Here's the pictures that were supposed to accompany yesterday's post. I was too tired to remember them. I don't remember this fishing thing to be such hard work. But, they say the memory is the first thing to go, if I remember correctly. I've looked at a few other reports from yesterday and it seems that it was not that good a bite, even though it felt to me that everybody else was killing it while I just burned gas. It appears that it didn't get interesting for most guys until the afternoon. Some gave up salmon and went rockfishing before the bite came. To be honest, Gage and I had just finished hooking up our rockcod gear on the spare rods when we finally got bit. We were going to quit earlier, but luckily my procrastination finally paid off! Finally.

    In other news..."

Media Contacts: Ryan Bartling, CDFW Marine Region, (415) 238-2638 Jordan Traverso, CDFW Communications, (916) 212-7352

CDFW Moves Quickly to Close the Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Statewide in Response to Humpback Whale Entanglements

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham has assessed entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) and announced the closure of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Fishing Zones 1 and 2 (Sonoma/Mendocino county line to the Oregon state line) effective at noon on April 20, 2022. This closure is being implemented in addition to a closure of Zones 3 through 6 announced on March 25 because of three recent humpback whale entanglements involving California commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear. All commercial Dungeness crab traps must be removed from the fishing grounds in Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6 by noon on April 8 and by noon on April 20 in Zones 1 and 2. In addition, the Director has authorized the Lost and Abandoned Gear Retrieval Program to begin removing commercial Dungeness crab traps left in the water starting April 15 at noon in Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6 and April 27 at noon in Zones 1 and 2. “We received reports of additional humpback whale entanglements and moved quickly to close the fishery to protect migrating humpback whales that are just starting to return to California waters,” said Director Bonham. “While this poses an economic impact on certain sectors of our coastal fishing communities, it is important to protect both whales and the long-term viability of the commercial fishery. We will be working with the fishing fleet, researchers and other agencies to better understand these recent entanglement events and find ways to mitigate this risk in future seasons.”   CDFW asks fishermen and mariners to be on the lookout for and report any entangled whales so a disentanglement response team can be mobilized to remove the gear. Reports can be made to 1-877-SOS-WHALE or contact the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16. The recreational fishery remains open statewide but may be subject to a future trap restriction as humpback whales return to California waters to forage during the spring and summer. The recreational fishery should be ready to respond to minimize risk. To that end, CDFW reminds everyone in the commercial and recreational fisheries to implement best practices, as described in the Best Practices Guide.   A map of all Fishing Zones can be found on the CDFW website. For more information related to the risk assessment process, please visit CDFW’s Whale Safe Fisheries page. For more information on the Dungeness crab fishery, please visit CDFW’s Crab page, including FAQs for the 2021-22 commercial fishing season and FAQs for the new recreational crab trap regulations.

"  We saw a couple of humpbacks yesterday, not feeding (never saw any bait on the meter) but definitely present. Our closure for traps is certainly coming, and I predict that we will end the Dungeness season as we started, with rings. 

 

 Well, it isn't red hot for most out of Bodega/Tomales, but there's some fish if you're skilled or, like us today, lucky. We tried off of Bodega Head in 300 feet of water to start. I guess some guys nailed them out there yesterday. Well, after two hours of trolling through what appeared to be a desert we got a call from Tailout saying fish were being caught south of Elephant in 240 feet of water. Not having a reason to stay, we ran down there. After only several hours, we finally landed a fish after noon on a flasher/hootchie. Ultimately Chris Brown, Gage and I finished with four fish about eight to ten pounds, three hookups on straight bait (one landed), five hookups on flasher/hootchie (three landed), one rod bait, two rods hootchies. The fish weren't big, but like the weather they were hot. A lot of fish were caught at 9 and 2 (or 8 and 3, earlier) but there was very little bait. One humpback rolled through while we were there. There were quite a few murres around and they seemed to be feeding near the bottom. Our fish came mostly at 100 feet on the wire, one at 60 pulls with a two pound ball. If I were to go tomorrow I would go to 9 by 2, but since we have a gale warning I probably wouldn't go at all. This was likely my April salmon day. It's my first April salmon. 

   It was awesome.

   Upon returning home we cleaned the boat, then the fish, then I went out on the beach to try for stripers in the surf (the high tide in the evening doesn't happen often enough.). I caught nothing but watched Eddie Parsons land two beautiful stripers to 16 pounds so close to me that he could hear me yelling horrible things at him. And he can't hear well. He caught his fish on a Yo-Zuri Mag Darter in sardine. I will own one soon. 

   Now bed.

    Occasionally we get a story here that can hopefully help the rest of us be safer. It is important to learn from our mistakes, and when we can, from other people's mistakes. So, yesterday, a gentleman with his kids took his inflatable boat out and across the bay to a beach. While parked there, his boat drifted off. No anchor? Poorly anchored? I don't know that part of the story, but I will say that I learned once, the hard way, that if you aren't sure about your anchoring than you better try again. Watching your boat drift away sucks. Anyhow, our gentlemen noted the same thing. He stripped down and swam after the boat. Now, yesterday morning I shot another temperature check on the water in front of the boathouse at low tide and had a temp of 53.5º. Try that in your skivvies. As the tide was higher when our hero went for a swim the water was very likely colder. The gentleman made it to his boat and was able to return, pick up the kids, then return to base. He was suffering from hypothermia and starting to slip into shock at that time. 911 was activated and he was checked out and passed muster without a trip to the hospital, but.... If not dying is your metric for pass/fail then he was cool. But if the wind was blowing the boat a little faster or he'd noticed it a minute later, there's a good chance our guy would be dead. Cold water kills fast. A lot of the living guys that the Coast Guard pulls out of cold water end up dying in the chopper. Don't go in the cold water without the proper attire or previous Polar Bear Club experience. I got thrown off the pier for my birthday in my teens and I can tell you that when you hit the water your heart stops. It feels pretty good when it starts again. Your breathing goes to short gasps because you can't take a full breath as your genitalia has crawled into your chest cavity to stay warm. My breathing's getting a little choppy just remembering it. Don't go in the water without a layer of neoprene.

   

   Well, nobody came in this weekend with stripers to make me feel any worse, so there's that. The New Sea Angler and Reel Magic did catch salmon yesterday, limits for the Magic and almost limits for the Angler, so it actually means that there's quite a few fish out there. That is kind of atypical for April, but supposedly we are living in atypical times, so there you go. I accept the good parts. The way things are lining up, there could be squid spawns in May and June and a good white sea bass bite during that time. The wind says no, but other indicators seem to differ. I'm hopeful, mostly because I'm hopeful. Catching white sea bass, as I vaguely recall, is good. I'll be watching water temps with the weather eye. 

   Crabbing over the weekend was good if reds were on the agenda. Dungeness? Far, far less so. There were some caught, even by the shore snaring folks, but it surely wasn't a hot bite. Most folks went without. All the wind has made things very entertaining for the people watching the self-launches as the freshly-blown sand has been very, very soft. Even the tractors are having a hard time. It will get better, but probably not before it gets worse. I took a temperature check yesterday afternoon at a 2.5' tide as the water was still going out and had 56.5º in front of the boathouse. THAT was the most interesting thing all day, as far I was concerned. There may be biting halibut in Inverness and there will be biting halibut by Hog Island and points north soon thereafter. 56º-57º is pretty much the go/no-go line. The report may soon become more interesting.

   Also interesting, there may be a change in the rockfish season year, in which the depth restriction we have become used to may apply in reverse. We could have up to four months of only fishing deeper than 300 feet of water. Rittenburg? The Football? Black cod on the edge of nowhere at the continental shelf? All in. And more. Cordell would continue to be a no-go, but other options are around, especially for a user of the Navionics app. I'm not selling it, but I have bought it, and it is worth it. All is revealed.

    Yesterday Gage and I went fishing on the beach and never had a bite. We started thinking that we night suck at this. Then Dan Steneck pulled up around noon today to confirm our worst fears. I guess I need to get one of his jerkbaits. I'm not Lucky at my Craft without them, it seems. Very nice work again, Dan. 

   I hadn't even looked until today, but it appears that the Point Reyes waverider buoy has been back up and running since January 26. The wave height for the last five days has ranged from seven to sixteen feet high and the average period from six to eight seconds between waves. That translates to "bad weather". Another indicator is the water temp rapidly dropping from a high of 53º to hover between 49.5º and 50.5º. The lower the temperature, the more wind and the more upwelling. The forecast looks breezy for a while. As we stand today, crab traps are still legal for sport fishermen. I think that will change soon, but who knows? If you do get a weather window and drop traps, please look out for whales. A dead whale wrapped in Dungeness gear will close the season for a long time. A dead blue whale could close the season for up to three years. So, now you have another reason why killing a whale is bad (did you need another?). Please be as careful as you can, for your sake and the rest of us.