Most of this week's reports were bad. Very few halibut were caught. A few guys did okay, but most did not. Here's one happy story: "Nolan's got a couple so far this morning", this morning being Tuesday morning. Nice work, Nolan, and thanks for the report, Mason. Mason, and also, Nolan, are masters of live bait fishing. In Tomales Bay, that also means live bait catching. Nolan has it figured out. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, it seems.

    I took Chris Brown (Bigfoot Baits) and Pieter Jones (Redrum Baits) out for an after work trip on Tuesday. The stripers didn't really put in an appearance for us. Well, not quite true; we saw a few rolling and chasing bait but only one stuck to a hook. So we went for a quick halibut drift. Fricking Chris caught two before I could get my line in the water. It was kinda humbling. Well, not kinda. Humbled am I. But a fair gaffer I am, as well.

   

    Tom Brodsky sent me this picture yesterday. He and his fishing partner caught four stripers, keeping the two smallest. They also went on to catch two halibut, all on tube jigs. Nice fish, Tom and crew. I was out with Pieter and my brother-in-law, Greg Ladner. We caught one striper and three halibut to 25 pounds (Pieter). There had been a tremendous striper bite on Wednesday and I expected it to continue, but the fish had other plans. Where they had been, they now weren't, and where they were yesterday, for a little bit, was on the beach. The surf guys were catching the stripers and the boat guys really weren't. It seems that a school of stripers pushed a school of baitfish up against the beach and then had their way with them. Gage got a call from surf fishing buddy and suddenly he was gone from the lineup of boats. He anchored his (actually he borrowed my) boat on the inside of Sand Point and he and his crew ran across the point to cast into the surf from the beach. It worked.

    Gage's crew: Travis Franceschi caught a 22 pound halibut and Todd Damrosch caught a 21 pound striper, both in the surf. They and Gage also released three stripers, only one of which was caught from the boat. Nice fish, boys, and both of those fish are bucket list. 20+ pound striper from the surf? On the list. Any halibut from shore? Also on the list. 20+pounder? My bucket runneth over. Jealous? Yes I am. Gage says they're top boat. I think Brodsky is. Also, both Tom Brodsky and I caught our fish from the boat. IMHO, you can't be top boat while standing on the beach....

   Today's reports were worse, as the wind has cooled off the ocean and that cold water is seeping into the bay. After 61º water, a shot of 50º water is sure to give the fish lockjaw, and even the surf fishermen are getting ice cream headaches when the wind blows off of the water. There were still a few halibut and stripers caught today, though. Wear a stocking cap and throw Kastmasters and tubes.