The clock is ticking on the start of Dungeness season. Nothing is for sure, yet, but it seems like domoic acid won't be an issue for us here. Testing isn't over yet, but you can follow along with the fun, here. Even if there's some positive tests down the road our sport season should still start on time unless the positives are huge. As far as traps being a thing at the start of the season, my guess is no. I've seen quite a few whales around lately. The CDFW will be deciding in a few days: "

Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program Update -  October 23, 2023

The CDFW Director will conduct an assessment of marine life entanglement risk for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery on or around October 27, 2023 using the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP). In addition, regulations adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission provide the Director authority to apply management actions to the recreational crab fishery to minimize entanglement risk informed by RAMP. The California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group will meet on October 25, 2023 to review Available Data and CDFW's Preliminary Assessment. The Director will consider all data made available to CDFW prior to determining the appropriate management action to minimize entanglement risk. All materials will be posted on the Whale Safe Fisheries webpage as they become available.

"  The recommendation for Point Arena to below Monterey is for no traps. The decision comes tomorrow. Don't hold your breath. The red crabbers have been tossing back a lot of Dungies, so maybe not having the gear we want won't matter. No shallow water rockfish, so you can devote all your attention to the crabs.

I've had a few emails and texts about bluefin fishing. In order to save more typing, I'll answer one here: "Hello Lawsons Landing Blog. (I assume Willy?)

My name is Rick Salcedo and I have been reading your blog for a few years now. I am fairly new to ocean fishing and have some questions for you that I hope you can help me with.

First off I usually fished for rockfish and salmon and would read your report on where they were biting. Like Mclures, Bird and elephant. All that lingo I understand. 

The wife and I bought a Avet EXW 30/2 with a Okuma rod and took our 2019 Raider explorer out to the cordell bank to try our luck. (We did not catch anything but the whales and sea life was amazing) I took an extra 14 gallons of gas because I had never been out that far and was a little apprehensive to say the least. Turns out after getting there and back plus putting around all day I used about 30 gallons in a 50 gallon tank. So I feel my boat is up to the task.

 The questions I have are the numbers you put out on your blog. I feel like they are coordinates but am still having trouble deciphering them. For instance your blog on the 13th of October "We left them biting as 12 by 27. 145 and 155 gutted and gilled" also in that same blog "we dropped the MadMac 200s in at about 11 by 25" In looking at google earth I am trying to figure out where you guys were fishing? I was wondering if you can school me a little and give me some information on determining where you are fishing?

 Also I know where the Cordell Bank is and am wondering what and where you call the football?

Thanks for any help you can give me. It is really appreciated." No problem. The numbers can be a mystery but this is how the occasional good-hearted fisherman will share his location over the radio. This sharing is taking a bit of a hit after folks have had poorly behaved fishermen descend upon them. First off, the numbers are just the regular Lat/Longs with the first numbers left off. 12 by 27 is 38º 12' by 123º27'. If you're running out of Bodega it all starts with 38 and 123 unless it's unusually far; then guys will tell the first numbers. Or, if a guy says he caught albacore at 55 by 02, he's probably at 37º55' by 124º02' because you won't catch many tuna in Drake's Bay. 

  In the absence of numbers to run to, how does one decide where to go? For albacore, look for a temperature break from warm and clear to cold and green water. From there, where all the life will be, to maybe 20 miles or more further into the seemingly barren, warm wasteland of purple (at times), 60 to 65 degree water outside of the break. So, luck. Bluefin seem to follow a different rulebook and don't necessarily require warm water (it's nice if it's near, though), just food. Lots and lots of food. Usually that's also near a temp/color break, but they can be anywhere. A few were caught at Fort Bragg recently in 80 feet of water. Others are being caught there only a couple of miles from port. I'm pretty sure we saw bluefin feeding in 300 feet of water on the 13th. The birds left, so we did, too. We caught our fish the last two trips within sight of feeding birds but only on fish in the feeding birds. Probably, fish with empty bellies are easier to trick. So, the two greatest tools for finding bluefin? Stabilized binoculars and luck. Also, read this tutorial by Captain Ryan Giammona. He knows what he's talking about. Or book a trip and take notes. He's happy to talk tuna and you can actually watch. There's tricks to hooking and landing these things and I don't think I'm in a place where I'm an authority on it, but I'm trying to learn. Seven bluefin doesn't make you a pro, it means you're lucky. But you can weight your luck a bit.

  Having you gear correct is part of that luck-weighting. Lots of 100 pound spectra or stronger. Make sure it's from a reputable brand. Buy it from a reputable seller. Keep in mind that that the testing rating and the reality of the real world may be two different things, so giving yourself a bit extra strength may not be that much extra. Gage and I are using 150 pound PowerPro. We can use the extra on our downriggers! We currently have around 100-150' of 130 pound Momoi for our topshots. We had used 100 pound Berkley Big Game and it worked last year but then broke twice this year in July and got banished from our family. So far, so good on the Momoi. One 140 pound fish rubbed the mono on the outboards three times and it didn't fail. That mono has since been replaced, but I'm pretty happy with it. Gage and I currently use the modified Tony Pena knot as shown in this video. It ain't perfect and rattles through the guides pretty harsh, but so far it hasn't failed. It's smaller and stronger than my RP knot. There's other knots that may work better and are smaller, but I can still tie this one with a few beers in me, so she's a keeper. Also, a bit of mono is required. Spectra doesn't stretch but will fail early with a big shock. Fluorocarbon also has very little stretch. You're trolling. Fast. Use some mono. Or lose fish and gear. Gage has been tying on to a 3 foot, 200lb fluorocarbon leader and I've been crimping my 130 to the MadMac. So far, this season, I'm 3 fish and he's 1. Both rods have Avet 50 Wides so they can be run long. Mine is a Phenix Axis 80-200 and Gage has a United Composites Invictus 7'. When those rods bend, you know something is happening. 

Those fish pull.