Cameron sent me this picture today with the note, "34 and 22". A glance at the bragging board, later, let me know that this is Adam Evans of Santa Rosa with a 34 and 22 pound halibut. A 56 pound limit was kind of a big deal back when the limit was three fish, but two? A 28 pound average? Pretty fricking badass. I don't know what bait he was using, but I seem to recall some Santa Rosa Evenses using live jacksmelts and doing well recently, so.....

     When I was checking the board for the last fish I saw Cannon Brunkhorst's name. A quick stop at Instagram and I found this. Fish to 28 pounds. I think we know who caught the big one. The guy with the biggest smile.

     Cameron wanted to fish this evening, so after looking at the weather forecast showing wind for the next four days, I said yes. We went out and caught bait pretty quickly, even though there weren't nearly as many squid around as there had been. We went to Dillon Beach, proper, as Gage caught a couple of nice halibut there this morning. Of course, Gage was there again with his wife and two buddies. 

They had just landed a mixed double of a halibut and a striper. Seemed legit. We made a drift alongside them and then they went home. We made another drift for no bites. Then we moved over and tried a different drift. At the end of the drift, a striper on a Redrum. Repeat end of drift, and another striper on the same jig, 21 pounds. Repeat again, no stripers, scary close, so pull the live bait to go home, and Cameron says he's got a fish on. One ten pound halibut on a live squid. I love a bloody boat.

   So, squid showed up last weekend. That, more than anything, is what brought the halibut in from the deep. Halibut fishing in Northern California has been mostly crappy this year, as three hard years of no salmon have done their worst for the halibut. Inside the bays has been tough fishing (even tougher to be a halibut). So I welcome the squid. Bring in the fish. And be easy to catch, and taste good if I don't catch my target fish. Problem is, I worry that if I mention squid here, squid boats will arrive and hoover them up. So I try not to mention numbers or locations of squid. As  you can see, somebody did. Well, good for them. Squid is the commercial fishery that generates the most income in California. Their price per pound is kinda low, compared to what we pay at the store for it, but they catch a lot of pounds. Anyhow, as these pictures show, the squid, like Elvis before them, have left the building. Or mostly. There's some stragglers. But they're harder to catch now, and the pull of easy meals has likely diminished the refill halibut from the deep coming in to eat. Get 'em while you can.