The less-than-heinous weather (ocean fishing-wise) the last few days had at least one boat from here hit Rittenburg on Friday for limits of schoolies (mostly yellowtail) but no lingcod. The lings have been hit pretty hard there the last couple of years and require a bit of searching if you don't already have the waypoint in your GPS. I don't have that one. Before the deep water closure in 2000ish it didn't matter where you dropped a line on Ritternburg, you just caught lings and no rockfish. If you did hook a rockfish it was immediately ripped off the line by a lingcod. Those were the days. Although, now I prefer catching schoolies as they're easier to clean and tastier than the big lings. Big ones for bragging and schoolies for eating, says I, and it turns out as I get older that I prefer eating. So if you want the lings you need to work for them there. Harvest Time had a good time with lings at the Football but I have only caught a few smallish ones there. I'm guessing location, location, location again. I've only fished the very south end and done well on reds there in 620 feet of water so I'll bet Mr. Time was somewhere else on the reef, as there are acres and acres. No matter in the short term, as deep water ends Wednesday night and nearshore (less than 20 fathoms(120 feet) or at least shoreward of the line of waypoints signifying that depth constraint) opens on May 1st. The shallows have been difficult as they take a beating. Good luck.

     Branden Mendoza sent over the best halibut report from Tomales Bay that I heard from this week: "

Hey Willy. Thought I'd check in. We trolled today from about 730am till 1130am. Saw lots of bait and birds between red barn and Marshal. We trolled hootchie skirts and herring. We only managed one shorty but it was a nice day out on the water and glad to know they are starting to bite, even if it is slowly. Thanks for the reports. "      A shorty is good, as bites of any kind have been in short supply. There has been a bit of bird activity on the north end of the bay, very sporadic, but it seems that there is some bait coming in, and hopefully with it some things that eat bait. Good effort, Branden. The next month should start some things up. 

     Crabbing has been the same, slow. I'm sure that it will get better after traps close at 6:00 PM on Thursday. The commercial guys have been catching almost nothing so I'm sure that when they get off the water our portion of almost nothing will get that that much better. Never mind the snark, though, but the clutch is ending and there will be more crab marching in from the deep, so catching will improve as we approach the end of the season. It will never be good this season but it will get less bad,