Mike Nursement sent over a report from Fort Bragg over the weekend."We got these Saturday, 42mi out. Very slow could only find 58.5 degree water, Sunday started nice ended super rough. Almost got to them, ocean turned angry on us 38mi out fished for 15 then she turned us back . Had water coming over all sides and over bow for the first 12mi coming back" The body of warm water he was fishing in has slid down here and is now about 40 miles out from here and Bodega. Of course, the wind is also here for a bit. Windy.com thinks that maybe Monday could be a window. Hopefully the wind hasn't blown the water away by then. Only time and Terrafin.com will tell.

    Here's a local report from the only boat that launched from here today: "Afternoon, report from today. Easy perch bait, done by noon. Took your advice and used the gaff. Lots easier when you are by yourself. North of hog in 30 feet.

Swampy" Nice fish, Mr. Swampy. Sorry it took more time to get you in and back out of the water than it took you to catch your fish. Nice use of the gaff, though. Poking holes in them can be a bit cathartic, I think. I hope it was for you.

    The Tomales Outlaw has submitted a report, not from here, but here-adjacent: "

    Since you lack local reports, we fished out of Noyo on Friday. Temp break was about 40 miles out. 9 fish for the boat. Good grade." If these are the fish that will be sliding down to us, I accept. It doesn't take too many tankers like those to fill an ice chest with filets. It's probably also appropriate that those tankers were caught on the Tanker City fishing out of Bragg. I do have some other reports, but Terrafin seems to show that water off of Fort Bragg starting to slide south (and out; ouch!) so if the warm current can push it in a bit closer as it slides down, well, then happiness and high fuel bills if the weather allows.

    One of those other local reports comes from Branden Mendoza: "Hey willy it's been a while since we've sent in a report. We went out today and fished the bar for 2 keepers. First was 32" and 15lbs and the second was 29" and 12lbs. Overall a great day. We trolled 6" silver flasher with a white hoochie for 1 and a silver 6" flasher with a zoom- super fluke - silver rainbow. The only bites we got for 5hrs of trolling but we made them count. Thanks for the reports and good luck "  Nice job, Branden and crew. The bar was not kind to most today. Clearly, there were fish caught there, but a lot of bar anglers caught nothing over the weekend. I tried this evening and came home with nothing, but I did hook one decent one on a jig. Apparently I need to sharpen my gaff properly, though. I left the fish out there for someone else. You're welcome.

     Spaced Invader had a good day (or hour) on the bar today: "4 halibut off the bar 1 hour fishing .
Jack smelt.18lbs the biggest the others were legal or barely.. Not crazy but 4 baits+2 drifts=4 fish" Sounds like some pretty good math to me. Hopefully the wind post-front doesn't cool things down too much. The fishing isn't universally awesome but it can still be pretty good. 

    So, that bite on the bar? Died today. Tomorrow is a question mark, but today pretty well sucked. It looked like a few were caught there when the boats clustered up, but the guys I spoke with didn't catch there. The clam channel held a few halibut, for some, but it wasn't wide open. Gage says that the season is over, but that may be because he fished the bar all day and didn't catch. As usual, though, the fish are fickle and move around. Over? Maybe soon. Maybe tomorrow. Wind is coming, colder water, probably, but change is on the way. Over? Maybe tomorrow evening. But not. Quite. Yet.

 

    From Daniel Martinez: "Good morning. I just wanted to send this pic of me and my buddy. We went out last week think Sunday and had limited by 10 am. Not big fish but keepers. Great day of fishing. We got these fish at the bar. Thanks for all your posts.  Fish on.   Daniel and Don." The bar has continued to produce some halibut since Sunday, not consistently, but occasionally. Good work on quick limits, guys. Some of us aren't as skilled/lucky. Gage and I caught one and missed three other bites in a little over an hour there today. We trolled Ten Mile earlier, looking a for a halibut in 50 feet of water as it was breaking in 30 feet. We should have stopped on the bar. Ten Mile had bait, birds working, brown water, everything you want to see except for bites. The bar had biters that mostly wouldn't stick, but biters. Probably small, but at least they were participating. 

   That warm water off of Bragg is shifting down but also out, so it still isn't closer. The weather may allow a try this weekend but the water is far from here and it's at least 40 miles from Fort Bragg. Still, 40 from Bragg seems pretty good compared to our 70 miles to the edge. If you go, bring big gear. Don't bring a knife to a gun fight unless you're looking to get shot.

 Yesterday the shore guys were the halibut winners, barely. Today we only launched one boat but they came in around 1:00 PM with three limits of halibut. Yesterday they caught nothing, but these guys have a history of being killers and lived up to it today. No pictures, as I had to run off to a doctor appointment for my broken wife, but if the boys in question have some pics and send them to lawsonslanding@gmail.com I will fix that.

   Guys that did take pictures include Nate Baker, who sent over a Fort Bragg report. 
Considering the fact that this water is possibly or probably (depending on if you're an optimist or pessimist) coming this way, his report follows:"

Hey Willy, 

Fished Fort Bragg 35 miles southwest of Noyo Harbor with Scott Mason this weekend. We came home with 24 Albacore up to 28 lbs - most were 5-8 lbs. No big eye for us but I did lose a fish that more than likely was a big eye. The fish peeled off a few hundred yards of braid before we got the rods in and turned the boat to follow it. By the time we were running to the fish, my line was dangerously low, so I hesitantly went to 45 lbs of drag and seconds later popped the FG knot between my braid and top shot. I'm still having nightmares two days later. Time to switch to the PR and kick myself some more. Hoping that water moves down soon like last year so I can at least try for redemption.

Best,

Nate Baker"  

Now I normally have a rule about posting posting reports from other places or reports with Scott Mason, but the lack of reports from here forces my hand. Nice work on the fish you landed, Nate and Scott, and I'm sorry for your loss. Nate, in my limited testing (one time) I tried a pull-off between an FG and modified Tony Pena knot, and the mTP won. Check out this video how-to:

Since I'm posting Fort Bragg pics, these local boys stopped by today to weigh their bigeye tuna from Fort Bragg they caught yesterday:

   Anthony Jennings and Shannon Gregory landed this fish yesterday in Shannon's 23 Parker. Gilled and gutted, it weighed in here at 195 pounds. It took over three hours to land it, and the fish dragged the boat over five miles during the fight. It almost spooled the 30 wide reel. It seems that bigeye pull HARD. I'm trying to psyche myself up, as I think I want to catch one. Maybe. Good frickin' job, men, as they ain't easy at that size.

    Fishing results here today: Beach fishermen caught more halibut than the boat fishermen, but only because of a funny quirk in math where one is more than zero. Three boats tried from here, and the two that worked the bar had bites but nothing that stuck to a hook. There was one beach fisherman spotted with a halibut, so the beach guys win. Barely. Not much happening here, but there are things happening offshore to our north, and soon the current will shift and the Fort Bragg water will slide down this way. Whether we get a corresponding weather window remains to be seen, but if it happens..... well, hopefully the following is a sneak preview. The first is from Captain Ryan Giammona:"

Hey Willy, 

Figured you would like a heads up on what's hopefully heading down the line into our waters. We fished south of Bragg 35 miles, just above the rooster  and hooked 2 big eye for 3 days of fishing. One going 250lbs and one going 120lbs.  The big one ate a nomad slip stream, and the smaller one ate a Mexican flag clone.  They like it close to the boat like albacore so none of that 90 seconds back stuff like bluefin and I can confirm that the 120lb big eye fought a hell of a lot harder than my 190lb bluefin did last year so the 250 was a battle even on my mak 50 wide at 48lbs of drag.  A few buddies ran out of bodega 70 miles and both boats had 2 big ones each day, so they are within range, just not close enough for me to run charters on out of home yet.  Figured Gage would see it but I wanted to get you a few pictures to post along with it. 

Ryan Giammona 

North Bay Fishing Charters" That's some good and a little terrifying information, Ryan, thanks. I got worked pretty hard by a barely triple-digit bluefin last week. I guess I better start working out, or at least bring someone with me that has been. Captain Ryan has been kind enough to share much of what he knows about bluefin fishing here, and his website for booking trips is here. A chance to catch big tuna without driving for eight hours one way sounds pretty sweet. 

   One of the guys that ran out for tuna from Bodega was my my cousin Lance. His brother, Ira, sent me this report: "

 This happened of course while I was up hunting this weekend. Lance and my nephew Hunter ran out of Bodega to Fort Bragg 90 miles and 124 gallons of fuel burned but check out this big eye..... 178 pounds" Ira and I share the trait of believing that everybody else is doing better than we are, no matter what we're doing. Our FOMO gene is strong. That said, 90 miles is fricking far, Lance. Actually, 50 miles is far; 90 is far beyond far. I don't think anybody will be seeing me out that far, at least not with gasoline over $5.00 a gallon. But, I'm thinking about it. How can you not? Bigeye is a whole 'nother tuna..... For now, I'll just wait for that water to slide on down. Good work guys. That's a pig.

  Here's two reports from Bragg from today. First, a tale of victory, written by Tom Brodsky at 6:00 this evening: "

Caught on my Christmas gift 220 DTX
Thanks
No albacore most boats.0 high boat 3. Should have been here yesterday
Still 20 miles out running in."  The 220 DTX was a gift to replace the one lost while I was fishing with Tom last November. I guess I need to buy one for myself, now. Albacore not biting sounds like the kind of tuna water I usually find myself fishing in, so I'll take this as a sign that the water is moving this way. Another sign: "

The tuna that bit my nomad DTX nearly in half is still laughing all the while I’m crying" At least you had a little action today. Eddie Parsons and crew had one bite today and it broke his expensive Nomad lure (all Nomads are expensive) as the fish escaped. No fish and/or gear breakers sounds like my kind of fishing. The expensive gas is also an indicator that fish are coming. There's a reasonable chance that we'll have opportunities to chase tuna in the next month.

 It seems that, too often, I forget to check my emails before posting. Here's the one I missed last night:"

    Don Jones and I got out today for limits south of bird. The big fish were 30” and 32”.

Hunter Smith" Nice fish, Hunter and Don. I'm going to guess live smelt but Hunter didn't say. South of Bird also encompasses quite a bit of California, but last year around this time McClure's Beach had a pretty sweet halibut bite. Maybe? 

    This poor mola washed ashore at the sand point today. Not a fishing report, I guess, but a fish report. It's not often that one washes up on the beach. I guess this one has eaten his last jellyfish.  Thanks for the photo, Scott and Stephanie, even though it makes me sad.

   

    These guys limited on halibut from shore here on Monday. Doug sent me text with this photo saying "Caught off the beach in front of the boat house" so I guess that's where they caught them. Since Monday quite a few other halibut have been caught, both from the beach and from boats. That said, it is still very possible, and maybe even likely, to not catch any. But the catching is pretty good and probably the best I've ever heard of from shore here (which ain't saying much, as the normal number from shore is zero). As salmon and nearshore rockfish are closed there's not much else to report.

    Sorry about the lack of reports for a week, but I was distracted. Well, on another boat out of /San Diego. Gage stayed home and worked this time while Cameron and I fished. Cam hadn't caught a bluefin yet and really wanted to, so his mother gave us the nod to go. Cameron had been learning his knots and been bullied by Sergeant Gage in preparation and his mother acknowledged his suffering. We went on the Tomahawk and ended up bringing home nine bluefin, six for me, two for Cameron and one donated to us by Jared, a man that caught eight bluefin in four hours and showed the rest of us what the fish were actually biting. Thank you, sir. With two fish at 100 pounds and other seven averaging over forty pounds each, the local crew were busy cleaning and packaging around five hundred pounds (in the round) of tuna last night. Thanks, everyone that helped. The Tomahawk is under new ownership with a captain that is also the owner. The crew is friendly and knowledgeable. They didn't even mock me when I couldn't turn the handle on my reel after they re-adjusted my drag mid-fight (they should have). We had a good trip.

     Sorry, I got distracted. I've been telling my wife that I need to fish, and she acted like I was just being dramatic. Well, Thursday is my day off, and last Thursday I had jury duty. I'm at the Marin Civic Center doing my civic duty (that's where you do it here) and my wife decided that that was the day she felt up to going fishing. While trying to take the tarp off of the boat, she slipped off of the boat trailer fender and fell to the ground, breaking her leg, foot, and ankle in multiple places. She just spent over two days in the hospital. That's why I haven't been posting. But, it does prove that things are better when I get to go fishing. When I can't go, who knows what'll happen? Bad things, it seems. This will be my argument going forward.

   Gage sent me this picture at about noon today: "John Flynn st Helena. 26 lb halibut on a smelt near the bar 30 ft" The Saint Helena boys put the hurt on the halibut today.  John caught the largest one, but every boat came in with fish today. Good work, John and crew. 

   And then there's these guys. Normally when we have a picture of Vance Staplin he's holding a fish weighing over thirty pounds. Today he took a break and he and Tom Brodsky peaked with a 21 and 24 pounder. They had a couple others to fill out their 2023 halibut limits. It sounds like they caught off of  Dillon Beach proper. Live smelt were their weapons. Way to relax, Vance and Tom.

  

     Saturday we saw one halibut landed here. One thresher shark as well, but not really what one would call a good fishing day. Cameron and Gage were advising departing fishermen on Sunday morning that the bite was dead. Luckily for the fishermen, they went anyway and discovered that the fish didn't know that they weren't biting.

    Brian Shadduck of Placerville caught the big one, weighing in at 22 pounds. He and his fishing buddy landed limits but let one keeper go. Three bit red label herring and one fish ate their only live jacksmelt. Similar stories for most of the other fishermen, with dead bait catching most of the fish. Part of that equation could be the fact that live bait was really hard to get, but part of it could be that dead bait is catchable if your you're a sluggish, cold water halibut. Moral: Don't give up and throw everything at them. 

   Spinner and Mike Mack caught a couple yesterday and today. The fish bit live jacksmelt and were on the bar with most of the rest of the fishermen. The bar at the mouth of Tomales Bay has been good recently, not as good as I remember it from times in the past (nothing is ever as good as remembered, even if it's actually better....) but reasonably consistent and some nice fish. Probably it will continue for another month or two. Unless it doesn't. 

 So I've been waiting for someone to bring in a fish so I can do a fish report. I'm still waiting. The wind blew hard, the water cooled off (from 64¹ to 52º? Damn...) and the halibut wired their jaws shut with very stout wire. Nearshore rockfish, responsive to the blue moon (to be fair, those Belgian ales mess me up, too) refused to bite in the last days before the powers that be shut them down. To the best of my very imperfect knowledge, Gage and I were high boat from the Landing on Thursday. I don't want to brag, but our catch of one thornback ray was the best we heard of, and one of those means, well, nothing. The wind is supposed to die and the water should warm again, but until that happens (which probably won't be long) the halibut fishing (or, what I like to call, all we have left) should pick back back up.