Only ten days left of rockfish season, so with today's calm (but damp) weather Sam Winglewich decided to give the rockies a try. His report: "Hi Willy, I think Cameron got some snapshots of my lingcod situation 12/20. If not, use image below.

Twins, both 26". They liked redrums. Stomachs full of jacksmelt. 

The first hour of my trip was me, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at balls of what I thought were schooling blues 10ft off the bottom. Turns out, it was all schooling-blues sized smelt. I foul hooked it on a Hopps No Eql. Stick with bouncing bottom, folks." Your picture was better, Sam. Nice fish. Those smelt work pretty good for lingcod, too. Keep checking those schools, though, because sometimes they are blues, and finding schoolies is its own reward. 

    Crabbing continued to be fairly decent in the bay with a few limits and a few other boats catching "plenty." Beach snaring wasn't awesome but there were some keepers coming in. Traps are officially okay starting January 2 at 8:01 AM PST. Commercial guys will be dropping traps then, too. CDFW threw the commercial guys a bone and gave them only a 40% reduction in traps instead of the recommended 50% gear reduction. A bone ain't a hole pork chop, but it ain't nothing, either. 

     The saga of the overturned boat from last Friday continues. After being towed and re-anchored off of Dillon Beach the boat started drifting north, probably hearing the siren song of the American Challenger wreck. That's where the boat from the October 16 rollover ended up. Misery loves company, I guess. But the owner of this current boat showed up today around noon and launched a 12-14' rigid inflatable boat to tow his boat back in. It didn't work as planned. Upside down boats tow very poorly. It took two hours to tow the boat a mile and a half and then they ran into the outgoing current. When your maximum speed is maybe 1 mph and the current is running against you at 2 mph, you're in trouble. The inverted boat was left anchored near buoy "TB" in the channel, so Tomales Bay boaters beware. A second rescue attempt may follow, weather permitting. 

      Eddie Kim has left the bay a few days back and he said he left a few keeper Dungeness for the rest of us. There may be more than a few, as he caught limits every day he tried, not quick but launching around 9:00 am and returning with his two to four limits of crab (his crew varied every day) between noon and 3:00PM. Those ten hoops spent more time going up and down than sitting still and bait was refreshed regularly. His crew always looked a bit tired at the end of the day. I offered to lend him my Scotty puller but he said he had plenty of pullers coming with him and fresh ones every day. We had a few other boats trying this week, only a few, but they had some crab as well. The shore snaring has been tough but people are still getting some keepers. I watched a lady reel in a pair of Dungeness yesterday morning in front of the store. I've seen a few cars parked by the tent sites and people walking over the dune trail to try on the oceanfront beach. Nobody shared any success with me but a I saw a couple of Facebook posts with crab piled up on the beach in that general location, so if you're not afraid of a little footwork it might be a good place to try. 

     Tomorrow the CDFW will issue a press release with the new crab rules. The recommendation for this area is that commercial guys should get to drop their pots starting at 8:01 AM on January 2 and start pulling at 12:01 AM on January 5. The recommendation is also that sport guys should be able to drop their crab traps starting at 8:01 AM on the 2nd. Usually the recommendation is adopted as suggested but we live in strange times. Stay tuned.

 

    Three people were plucked from the water off of Tomales Point today after their boat overturned. I don't know much more than that, except it looks like they were crabbing (buoys in photo one), the boat was between Tomales Point and Buoy 02 when the Sonoma County Sheriff's boat rescued the boaters, and the boat is now anchored, upside-down, off of Dillon Beach, as it was towed there by the National Park Service. A couple of interesting points: The Sheriff was motoring about and ready to help because there was a shark attack at Salmon Creek beach this morning. The surfer got bit on the hand and drove themselves to the hospital, so hopefully they're as okay as you can be after a GWS nibble. Other interesting (to me) point is that it is my understanding that when you engage in a tow of a vessel you become the responsible party. If you move the boat and then let it go, you are responsible for where the boat ends up. Maybe this doesn't apply to first responders, but it seems like it might, as the USCG only monitored the American Challenger as it drifted ashore instead of engaging it with a line or, God forbid, an anchor. I guess watching an environmental crime happen is cool, but trying to help could get you in trouble. Maybe the law should be modified, as trying seems better then watching, as the chances of you doing something helpful increases with you actually doing something. Anyways, I hope everybody involved are doing okay. The water is pretty cold and the East wind was brutal. 

     In other news, Eddie Kim and his rotating crew of crabbers have been limiting out inside the bay all week. Other people are catching, too, but as usual Eddie is working hard and consistent and trading squid for crab. Bay limits are hard but Eddie makes it look easy when you're watching from the beach. The tired guys getting off the boat after hand-pulling ten hoops in a continuous loop all day seem to indicate that it wasn't that easy. It worked, though.

     

      Over the weekend the crabbing inside the bay stayed okay. It was a bit slower but people were still mostly catching some Dungeness. I talked to a guy that was snaring off the seawall and caught eight jumbos. I was a bit disappointed that I had to go to Ten Mile to do that. Some other folks went to Ten Mile on Friday and only caught a few. It can happen. The crabs aren't just piled up down there waiting for your hoop to drop. If it ain't happening where you are, run a mile farther, go 20' deeper, freshen your bait. Adding fresh bait between drops keeps the crab interested. Washed out bait can't attract as well as bloody, fatty fresh stuff. The world renowned Eddy Kim has made an appearance here and today he and his crew caught their three limits inside the bay in about four hours. Mr. Kim has several tricks for success but the one I'm privy to is his use of squid. He's almost trading squid for crab on a pound-per-pound ratio. It seems like a lot, but I bet adding a piece or two between each drop may work, too. 

    Brad Stompe emailed over a comment about last Thursday's report: "Hey Willie,

Just wanted to thank you for your last report.  I have had 2 trips down that way this season and done very well on the crabs.  We have picked up some rockfish too as well as a few lings.  What we did not look for was squid.  I had no idea they could be found up this way at this time of year.  Our last trip we saw lots of bird activity but did not think to investigate.  Come to think of it, my son ran into a school of juvenile black cod on the surface a couple years ago in the same area, so it pays to look.  I love squid and will be paying closer attention thanks to your report.

Regards,

Brad Stompe" Good to know that you're catching some crab down Ten Mile way. For the record, we weren't looking for squid, as we, too, had assumed that was all over. Gage thought the birds might be signs of bonito, as they're catching some as close as the San Francisco bar. Upon closer inspection we saw no signs of fish but the birds had squid in their beaks. It wasn't cleverness on our part, just monkey curiosity. I have seen squid eggs wash up here in February and March before, so it may be that they just don't leave, we just quit looking...

 

     Gage and I had a pretty good day today. We headed down to Ten Mile for rockfish and crab. The east wind was screaming between Tomales Point and McClure's, but dropped off there and was only unpleasant after that. We got hosed in the two miles between the Point and McClures. Hosed. But after braving the gauntlet of fricking cold spray, we arrived at Ten Mile, and there we saw multiple bird piles. Upon closer inspection we realized the birds were working squid. Balled up squid. So we pulled in and got some squid. Twice. Gage dip netted some and whooped it up, but I said not yet. We went back for seconds. Gage netted about 25 pounds of squid all told. They made for some good crab bait, as well as a brown rockcod we caught and parted out for our two hoops. The hoops provided nine Dungeness out of two pulls near Abbott's Lagoon in 80 feet of water. The reefs outside provided nineteen more nice rockfish, including a ten pound vermillion for Gage. There were some really nice blues in the mix as well. Lots and lots of tiny fish returned too, but they all swam back down without help in the shallow water. We ended up with nine mostly jumbo crab. We tried for some brant in the outer bay on the way back but we missed our birds. Good enough for today, as it took until well after 4:00 PM until fish were fileted, crabs were cooked and squid were bagged. It was a lot of work, but the squid (calamari?) and crab linguine for dinner was awesome. Lots of boats running back from Point Reyes (I'm guessing) so I'm guessing that there was some activity down there. 

 Here's a couple of Thanksgiving reports. First up, Steve Brott:

   "Hello Willy,

Some crab were caught on the beach during Thanksgiving, namely a nice 6.5” beauty from my son Justin Brott who caught 6 keeper dungeness from shore for Thanksgiving dinner.

Lots of people fishing in the nice weather.

Walking thru the crowd I saw a gentleman holding this crab, maybe a spider crab? His name was D, from Sacramento. The crab was released.

Steve Brott"  Six keepers from the shore is a good number. I don't think most people did that well. Nice work, Justin! I think the crab is a kelp crab, officially, but we all call them spider crabs. I've heard they're good to eat but it seems the only meat would be in the claws. Kind of a waste of critter, so good on the release.

      Here's another crab report from Mike Parker: "Hello Mr. Vogler:

I've been reading your reports for a few years now. I just wanted to send you a message to say "thank you". Your reports are fun to read, very informative, and help my son and I as we try to navigate the greater Tomales Bay area. We have a small 16' boat and fish the area when the conditions allow. My son struggles with OCD and other issues but fishing/hunting keep him grounded. I've found the more time I get him outdoors the better he does. Fast forward a few years and we've done fairly well catching halibut in Tomales Bay and rockfish/ling cod out off Bird Rock and even caught a few salmon when we are able to fish them. This Thanksgiving, we tried Dungeness Crab after being given some hoops gifted to us from a cousin who passed away after a battle with a long illness. So, out in the boat that my Dad left me when he passed and with a few hoops from my cousin, we hit limits of large crabs outside the bay off Dillon Beach on Thanksgiving day. It was our first attempt. Anyway, I just felt you deserved a thank you for posting the information that you do. We aren't locals, amazing fisherman, or diehards. But getting out there has improved my sons health, improved our relationship, and provided us some pretty awesome meals. And you've played a part in that. So, thank you. I appreciate your work and appreciate you providing information when others might keep it to themselves. I wish you a happy 2026 and please keep posting. We appreciate you.

Mike "  Well, thank you back, Mike. I think your dad and cousin may have had a lot more to do with your crabbing success than I did, but hopefully I encouraged you to try it. It sounds like you did better than I did the previous week. You don't need to be a local, an amazing fisherman, or a diehard, but those guys are all good guys to talk to for information, so I try to get what I can share from them. It really is all about getting out into nature and spending time with people you love (or tolerate, I'm looking at you, Gage) , but if you can increase your odds with a little knowledge, why not increase your chance for dinner and a good story later? Good onya for getting the boy on the water. Less screens, more saltwater spray.