While there were a couple salmon caught in 40 to 60 feet of water yesterday, the best bite is still out in the deep (220 to 280 feet of water) off of Bodega Head. I heard of a few keepers caught less than 100 feet down but the vast majority were hooked 100 to 200 feet down. The silvers were shallower than the kings for the most part but could still be caught on the bottom, so don't think that you can escape them by going deep. For those that didn't want to play in the deep (or didn't like the weather outside; it was bit bumpy) the halibut were still biting in the bay.

  Mitch Hamilton sent in this photo and report:"Had a good day back by hog island. Jumbo jacksmelt did the trick. Son in law Brandon and grandson Travis both scored as well." A lot of people think that big jacksmelt won't work for halibut, but like Mitch, I've found that they'll try to eat them. It's often hard to hook the halibut using a big bait, but maybe Mitch will tell us his method, because it looks like he was hooking up pretty well. Nicely done, sir.

    Mike Brunkherst of Auburn caught these yesterday, the larger one weighing 29 pounds. Live bait does catch a lot of halibut, but these two ate drifted dead bait on the northwest side of Hog.

    This 21 pound halibut was caught near Marker 5 by Jeremy Nichol of Auburn today. It bit the only live jacksmelt they had for bait. Catching bait has gotten a bit difficult lately, which may account for some of the fish caught  on frozen bait. Determination, moderate currents and chum will usually pay off for the liveys. Mostly chum.

    So now I'm looking for the answer to a deep question: Which side of a halibut should you show when taking your picture? Dark colors are slimming, right? And we want our fish to look as large as possible. So in your opinion, is this 33.5 pounder larger.....

     ....or is this one larger? Jerrie Carter was kind enough to catch a big fish to model for this debate. She caught this one today on a live jacksmelt. Jerrie likes the look of the brown side, but I think the white side looks more impressive.  Comments? Polite comments, I mean?

   Bodega Jack sent in this report from yesterday:"Jim Hudelson of Rohnert Park with his limit of salmon caught today at the 17/6 line in 260' of water 125' deep. Watermelon apex."

     Kelley Roy sent in this detailed report:"Willy

A few firsts yesterday. Our first trip of the year, Shane’s first salmon, and I caught my first “silver”, as you said a lot of silvers caught yesterday. We started a little late but joined the fleet staying northwest of the mob out in the deeper water and landed a 25 inch king 220 otw straight bait anchovy, caught a silver along with a couple of take downs at the same depth. We moved in around 220-240 feet and heard reports of fish coming 150 otw so raised up to 150 and brought a 10 lbr to the boat but botched it….I left the rigger down –oops.  Hour later caught the 14-15 lbr 150 otw anchovy then watched a couple other boats hook up in the same area. A great day!" Much better than my day there. I couldn't get a bite for a long time, then lost a (probably short but who knows?) king at the boat. Then the downrigger cable twisted and frayed and without a crimper I was down to one downrigger. I wasn't catching with four lines in the water and I didn't see how half would be better, so we bailed from the deep and tried McClure's, where we lost another salmon in 40 feet of water. Finally fished Tomales Bay for a pair of 8 pound halibut between 3 and 4 pm. The water is getting a bit warmer and it looks like a few of the anchovies are starting to leave Tomales Bay, so there may be more shallow-water salmon to try for in a few days if the strong winds keep away as requested. FYI, the Tomales Bay bar had some breakers on it this morning when the fog was thick and a few people got to revisit childhood memories when their life flashed in front of their eyes, so anybody thinking of running out tomorrow should probably approach it with the proper respect (don't try if you can't see). 

     Here's a photo of what lurks beneath the murky water of Tomales Bay, sent in by Heiko Gmirr:"Caught this angel shark south of the weather buoy on dead anchovy from a kayak" That's too close for a kayak, imho.

    Lots of salmon action today, although most of the salmon were silvers. I heard of someone on the radio saying that he had caught 11 silvers and no kings. That's a lot of endangered fish. There are still quite a few kings and a few guys found them quick and limited before noon. Same general area, 16 and 6, 17 and 7, etc. A few guys tried in closer (30 to 60 feet of water below Bird Rock) and found bait but no salmon. Soon, though, they will be there. In the bay there were a few halibut caught, mostly on live bait near the yellow buoy. Someone caught and released a 26 pound (estimated, I hope) striper near there. Raoul Duke sent in a report from yesterday: 

"Howard Koons caught this nice vermillion and two 12 pound salmon,  the salmon were at 275 feet of water off Bodega Head."

     Allen Evans of Santa Rosa sent in these photos and report:"Fished off Bird Rock in 240 feet of water...120 feet OTW...Ocean was beyond flat! One 15lb fish for a couple hours trolling." Nice water, and nice fish, Allen.

     The salmon bit well for the guys that could get their gear down to where the fish were. The fish were off of Bodega Head in 260 to 290 feet of water, 80 (early) to 160 feet down OTW. You're probably not getting that watermelon Apex down to 160 behind a trolled 2 pound ball. The guys with downriggers that I spoke with had limits or almost limits. The guys without had, well, let's just say less. Also, as ab fish mentioned in the comments today, there are a lot of silvers out there. White gums bad, black gums good. Also, God forbid you get so far, but if you net a salmon and it suddenly looks like someone spilled glitter in your boat, you just killed a silver that you need to throw over the side. Really. Don't ask how I know, I just do. Here's a photo of the day's largest salmon:

    Jesse Keilman wanted to get his picture on here again, so he drove down from South Lake Tahoe to put this 22 pound salmon in the boat, then on the report. This one came from 280 feet of water off of Bodega Head.

     I guess this is a success story. These guys went halibut fishing south of Hog but only came home with these stripers. The big one the grinning kid is holding weighed 24 pounds. I guess if you yell "striper" enough times it can come true.

   This nice photo of a limit of rockfish is to let people know that they are still biting, even though I keep talking salmon fishing on here. It makes me nervous to post this photo with the canary in it, but lets all remember, you can keep one before you have to move the boat now.

    Again, this guy. I say they caught shallow yesterday so he runs deep. 16 by 6. A limit to 16 pounds. One on the watermelon and one on an Anchovy Special. I think he's just trying to hurt my feelings.