Megan Padon. That's her name. She caught a 21 pound halibut yesterday. She reminded me of her name today when she weighed in a 25 pound halibut. I fell asleep before finishing my post last night. No picture today, as it looked a lot like yesterday's picture, only today's fish was a bit larger. Also, boats were waiting to get pulled out. The important thing to know (besides Megan's name. Sorry!) is that Connor Padon has figured a few things out. I don't want to give him any more cred than that, as to much backslapping tends to scare the fish away. But attaboy. And attagirl, Megan, as Connor's numbers increased when you got on the boat. Coincidence? I think we all know...

   The big fish here weighed 22 pounds. I was hoping that the fisherman would write his name on the bragging board so I could post his name here and spell it correctly. These guys had been fishing here for a day or two without catching. That's pretty easy to do when the fish aren't biting like starving piranhas. Today they tried something different and tried a bit closer to home, and it worked. No boats were by them. Sometimes, working different water can work. I will repeat, if you make a drift and don't catch a fish, unless you saw a nearby boat catch a fish, why repeat a failed drift? Don't fish where they aren't biting. These guys tried new water and caught two fish on jigs. Badass, gentlemen. Good on 'ya. Now fix your steering.

    Kerry Apgar sent me this photo. She's got the Covid and can't visit (don't worry, Kerry fans, she says it's a cold, and not a bad one at that) but she got this picture and couldn't help but share it, as she is probably the biggest fan of the people at this campsite. David Gonzales is the man in the photo, but lurking somewhere out of frame is John Rosasco (THE Jigger John) and Frank Green (THE bane of halibut). Last night THE Dave Prater and crew were in camp for a chat that I wish I was privy to. I wanted to slide in so bad... But. Some things need to be secrets. Thanks for the picture, Kerry, but I think the boys may be upset that you're outing them. It is definitely a bed week to be a halibut in Tomales Bay.

    Overall picture of the bay? There's halibut from one end to other. Not a lot of halibut, however. South of Hog has been hard. Lots of hot, empty water there. From Pelican Point to the bar there are fish everywhere, but they aren't biting super well. Again, those of you that know better to sort your jacksmelt and keep the smallest for bait, probably don't work so hard at that. From my experience this year, larger baits get bit better. The fish don't stick as well on a big bait, but the flatties seem to like the larger baits for biting. But don't go all in on biggies. The only constance is change, and just because they bit large bait yesterday don't mean nothing today. I advocate a mix. Fish it all. Some may work! 

  

    I got a call today from the Coastodian. He hooked a thresher from a kayak and was wondering what to do. My answer was not helpful. The guys in the picture were actually helpful. They landed the fish and removed the hooks before releasing the thresher. Threshers are awesome. Unless you hooked one. Thanks, guys, for saving the Coastodian from a tow around the bay. This was at the yellow buoy, where there's schools of bait and apparently one thresher but not tons of halibut lately.