This photo arrived in a text around 10:30 this morning. Tom Carter just wanted to let me know that, yes, the water around Hog Island than looked like it should have biting halibut does indeed hold a few biters. He didn't see any sardines but jacksmelt seemed to work pretty well, so...  Fair warning to all fishermen in Tomales Bay; Tom and his boat got tuned up in the offseason and he can now see and the boat motor will run, so between him and Jerrie Carter the rest of us will be fighting over the scraps left over. 

   Thankfully, Tom and Jerrie aren't greedy and there are a few crumbs left around for the rest of us. John and Josten Daleuski caught this one today: "13 pounder on live smelt between the ranger station and the first sailboat. Said he followed your advice." I mentioned that the smelt were pretty easy in the warm water in back, so the Daleuski's flung the sabikis and connected with jacksmelt, and soon thereafter, a keeper halibut on halibut rig with that live smelt, and a damn nice halibut for the wayback. Hell of a crumb. There's hope for the rest of us.

 

   Last post I said, regarding white sea bass, "Maybe next time." Well, like the others caught on Sunday, this one wasn't a keeper, but it happened "next time." That is probably the first time that I said it and it came true. Gage and I had a pretty good day, starting our trolling in Inverness with a quick keeper halibut hooked, seen, and lost. We throttled up to almost three knots to see if we could stick them better. Nope. We finished the day in Marshall with four keeper halibut to ten pounds, three short halibut released, one short white sea bass released, one fish seen and lost, and six missed screamer bites. Not bad, plenty of action, but it took twice as long as as a few weeks ago. There are still quite a few fish laying on the bottom in the way back of Tomales Bay. But those fish aren't concentrated at Inverness. Same fish, more area. There were four other boats that I know of that launched from here today, and the three that I'm aware of fishing in the back had two keeper halibut between them. They also had a number of shorties and one of them had a lot of short strikes (he was further back for those, by the second sailboat. Probably shorties, but I'm guessing that Mr. Brezina sleeps poorly tonight.) I would have said that the fishing was awesome today but the fact that the other boats that didn't do as well as we did are also some of the guys that taught me how to fish. If they aren't killing them, it probably isn't good. The largest difference between what Gage and I did and the other boats was that we probably ran as many rods as everybody else combined. We had six lines in on my 16' Whaler. Brute force. We had our first tangle of the year today! That's late in the season, considering when we started and how many lines we run. Say what you will, but we have a school of bait under our boat all the time. It seems like it works. 

     For those interested, we were trolling, as were the other guys from here. I hated trolling when I started fishing out here. How boring! And it is boring, until you figure some stuff out. After you start covering a lot of ground effectively you start to like that trolling thing. Catching is generally better than not catching. Today the catching was done mostly by Zoom Flukes behind dodgers, with the final keeper coming on a herring in a Krippled Anchovy head behind a dodger. No bites for us on straight bait, even though that's what worked best the last couple of trips. Several rods allow for several options, so maybe you can figure out a combination that works for you.

   In other news, at an hour after the low tide today the water at Hog Island was 62º and had sardines flipping out of the water at times, sometimes every direction you looked. The jacksmelt were very aggressive, however, and were grabbing the sabiki hooks four times out of five. But the fifth time had big (up to 8") sardines. My algebra is a bit rusty, but I think the math says that bait plus warm water equals halibut.  I will be saving a lot of gasoline next week, weather permitting, and giving Hog a try. 

 

   Scott Simpson sent over a report from Sunday. Like any good sequel it had a higher body count than the original: "Better results on Sunday.  We stayed up half the night mentally sharpening the gaff and it cooperated today. The results were exponentially better. Quality fish from 23 to 30 dragging Popsicles, and come to find out we were holding the gaff on the wrong end!  :) Beautiful day on the bay!" Nice work, Scott and crew. It could be mental work paying off, or it could be a different crew? Whatever it is, keep doing it. It's working. 

   The wind didn't come up too hard this evening so I made the run to Marshall after work and trolled to Inverness. My only bite was as I turned around just below the first sailboat. It let me get home before sundown. It was a 27 incher but made an initial run that made me think that I might have found one of those white sea bass. Oh well. Maybe next time.

    Speaking of maybe next time, a lot of people were trying for fish in the surf over the weekend but I didn't hear of anything nor see any fish being packed around. The ospreys were eating perch, as usual, but they can fish where we can't. Theoretically at least, the beach should recover from last winter's abuse and hold some structure and fish. The wind has blown enough for things to form up, but it seems that they haven't, yet. I am eternally hopeful. The only fish being caught from shore over the weekend (that I know of) was jacksmelt, but it seems that the smelt are in and biting. Folks are using bobbers over a sabiki to catch them, and the fact that we emptied our bobber pegs in the tackle shop three times over the weekend would indicate that either we need longer pegs or the fish were biting. Or both. 

   Crabbing has been the usual. It depends on who you ask. Most people had the sad face but again, a few in the know had some decent crab. Remember, if it ain't happening for you pretty quick where you're crabbing, move. Crab are hard to catch in the places where they are not there, similar to fish. Even worse, as they move around slower. You gotta drop that ring in their lap or you ain't catching. But they do move around, so you need to, too.

    

 It is amazing what happens when the weather doesn't suck. It has sucked for a week or so (unless you're a kite surfer or wind surfer; then it was awesome!) but the wind dropped yesterday to a moderate level and today it was nice until late afternoon. And go figure, nice weather =people fishing=people catching. It's my kind of math. Here's some reports:

  Here's a report plus photo from the former Petaluma Newbie: "Good Evening Willy!

Mike Solis here (Formerly ‘Petaluma Newbie’ on the fishing blog. Now since I’ve moved I guess I need to come up with a new name lol but that seems like too much work to do right now).  I wanted to deliver a fishing report that could get people excited…

Me, my son, and my buddy fished this afternoon. Those white sea bass you alluded to the other day? Well, there was at least one back by Marshall today. At least I think it was a White Sea bass. I’d never caught one before. It bit a live jacksmelt. Got it to the boat, netted it, but this one wasn’t quite long enough to become my dinner. So, unfortunately back it went. First white sea bass of my life. I hope to get more, it put up a decent fight and I’ve heard they are delicious. Other than that, we had no predator fish to speak of. Tons and tons and tons of bait - jacksmelt, sardines (I think), and even a mackerel (also I think, that decided to bite a drifted dead anchovy of all things). But the undersized white sea bass was the only bigger fish we got all afternoon. Photo attached." Mission accomplished, Mike. I am excited. Of course, you forgot the first rule of white seabass club, which is that you don't talk about white seabass club (It's also the second rule. We stole our rules from Fight Club. Worked once). Luckily for the public at large, my larger rule is to post what I'm sent, unless I'm told differently. I will happily accept secret tips, but I will also happily forward any info that you want to pass on. And good on you, Mike, for sharing top secret info, you Snowden. And I say that as a Snowden fan. 

    While we're in the "I caught a seabass!" vibe, here's another report, this one from Branden Mendoza: "Hey Willy it's been a while since we had anything to report.  Today was a different story. Picked up 1 30inch halibut on a rotary herring and flasher combo and a 23inch on a Berkley white gulp grub. We also lost 3 more and had a nice surprise also take the grub we hooked a 23inch white sea bass that we released.  Most of the halibut came by Marshall in about 18-20ft of water. The sea bass and other halibut came from Inverness in 12-15ft of water. " 28 inches the minimum size you're looking for on WSB. Awesome bummer on the shortie, but you're doing something right if you're catching WSB. Good job on the halibut, too. It seemed like they were biting pretty good to me the last couple of times I went back there, but other people had different results and I started to doubt my own veracity. No more doubts, now, but the knowledge that I missed out on white sea bass still messes with me. And I've always thought, as long as somebody is jealous of what you're doing then you're doing it right. I can say, Branden, from where I am, you're doing it right.

     Scott Simpson sent over this report from yesterday: "First Tomalas Bay fish of 2024. Lost the first one at the boat,  a real nice one (30"?) that didn't want anything to do with fish tacos and spit the hook with one head shake before the gaff was in position.  After that, nothing for three hours. We thought of your words of wisdom a  few post back. "If what you are doing isn't working, try something different". So we got the sabiki rod out and stumbled across bait. 30 minutes later this one joined the party. They are out there, if what you are doing isn't working, try something different. Thanks Willy. We have learned to listen. " Listen to this: You caught that fish. Nice work. I heard that today you clobbered them quick. Even better. I think that you may have them dialed in. The best part of fishing is that the fish can change their number after a bit, but solving the new puzzle is fun, too. 

   

  I neglect the mollusks when reporting, but i did receive this picture from the Nursements this evening. Mara had shoulder surgery and a hip replacement this past year and still got out there. A lot of clams were dug up this weekend. These clams made for really good chowder. Others are making some wonderful sashimi and fritters. Clams suck to dig, and they suck to clean, but good God, they are some tasty critters. Squid with shells. There are some good tides coming up in the next couple of months, so get 'em while you can.

 

    These guys, don't know their names, but these guys caught a 43 pound thresher shark while trolling for halibut back in Marshall today. Nice work, gents, and I hope yours tastes as good as the couple that we've kept. We normally release them because they're just so much fun, but eating them is almost as good. That is, is you like firm, white, mild fish. It's like sea pork. Actually, next one we get better watch out. Piggies.... But, more importantly, threshers are pretty indicative of schools of baitfish. They aren't eating seals and surfers like great whites. Baitfish is their prey, which is why we catch them. This one bit (or tail smacked, I didn't hear which) an anchovy. Schools of bait at Marshall seems likely to mean other gamefish that eat baitfish to be at Marshall. Halibut? White sea bass? Stripers? Maybe. Baited hooks need to be dragged through the water column there to determine how safe the baitfish are. Let's get those predators!

  I received this report a few days ago and then lost it in the confusion that is my life. Sorry, Coastodian. His report from Tuesday: "Hard time finding bait. Eventually got two smelt.    No other bites" Typical for this year halibut fishing by Inverness. It is kind of a blurry binary, mostly yes or no, but not confined to full success or zero. Just mostly. Good work, Mr. Coastodian. You're on the right side of the blurry binary (the wrong side being the full binary zero). 

     So, the back bay by Inverness has continued to have a fairly decent bite for some fishermen, less so for others. On Thursday, water temps at Inverness were 61º on my machine, and that temp had them biting for Eddie Kim and I. Gage had a stomach thing so he didn't go, so Eddie and I were forced to clumsily brute force our way to our limits of halibut over three grueling hours without Gage. We trolled six to seven lines for three hours for four keepers and four shorts, plus one missed bite. Depths ranged from 11 to 18 feet. Successful gear included Predator minnows (two keepers one short), a 0 green dodger with a bait (one keeper one short), straight bait (one keeper one short) and chartreuse flasher with chartreuse hootchie (one short). Sizes for ours were 6, 8, 10, and 12 pounds. Damned good fish for the back bay. The water is warming, though, and we caught fish out deeper and farther north than expected, so I'd expect (now..) to find a few fish around Marshall and maybe even Hog around low tide. Other boats totals ranged from zero to limits, so your results may vary. They are there, and if what you're doing isn't working, try something else. 

      A couple of days ago there were a few guys that did really well on the surfperch. They were parked near our tent sites, but that doesn't mean that they were fishing in front of them. I tried a bit of surf fishing this evening and didn't see much structure showing mid-beach at high tide. Yes, fish don't require structure but structure sure seems to acquire fish. The structure I saw was each end of the beach. Low tide almost surely has a different opinion, but I wasn't there then. When you arrive, climb a dune and look at the beach. The most agitated water that you see within casting distance from shore is probably a good place to start, whether you are looking for surfperch or stripers. And if you don't catch, now you'll still feel like you know what you're doing and it's the damn fish's fault. 

    The halibut are still biting back by Inverness but the bite has slowed. There's been moderate boat pressure, but also the "witches hair" as Gage calls it has started to make an appearance. That's the green, stringy seaweed that likes to foul your gear back there once the water warms up. As it increases the catch decreases. Thankfully, there's signs of life around Hog Island. I heard of f ew big halibut hooked and lost there yesterday. So, they're still there. The water is starting to turn brown, even on the high tide, so biting fish do seem likely. 

    In one other note, most crabbers are having a hard time catching Dungeness in the bay, but Eddie Kim stopped by with three family members and they caught 37 Dungeness in five hours yesterday.  "It was a lot of work" said a sore Harry Kim. Suck it up,  buttercup. You guys killed it.  Trust me, Harry, you don't feel as bad as the guys the pulled as much gear for almost nothing. They're emotionally sore as well as physically sore. Stick with the catching. It sucks less. Just ask the rest of us.

Them halibut are biting

    The halibut are still biting way in the back, mostly. In classic fish fashion, at least one boat that limited easy on Friday couldn't get a bite on Saturday. Same place, just no bites. But they watched a guy hook six halibut while trolling near them. That guy caught two on Friday, one on a Predator and one on a hootchie/fluke combo (you put a hootchie over a Fluke. Looks stupid. Fish think differently, often). On Saturday that same guy hooked six halibut, keeping two, one on the hootchie/fluke and five on the Predator. That bastard. Well, that's probably what some people were thinking, and I don't blame them. I heard of a boat landing ten halibut yesterday in Inverness while jigging tube jigs. Try different things, especially if what you're doing isn't getting the kind of attention you desire. Remember, if you're doing something and the thing you're doing isn't producing the desired reaction, stop doing the thing. Do something different. Change bait, speed up, slow down, throw in that lure that cost a lot but never caught before. Today could be that day! Probably it isn't, but you gotta do something. Remember, there is no try. Do, or do not.

   Quite a few fishermen have gone out for the shallow water rockfish since it opened and the weather allowed. The guys that I talked to did pretty well. We got lucky in the draw when they drew up the "20 fathom line", as in our area it tends to agree with reality by and large. Not everywhere, but mostly. The shallow water is harder to catch fish in, but more fun. The fish seem like city fish, kind of jaded, "been there, done that." Sometimes smaller lures work better, and, heck, if you're fishing really skinny water why not fish light gear? You may only catch half of what you would have caught in the deep, but if each fish is three times the fun, well, you win. It's math. 

 

    The Coastodian found a couple of halibut in the Inverness area today. One keeper left the boat without permission. This is one of the many dangers of kayak fishing, but it also adds to the joy of success, when it comes. Finally! The harder it is, the better the payoff when it is finally earned. Ask a fly fisherman. Yes, they're insufferable, but they're also not wrong. Okay, probably don't ask one, but keep that nugget of unease in your heart that they may actually be right. In my humble opinion, they're right, but I'm still fishing bait most of the time, because not catching sucks. Anyhoo.... Other fishermen also connected today. I can't say that everybody clobbered them, as I only heard a couple of reports, but the couple I heard were good. Drifted live bait, drifted dead bait, jigging, and trolling hootchies and P-Line Predators all accounted for tonight's dinners. I also heard of a kayaker doing well on halibut by Hog Island today. I have no details, but another fisherman saw somebody "doing well", so I'm assuming it was catching and not just not dying. For my two cents, the best time for success should be around the turn of the low as the high tide brings in frigid water. 47º is too cold. Even our few rockfish yesterday were sluggish. There was a boat with some nice eating rockfish in the ice chest pulling out this evening, so Gage and my problems of getting them to bite in cold water may be just our problem, not universal. We'll work on it. But also, remember, even in the super shallow where you don't need a descender device to return fish safely, legally, you need to have a descende r device rigged and ready to go if you're rockfishing. You don't legally have to use it (you should, when necessary), but you gotta have it. So sayeth the law. We have a few in the store, but Promar just came out with one for a very reasonable price. Just get one, hook it to a spare rod on the boat and you're legal. In the shallow water that we're allowed to fish it seems silly, but, hey, I missed the short shallow season last year, and if this is the silly crap I need to do to go fishing, then whatever. Descender, check. Stand on one foot, check. Chant an allegiance oath, check. Whatever. Let's go fishing for whatever they let us catch. 

     

 Today I went with Gage to the back bay. Only one photo was taken, but fish were caught. We left the house at 7:00 AM and had limits of halibut by 10:00 AM. Where did we go? To Gage's secret spot? Maybe? They didn't bite for us like they did for him yesterday, so.... Different day? Different spot? I don't know, but I know better than to ask. Just catch your fish slower and be happy. And I am. We trolled from a little north of Heart's Desire Beach to almost the Tomales Bay Oyster Company and had bites all over. The fish are definitely in schools, as we had a couple of times when more than one were biting. We finished on a sequential quadruple bite, but only two of the four stuck. Our buddy boat was alongside and was able to convert that bite into....nothing. Those fish are fickle. Our totals were: Two fish on a straight chartreuse Krippled Anchovy (including the largest of the day at ten pounds), two on a Krippled Anchovy (I think chartreuse) behind a chrome 00 dodger, and two keepers and the day's only short on P-Line Predator lures. Two nice keeper fish were returned, one early because we thought we could do better, and one later because we did. They're biting, but not awesome. Our buddy boat came home with zero. Another boat that Gage knows returned with one. It ain't hot, but there's possibilities.

    Pictures today! But we will start with the sad one first. My phone battery died last night, so when I fired up my phone this morning it started vibrating like mad with all with texts from Doug and Gage. Here's the first photo that was sent:

    This would be the bottom of a 24' Marlin with a cabin and and an I/O. It was anchored out last night and rolled over and sank at about 5:30 this morning. Doug was notified, and he called Gage, and together with the owner of the boat they were able to right it and get it ashore. By the time my phone started shaking the boat was already on the sand (the right way) and getting pumped out. Good work, gents. I guess that means that I can start thinking about going fishing more (Editor's note: I've already been thinking that a lot). It was Gage's day, off, so was a little late on getting out fishing. Didn't matter, though.

   Gage caught a sequential triple and tossed the last fish back. Sequential in that as he landed the first fish the second rod went off, and as he landed that one, the third rod popped. 12 feet of water again, Inverness, I think. Frozen bait took the first two. I think that I get to go with Gage tomorrow, so maybe I can get a little more info. Or, maybe I can shut him down. We shall see.

   I should also add, the big tides now and big winds we have had had made for big currents and a lot of seaweed, so the surf fishing has been hard, and the catching has been even harder. But today pelicans and terns were pounding the tip of Sand Point, and while the Gage was unable to connect in his short time there (how hard do you fish when you already have a limit in the box?) if the stripers find out that there's bait getting carried over that bar, well, good things will come. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, as sayeth the bard.

    All of these crappy fishing reports must have got to me. This morning, after icing down my swollen eyes from crying, I saw a man with a limit of halibut! He actually hooked three, but the last two were a double, so the 28 incher came home with him (sometimes being smaller is better. Less is more!). Another gentleman went to the same area and landed one in five minutes. I'm not sure if he caught a second one but he was pretty stoked about numero uno, as we all should be. Where was this miraculous parade of halibut? Gage knows, as he told these guys where to go. He didn't tell me, but I heard 12 feet of water from the two happy guys. The water out front is running in the mid- to high forties, temperature-wise, so I'm guessing that they went way, way back. And trolling, as that is what the Gage usually advises in the early season. So, it's on, barely. Yeah for us!

  On the first of May the deep water (Westward of a line of line of waypoints indicating 50 fathoms(300 feet)) closed for rockfish but the shallows (Eastward of a line of waypoints indicating 20 fathoms (120 feet)) have opened. So, the good nearshore fishing will remain closed this year to protect the almost non-existent (here) Quillback (or maybe I just suck at catching endangered species, but I've probably boated two quillies in the last decade. And that seemed like an improvement from the past, "good old days", when we say almost none. Whatever...) but we can still catch the fish that do exist here, except for coppers. The last two decades of fishing limited to nearshore have reduced the copper's numbers. Well, something had to give. You box us up on the beach for two decades, I guess you might expect that beach to get a bit burnt.

    Also this week we had a boat roll over near Inverness yesterday, probably a small sailboat (judging by the style of life jackets worn by the victims) but indicative of the weather we've had lately. The wind almost closed the road in to Lawson's with piles of blown sand this week. It's building up the beach that the storms washed out, but damn! It kinda sucks. Today the wind was pretty mellow, so instead of a boat flipping somebody fell off of the cliff on Tomales Point. The Sonoma County Sheriff's helicopter, Henry One, has been busy out here. I hope that they get to do some work closer to their home in the future. I also hope that they are as successful in the future as my limited understanding seems to indicate that they were in the last few days. Stay safe, everybody. And catch fish. It is time. Let's fill those freezers.

    No photos, as it turns out that pictures of nothing look like, well, nothing. That said, one boat today had two limits of Dungeness in 90 minutes or so, but mostly everybody else had zero. All I've heard for a week is nada. Then these guys show up an kill it. How to present it? Here we go ;"There's crab in the bay. People are limiting out. If you don't have a special crab killer space, well, you're probably belly." These guys had a spot. If you don't, and most of us do not, try. Clearly, the spot exists, but dropping properly baited rings in it is hard. Good luck. Really. Good reports are what make me happy. They generally make the fishermen happy, too. I read in a book by Tom Stienstra that rated Tomales Bay at a five out of ten. When I read it I was disappointed. How could my home water, that I've been fishing for a long time, be half-assed? It turns out, the bastard is right. It ain't that good. But when Tomales Bay is good, damn. Like a woman, when she's good it may be for someone else. In my humble opinion, that's awesome. It should be for someone with the intent and drive. Neither a bay nor a woman should be a guaranteed thing, It ain't just the chicks that demand that you work for them. The work makes it worth it. I've experienced it on both fronts. So, work hard, try hard, and you too may experience a limit. Or not. Fishing.