While there are still halibut and stripers being caught near Hog Island, the mouth of the bay went off over the weekend. The fish are coming in. Today there were a few boats that limited out by noon, and a couple that limited in an hour or two. Live baitfish was not the ticket, for once, nor were the tube baits that have been pretty consistent killers. Nope, it was good old white bucktail jigs, or "Hair Raiser(Razer?)s". People may not appreciate the classics, but it's good to see that someone does. 

     Cameron and I went out this evening after work for the turn of the high tide. Earlier today the reports were that there was lots of bait and feeding fish. When we arrived the water was at it's coldest temp of the day and no bait was to be found. We scouted around but saw nothing on the meter. Then we made a drift over the bar, from 35 feet of water outside the bar to 30 feet of water on the inside. No bites or sign. Well, Gage and I caught a halibut and missed two other bites trolling P-Line Predator Minnows on the bar on Thursday, and there was almost no seaweed drifting about, so I talked Cameron into a couple of passes with the broken-backs. Forty minutes later we had 14 and 18 pound halibuts in the boat. If you can keep the weeds off, the Predators work. Unfortunately, almost all the time there's too much weeds. Almost all the time. 

    Yesterday Gage took Amanda out for her first trip of the year and she almost made the big fish board ahead of him. Their only bite that stuck (on a white bucktail, of course) was this 18 pound halibut. You can tell Gage gaffed it because he hit the center of mass. He learned to shoot before he learned to gaff. Good thing he learned to gaff, too, because he's got to do a lot of it if he's bringing Amanda out to fish. 

     I'm afraid that in all the hustle and bustle of the busy weekend we did not get this gentleman's name yesterday. We do know that his ling cod weighed 25 (26?) pounds. That's a nice ling, no matter who caught it. Good work, nameless sir. 

    

     I believe that I mentioned that the crabbing sucked, but if i didn't, well, it did. Outside the bay has been a lost cause and inside you might catch one. That's the most I heard of this weekend. One.  No bueno. The reds weren't even very good. Well, at least salmon are coming! You don't even need a rule book to see when the season starts, as the forecast shows wind starting about the time our season should start. Seems legit.