There's a few surfperch on the beach, and I heard of a few salmon out in 45 fathoms on Monday. Slow crabbing for the few that tried. The wind was pretty aggressive late in the week. The only thing that was good was the clamming, and that had plenty of unhappiness for some clammers. Fish and Wildlife wardens are definitely making themselves known in certain circles. One boat was confiscated by wardens after they witnessed the guys in the boat dumping two buckets of clams over the side. The clammers saw the wardens and didn't want the tickets. They still got ticketed (even an extra page) and lost the boat. The wardens are having such a productive time at the Landing that they are planning on being a regular fixture, at least until they can't find a violator. If you don't have it already, you better get religion and keep your nose clean or you'll be helping to pay the state's bills. Speaking of doing the right thing, it's probably also a good idea to be extra vigilant on the safety front while out on the water. Nine people have died on the water in the last six months between Bodega Head and Bird Rock. There's been easily three times as many people that were successfully rescued in that same time. Let's all be safe and legal out there and let the wardens and rescuers have a break.

Sorry about the lack of posts; it's partly a lack of anything to tell and partly because I was out of town. On the good news side, rockfish season is open and there's salmon biting out in about 250' of water. One was landed here today. It's not red hot, but salmon in April,  so who's complaining? On the bad news side, the weather has mostly been bad. Bad enough that you couldn't get there from here. Yesterday the swell was too big to get out from here but some boats tried for salmon from Bodega. One didn't make it back. The 21 foot boat ended up in pieces on the beach south of Bird. At the time of this writing, searchers had recovered only two of the four fishermen. Nobody knows what happened, but it may have involved the Trees reef break as it's definitely capable of bad things. There were several fatal boat accidents there in the sixties and seventies. Kind of early in the season for experienced salmon fishermen to be working that area, though. Without knowing any real information, the only real takeaway for the rest of us is to wait for a better day, make sure your electronics and your engine(s) are solid, and be cautious, especially early and late in the season. For the friends and families of those lost, our condolences,  and to the rest of you, be careful out there. Remember, it's supposed to be fun.

No salmon pictures from here for this weekend. I should post some pictures of kites or windsurfers. A couple of boats went of here out but didn't spend much time trying before they surfed back in. From the radio, a few boats had a couple of salmon but the action was sparse in the cold, churned-up water. Crabbing was pretty slow in the bay as well. I didn't hear of any leopard sharks caught, only a bat ray. I'm guessing that the leopards' fins were hard to spot in the chop. The surfperch did bite for the guys that didn't mind getting sand and salt blasted.

Salmon season will open here on April 4 with a limit of two per day, four in possession, and a 24" minimum size. After April there will likely be different regulations, but there won't be a decision on that until April 17. If history is any indicator the fish will be out deep, but other signs like warm water and continued squid spawning would seem to suggest that there may be some near shore fish. Today the beach had squid egg sacs scattered all over, so the spawning is definitely happening. If you come for the salmon but the wind is blowing (and really, what are the chances of that?) the surfperch are biting, at least. Also, I heard that some scuba divers speared three halibut by Hog Island this weekend. That would be three more than normal for this time of year but the water is not normal, so who knows? Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, I was told.

It is now finally official; the new rockfish rules are in effect. Here's from the official press release : The open season dates and allowable fishing depths for the recreational Groundfish Management Areas are as follows:

"Northern - Open May 15 through Oct. 31, in 20 fathoms (120 feet) or less
Mendocino - Open May 15 through Oct. 31, in 20 fathoms (120 feet) or less
San Francisco - Open April 15 through Dec. 31, in 30 fathoms (180 feet) or less
Central - Open April 1 through Dec. 31, in 40 fathoms (240 feet) or less
Southern - Open March 1 through Dec. 31, in 60 fathoms (360 feet) or less
Staff from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) worked closely with recreational stakeholders to develop the regulations prior to submission to and approval by the Commission. "The changes are designed to allow as much fishing opportunity as possible while remaining within allowable catch limits," said Marci Yaremko, CDFW's State/Federal Fisheries Program Manager. "However, as we do each year, we will be closely monitoring catches up and down the state during the open season to ensure we don't exceed any limits."

Other changes include:
An increase in the lingcod bag limit from two to three fish
A sub-bag limit of five black rockfish within the 10-fish Rockfish, Cabezon, Greenling (RCG) complex bag limit
Statewide closure of the California scorpionfish fishery from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31
Take and possession of bronzespotted rockfish, canary rockfish, cowcod and yelloweye rockfish will remain prohibited statewide."

Keep in mind that depth limitation isn't actually about the depth but that special line I posted several weeks back and you'll be fine.  Also, looks like salmon should open on April 4th. Minimum size and limits to be determined. The summer salmon season looks like it will be a good one, better than last year, even. I thought last year was pretty good, so I'm excited for summer.
The crabbing has been mostly slow with occasional greatness for a lucky few. Most boaters have just been bringing in a few but every couple of weeks someone loads up. The outer bay was the hot spot a day ago. The perch are still running in the surf and a couple of stripers were caught as well. Schools of large jacksmelt are passing by the pier and they like the pink sabikis.