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...

 

      Salmon fishing has been slow.  Luckily these folks didn't know it and went out off of Bird Rock on Monday and caught 3 to 29 pounds. Isiah Machado caught the big boy. With the nicer weather people are finding some salmon all over now, from the Russian River to at least Elephant Rock with most boat concentrating on the outer bay from Estero Americano to the outer buoy off Tomales Point (02).

    Felix Summers of Fair Oaks caught this pair of halibut to 22 pounds on jigs at the bar on Monday. Yesterday he and his significant other limited on 10 pounders on the bar using live jacksmelt. I think he's getting this halibut thing dialed...

   Dave from Rohnert Park caught this 26 pound striper on a Kastmaster on Monday afternoon. This was a fish of 10,000 casts. 

    Luke Alexander caught this 25 pound salmon yesterday, one of four landed on the Double Trouble on their troll from Elephant to Tomales Point in the afternoon. 

 

   Early report from the second opener: They're still biting. Lost one, shook a silver, missed a bite and landed one 12# keeper in outer bay in a half hour in the dirtiest water I could find. Bird was clear and empty of bait. Water bumpy but no gale yet.

    Later report: Four boats from here besides me went for salmon. One had six, one had 4 (limits), one had one, and one caught a couple shakers. Not red hot, but not bad. The weather was non-awesome but fishable in the morning.  The guy that limited stuck it out until the late bite started at 3 for his last fish but returned kinda wet. All in outer bay fighting the weeds. I heard a rumor of a bite by the Russian River as well. 

      It's obvious that salmon season reopens tomorrow.  For the uninitiated, the tell is that there's a gale warning.  The last gale warning was the last opener. Good times. On the plus side, the wind this year has been milder than predicted, at least early in the day, so opportunities may exist for the bold. It would be a shame if we didn't hit the quota before the end, and if the wind stops the water will boil, or nearly, and salmon won't be an option, or at least, a fun option. Fishing 300' on the wire is like working a Waldo in a nuclear reactor. Remote control fishing. It works, but it ain't like fishing 60' of water. Let's get them while we can.

    Halibut in the bay has been slowing as the water has been warming past happy temperatures. It's pushing 70 degrees in Marshall and that's too warm. Unless you're swimming, then cool. But halibut-wise, no bueno. 

Salmon reopens August 1st

 

        As I have nothing to report on here but wind, here's a report from Kelley Roy: "Willy, was a busy few days last week. Thursday in FB for albacore then on to Eureka for halibut with Steve Wiz and Dave Alexander.

 

Great trip"   Looks like a great trip to me, too. Now that salmon is over in Eureka they can concentrate on other things, and the other things are biting. Nice of you to let Dave catch the largest Pacific for your group. The albacore are officially biting at Fort Bragg and the tuna water is close, five miles or so, although some of the better catch numbers are coming from 12 to 25 miles out. That water extends down to where a trip from Bodega or Tomales Bays is doable (not with current weather) but far with the edge at 62 miles. I've  made that run before but driving to Fort Bragg seems like the more sensible option if you've got a roadworthy trailer. Otherwise, it's only July, so it seems likely that closer options should be available before the season passes us by. California halibut will have to do for us here until maybe salmon will reopen on Saturday. Probably only half of our local quota were taken during our 26 day season, so it seems likely that we'll get a reopener on the 1st of August. We should know by this afternoon, here.  Fort Bragg and Eureka may just have to stick with albacore and halibut, as their salmon catches were 73% and 77% of their much lower quotas.  UPDATE: We get August uncut for now. Fort Bragg gets August 1 to 9. Eureka gets to concentrate on albacore and halibut.

 

    Jim and Scott (or is it Scott and Jim?) Alexander, Larry Varela and Richard Tamagni trolled off of Dillon Beach on Thursday in the wind for these nice halibut. There were some other halibut caught on the bar but they weren't like these. Nice work, boys. It's probably no surprise that they went back there today. I didn't hear if they caught any more halibut, but...

     .... they did manage to catch this 53 pound white seabass. Richard Tamagni had to go home but the twins' dad Terry stepped in to help in this team effort. Excellent work, gentlemen. 

  Cameron sent me this photo with the cryptic message:"Margaret Morgan and Lee Gutierrez " A look at the big fish board says that Margaret Morgan of St. Helena caught a 24 pound halibut today, so I assume that this is her. So there were some halibut caught on this windy day, and I'll bet these folks are with St. Helena Appliance. They usually catch fish, and this seems to fit the bill. Nice fish, Margaret and Lee. 

 

    Larry Laackman hopped in the boat with me and my wife Monday evening for a troll on Lake Pacific. Usually flat water makes for a slow bite for me but we ended with with three salmon again, the largest, caught by Larry, weighing 28 pounds, again.  We seem to have plateaued. It bit a tiny hootchie behind an 8" flasher in front of Bird.

   Tom and Jerrie Carter limited on halibut to 25 pounds on the bar yesterday. Live jacksmelt and a bit of skill was the ticket. Tom's not supposed to be lifting heavy things, so Jerrie may need to adjust her fishing methods.

   A fishing report from yesterday: "Evening,

Spent the day sweating under the hot sun. Turn the thermostat down. Ended up with 3 fish for the two of us on the bar. Had enough action to be done early but obviously we didn’t want to sweat in camp. Will try again in the AM.

Swampy"    Seems like there are (maybe were?) some biters on the bar. Nice work, Swampy, but I bet you can do better.

    My wife and I went out again last night but couldn't get a 28 pounder. She was okay with this 26 pound fish, though. Bird Rock again, small hootchie again.

   Today is the last day of the early salmon season here. The fishing was mostly not awesome, which sucks for the guys that fished it but bodes well for a second chance in August. We shall see if the guys that waited were correct. Albacore started biting at Fort Bragg just in time, as their salmon season has ended. I guess we'll take a week for halibut and rockfish and hope for another salmon chance.

  This is Rich Nacarelli with his 17 pound halibut, one of seven caught on his boat on the bar today. The halibut are stepping up as salmon take a break.

    Last salmon for nine days or so. Paul Giese caught this 25 pound salmon off of the wreck on a watermelon Apex  this evening. He was fishing with John Daleuski and Alec Bennett, both excellent netters. Catch numbers of salmon have just been released up to 7/15 and it looks like we will have August for salmon, or at least a good part of it. Poor fishing, now, means more fishing. Good?

     I knew Swampy could do better. His report from today:"Afternoon,

Took Al and Brian out to chase some flatfish. Had leftover shiners from yesterday and hit the bar early. Done by 8:45 to 17 pounds. Great day."  That seems great to me too. 

 

    Big fish (salmon, at least) for Sunday goes to Carrie Brewster with this 30.5 pound slug. The salmon catching today was, again, mostly early and late in the day. This one was a morning bite but definitely not crack of dawn. So, there's hope if you can't hit the water early. At least there's hope if you're Carrie.

     Pennley Brunkhorst caught this halibut off of Dillon Beach right in front of Cannon. Nothing like a bit of sibling rivalry to keep things on the boat interesting. 

    There were a lot of zeros in the fish counts yesterday but not for the Evil Twins. Reports Larry Varela, "Picture from yesterday got six

Lost a few and had a couple other pumpers no stick 

All in all a pretty darn good day😀" I would agree. Nice start to your salmon season.

    Cameron caught this 28 pounder last night. We had three fish total. Hootchies and bait for all our bites at Bird Rock.