It's been a busy holiday week. I haven't had the chance to write. Luckily, others have stepped in and picked up the slack. Thanks! Here's a tuna report from Tuesday: "Hey Willie,

 

Tried out the new Makaira 50 wide yesterday trolling Bodega Canyon to the canyon north of the football.  Lots of birds, whales and dolphin but no tuna seen.  We did get one hit at the north canyon that stayed on for 5 seconds then off.  No sign of debris or fish lips on the Madmac so not sure what it was.  We did stop on the football to crank up some rockfish in 600’ of water which gave us the exorcise we hopped to get reeling in a tuna.

 

Regards,

 

Brad Stompe"  It sounds like you had a short strike, Brad. I'm jealous. The only feedback I had on Tuesday was the boat bucking from the chop. We're probably past the best bluefin fishing this year but I'll bet it ain't over. I'll bet someone has a bit of success by next weekend, weather permitting, and possibly in shallower water than one would expect, as the bait seems to have moved in closer. Gage and a buddy missed one near Cordell yesterday among piles of birds and whales. It's not dead, it's only mostly dead.

   Zack Wilson sent in this report from today: "How’s it going?

Went out solo today on a beauty of a day on the bay. Set off around 8am and plan was to test out some spots inside the bay and then run North towards Salmon Creek if things looked slow. Boats were stacked up there so figured things were happening. Luckily I didn’t need to leave my spot in the bay and I ran through a 6 trap set twice and was pulling in about 1.5-2 keepers a trap with lots of shorts and lots of babies. Got my limit and pulled back in around Noon. They’re still out there!

Best, 

Zack"  Clearly, Zack was crabbing in a different spot than I did, and good for him. Those are some jumbos. Most everybody working gear in the outer bay have been doing pretty well. Zack just did well a bit quicker. A word to the wise, though: Both of the MPAs off of Bodega Head (the MPA and the SMCA) are closed to crabbing with hoops. It seems that most boaters are avoiding it, but it's worth a mention. It would suck to get a ticket for dropping a ring (that you have to use in order to save the whales) in a place that only allows traps (that you have to use because that's how the law was written, apparently). That would be bad timing. In other news, Tomales Bay crabbing continues to be tepidly plod along, not great but not bad, mostly. As usual, boaters are outdoing shore casters. The tides are ripping out in the afternoons and the bar is potentially fatal, but so far this week nobody has flipped over or been sucked out the bay. But tomorrow is another day. Fingers crossed that we all survive the holidays.