Quite a few guys showed up to try for the perch today but they weren't biting very well during the high tide. Later, during the outgoing tide (around 2 to 3 feet of tide) I'm told that they may have bitten. My source on the surfperch texted me at 2:00 PM this afternoon and said "Quit telling people about my spot. I've had one bite and that's it." So I can't tell you about later on. But I had to take him some more Berkley worms, so....
    Also, for the guys dreaming about albacore, the local paper had an article about pelagic red crab washing up on Salmon Creek Beach. I hope it's a good sign. Here's the article: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/lifestyle/6597672-181/rare-crabs-deposited-on-sonoma?artslide=0

     Gage's secret spot is no secret anymore. These fellows caught 'em on Carolina rigged Berkley Power grubs in red. Then they went out to get ghost shrimp. No stripers, though.
      Even with all the fresh water the Dungeness crabbing has still been pretty good. Three guys braved the rain on Wednesday for better than half-limits from the pier. Last weekend boaters did pretty well in the bay.
      One other note. I was sent this information regarding the new lingcod regs:"From Dan Wolford past chairman PFMC;

"So here is my take on the Lings. Two years ago I fought very hard to get it to three, as did the DFW folks - it was the party boats that objected, based on fears of excessive rockfish by-catch issues. With DFW help we went to three in spite of the charter boat objections. When that decision was announced on this site - more than half the guys on this site responded that two was sufficient, and we really didn't need three anyway. I took note of that. This year the charter guys - especially the folks in the south, argued that they were encountering too many discards of other rockfish as they pursued their limits of Lings. The charter guys up here jumped on the same bandwagon. DFW didn't argue, and I remembered the comments that were made on this site two years ago - so I didn't argue either. We went back to two Lings. Perhaps it might matter to some, but not enough for me to fall on my sword over. So "they" didn't take it away - we "gave" it up.""

One more note, and a good one at that: There will be salmon smolts released from Bodega Bay this year, and if things work out, maybe more after that. Here's an article about it: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6642842-181/bodega-bay-to-be-release?ref=most&artslide=0
Big thanks to the Golden Gate Salmon Association.

     Nick Strode caught this nice surfperch today, one of about 20 he and Gage Vogler caught this afternoon. The guys fishing near them were also catching fish. Most everybody was fishing with Carolina-rigged halved 6" Berkley Gulp Power Sandworms. The best bite was at and after the low tide. Here's a picture of one of the guys that were fishing near Nick:

   

   One more note: The green can (Number 03) has been replaced. You may commence navigating.

     The new 2017-2018 groundfish (rockfish) regulations are now going into effect on February 7 after a delay. What's that mean? Here's the bullet points for changes for the San Francisco Groundfish Management Area (Point Arena to Pigeon Point):

Boat season opens April 15 closes December 31. Shore or diving open all year.

You can fish out to the 40 fathom line as defined by 50 CFR, Part 660, Subpart G. Click the link or look here for a map with lat-longs.

Lingcod limit is 2, 22" minimum.

Black rockfish limit is 3 and are included in your limit of 10 rockfish.

Canary rockfish limit is now 1 (also included in your limit of 10 rockfish), but you still better move after you land one. There is more than one out there, I guarantee it.

Boccaccio has no separate lower limit and is included in your 10 rockfish. I caught on last year in 150 feet of water, and if you push out towards the new depth limit you will likely catch one (but probably more canaries than boccaccio).

For the full details, go here: http://fgc.ca.gov/regulations/2016/27_20regs.pdf

    Not quite as many surfperch for Gage today but they were still biting near Sand Point. Other people caught a few as well. The pier was still pretty good for Dungeness, as least for some of the crabbers. The weather was fantastic and if the ocean had been a little flatter I would have been itching for a rockfish run, but neither the weather nor the season was quite right.