Finally. Halibut. Not just here, but in San Francisco as well. I appreciate the fact that there's no lag time this year, as usually there's a four to six week period between when they bite in SF and when they finally bite here. This year they coordinated better and started a few days back. It ain't smoking hot either place, but you can catch a fish in both places, I hear. Gage and I caught a ride with tcguideservice.com on Tanner's 25 foot Parker on Thursday. We went back to Inverness and hooked fourteen fish, five of which were legal sized and four of which were actually landed in the boat. Gage and I need to practice our netting, apparently. Gaffing is good, though. Trolled straight herring was the ticket, mostly. Three fish bit stuff behind flashers/dodgers and one bit a Predator minnow but three of the keepers were on blue label Harbor Herring all by their lonesome. That is equivalent to everybody else's green label, size-wise, but our blue Harbor is in the best shape, so troll it we do. No belly disintegration. Good bait. And yes, it is game on all over. Best bite in Tomales has been way, way back by Inverness/Marconi on live and dead baits. The warm water extends all the way to Hog at low tide but the murky water we were catching in was lurking around Inverness only. I must say, I do better when the water is really colored up, as dirty water hides all my imperfections, of which there are many. Yes, I love that dirty water. 

    But beyond that Standells reference, other people have been catching too. The best bite has remained in the wayback (Thank you Mr. Peabody et. al. for the reference), but that's where people are fishing, so... Can't catch where you're not fishing. At the low tide, good temperature water extended past Hog to the north. Schools of bait were in the hole just south of Pelican. Not a few, but a lot of bait. Things are starting to happen. And thankfully, not just here. Soon we'll have photos. It'll happen! Probably before the end of this month but definitely before the end of June. The fish are starting to enter the bay, following the bait. 

   Crabbing has picked up, slightly, as the now sexually satisfied Dungeness are starting to slide back in closer to the shore. Good for them. Finish your post-coital cigarette and then climb in my hoop. Or snare. The shore snarers have been doing pretty well lately, judging by bucket and afternoon rod/snare sales. Most of those sales are predicated on somebody catching a crab and needing a bucket or seeing the crab caught and wanting to copy the success. 

   Crab traps are now closed until Dungeness closes here (July 1st).  Hoops and snares are still okay. Catching Dungeness is still hard, especially inside the bay this week as the low tides make for high currents, and high currents are bad for crabbing but good for losing crab gear. One guy I spoke with had only one keeper on Monday but landed six on Tuesday, all by Marker Five. Not quite awesome.

    Gage and I spent a few hours this morning trying for halibut on the north end of the bay. Result? Beans for dinner. We did get out of the bay and try for rockfish around the time the south wind kicked up, and we returned about an hour before the wind died. We caught two gopher rockfish to go with our beans. Good thing we had some beans. I haven't heard of any other halibut caught inside the bay although there were probably a few caught by some quiet fishermen, but not many. San Francisco Bay has been pretty slow for halibut so far, and we generally follow behind them, so maybe in a few more weeks? Fingers crossed. I guess I can get another coat of wax on the boat while I wait.

   

    The less-than-heinous weather (ocean fishing-wise) the last few days had at least one boat from here hit Rittenburg on Friday for limits of schoolies (mostly yellowtail) but no lingcod. The lings have been hit pretty hard there the last couple of years and require a bit of searching if you don't already have the waypoint in your GPS. I don't have that one. Before the deep water closure in 2000ish it didn't matter where you dropped a line on Ritternburg, you just caught lings and no rockfish. If you did hook a rockfish it was immediately ripped off the line by a lingcod. Those were the days. Although, now I prefer catching schoolies as they're easier to clean and tastier than the big lings. Big ones for bragging and schoolies for eating, says I, and it turns out as I get older that I prefer eating. So if you want the lings you need to work for them there. Harvest Time had a good time with lings at the Football but I have only caught a few smallish ones there. I'm guessing location, location, location again. I've only fished the very south end and done well on reds there in 620 feet of water so I'll bet Mr. Time was somewhere else on the reef, as there are acres and acres. No matter in the short term, as deep water ends Wednesday night and nearshore (less than 20 fathoms(120 feet) or at least shoreward of the line of waypoints signifying that depth constraint) opens on May 1st. The shallows have been difficult as they take a beating. Good luck.

     Branden Mendoza sent over the best halibut report from Tomales Bay that I heard from this week: "

Hey Willy. Thought I'd check in. We trolled today from about 730am till 1130am. Saw lots of bait and birds between red barn and Marshal. We trolled hootchie skirts and herring. We only managed one shorty but it was a nice day out on the water and glad to know they are starting to bite, even if it is slowly. Thanks for the reports. "      A shorty is good, as bites of any kind have been in short supply. There has been a bit of bird activity on the north end of the bay, very sporadic, but it seems that there is some bait coming in, and hopefully with it some things that eat bait. Good effort, Branden. The next month should start some things up. 

     Crabbing has been the same, slow. I'm sure that it will get better after traps close at 6:00 PM on Thursday. The commercial guys have been catching almost nothing so I'm sure that when they get off the water our portion of almost nothing will get that that much better. Never mind the snark, though, but the clutch is ending and there will be more crab marching in from the deep, so catching will improve as we approach the end of the season. It will never be good this season but it will get less bad,

  

    The Coastodian sent over this picture from Inverness today. The halibut he had hoped to be in this picture declined to bite the offered hooks. It is still early. The surface has warmed and there's bait entering the bay (according to the pelicans diving and big flocks of terns arriving) so as the water warms down and the bait situation heats up, fish will start biting appropriately. Just, not yet. Soon, though. The variables are lining up, as well as the calendar days passing. Mother's Day and after is probably the target for good fishing. 

     Crabbing with traps will end at 6:00 PM on May 1st here. So will commercial crabbing with traps. Traps will reopen on July 1st when Dungeness closes. Next Dungeness season will have different rules for traps and hoops but I haven't seen a final plan yet and I heard a rumor that there may be a lawsuit that could delay things. Just know this universal rule: Get 'em while you can. Probably don't wait for next season if you are thinking of going crabbing. The clutch is ending and bright shiny (kinda hollow...) crab are re-emerging from where ever they hide. Crabbing should get better until the season ends. Get 'em while you can.  Here's the press release from CDFW:

"Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishing Opportunity Continues in Northern Management Area, will Close in Central Management Area to Protect Whales from Entanglement

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham has assessed entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) and announced changes to both commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fisheries in the Central Management Area. These changes, which will go into effect at 6 p.m. on May 1, 2025, are intended to minimize entanglement risk as humpback whales return to forage off the coast of California.

The commercial fishery will close in Fishing Zone 3 (Sonoma/Mendocino County line, 38°46.125' N Latitude, to Pigeon Point, 37°11' N Latitude), at which time the commercial take and possession of Dungeness crab from those waters is prohibited. The commercial fishery will remain open in Fishing Zones 1 and 2 (California/Oregon border to the Sonoma/Mendocino County line 38°46.125' N Latitude) under existing trap reductions and depth constraints. Fishing Zones 4-6 (Pigeon Point to the U.S./Mexico border) were closed for the commercial season on April 15, 2025. 

A recreational crab trap restriction will be extended to include Fishing Zone 3. A crab trap restriction was implemented in Fishing Zone 4 (Pigeon Point to Lopez Point, 36°00' N Latitude, Monterey County) on April 15, 2025. CDFW reminds recreational crabbers that take of Dungeness crab by other methods (including hoop nets and crab snares) is allowed through the close of the season. 

All open Fishing Zones remain under a Fleet Advisory for both the commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fisheries. CDFW also reminds all fishery participants to implement best practices, as described in the Best Practices Guide.  

Commercial Dungeness crab vessels are authorized to retrieve an unlimited number of commercial Dungeness crab traps which are lost, damaged, abandoned or otherwise derelict in Fishing Zone 3 starting at 6 a.m. on May 8, 2025. In Fishing Zones 4-6, permitted Dungeness crab vessels were authorized to retrieve an unlimited number of lost, damaged, abandoned, or otherwise derelict traps on April 22, 2025. CDFW requests that individuals regularly report retrieved gear to WhaleSafeFisheries@wildlife.ca.gov. Any vessel operating or transiting in an open Fishing Zone may not possess more than six traps belonging to another vessel, pursuant to Title 14, California Code of Regulations, Section 132.2(a)(2)(A). In addition, CDFW has authorized the Lost and Abandoned Gear Retrieval Program to begin removing commercial Dungeness crab traps left in the water beginning May 8, 2025, at 6 a.m. in Fishing Zone 3. In Fishing Zones 4-6, retrieval operations began on April 22, 2025.

CDFW anticipates the next risk assessment will take place in early May 2025. For more information related to the risk assessment process or trap gear retrieval, please visit CDFW’s Whale Safe Fisheries page. For more information on the Dungeness crab fishery, please visit wildlife.ca.gov/crab. "

 

   This barely legal halibut (all of 22.5 inches) would lead one to believe that it is halibut time on Tomales Bay. I guess that it is, but it's got a long way to go until it's good halibut fishing. Gage and I trolled eight lines for three hours for two halibut, one of them a keeper. That's 24 hook/hours per fish. The water is warming and there's the start of some bait schools in Marshall and Inverness but it's not quite go time. Two weeks. Maybe three. By that time shallow water rockfish will be open as well. It's all coming. The things are going strong back in Inverness are leopard sharks and bat rays. We saw several of both while tacking around and watched the lines bounce off of several fish. It looked like we were bumping into jellyfish but there were no jellies. Two baby bat rays ended up getting snagged as we trolled. They were tiny and precious and really, really wanted to poke multiple holes in Gage. To be fair, I've had my moments too. No holes were poked and the bambinos were released intact. Another boat from here has caught quite a few sharks and rays back there this week in 4 to 8 feet of water. They're there if you want them.

    Crabbing has been not good, still, but it seems that it is starting to slightly pick up. Shore snarers are getting a few keeper Dungeness here and there. The guys I know working traps in the outer bay have been catching limits on long soaks but none of their crab have been large or pretty. But, hey, sport-legal mudders are better than no crab at all.