"5/27

Chris Prentice with a 34” halibut caught on a live sardine by the buoy west of Hog Island." Chris also mentioned in his email that Jeff Prentice caught a 40" leopard shark South of Hog Island on a live perch (not an arrow...). I also heard a couple of surf striper stories over the weekend.

     These ladies caught the biggest halibut of the day. The fact that it was the only halibut we saw come through here today makes it even more special, I should think. This halibut bit a small diamond jig by Marker 7, near Hog Island.

    Let's change the subject.

    Zack the fishcounter (not his actual surname) showed me this picture today and I had to pass it on. This Pacific Bonito was caught yesterday by a salmon fisherman (notice the head by the bonito's tail) about 20 miles out of the Golden Gate in 53º water. Does it mean albacore are on the way? Or here? I hope so.

    These guys picked up some nice lingcod yesterday around Elephant Rock and down by Point Reyes. They even released a few keepers. Aside from a 7-8 pound halibut from Hog Island, those were all the fish that I'm aware of.

  So, a few things. The conditions are right for salmon in about 200-225 feet of water, from Tomales Point down towards Ten Mile Beach. I saw a picture of an 18ish pound salmon caught today from Tomales Point, 220 feet of water, 65 feet OTW, Watermelon Apex. Tons of krill, brown water, a bit of fin bait, and a whale show better than Sea World to watch if you aren't catching. In the bay there's a couple schools of anchovies near Hog Island and the water is plenty warm (56º-62º) for the halibut to start doing the right thing and biting for the rest of us. The Dungeness crabbing has slowed down quite a bit with more females being caught than males (by 3-1 or more).  Last weekend a bowhunting boat did well on the leopard sharks but I hadn't heard of many actually taking the bait. The surfperch have been a bit slow but should start picking up, and Gage says the stripers will start really biting in the surf this weekend. He may be right... And even if he's not, worst case you get to see one of these:

    This 12 pound lingcod was caught off of Tomales Point on Friday evening.

    Finally, another halibut. Brandon Tate caught this 16 pound halibut today by Marker 7 on live bait. There's been some effort for the halibut this past week but nobody I talked to had any to show me. Brandon is keeping the hope alive.

    Here's the only thing I've caught this year. A kite boarder lost his kite a few days ago and I helped him chase it down. At least I didn't get skunked.