So, with the striper bite slowing down (but not stopping) the halibut have stepped in to fill the gap again (I'm looking at you, salmon). Two were landed and a striper was lost by one of the surf fishermen today. Another halibut was caught from shore yesterday, as well as a large striper. Halibut also came from Hog, the bar, McClure's, the Keyholes, and Ten Mile, so basically if there's sand there you've got a shot. There were a couple of salmon caught today by a gentleman who declined to mention his location, only that he almost ran out of bait shaking short lingcod to get his salmon. Sounds like he was bouncing rocks.

How about a 33 pound halibut from the green can across the bay from the boathouse? Jess King just caught it on red label herring.

Keeping with the bass theme, we now bring you white sea bass. The top one, caught by Nate Smith, weighed 49 pounds. Pete Sequeira caught the "little" 37 pounder. They were mooching for salmon and caught these instead. The feelings of disappointment have passed. These fellows are entered in the All Season Salmon and White Sea Bass Derby, but the entry deadline has passed. I'm sure a lot of people want to jump in to compete with a 49 pound contender, but I'm sorry, that ship has sailed.

This 22 pound halibut was caught today by Stephan Schampp of Woodland. Halibut and rockfish were the catch for most of the successful fishermen, although it required a bit more work today to get them. Even the reefs at Point Reyes were a bit stingy for the guys I spoke with. Halibut came from Hog Island and the beaches outside. Doran Beach had a few as well. The water temp is 61º F close to shore and it will probably get warmer in the next week if the forecast is correct. Lots of squid around, enough that the commercial squid boats are back and making wraps again.

Only a couple of halibut were caught by Hog Island today. Outside, a few boats clobbered the halibut while many others went without. Live bait seemed to be a common theme among the successful boats but at least one guy trolled up his limits. I didn't see any salmon but there were rumors  (radio fish) of salmon caught in 200' of water, 130' down OTW, as well as fish caught off Elephant Rock and Tomales Point. I hope at least one of the rumors is true. I didn't get out to the beach, so no striper stories. The rockfishing was difficult for some that tried for them.

The striper bite slowed down but the fish got bigger. These fish bit dressed Kastmasters, one with a bucktail and one with colored tubing. There were a few other fish hooked and lost. It surely wasn't the bite of a few days ago, but it's still way better than the normal striper bite here. I didn't hear of any salmon yesterday but there were some more halibut brought in from Hog Island.