I didn't get this gentleman's name but his leopard shark yesterday weighed 18 pounds. Not pictured, his halibut from the day before also weighed 18 pounds. I was hoping to weigh in another 18 pound something today from him but I don't think he fished. The would probably be pushing his luck, as the fishing hasn't been awesome, especially with the south wind yesterday. Yesterday most boats had zeros for halibut, a few had one, and Mike Mack came in with two for three fishermen. Today, Mike had two on the boat again, but he tied in numbers with....

   .... Patty O'Hair, who fished with the Nursements. Patty's fish weighed 10 and 14  pounds. Live bait, drifted, killed these fish. Well. Patty killed them, really, but she used livre bait like a weapon.

     I got this photo from the Coastodian this morning with the message, "15 year old first halibut. Live mackerel" That's a nice starter halibut. I hope it lit a fire. I've heard of a few live mackerel catching halibut recently, and it shouldn't be a surprise. Small, tasty, calorie-rich fish tend to be fast because they have to be. Everything wants to eat them. Be fast or get eaten. Or even, be fast and still get eaten, but at least the thing that ate you is winded now. Mackerel make fantastic live bait but for fish slower than tuna or jacks it is sometimes necessary to hobble the little sprinter to make it catchable for the target fish. I've caught more halibut on injured mackerel than spry ones.  

     Normally I like to use birds as indicators of fish activity. Boats can work, too. Commercial salmon opened yesterday and last night the horizon in front of Dillon Beach looked like the photo above. Somebody caught some salmon here, it seems. But good enough to stick around for another day? Likely another, better bite will turn up.

    Except, here's tonight's picture of the horizon. I think Carol Anne said it best, "They're here." Awesome. Good for the commercials, as they have had a hard time. I hope they get them. But we have to wait for five weeks for our start. Conditions will change, and change again, and probably again. There's no telling what awaits us on June 27, but I'm hoping for goodness. It might even happen. 

     Last thing, as an afterthought. The crabbing usually starts to pick back up this time of year, but this year, after it slowed down around the clutch and molt, it then...got worse. At least it did "on the beach", in the shallow, less then 100 feet of water crabbing in Bodega bay and Ten Mile. And you can't even leave a trap out for a week to see if you can scrape one up with a long soak as traps closed at 6:00 PM Friday night.