The CDFW have spoken, and the ruling is: Dungeness will open here, south of Gualala, on November 1st, the first Saturday in November, as usual. Traps will be illegal and only hoops and snares will be legal, as usual. Commercial guys get screwed with a delay, as usual. There's some domoic acid around, so we're being told to clean the crab before cooking, as usual. It's the new normal. At least the domoic acid isn't high enough to shut us down as they have up north. Or is it? Testing results are here, but so far I don't see Bodega Bay locations listed. Probably they know something, since they're announcing we can open. Samples have been delivered. I guess we'll find out soon enough. But as things stand today, we're opening on the 1st here, and no crab butter for you.

       We only had a few boats hit the water this week and no fish were waved around by anybody in the boats. One boat had never crabbed before and they came back with two limits of red crab yesterday. They were pretty happy, but that's because they hadn't cleaned two limits of red crab before. I imagine that the joy moderated a bit with each critter processed. Catching a lot of anything seems like a good idea until you get to the cleaning table. The big takeaway is that there's 70 less red crabs to avoid inside the bay for Dungy season. 

      We watched a boat run towards the mouth of the bay this afternoon and he looked like he wanted to cross the breaking bar. Cameron accessed a camera on the hill and watched him jump a wave going over the bar before turning around and coming back in. It looked like a 22' C-Dory, so hopefully for them they didn't split the hull belly-flopping like a guy I know. Those flat, fuel conserving and stable riding hulls can sometimes be a problem. When the waves get big, deadrise is your friend. I'm hopeful that Wrybread can get us a Youtube video of the event. 

 Well, that was exciting. Anyhow.....

     It turns out that there are still a few halibut to be caught in the bay. Last week's wind cooled the water a couple of degrees, not enough to really call it over but enough that the halibut were unhappy for a few days. After it stabilized the fish bit again. The sweet spot must be across from Lawson's, as there were a few boats there pretty steady Sunday through Tuesday. Probably rockfish would have been a better choice for putting fish in the box, but conditions were not good for getting out to the ocean from here. Maybe tomorrow morning there will be a window. And maybe not. The roar of the surf has faded but the swell is supposed to pick back up again. 

     Dungeness is scheduled to open on the 1st this year. It seems the whale-searching-flights are done and the recommendation is (Gasp!) the usual, no commercial season yet and sport can open but hoops only off Sonoma and Marin counties. SNAFU, right? At least the hoops work pretty well if there's some crab around, and preliminary unofficial hearsay reports sound pretty good. There's some crab out there. judging by our timing in the Dungeness crab cycle, it is likely not going to be a good year for crab but better than last year. "Better than last year" doesn't mean much, as it kind of sucked for most people. So, hopefully this year will suck less. If you found a place to catch reliably last year, you'll probably be fine. If you struggled all season, well, I guess the struggle is real. Think of how much better a crabber this adversity is making you! Of course, if you aren't catching but you keep sticking to the same spots, well, shame on you. Isn't that the popular definition of insanity? Move. No crab there? Move. Repeat until happiness. Pay attention to your depth, the speed of the current, your very specific location. Twenty feet can make or break you. Fresh bait. Dungeness don't care for the rotten stuff, mostly. Weight your hoops and traps in the bay heavy as they will walk in the current (The biggest thief of crab pots in Tomales Bay is Tomales Bay. There are pirates but the current steals many, many traps/hoops) Avoid the fast current spots when the current is going fast. They can fish well when it is slack but when the water starts moving GTFO. And for God's sake, don't go out the mouth of the bay if you're not sure. That bar has killed far better men than me, men with more experience and better equipment. I'm terrified of the break. You should be too. Eat crab, don't feed them.

     Also, new rules are coming. When they go into effect could be at the opener or next year, as they haven't been fully approved yet and no timeline exists. The ones we need to know:

Hoops can have only one main buoy with a maximum size of 6"x14", any color. You can have a second, trailer buoy but it must be no larger than 6"x14" and orange and have two large "H"s on it at least 2" high and lines no less than 1/4" thick. My suggestion? Stick to one buoy. Make sure your GO ID number is on it. Traps need the red buoy behind them to show that they're traps. Absolutely no red buoy behind your hoop buoy. 

You can't use rope that is black and either yellow, red, or purple. These fancy two-tone lines are reserved for commercial crabbers from Oregon, Washington and California, so if a whale gets  entangled they know who to blame. They're making the commercial Dungeness guys buy all new rope. It may not save the whales but it sure is lucrative if you sell rope. I guess they need to throw the rope guys a bone before they outlaw rope altogether. Good times. Or I guess, awesome. Tim , the old man of the sea, says that when I say things are awesome they're actually in the toilet. So, awesome I guess.

     Dungeness season must be close because the bar is breaking pretty steady. Earlier today it was an intermittent break on the incoming tide, letting a few boats out to try for rockfish. One of these boats out of Miller Park limited out on rockfish in 100 feet of water about a mile or so south of Tomales Point. On the way back in, sometime after 11:00, the boat was either overtaken by a wave or overtook a wave (reports vary) on the bar at the mouth of the bay and was rolled over (reports agree). Steve Werlin, known on here at times as the Dark Lord, happened to be watching from his house on the hill in Dillon Beach. He called Gage first while somebody else called 911. Gage was, at that time, in Half Moon Bay looking at big pumpkins.  He called Cameron. Cameron grabbed me. Cameron jumped in the tractor headed for the boat lot. We tried John Brezina's Whaler because he doesn't have a bow rail (easier to load people from the water) but no keys, so.... Shrimp Boat to the rescue! Thanks, Alec. It's amazing how fast you can drive a boat over sloppy water when 1.) someone is in danger, and 2.) it's not your boat. The bar laid down the whole time we approached and as we got closer you could see people huddled together in the water. Then a wave started to build in front of us about head high and started feathering in the east breeze. We hit it just right and caught a bit of air before gently landed. Alec has a lot of crap in that boat but it apparently balances it out properly for gentle landings. Thanks, Alec, and I hope I didn't lose too much of your special ballast over the side on the run out. Then we were at the swimmers.

    First thing, one of them was a maybe 5 or 6 year old girl. Before you get all, "How dare they take a little kid on the ocean!", how do you think Cameron and Gage got so comfortable on the big pond? You gotta start sometime, and a good way to get your kids used to being on the water and not getting seasick is just by doing it. So, make your comments, and I'll let 'em post, but I stand with the dad. In this case, the boat flipped and the child was trapped under the boat. When dad figured this out he started diving under the boat in a frenzy to get his child out. As you would. Well, as I hope I would. Diving under a flipped boat with God knows what hanging under with possible fish hooks, ropes, whatever to tangle up or get trapped in without a wetsuit or fins or mask..... I want to believe that I would do it too, and I think I want to think I would, but Goddamn..... But he got her out. And when we got there he was so spent he couldn't even speak. We grabbed the kid, because she was easy and light and if a wave comes and I gotta leave, well, I ain't leaving a kid. Then Cameron blew his back out trying to get the dad on board. But between him pulling and the other guy in the water pushing, they got him in. I was leaning like a sailboater trying to balance the boat and watching for waves. The other fellow scrambled in (former surfer and accustomed to cold water. I may have to start trying that cold water immersion thing) and said two more were on the boat but they were swept in towards the bay. We ran in across the bar (mostly) and saw two people on the beach in the first cove behind Red Rock. Three coves over was a sandy beach that we could pick them up from, but it would take them some time to get there and the dad was non-verbal. I was thinking that if they could swim in there they probably weren't in as bad of shape as the dad. Making up my mind, over the Point came Henry One, the Sonoma County Sheriff's helicopter, with a badass on a fixed rope dangling underneath. That being more badasses than we had, I figured they had it, and we hauled ass back to Lawson's where the Marin County Fire Department had arrived and were deploying. They grabbed our people and started actually saving lives. They had them wrapped up quick. The other two were picked up by Henry One and dropped off here. Hopefully everyone ends up okay. The boat will likely be up on the rocks north of Dillon Beach tomorrow. I hope everyone involved ends up okay. Dad and his daughter weren't awesome when they left but they were in good hands and heading towards even better ones, so there's that. The big takeaway is, the rockcod are biting. This is a fishing report, after all. 

For the record, we aren't lifeguards or rescue guys. We just heard that there was a problem and responded. It's what you do. Don't count on us or anyone to save you. I ain't going if it's really bad. And mostly nobody tells me if there's a problem. So be safe.

    Gage says that the halibut, like Elvis, have left the building (In this case, the building is supposed to be Tomales Bay, FYI). From the fish counts here over the weekend, he may be right. Joe Winn and crew fished halibut over the weekend and caught a couple, but a couple for them is equivalent to zero for us mere mortals. Basically, he just made sure that the door didn't hit all of them in the keester on the way out. Even so, halibut may not be completely done yet. I know of at least one caught on the bar on Wednesday and Thursday Gage, Richard Porterfield and I caught limits of halibut after catching our fill of rockfish and lingcod. Ours were not inside the bay, but they weren't far, and they all bit jigs. The rockfishing has been very good and the lings are in. Mike Mack and Spinner had several pushing or exceeding 20 pounds to the boat yesterday but weather and gear malfunctions kept the majority out of the boat. They're out there. Mike left a couple for us. 

     Dungeness season is coming pretty quick. The flights looking for whales haven't started yet, nor has the domoic acid testing, nor have the new regulations been approved to go into effect. But they will in the next few weeks and my guess is that we're 95% sure to have the season start on time with hoops. Traps will likely have to wait. I guess that only because that's how it worked for the last four(?) seasons. It's not just those who have forgotten history that are doomed to repeat it.

 

Coleman hatchery this morning has an estimated 30,000 to 80,000 salmon waiting to spawn. There's more in the river (They're stacked up for 3/4 of a mile below the hatchery) still heading that way. Lots of Jack's mixed in. Remember that last year Coleman had 250 fish return. It looks like there's more than that this year.

We may have a salmon season next year. It could happen! Gage is visibly vibrating.

    Apparently that vibrating calls in the fish. This 19 pounder whacked his jig on the drop. He missed another bite and released a small halibut. I caught nothing and missed no bites. I'm going to work on my vibrating. This pretending to be calm just ain't working.

 

      I was headed out the door on Tuesday and bumped into this gentleman who's name I didn't get, but I did get this photo and the info that the halibut weighed 21 pounds and it bit the only live jacksmelt they,  caught that day. There was another, smaller halibut on the boat as well that bit a jig but this one was more photogenic. There has been almost decent halibut fishing this week, although the last few days the bar and, God forbid, Dillon Beach proper have been off-limits due to high surf. It makes it hard to fish the outgoing tide when it carries you towards your doom. There are a lot of jacksmelt out in the ocean for bait, but that's not helpful if you can't safely get there. The halibut should continue to be somewhat active until some weather cools the water down below their comfort zone, and I don't think today's wind was enough to do it but a few more days will. The forecast is for a break from the wind, at least on the beach, for a bit. Maybe even a pause in the swell, too (we already had a break, and a lot of it). 

    Rockfishing is about as good as it gets right now as all depths are open and the lingcod have moved in closer to shore in order to make more lingcod. Go help out a rockfish by catching a lingcod. Heck, get a pair of them. Probably get a few rockfish as well (we can't help all of them). I had forgotten how good fresh rockcod is. Now I remember. Damn. They're out there and not too far, but a bit farther will be better. Close in has been hit hard. The 120 to 300 foot area has been left alone for a bit, but beware: The forbidden fruit that we call quillback rockfish appear to be quite plentiful, despite their low numbers officially recorded. Gage showed me a video from Instagram where a pair of guys had probably a dozen quillbacks laying on deck while fishing the Farallones. Strangely, the video has since been deleted. But I don't think we've had a half dozen quillbacks on the boat in the last twenty years. Maybe I suck at quillbacks. Probably, even. But damn. Those guys caught all of them. Or, maybe there's more than we think? No, they probably got them all and we don't even have to worry now. Thanks, guys. But just in case one got missed, go here for info on what they look like: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=222200&inline