One boat went out for salmon today and returned with his limit. My understanding is that he was straight out (on the 15 line) and fishing 300 feet of water. No other fish landed that I heard about. The Dungeness crabbing has picked up a bit but it's still mostly females in the pots. Rockfish from boats opens tomorrow and the weather should be pretty good near the shore. There are signs that an El Niño will be in effect by late summer, so sharpen up your tuna hooks and get your reels serviced. Here's a video of fish I'll never catch to get you psyched: http://vimeo.com/59807927

Wind is the word, at least until the end of the week. Despite the wind,  few boats tried for halibut in the Marshall flats where they found all the conditions for halibut (59° to 61° water, many schools of bait including pinhead anchovies and sardines) but no actual halibut. There are even shiner perch, small jacksmelt and sardines being caught on our pier. With as many halibut as they're catching in San Francisco Bay it seems likely that a few should find their way here. I guess they don't know it, yet. For those of us craving a little white meat, take heart, because rockfish opens on Sunday. Also, those of us concerned about coming home empty handed from a salmon trip, take heart for the same reason. There were some decent Dungeness caught this weekend but lots of females in the bay.

From the sound of the radio there's still salmon scattered around out in 300' of water  and we might even see a few come in today. Unfortunately, the wind is supposed to blow hard over the weekend. A healthy marine ecosystem requires some wind-driven upwelling, I'm told, and it sounds like the ecosystem will be getting a vitamin shot over the next few days. Crabbing in the calmer waters of the bay has been slow for Dungeness but good for reds. Nobody has brought a halibut in yet but the sea lions have been seen eating a few. Maybe if someone went fishing for halibut... A few surfperch off of Dillon Beach but no big run right now.

Lance Seppi and Nick Bauer caught salmon to 15 pounds on the Due Regard today.  All told they hooked 7 fish in 57 degree water at 38.00 and 123.10 (or 0 and 10). Some of those were silvers, so look before netting. Purple haze hootchies worked but the biggest fish ate an anchovy in a watermelon UV VK head at 100 pulls with a 2# ball.

These familiar faces from yesterday caught three more salmon up to 26 pounds today. They found the fish further north, at 11 by 12, and caught on the green Krippled Anchovy at 120' OTW.