Finally. Halibut. Not just here, but in San Francisco as well. I appreciate the fact that there's no lag time this year, as usually there's a four to six week period between when they bite in SF and when they finally bite here. This year they coordinated better and started a few days back. It ain't smoking hot either place, but you can catch a fish in both places, I hear. Gage and I caught a ride with tcguideservice.com on Tanner's 25 foot Parker on Thursday. We went back to Inverness and hooked fourteen fish, five of which were legal sized and four of which were actually landed in the boat. Gage and I need to practice our netting, apparently. Gaffing is good, though. Trolled straight herring was the ticket, mostly. Three fish bit stuff behind flashers/dodgers and one bit a Predator minnow but three of the keepers were on blue label Harbor Herring all by their lonesome. That is equivalent to everybody else's green label, size-wise, but our blue Harbor is in the best shape, so troll it we do. No belly disintegration. Good bait. And yes, it is game on all over. Best bite in Tomales has been way, way back by Inverness/Marconi on live and dead baits. The warm water extends all the way to Hog at low tide but the murky water we were catching in was lurking around Inverness only. I must say, I do better when the water is really colored up, as dirty water hides all my imperfections, of which there are many. Yes, I love that dirty water. 

    But beyond that Standells reference, other people have been catching too. The best bite has remained in the wayback (Thank you Mr. Peabody et. al. for the reference), but that's where people are fishing, so... Can't catch where you're not fishing. At the low tide, good temperature water extended past Hog to the north. Schools of bait were in the hole just south of Pelican. Not a few, but a lot of bait. Things are starting to happen. And thankfully, not just here. Soon we'll have photos. It'll happen! Probably before the end of this month but definitely before the end of June. The fish are starting to enter the bay, following the bait. 

   Crabbing has picked up, slightly, as the now sexually satisfied Dungeness are starting to slide back in closer to the shore. Good for them. Finish your post-coital cigarette and then climb in my hoop. Or snare. The shore snarers have been doing pretty well lately, judging by bucket and afternoon rod/snare sales. Most of those sales are predicated on somebody catching a crab and needing a bucket or seeing the crab caught and wanting to copy the success.