The weather forecast for the salmon opener kept most fishermen off the water, but the few guys that chanced it found quite a few fish among the whitecaps. The New Sea Angler reported 42 salmon from about 250 feet of water off of the Head and a couple of the other party boats with smaller crews caught limits. I heard of one sport boat catching two salmon in 150 feet of water off of Bird Rock, 70  feet down. The weather forecast for later this week (Wednesday-Friday) looks optimistic so there may be better opportunities coming up. As for halibut, I haven't heard of any more caught but Gage reports 63º water and some schools of bait in front of Heart's Desire Beach, so it'll happen. Depending on who you ask, the crabbing inside the bay is either good or slow. One boat returned at 11:00 with "all the Dungeness we want." Another boat spent all day looking for their first one. Somewhere between the two seemed average. The commercial guys have had to haul their gear but the sport season will continue until the end of June (unless something else happens). On Friday two fold-a-boats flipped near Miller Park but everybody ended up okay. Hopefully they were wearing their PFD's. Speaking of PFD's, in light of the recent issues with boating safety the CDFW has been issuing citations for lack of Personal Flotation Devices along with the usual tickets. Avoiding a ticket is not the best reason to wear your life jacket, but if it helps you wear it, good.

     Good news for the salmon smolts on their way to the ocean; the upwelling machine just got turned on "high". The wind is supposed to howl all week, then lay down for the weekend salmon opener because, of course, it always lays down for the opener. Those salmon you heard about in 200 feet of water will likely have relocated by the time this week's gales have passed, but it would sure be cool if a few stayed put. Usually I'm not that interested in the early season but current events have changed that.
   The upwelling machine very likely was a factor in the death of a boater on Tomales Bay today. Very few facts are available about what happened and reports have somewhere from two to six persons involved in the incident. What is for sure is that the wind was really strong and gusty today. Some of the clammers reported their inflatable boats blowing over with the clammers aboard. With lower tides and more winds forecast for tomorrow and Thursday, one hopes that the clammers give it a few days off. The clams will wait.
    Hey, what if salmon fishermen and whale lovers (I'm both) got together and jointly advocated for more salmon?  Hatcheries, better river management, etc.? Dam eradication seems like a no go (it is clean energy, isn't it?) but if what we both want is more fish, isn't that a problem we have a few answers for already? I realize this doesn't involve a lawsuit (at first glance) and the group pushing for the killer whales works almost exclusively by lawsuit, but hey, learning new things and having varied experiences  are good for you. Well, my mom said so, so it's probably true.

   So the good news is that Gage caught a halibut yesterday evening back by Inverness in the water I said wasn't salty enough (Turns out, it is salty enough). He was trolling and it bit a green hootchie. Game on.
     Here's a better article spelling out the bad news for salmon fishing: https://komonews.com/news/local/2-groups-sue-trump-administration-over-orca-starvation-deaths   Get your salmon this year, because who knows what's coming? The government may find a sensible way to allow salmon fishing in California after the killer whales have returned to Washington, allowing the take of fish that the whales didn't eat. Or, likelier, they'll just close salmon period. No salmon fishing might make it easier to suck more water out of the Delta. And who wants that? Oh yeah, the guys getting sued. I guess the no salmon fishing option is the more sensible option.
   Bummer.

   Hey, remember those endangered killer whales in Puget Sound? The ones that we might be forced to not fish for salmon so that they don't starve? Because they only eat salmon? They're in Monterey Bay. https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/04/endangered-orcas-venture-south-desperate-hunt-salmon   At least, some of them are. The people trying to get our salmon fishing curtailed are very likely using their current location as evidence to support their agenda. Please be polite and, perhaps, a bit more specific (whalehuggers is a good term) in the comments. I'm looking at you, abfish.

   Mitch Hamilton sent in a report from yesterday:"Managed to scrape 9 up back by Hog Island, more importantly my youngest grandson is on board now. Heard of a halibut hooked and lost by one of the kayaks." Notably, not the only halibut I heard of yesterday. There may have been a second one lost and another halibut caught near Marshall. I guess that I know now how much salt needs to be in the water to keep halibut happy.
   PS- The one boat that went rockfishing from here yesterday caught 12 fish for two fisherpeople (fisherpersons?) in 50 to 80 feet of water off of Tomales Point. From the usafishing report, it sounds like there may be a few salmon around out deeper. I guess we'll find out on the 13th, weather permitting.