Finally, a fishing report :"Took these ladies fishing for their first surf fishing trip and they definitely had the luck on their side" Gage and company were not the only ones catching out there. These fish were caught near the top of the tide in the afternoon but Gage talked to some other fishermen that had 3/4 limits earlier in the incoming. As usual, the Berkley Gulp! sandworm in camo color was the fish's choice.

    Friday Tim Woerner had a bit of excitement on his way in from crabbing in the Outer Bay. Just as he was getting to the dangerous part of the breaker line on the bar he ran over a floating crab rope. It killed his motor but luckily the wind and tide carried him away from doom instead of toward it. He was able to clear the line from his wheel and come in safely but, "That was the closest I've come to dying on the bar," in a long time. Then I told him that I had gone shopping at Costco Thursday evening and he told me, "You win."

    I'd like to add a little perspective to the last report about the human remains in a crab pot. Jumpers from the Golden Gate Bridge and Bodega Head have washed up on Ten Mile Beach before. It is conceivable that an intact body made its way by current and wind to the Ten Mile area before coming apart (as Yeats said, "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold"). Those currents can move rocks around on the bottom (as mentioned in the comments, chunks of coal have been caught in crab pots). Human bones are equally or less dense than bituminous coal so therefore they should travel even easier. My two takeaways: 

    1. The simplest answer usually being the correct one, it was probably a suicide.

    2. If you're going to dispose of a body at sea, don't do it during commercial Dungeness season.

    For those playing along at home, it appears that the three options for this year's salmon season are pretty well dialed in. They may still change but I'm told it shouldn't be too drastic. The options for the Bodega/San Francisco area are all basically that it salmon opens on April 11 and closes around October 31. There may be a closure between May 1 and May 15 and the season will start with a 24" minimum and change to a 20" minimum by or before July 1. These options are far better than one of the earlier options that had us only fishing in July.
    There's a pretty short list of things you don't want to find in your crab pot. It sounds like a commercial crabber pulled a pot off of Ten Mile Beach last week and found a human femur in the trap. If anyone has an idea about to whom it may have belonged I'm sure the Marin County Sheriff' would be interested. No information was provided as to its effectiveness as an attractant.
     Officially I still think it's too early for halibut on Tomales Bay but a couple of whispered stories suggest that there may actually be a few keepers coming over the rail way in the back. Without specific knowledge on my part I would suggest going very shallow. Six feet would not be too shallow but stirring up mud with your propwash would be.

   Here's a shot from last year that hopefully gives us a taste of the year to come. I missed the salmon informational meeting but the posted documents (located here) indicate that there's 473,183 Sacramento River salmon in the ocean. With that many fish out there even I may be able to catch one. There may even be enough salmon for us and the orcas to share. There may be some closed dates and a larger minimum size early in the season to reduce pressure on the winter run chinook, but we're used to that by now. There may be some additional constraints to fishing due to low numbers of fish on the Klamath but all in all, things here look pretty good for this year. Next year?
    It would appear that there were enough swordfish caught in Southern California last year to alarm the California Fish and Game Commission. The Marine Resources Committee will be receiving an overview of emerging issues and discussing potential regulation changes for the recreational swordfish fishery on March 17. Maybe the regs will change for the better? Or maybe it will be over before it starts up here. I guess I'll wait to buy my flying gaff.
    I just spoke to two crabbers in the store. One caught eleven Dungeness today in the clam channel (maybe 300 yards from the launch area) and the other caught eight Dungeness using a snare right in front of the store. 

   Crabbing continues to slow down as the Dungeness start to think about the only other thing that occupies their mind. That's right, love is in the water, or will be soon. There are still some being caught from the beach with snares and the Outer Bay isn't done yet, but Dungies making babies and growing new shells won't make the traps fill faster.
    The surfperch fishing has been great with this mostly nice weather we've been having. Unfortunately the catching has been pretty bad. The ospreys are getting a few but hook-and-line fishermen are finding it far more difficult.
    No halibut from Tomales Bay yet but the water is starting to warm up (56º as I write this) so it seems likely it won't be too long. The basic rule is that once they start really catching them in San Francisco Bay we are about a month behind. The water temp would indicate that it may be even sooner. When it happens it will start way in the back on the flats in 6 to 8 feet of water and then work North. Some larger ones should show on this end of the bay in early to mid-May.
    It sounds like we may get a salmon season this year but the lack of rain now is going to put a big hurt on the salmon in a couple of years. Hatchery fish will get bussed downriver but the wild ones (that set the season) will need to climb over rocks in hot water. Not good.
    The ridge of high pressure that's keeping the rain away is also making another warm water "Blob" it seems, so we may see some exotics this year. They're already catching bluefin in Southern California. If you're a dreamer like me, check out the NorCal Deep Drop Swordfish group on Facebook. There's a lot of fellow dreamers there, but also quite of bit of information. There will be a sword landed in Northern California this year. Maybe.
     Lastly, the Fish and Game Commission will be coming up with new regulations regarding the use of water pumps for clamming. These regulations are being considered now, so if you have any concerns you should probably voice them to fgc@fgc.ca.gov with "Petition #2019-012" in the subject line.

   Aside from some crab in the bay and a very few surfperch there's not much catching to report on. It sounds like the herring spawned in Richardson Bay last weekend but I haven't heard about a spawn here in Tomales Bay.
    On February 21 the California Fish and Game Commission will consider rules about using hand-operated water pumps for clams. Here's what those pumps look like:

   Their use is at least a two-person operation with one person operating the pump and another laying down using the "wand" to liquefy the sand over and around a clam and allow the clammer to reach into the sand and pull out the clam. It isn't quite as easy as it sounds but it is quicker than digging a hole. The water intake on the bottom of the pump requires it to be used in the water, so actually having the clam beds submerged by 4 inches to a foot of water is a necessity. Many of the days that don't have tides low enough to dig a clam have tides low enough to pump clams. That, to me, is the biggest problem. The clams get hit pretty hard by shovel-wielding clammers but the tides low enough to dig clams only happen on maybe 160 days per year. How many clams will be left if everyone can get clams 300 days per year? It seems to me that a gear restriction or a season would be a good thing for all of us. If you feel strongly about it, either way, send your comments to:

• E-mail to fgc@fgc.ca.gov
• Mail to California Fish and Game Commission, P.O. Box 944209, Sacramento, CA 94244-2090

   Also on February 21 there is a petition to shorten the grunion season and place a limit of ten on them. I only know of a couple of guys that get grunion up here, but wrybread, please note that the proposed closed season here would only include the months in which you could actually get a grunion. The rest of the year is wide open.