Swampy sent over this report Wednesday evening: "Evening,

Came down for a quick trip, I was net boy today. Shiner and big eye perch bait worked great at the bar till it got too nasty. Ended up with 3 to 18 pounds for a good day.



Looking for at least one more trip before duck season.

Swampy" I had always been told that those walleye perch were no good for halibut but my experience has been similar to yours, Swampy. I just wish that I could catch them reliably. Actually, I wish that I could catch any bait reliably. Nice work on the fish (including the baitfish). Those halibut will likely stick around a bit longer. I didn't hear of any other fish but that could be due more to a lack of fishermen than a lack of fish. 

 

    Gage sent me this report today:" 

The Goligowski’s with their two halibut from across the bay, to 20 lbs" Nice work Goligowskis! They were just planning on drifting some dead anchovies and not trying for any live bait. Well done. Only other news is that Mike Mack and Spinner limited on salmon again on Sunday.

    I have been informed now, after first posting, that of the three boats that launched from here today, all caught two halibut. Ed Parsons limited by himself and the other boat caught a pair. The Goligowski's 20 pounder was by far the largest, though.

 

      Here's a report from yesterday from Swampy's second day of fishing: "Gave it the old college try today but didn’t get any Bluefin. Ended up with 3 butts to 15 pounds. Al did a great job with the net. Caught a few shakers with most caught on the bar. See y’all next week.

Swampy" I guess Al's good netting means Swampy did the hooking. Team effort. Good work, gents. Today there were a few more halibut caught with Team Porterfield catching four on the bar. Mike Mack and Spinner made the run down to Point Reyes and the open salmon area and caught their limits of salmon in about an hour. The year is winding down but it ain't over yet. Then again, neither is the wind. 

 

    These aren't bluefin, which is what Gage and I were looking for yesterday. We trolled about ten miles south from the edge of the shelf just below Rittenburg, then turned back toward Noonday Rock and as we came up onto the shelf below Fanny Shoal we saw some birds feeding in 450 feet of water. We hooked up on both MadMacs on bonito, then stopped and threw jigs at them for 45 minutes. We kept ten and released at least as many. They ran about eight to ten pounds gutted and gilled. We then ran about two miles out back over the edge to try for bluefin again and immediately hooked another bonito, so we called it a day as reeling in MadMacs from 450' out for bonito you're going to release anyway isn't fun. Stopped at Fanny for a few rockfish for dinner. The limit on bonito is 10 over 24" fork length but ten was more than plenty for the two of us. They bit everything we threw at them, metal jigs, surface iron, RedRum tube, etc., and they pull hard. The lights out bonito were at 37º 46' by 123º 12'.

    A report from way closer to home yesterday from Swampy: "Afternoon,

Been a while since we have been down but got into them today. Al and I were done by 1:00 with good fish. Tough bait but little shiners work. Will hit them again tomorrow. On the bar." That's the best report on halibut since last weekend. Mostly it's been sadness. Lots of anchovies in the bay but I've only heard of a few halibut and a thresher shark by Hog. There's been a few shiners on the bottom right at the yellow buoy but those anchovies might work on the bar too if you can catch any big enough to support your hook.  

 

 

    Todd Gentry and Jason Morrell caught these halibut today. 27 pounds for Todd and 21 pounds for Jason.  Limits for the boys, but these are the bigger ones. Yesterday was sadness for the same fishermen but limits for Mike Mack and Spinner. Today no halibut for Mike Mack and Spinner.  Fish are complicated. Mike and Spinner limited yesterday but today only landed a salmon (on a sabiki) and a striper. And limits of ling cod for Doug, but Doug fish don't count.  Nice work today Todd and Jason. 

     Yesterday I took Alec Bennett and Cameron on a nature tour of the Pacific. We covered just shy of a hundred miles of water for a grand total of one bonito. There were whales jumping and feeding, bird piles and hundreds of dolphins but no bluefin for us in the warm, mostly brownish-green water that we found at the Bodega Canyon. The outside edge of Cordell had better looking green water (that's where the bonito was) but apparently I should have ran farther offshore to find the cleaner water. Oh well. I didn't want to clean a bluefin anyway. 

  The halibut bite has been super slow on the bar and Dillon Beach. Here's a report to back me up: 

"Tried for halibut yesterday. Not even shorties. Water chocolate brown, whales, diving pelicans.Outside of that the water a little clearer, pasty green. Need some wind, and looks like we are going to get it.

Mat

F/V Candice, Retired" Well, we're getting the wind whether we like it or not, so hopefully it does some good for us. There are a few halibut in the bay (I think, he doesn't say but he usually trolls by Marshall), or there were, as a report from Branden Mendoza says:

"Hey Willy we headed out for our last trip of the year. Before I go in for 3rd and hopefully final back surgery. We decided to celebrate and try for some halibut. Ended the day with 3 big keepers. One looks like it came at the expense of someone else as the biggest had a gaff scar. We ran fresh cut makeral and a chartreuse hootchie flasher combo. Just want to say thank you for always keep up a good report always has the good info. Until next year we wish you calm seas and many memories. " Good luck on your surgery, sir. Nice finish to your season. 

 

     I was hoping for a picture from here but need to post this photo from Fort Bragg as it's my only picture. Team Nursement took Trip Plumb out for some albacore fishing today and finished with 10 when their fish box was full. Smallest fish 30#, largest 40#. Not far out. 8 to 15 miles. Seems like they're there. Not here, now, and maybe not later, either, but maybe there will be a window here. Or, you could go to Fort Bragg and catch albacore. Probably don't wait. It's a wierd year and there's no expectations except for weirdness. 

     Halibut report here is bad. Lots of tiny sublegal fish. Not many keepers. Gage and I caught three keepers off of Dillon Beach on Thursday for a pound and a half of dead squid, 5 jack mackerel,  and 5 tiny anchovies. Two keepers on a swimbait and one on a live jack mackerel.  And many, many short bites. Lots of shorts, to be clear. 

    Best report I heard today was from the inside of the bar where a legal white sea bass was caught by the Wet Dream boys. Not huge but nice fish.  Lightning strike fish. Nice work boys. See you next year, and that's a hell of a finish this year. 

 

    Harvest Time harvested a big one yesterday. They scored a giant where others did not. The report:"Plugged the boat with one yesterday morning (all my problems are small boat problems).

66” fork length, 600’, at the canyon.

How many other sport boats were out there you ask?

Zip, zero, zilch, nicht, nein, nada!

Finished up with quick limits of quality rockfish at Cordell.

Harvest Time out." I read a couple of other reports from the same general time and area and they had no bites. So I'll share this. Steve Wisnewski was right time right place. Your experience may (and likely will) vary. Super job Steve. Thanks for the heads up. And nice job catching where others failed.

   Gage went down past the salmon line (38 02) and caught his salmon limit today in 70 feet of water.  I worked today, but did get out in the evening for a quick try. I caught my personal best halibut, 39#, on a whole dead squid in 76 feet of water. Not what I was trying for but I'll keep it. 

   There's a couple of photos from Gage's trip today. He caught his salmon and got a good great white shark show on his return. Not a bad day.

      Saturday ended up really windy, but before the wind hit a number of boats were able to get out. I only heard of one nice halibut caught (Nice job, Richard!) out of several trying for them, though. Today, only four boats launched here, but at least two of them caught halibut. One boat had a couple of keepers on the bar. The other boat limited off of Dillon Beach, their first time catching limits. Good for them! They also hooked and landed a salmon. That did not work out so well, as there was a warden here checking everybody and salmon is closed. Also, even when it is open, salmon can't be kept if caught on the hooks we usually use for halibut (barbed, trebles, etc. You know, the good ones). Just to complicate things, if you have a salmon on the boat (legal or otherwise) you have to fish by salmon tackle rules, barbless hooks if trolling, barbless circle hooks with no offset if drifting, and no more than one rod per fisherman. Salmon will reopen on September 1st but ONLY BELOW THE 38º 02" LINE. You can bring salmon ashore here and in Bodega Bay but you have to run 15 to 20 miles south to fish for them. If you go and catch a salmon below the line you may not fish north of the line while the salmon is aboard your vessel. Transit only. You probably already know this, but it bears repeating. 

    Just heard this evening that Mike Mack and Spinner caught three good halibut on Saturday. I apologize, gents. Today, nada. The fish gods are capricious.

    Here's a report from Sam Winglewich: "

Hi Willie and crew, 

This bit a purple/pearl swimbait at around the tide change.  I'm somewhat glad I got burned trying to catch anchovies for hours, otherwise it wouldn't have led to me getting a 35"er on a swimbait - the biggest I've ever caught inside of the bay.

 It was a pretty somber mood on the water today. Lots of helicopters, rescue boats, ranger trucks, everyone's looking for the two missing boaters. I was told by the FD to watch out for two men and a silver/grey canoe that went missing last night. Do you know any further information about the incident this weekend? 

- Sam Winglewich " Nice fish, Sam. Lures are more fun than bait when they work. I don't know much about the missing guys except for what I read. They found both men deceased. Supposedly they launched around midnight Saturday night. It was really windy Saturday night. They were wearing life jackets. 

 

     Kind of windy today but the halibut were biting. Lots of shorts, but in among them were some nice ones. Luckily we caught quite a few squid for bait by Buoy 02. The halibut liked them.  I caught an 18# and a 23# fish and Gage, of course, smoked me with a 26# and 29# fish. We fished 40 to 45 feet of water in the mouth of Tomales Bay. We got distracted early by some bird action at the mouth of Estero de San Antonio....

    Here's another group of birds off of Dillon Beach yesterday afternoon: 

   I think there may be some bait around. Maybe. That may even be a squid "suicide ball" under the pelicans and in the surf. Strange days, but would explain our success using squid for bait.

 

    It's a heck of a thing when lightning strikes you. If you heard thunder this morning, this is why. Paul Piazza of Graton caught this 28 pound white seabass while surf fishing. It bit a white fluke. Your results may vary. This is the second white seabass I've heard of caught from the shore here during my lifetime. It had a belly full of anchovies and was probably following a big school that slid into the bay earlier. That school is probably near Hog and has some salmon chasing it as well. 

    Gage was chasing the salmon this morning before work and he found his two to 22 pounds. There's some fish by the wreck but the bite slowed dramatically after Gage left. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

      Gage and I headed to San Diego to fish on the Pacific Queen on Eddie Kim's charter. We got there in time for the bluefin bite to die (it went off from Santa Cruz to Cordell instead) and the wind to come up. The boat still finished with 243 yellowtail and a bruised and tired group of fishermen. In the meantime there were a few reports I missed. Here's one from Ron Johnson:

"My wife's cousin Sue Munson is visiting from Minnesota aka ice fisher person caught her first salmon today 21lbs." It's almost as cold as ice fishing. Nice fish, Sue

He further reports from yesterday, "And today Sue got her first Halibut on the first Jig drop..... 45 seconds in she says I think  I have one on. The morning lasted 'til the wind blew us off. Picked up 3 in an hour or so. I'm sure you have heard the salmon quota has been met and our season closes Sunday.😥" Yes, last chance for salmon here. The weather forecast is crappy but there may be a morning window. Nice work on the halibut. Also yesterday: 

     

Jack and Connor caught this 22 pound halibut.  Connor has been looking for this one all summer. Nice job, boys. 

Mike Morgan sent in one last report before he went home on Tuesday:" Hey Willy I caught a 19 pound halibut and Teddy caught a 10 pounder down by hog island," Nice way to finish up  Mike. Good to know that few fish have made it back to Hog.

 

   How's a pair of salmon weighing 23# and 21.5# for your first time salmon fishing? Sydney Closterburg of Los Banos knows. She has yet to learn the pain of loss or the dull ache of grinding all day for nothing. Look at that smile. Good for you, Sydney.  Your day will come, but it ain't today, and that's a damned good day. These fish were caught at McClure's. 

   I didn't catch his name, but this gentleman walked up with this 24 pound halibut just after I weighed Sydney's salmon. I know it bit a swim bait though. Halibut was mostly slow in the bay today with the bar being particularly dead. Hog Island had a few though...

   Of course, if anyone is going to catch a halibut it'll be Frank Green. He caught not one but two by Hog. I heard there were six in the boat for four guys. Big fish (Frank's, duh) weighed 14 pounds.

   

   "Jigger" John Rosasco and his nephew Seth caught three salmon and a mystery fish (He Who Shall Not Be Named). The two largest salmon each weighed 20 pounds. Michael I'm the upper picture had a 17.5 pound salmon. No weight given for the Voldemort, nor location for any of them. John's big boat is broke down, so I'm guessing they weren't too far. 

 

    Here's a Wednesday report from Cameron:"3 hour limits from a stretch between Bird and Trees, mostly on straight bait."  Nice fish, and close. Here's another Cameron entry from Wednesday :

        "Tom Brodsky and crew wound up with 5 to 21 lbs gutted. Didn't catch location." I heard the location was between Elephant and the Keyholes.  Other boats did well there too. Of course, yesterday when Gage and I went there the bite was kaput. We caught our three salmon between the Trees and Bird in 50 to 80 feet of water. 

    Mike Morgan caught the only halibut on his boat yesterday, a 9.5 pounder. Not sure of location but they've been pretty firm on their bar to Tom's Point fishing, so I'm guessing somewhere in that mile of bay is where this fish ate his jacksmelt. 

   Mike also sent me this picture of David Gonzales with this caught today 20 pounder. Nice work David. There's been a good salmon bite at Carmet for a few days but I heard it slowed today.

  Okay, the Carmet bite may have disappointed but it seems a bit farther north was okay. "Russian River. 60’. We had 5 fly bys and lost one at the boat. Then.. in 20 minutes at Noon had 3 fish 32, 18,16. Turned a crappy day into a good one." The fishermen are Wyatt Zanardi (top photo) and Steve Freeman (lower). Kind of this year's story, right place, right time. When they bite, maximize your opportunities as they don't seem to bite for long. Have a spare rigged up rod if something goes awry with the one that caught. Redundancy and speed. Nice work gents. 

 

     Dave found a few more surf stripers biting and got a photo of this one. Dave's a Kastmaster guy, so I'm assuming that's what the fish bit. He fought a lot of seaweed for this critter. Nice job Dave.

    Frank Green is moving a little slower but still knows how to get baits into halibut's mouths. Four guys fishing and two fish for the boat, both Frank's. These ones came from near Tom's Point but there were quite a few caught earlier on the bar. Bait has been hard to catch in the bay and Frank and the boys missed the morning bite while trying to make bait. The guys that caught were jigging. Salmon has been kinda okay with some scattered action from Ten Mile to the Russian River. I lost two and landed one last night at Tomales Point in 50 feet of water. 

    Another place you might try is the Trees in 60 to 70 feet of water. There's eight less fish there but it's worth a try.

Another Mike Morgan photo from today. Mike Gonzalez and Howard Cotham both caught 21 pound halibut and share today's bragging rights.

 

    Mina Reynoso of Elverta caught this 27 pound halibut yesterday. There's been an on and off bite with the halibut with some days having really easy fishing and some days really hard. This weekend has been mostly hard, but not for Mina. 

     Jon Erdmann landed this 21 pound striper on the fly today. No other bites but he still looks pretty happy. It's important to have a good attitude. 

   Mike Morgan sent me a batch of photos from his visit this week. Mike and his group have done very well so far. That's a heck of a pile of halibut fillets. 

 

Leo Hernandez has been trying for a striper from the beach for a few months. Wednesday he got to join Alec Bennett and John Daleuski for a striper run. Leo caught two. He told me that maybe he'd fish with me sometime if he didn't have better options. Gage told me that at Leo's age. Gage better watch out. More footsteps...

   Miller Time had a bit of a slow start to the salmon season but got them dialed in on Wednesday and Thursday with three nice fish each day. These are Wednesday fish. Today no salmon (two halibut)  but that was the story for most fishermen. It's been a bit of a spotty bite with fish biting for a short time here and there, but today the spot got bleached and the bite slowed even further. Maybe they'll be hungrier tomorrow. 

   Cameron sent me this report and photos Wednesday:  "Ludovina brothers picked up 4 halibut to 23 lbs at the bar on live bait. 

Rockfish was good for those having a hard time with salmon. Talked to a few boats with limits. This young gentleman was extremely proud of his copper. " Nice work, Ludovinas. The halibut aren't easy but the fishing (and catching) is about as good as it can get right now. Lots of fish from Tom's Point to, well, the ocean proper. The bar, Dillon Beach, the Esteros, Ten Mile Beach, all have proven fish. And the young gentleman should be proud. That's a nice Copper. Remember everyone, Coppers have a limit of one.

    Another Cameron report, this from yesterday: "Kyle Woodward picked up a 39 lb halibut across the bay yesterday afternoon. They were checking gear while trying for red crab, and he was dragging a dead herring across the bottom, just for funsies." Not a typo, 39 pounds. Their net was too small. No gaff. A nearby boat loaned them a net. They broke it but landed the halibut.  Nice job gents. Should have bought a lottery ticket, but this makes for a better fishing report.

   Another Cameron report: "Paul and Angie Burns of Lincoln picked up their first ever boat limit of halibut and landed Paul on the board with a 20 pounder. All picked up at the bar on live smelt." They've been watching the report for a while and decided that they could do that, too. Turns out they could. Not immediately, this is a process with a lot of learning, but they learned and practiced and then did it. Limits. Good work folks. Next, let's talk salmon...