Moochers picked up some salmon from McClure's to Bird in the last few days. Elephant Rock and Abbott's had a few as well. It is definitely winding down but still doable. Halibut fishing was slow in the bay but a few are coming from McClure's and Ten Mile.  Helmuth Himmrich caught a 30 pound flatty on McClure's yesterday.  I put three in the boat about a mile this side of Abbott's in 30 to 65 feet of water. We drifted live mackerel and mackerel scad and lost two other halibut. The mackerel schools are plentiful on Ten Mile. Good thing, because the big Dungeness crabs will eat most of your bait. Our bites were 4 to 1 crabs. I'm sure that the crab will be gone by November, but so will the halibut.  Rockfishing was good.

You can tell summer has passed when you only launch five boats and the wind isn't howling. Of those five launches, three limited on salmon, one had a half limit, and one had many bites but couldn't stick one. The best numbers came from this side of Abbott's in 60 to 70 feet of water but Bird Rock and McLure's had a few salmon as well. No halibut today, but that could be because nobody fished for halibut.

Poor Jeff Norton. He caught a salmon early in the day, then tried to get the second one all day but he never could. I can only imagine his disappointment when this 45 pound sea bass bit. I guess that makes a pretty good consolation prize. Jeff seems okay with it. Both of his fish came from 90 feet of water just this side of Abbott's Lagoon while mooching anchovies. The Miss Anita trolled by about the time Jeff was fighting the bass and they caught its twin. There were quite a few (for September) salmon caught this weekend. mostly from the south end of Ten Mile but still some on the reefs from Elephant to Tomales Point. The halibut showed pretty well too, with one boat catching six yesterday. The halibut are finally biting in the shallower water where they're supposed to be. Today there were a few in the mix but salmon definitely outnumbered them. 

Sherrie Georgis caught this 33 pound salmon yesterday. The bite slowed but there were still several salmon brought in yesterday, although most of them were not close to this size. So far today one boat has returned with his salmon limit. Dennis Stocking put two halibut in the boat quick yesterday morning but couldn't get the third. He was fishing by Hog Island with shiners. 

Here's Randy Johnson's 36 pound sea bass from last weekend. It was too painful for me to get a picture of it, so I had to steal this one from Facebook. He was mooching for salmon off of McClure's Beach when he caught it.

Labor day weekend was a bit windy but there were still a few fish caught. Saturday had some pretty good salmon numbers and a 36 pound white sea bass. Sunday was pretty well blown out. Monday saw a few salmon caught but not too many. The water cooled off by 8 degrees to 56. It should be good for salmon but they might need a chance to acclimate before they get real bitey. Today six boats tried for salmon but only three fish were brought in.  The one boat that limited caught his in 50 feet of water, shallower than the fish have been but probably an appropriate depth for the new water temperature. Divers on the bar today had clear 54 degree water for excellent views of nothing but sand. Fishermen caught a few halibut back by Hog Island over the long weekend but the mouth of the bay was pretty quiet. The halibut may finally move into shallower water with the cooler temps but with all the squid out deeper I wouldn't bet on it.