The halibut bite isn't quite dead. A 25 pound flattie came from the bar today and a limit was taken from there yesterday. At least one came from the back bay Wednesday along with some other bites and shorties. Foul weather offshore has shut down the fishing outside the bay so the locals here won't be contributing to the rockfish quota this week. The best thing I heard was some kids on the pier on Monday evening catching over two dozen 6" salmon and returning them safely to the water. I'd never even heard of anyone catching salmon of any size from the pier,so I'd say it looks good for the future of salmon fishing.

The halibut bite dropped off this last week. Way off. The bar suffered the the worst slump in the action with only one fish landed from Wednesday to Friday and divers speared it. A few fish were taken at Hog Island during the week. Today rockfish were caught by those who went out despite a forecast wind of 20-30 knots. A halibut was taken from the way back bay. Hero of the day was Mike Gibson of Lodi who landed two halibut, 21.5# and 23#. Both fish came from the bar on the outgoing tide.

Ron Johnson shows off his 22# halibut he trolled up at the Keyholes.
Mike Garello (and his assisstant) are standing next to the new fish to beat. Mike caught the 30# halibut on the bar on a large live jacksmelt. Many other halibut came from the bar on Sunday with boats reporting 0-5 fish. The average was 1-2 and most fish weighed in the teens. One 20#+ salmon was safely released as well.

Gerrie and Tom Carter landed five halibut on the bar today including these 20 and 24 pounders. The halibut ate live jacksmelt. I guess this means the halibut are on the bar. Ten Mile beach has given up a few halibut for those that could avoid the worst of the dogfish sharks. Rockfish is still on the slow side due to too many good things to eat for the fish.

Nate Bauman, 13, of Lakeport shows off the new big fish board leader, a 24.5 pound halibut caught on a drifted dead herring in the channel by marker #5. Larger numbers of halibut were taken further back in the bay with counts of 2 to 5 keepers, but Nate's fish dwarfed them all. The water closer to the mouth of the bay is still on the cold side for quantities of fish but apparently warm enough for a few halibut to bite.