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  Good news if you like wind, because we have it! We have so much fresh air that you can barely stand up. I realize that spring isn't officially here until March 20, but, hey, who are we kidding? On March 1 the northwest wind hit and has stayed (except for yesterday), which to me means spring. Spring sucks. Yes, tiny animals, longer days, colored eggs. I know, but here it also means wind, and the wind, well, blows. Having said that, it also tends to build up the beach that washed out over the winter, not just in front of the boathouse but even off of Dillon Beach proper, where all structures were removed by the huge swells this winter. No more bars or other high spots to concentrate fish. But the wind is blowing, and as much as I hate the wind I also appreciate it for building the beach and structure and for upwelling all those nutrients that the baitfish and baby salmon will be needing to survive. Yes, it is the very definition of a love/hate relationship. To be fair, the wind doesn't care what I think, so all the emotions are on my side of the equation. But hey, unofficially, happy spring!

   On the subject of beach fishing and structure, we don't have any. There have been some people trying. I didn't see any fish, but some of them kept coming back every few days, so I thought they must be catching something. Then they quit coming.... The fish will return, especially as the wind continues to build structure, but until then, here's a report from Branden Mendoza: "Hey Willy. Just wanted to give you a heads up. We've been out doing some surf perch fishing out on Doran beach. We've been using ghost shrimp from the mud flats. We've done ok. We got 6 Red tails 2 weeks ago 3 keepers 3 shorts. Went out last Saturday caught 6 but Red tails 1 keeper and 2 striped perch that we kept. The main reason for this report is we were walking past a group the was there before us and they and a 24 inch striper in the bucket that they caught on prawns. Thought it was some positive news and I share it. Thanks again for all the reports and updates. "  Fish of any kind sounds very impressive to me, Branden, but multiple fish are even better. Those perch are pretty tasty, especially fried up whole with a few slits in the skin....  wow. And saltwater striper is its own thing. Yes, I'm currently eating fish from my freezer of an unknown vintage, and the taste makes me think of, well, fresh fish. Because this stuff sucks. Come on halibut, and April, please give me a weather break on the right day because deep water rockfish opens April 1 and I need some fish that is actually good.

     The last two days every time I drove down our road I saw fishermen with surfperch. Well, fisherbirds. The ospreys are hammering the perch, possibly black or striped perch as they seemed awful dark from below. The problem with relying on ospreys for fish reports is that ospreys aren't limited to shore fishing for perch as we are. The fish they're catching could be from anywhere. Both blacks and striped perch prefer rocks and kelp, not sand, so I'm guessing the ospreys aren't working the shoreline here. Also, I wrote this part a couple of days ago and then fell asleep, and now, two days later, I haven't seen an osprey since. So, I guess there were some fish but you wouldn't have caught them anyhow, and now they're gone. Helpful, this is not, but illustrative of the ocean and nature in general, it is kinda okay. At worst, it's a story, and stories have been lacking, so....

   Crabbing, as usual, has been slow, but, as usual, a very few have done well. Yesterday almost everybody coming into the store had none, reds or Dungeness, but one guy in the afternoon came in and reported that he had limited out. His methods were not shared, only his success. So, as usual, the reports are probably not, but maybe? The outer bay has been slightly better and a couple of guys with traps out there have been limiting, but those limits come with several days soak on multiple pots. For a day trip guy, you'll probably catch a couple but numbers are hard.

    The results of the salmon meeting can be summed up pretty easily: No. It won't be decided until April, but if we didn't have enough fish forecast for last year and this year's forecast is even less, and the recent forecasts have been hopelessly optimistic (like, 2x), and even the PFMC admit that their models leave a lot of questions when confronted with reality, well, no. So, it ain't for sure, but if I was a betting man I wouldn't be loading up on salmon tackle for my tackle shop. And I didn't. Go halibut! And stripers! And rockfish! Deep water rockfish will open next month on the first. There's a chance that there will be a day or two in April that the weather is good enough to make the run to Rittenburg. It didn't happen on a day that I had off last year, but this is a new year. Good luck to us all!