Brendan Mendoza had a good day today and sent over this report and photo: "Good evening Willy. We were out trolling today and did fairly well. Couldn't get anything to bite in the morning but by about noon the fish started biting. Got 1 shortie 1 lost at the boat and 1 31 inch halibut caught all on a white hootchie with a flasher. Then we also managed a 35 inch striper on a straight herring. All in 19ft of water off the red barn. Water was averaging 60 to 62 degrees when the fish were biting then the water dropped to 58 and the bite stopped. Overall we were very happy with our day." So Brendan sees the temp thing too. Some guys don't notice it, but it seems like a recurring theme to me, or at least something besides me to blame for not catching (it's never me....). The guys that I spoke with that fished Hog had action early (low tide and warm water) and late (water warming again on the outgo but not quite warm). Nice job, Brendan and company. Most boats are shifting to drifting live bait, but as Brendan et. al. has shown, trolling is still an effective method. I am agnostic, as I love catching most, and both ways will do it. Do what you're comfortable doing. It might work!

      As far as other fishing reports, I didn't get any from outside the bay. The weather was good but the water has been so frickin' cold the fish are, I don't know, half frozen? 47º water makes everybody slow down. The guys that did go out earlier this week had no bites. Your mileage may vary. Someday the wind will ease up. That will ease the upwelling and cold. I eagerly await that day. Until then, wear a stocking cap to prevent the ice cream headache coming off of the water. Inside the bay there were quite a few fish caught with an average number around two fish, but only because a couple guys killed it. Most guys had... less. Like, none. As Wrybread, Captain of the Shrimp Boat says when he's not catching, "Fishing is hard." He also says it's easy when he's catching. This is not easy, but there's fish from Hog to at least Marshall. Patience and trying different things will pay off, eventually.

     A little thing of note: I bought a book a while ago about fishing in California. It was written by Tom Stienstra. Good book. In his text he called out Tomales Bay as, I think, a 5 out of ten. I was pissed. But over time, and after reading reports from San Francisco Bay, I'm pretty sure that bastard was actually correct and not a bastard. Dammit. So here's my spin: Fishing where the fishing is mediocre will make you a better fisherman, like living on Arrakis makes you a better warrior. It could be true. It feels truthy. If the fish come easy, what do you learn about catching them? When they're hard, you learn. So, there's my positive spin to a sad truth. You learn more when the class is hard.