits of Rockfish. Went out near the canyon on Sunday and picked up a load of black cod along with a few green spotted and a sole in 650'-750'. Sunday afternoon got pretty lumpy so we headed in early. Lots of sunfish whales and dolphins out there.

Best,

Nate Baker

Hey Willy - Nick here.

Will try to keep this short. Nate and I left Bodega Saturday searching for BFT. Started at the canyon towards Rittenburg for 0. Salvaged the day with rockfish limits in about 30 minutes. trolled some more for Tuna with same results - 0. Sunday got late start and went to some numbers Nate wanted to try for Black Cod. First spot we got 6 Greenspots and 1 sole. Went deeper and started catching the cod. Thank goodness for the electric reek as average depth was 600" plus. Most of the cod were caught on these rigs I made up which basically is a copy of the Halibut Godfather rig with Nate catching some on a couple other rigs.

It was a grind but we managed 21 Black Cod. FYI - Tons of whales and bait out there.

Cheers!!"  While these are not the sort of bluefin tuna fishing reports we're all looking for, they are valuable. Those fish were not biting last week, but there's a rumor about that a few guys may have connected late in the week. That information is kind of useless now, as the wind is up offshore (and onshore in the evening) but still good to know. Good effort, guys, and nice pile of what was until recently a forbidden fruit. Taste that knowledge! Yum.

    Tomales Outlaw was here for a few days and he also sent this report: "2 fish north of Hog today. 1 missed bite on the bar. This 32" butt and one 24". Both bit large jacksmelt. Not bluefin but good for today. South wind sucked big time." A smart fisherman takes what the conditions allow for, so I guess we know where you stand, Outlaw. Good job on the catch, especially with the conditions being veryn conducive to not catching.

    Finally, we catch up to today. Cameron sent over this picture and report: "16 and 10. From the bar on live 12" smelt."  Don't know their names but I do know the look of a happy fisherman, and these guys have that look. A few boats caught limits today (Joe Winn et.al., the Wet Dream) and a few other failed to connect, but over all for the past week the bar has been very good for halibut. It;s as good as it has been in the last 15 years if not better. It won't last and it ain't perfect, but it seems pretty good to guy that lives next to it. Oh, yeah, there's a few stripers around, too. Gage, Cameron and I caught nine after work (all but one released). Redrum tubes in pearl sour caught most of them. They're biting.

   

 The halibut bit again for most fishermen today. The few that didn't catch that I spoke with had bites but couldn't get the fish to the boat. One had a break-off. There's some good ones out there, but you don't have to pull super hard on them. It feels good to really yank on them, but a fish that swallowed the hook will shake its head and cut even heavy line with it's needle teeth. Patience. This mountain will come to Mohammed, given the time to do so. 

    Ron Johnson fished all day yesterday and was able to scratch out a striper at the end of the day. That was nice, but Mr. Johnson felt better today with his catch of two halibut on the outside of the bar. He missed several other bites, which has been typical this year. If you're doing it right in the right place, you'll still miss a few. The bites have been ....let's say, lacking conviction. Gage and I have missed way more bites than we have stuck. Probably we suck, so that's why we work hard to get lots of bites. It's a numbers game, and Ron Johnson played it correctly today. Nice work, Ron.

   Scott from Auburn sent over this report today: "Team auburn, lol, 3 halibut, one Ling, off the bar, on Jack's, between 9:30 and 11:30" Team Auburn has been killing it this week. Sweet green lingcod, too, guys. Those are the best. Nice work.

    Tom and Jerrie Carter ("Wheels", if you're Frank Green or someone that knows Frankie) sent over this report from today: "Hey Willy, fun day on the bar this morning, A successful double, and released a big ass stripper. Done by 10"  I watched the movie, Very Bad Things, so good that you released the stripper. Nice fish. As we aren't allowed to catch any of the jumping salmon we're seeing all around. it's nice that you're letting the next best thing in the fighting category go so everybody has a chance. Gotta leave a few spawners, and the bigger they are, they less we have to leave..... Nice fish, and good work. I know you guys are killers (well, Jerrie is...) but it is always more fun when the fish are biting.  

 

    I know most of you are full of halibut, but a few of us are still fishing for them. Yesterday, Gage, Steve Cato and I caught limits of halibut to 20 pounds, all on live bait. For us, the bigger the bait, the quicker it got bit. Note the size of the bait compared to the halibut it caught in the photo. When your bait is super-sized you need to feed those halibut some line and give them some time to eat that super-burrito. We caught five of them on the bar in three drifts, with three of the fish landed on one drift between 9:15 and 10:00. During that time you could hear whoops and hollers from many of the other boats out there as they landed fish, too. There was a bit of swearing on our boat as well as we missed at least as many bites as we stuck (probably more). After two dry drifts we moved to off of Dillon Beach in 30 feet of water where we missed a few more bites, then stuck a nice keeper to finish. 

    Alec Bennett of the Shrimp Boat took more time to catch his bait than it did for him to catch this 23 pound, rod-breaking halibut yesterday. He pretty much bonked it on the head when he dropped his line in the water.  There was a netting incident that resulted in a dead fish and a broken rod. To be fair, catching a large fish by yourself is hard, and halibut are wicked strong. But I'm betting that Alec may be using that gaff more for landing halibut in the future. For the record, myself and my boys are pretty strict halibut gaffers, if for no other reason than a gaff is way, way easier to use effectively one-handed. Also, after you get used to punching 'buts in the gut it gets pretty cathartic to stick them.  We prefer J gaffs, but Gage has also spent enough time on a commercial salmon boat to know how to effectively pick a halibut, too. I've picked a few, but I feel better with the straight pull of a J gaff. 

    Swampy got on the water before me yesterday, and not surprisingly, was off the off the water before me as well. His report: "Got to make it down for a quick trip Thursday.  Good to see and talk with some familiar faces. Two limits for us to 12#s, two from the bar and two at my favorite area. Shiners did the trick. See y’all down there next week. Doug there in the photo bomb.

Swampy" We watched Swampy repeat a drift a couple of times on the bar, so we kinda figured he was bonking a few. Nice job, sir. I don't know where Swampy catches his shiners, but probably not coincidentally a boat from Bodega Bay limited quick on the bar today using shiners. They gifted some to these guys:

   Scott Bergenstock and crew had a rough day yesterday but made up for it today with quick limits of halibut to 15 pounds. They used large smelt for one, but after watching the guys in the gray Whaler get quick limits they didn't say no to sharing the offered shiner perch. They quickly finished up. In similar news, a couple of my personal heroes had a rough day yesterday and finally finished with a respectable four halibut for three fishermen, but the man known as Jigger John failed to connect with a jig. Today he lived up to the steely glint in his eye, and all six fish were taken by him with a Bigfoot Baits jig. It's possible that it had more to do with the man than the jig (He is "Jigger" John, after all) but it could be that is was jigging day, as live bait and swimbaits have also had their days recently. Whatever it was, good job to all. A table full of filets is its own reward. 

    Hunter Smith sent over this photo and quick report: "Got this today at 9 on herring popsicle at mcclures on drift  Hunter Smith" He weighed it at 26.5 pounds. Even without the weight, any fish that has it's tail sticking out of the ice chest is a good fish. Because I want as many fish as possible to have a positive self image at their demise, I try to bring the smallest reasonable ice chest for my fish. On my boat a 24"er feels like a badass. Hunter clearly doesn't follow with my thoughts on fragile egos, but he still seems to find fish that won't fit. Good on you, Hunter. Nice damn fish, too. 

    Tuna result? 0. North of Bodega Canyon up to Point Arena were tested by my cousin Ira and (to lesser mileage) Gage, and they found the right water but no biters. Those biters are what they really wanted. From other reports, points south weren't a whole lot better with many goose eggs there as well. "Everything there but the fish" has been a common theme. Water temp, water color, all good. Just no biters. So.... Watch out halibut. I'm out on the tuna trip tomorrow.

  Speaking of halibut, they've been, as usual, flaky. A few guys bonked 'em. A few guys got a few. Some guys went all day for nothing. All of these things happened at Hog and the bar today, but only one happened on Ten Mile and that one was no fish. No keeper fish, at least, as you can't keep halibut under 22" or any salmon. There were two limits of stripers caught off of Dillon Beach by shore fishermen today, and even I was able to catch a striper (and release it) this evening. Will they be there tomorrow? History says, well, no. But stripers don't read history books, so who knows?

     After a slow day of fishing on Sunday, Mike Mack and Spinner felt like they had to get even yesterday morning. "" Thanks for showing us how it's done. If it any more consolation, Frank got shut out yesterday. It appears that the bar will reward one boat per day. It's great when it's your day but not so awesome when you're the guy not catching but watching somebody else hook fish faster than they can land 'em. Mike was both guys in two days. He knows.

    The halibut fishing has been, as the above story relates, good and bad. Somebody is killing them and others can't get bit. It seems like there's fish scattered all around but you need to move around and try a lot of drifts to find the fish that you can catch. Jigs are catching a few but live bait, mostly jacksmelt, are catching the vast majority of halibut. 

    Tom Brodsky and crew landed three albacore out of here today. They tried about ten miles southwest of Cordell, somewhere near the place that the Reel Magic out of Bodega Bay caught eleven tuna yesterday. Other radio and internet reports were similar, a few fish or even none at all. There's a few tuna to be scratched up out there, but it seems like the good catching is, as usual, up at Fort Bragg. One boat there plugged the boat be 11:00 AM. The wind returns this weekend, so difficult choices will get easier. 

    Priscilla Castillo-Amador caught this 15 pound halibut on an anchovy today. It was the largest fish that we had weighed in at that point in the day. Ultimately, it wasn't the largest of the day, but it was a darn nice fish and I think, perhaps Pricilla's first halibut. Probably not her last one, though. I got the feeling from her that halibut should be nervous.

    "Curly" DiBella caught these halibut today weighing 29.5 pounds and 24.5 pounds. Now, I'd probably have given Pricilla the extra half-pound, but Curly catches a lot of big fish, so no such courtesy for him. These fish came from just over the bar on live jacksmelt after Curly and his Captain limited on rockfish and large lingcod. 

   Don Hooks caught this 23 pounder today while fishing with Joe Winn and crew. Don gave me hope, as it now appears that you don't need a head full of dark hair to catch a nice halibut. Whew! There's still hope for me and others of my ilk. Don's fish (and all of the other fish on the boat) bit live jacksmelt, but not for a lack of jigging. It just wasn't a jigging day.

     Spinner caught this 26 pound halibut on the bar this morning. This fish also ate a live jacksmelt. Spinner did find a halibut that wanted the Bigfoot jig today, but that halibut liked that darn jig so much that it left with it. Bummer for Spinner, but good for me, as I sell those jigs. Spinner and Mike Mack had, I believe three halibut from the bar in the AM, then tried a few places outside for a few rockfish but no more halibut. I think that they proved their point, though. 

     The Marstons in the Reel Therapy have been working pretty hard but not getting the fish they deserved. Today they caught. I received this photo from Cameron but no further details, so no weights for these fish, but I think that they were caught across the bay from the Boathouse. Considering the fact that most of the fish were caught on live jacksmelt, I'd guess that these were no different. Nice work, Marstons.

   

     The ocean was pretty flat today, finally, so I obviously stayed in the bay. I took the Dark Lord, Dr. Steve Werlin himself, out for a bit of live bait fishing for halibut. Of course, Steve tried to screw it up by hooking the first halibut on a jig, but immediately after, we we hooked a second fish on a jacksmelt. After a second, no biter drift over the same water we wen to the other side of the bay where we had four bites, two of which stayed connected. We launched at 8:30 this morning and were back on the trailer with limits by 11:00. Other people caught fish today as well, but not quite as quick and not quite as many. Steve thinks I really know my halibut fishing. I know that we were pretty damn lucky to happen to drift over biting fish. There's some skill in catching bait quickly (Cough! Chum. Cough!) and some skill in choosing the places to fish, but drifting over biting fish is pure luck. Having multiple live-baited lines in the water when you finally drift over a biting school is just common sense. 

Gage took his girlfriend out to breakfast this morning and launched his boat for some halibut fishing at 11:00. He and Amanda finished their day with a double, one of which made its way to the boat. They had two fish and missed ten or more bites. There's fish out there if you can stick them.

   This 19.5 pound halibut was caught by John Cooper, but here's Margo Cooper with the fish. I'd have given Margo the extra half-pound, but when she said it was John's, well... I like John, but those extra half-pounds aren't for the captains. Also, no offense, John, but Margo is easier on the eyes. This would be the largest fish that I saw today, so regardless of actual poundage, good work, Team Cooper. The best fish count was Miller Time with two limits for two fishermen. They fished the McClure's area, but other boats fishing the area were not able to connect, so your mileage may vary. Quickest to limit was Mr. Modest, Gage, who went for three hours without a fish and then caught his two halibut out of four bites in less than a half an hour. Live bait, not jigs, as his bites came quick enough to prevent him from even getting his jig wet. The forecast is for good weather for the foreseeable future, so according to the forecasters we're going to rapidly go from unseasonably cold to a marine heat wave that will kill everything. Somewhere in between the fish should bite pretty well before they self-combust. Get 'em before they're all up in smoke.

   Yesterday there was a boat that flipped over. Here's video:

 

Kudos to Tom Brodsky on the Fish Box for charging in to try to help. All was well, but you never know. Tom wasn't going to give the bad stuff a chance, and good on you, Tom. I post this video to show, 1.) Tom's a good guy, and also, 2.) sinking can be pretty easy. It was windy and the chop was filling up the boat over the transom. During a south wind event the beach at the Landing is the second-worst place on the bay, as the chop is highest at the shore. But, if you're taking on water, run the boat ashore. Sinking on the beach is way better, as the worst place on the bay is always the bottom of the bay. It sucks there. Ask the crabs. It's where their crappy attitude comes from. Don't leave your boat there, as you can develop the same attitude. Ditch the boat on the beach along with your pride. As a guy who has sunk a boat I can say with authority that pride often costs too much. Let it go and save what you can.

 

   Not from here, but not much happened here today, so here's friend of the report, Richard Baratta, with a report sent to me at 4:30 this morning: "Hey Willy
Night one 3:00am fish on! Just sayin, my shirt looking better than Gage’s shirt tonight…." Richard is fishing aboard the Polaris Supreme out of Seaforth Sportfishing in San Diego. Nice fish Richard. but just know that Gage has two trips booked this year and he's coming for your fish. And, it should be said, the weather forecast has shifted and it looks like there will be some bluefin opportunities locally in the near future. A few boats will be searching for them tomorrow. It may take a few days post-hurricane for the water to lay down and let the bait school up. the water warm up, and the bluefin to really show up. But it seems likely that by this weekend there will be happy tuna dudes here, too. 

    The halibut fishing has been a bit better here, but with the offshore winds finally dropping the nearshore winds felt the need to step up and wreck things. After the fog slid out this morning it decided to return and blew hard from the south for a good part of the day before the fog finally slid in and the wind dropped. The wind caused most fishermen to cut their day short at least, and at least two boats sank at the launch while trying to get out of the water. One filled with water while parked on the beach for a minute; the other swamped and rolled over while backing off of the beach after dropping off their passengers. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but at least one halibut was lost out of the boat when it rolled. Insult to injury, as they say. One third of all the halibut I heard of today ended up back on the bottom of the bay. The ocean should be opening up as the water lays down, so rockfish and Ten Mile halibut may be in reach soon. 

   Finally.

    The Dave Prater crew only caught one fish today, but it was the big fish of the day, so they weren't super disappointed. Bradley Jenkins of Lodi caught this 21.5 pound halibut today on the bar, on a jig. If you're only toing to catch one, make it a good one, and Bradley did. I heard he lost a possibly bigger one, which now throws the balance on the big fish board off, with 20 pounders leading. While we are all a little disappointed, it just sets the average closer to reality and makes it seem like the rest of us have a chance.

    Mike Mack sent this report from yesterday: "Rock fishing at elephant sat morning. By 1 the ocean was white capping. Drifting with live smelt. 1 Hali bite. Lots of fog. " I heard that they also released a nice salmon that bit their rockfish gear. The weather on the ocean was bad on Saturday. Then it got worse. Today was a bit better, weatherwise. A few guys had a few fish but nobody really whomped 'em. Maybe the weather will finally lay down and the fish will finally come in. Maybe.

    I received this photo from Cameron at 11:30 this morning. This is Ethan Warmkessel (if I'm reading his handwriting correctly. If not please correct me and my apologies) of Reno, on the left. I don't know the halibut's name, but I know that it weighed 34 pounds, and Ethan said he caught it on a hootchy/dodger trolled setup off of Dillon Beach in 26 feet of water. He had a second fish as well, but it didn't photograph well with this one, so it stayed in the boat. Nice. Damn. Fish. Damn because I didn't catch it. Good work, sir.

 

    Vance Staplin went fishing with Ron Johnson today and was able to catch this 32 pound halibut on live bait on the bar. I'm not sure who caught the other two, but I kinda hope it was Ron, if only for balance. I believe that this was both of their first trips of the year. Nice job, gentlemen. This fish puts our big fish board tied between 20 pound class halibut and 30 pound class halibut. In a normal year we might have as many as two halibut over 30 pounds. This year? Big fish? The odds have never been better, it seems. I still can't catch one, though.

     Angie Sala caught these two halibut (11 and 12 pounds) between Marker 5 and the split channel marker while drifting frozen herring. There were a lot of boats that came back with no fish today, so Angie ain't wrong to be so happy. Good job, Angie, and nice netting, Mr. Sala. 

 

   Cameron sent me this report this afternoon: "20lbs. Biggest of three picked up not far from the store around the afternoon tide change. Frozen anchovies" Don Dozier caught the biggest fish weighed in here today. He and the others on the boat tied for the most halibut with Dave Prater and crew. Dave caught his probably on the bar, although that's a guess as I didn't talk to him today and  am only familiar with his habits. Good for Dave and crew, and good for you, Don. Nice fish.

   

  Here's a picture from a few days a go of Luke Alexander with a 25 pounder. 

 

     Mike O'Keefe caught this 21.5 pound (22 pound according to the fishcounter, so..) while fishing with Mike Sandrock today. This fish bit a trolled herring off of Dillon Beach. No other bites, but how many 20+ pound fish do you need? The fish bit at the turn of the high tide.

    A catch that Mike Sandrock made a few days back was not something he was bringing in for photo ops, but when I saw it I took a picture to share with you. Mr. Sandrock snagged an old abandoned crab ring, but attached to the ring are these gooey, white sacks. Those are squid eggs. Squid eggs means squid spawning. Squid spawning means..... well. What happens in white seabass club stays in white seabass club. Maybe.

   

   Yesterday, Gage spent five hours fishing and not catching. He was kind of hard to be around. Today we caught three halibut (11, 16.5 and 19.5 pounds) and a striper (released). He was much friendlier. 

 

   Monday, most of the boats came in with two halibut. It was a Monday, so it wasn't a whole bunch of boats, but it was nice to see ten fish in five boats. Some of those fish bit live jacksmelt and some ate Bigfoot tube jigs. This was enough to get Tim Woerner out early yesterday, and it only took him 15 minutes to limit on halibut using the Bigfoots. And then the good news ends. I heard of one other halibut yesterday. Today the only catching I heard of was three from Marshall on Double Trouble. There's been some rockfish brought in recently when the weather allows for a trip outside the bay, but the weather has mostly left everyone scrabbling for the few halibut in the bay. I heard of only one striper caught in the last few days (on a Redrum) but I let that striper go, so it's still out there. The red crabbers are catching enough for dinner but aren't really loading up at the moment.