I got this picture in a text from Mike Nursement at 9:40 this morning. This halibut and another of the same size were caught by Mike and his friend on the bar. They bit live jacksmelt, as did a sand sole. Not the biggest fish of the day but a couple of nice ones. 

    A bit larger was a fish caught by Aaron Jones. This one weighed in at 24 pounds. It bit a dead herring and was caught, along with another halibut, near Mike Nursement while fishing on Mike Sandrock's Osprey. Mr. Sandrock has been making long drifts, starting out in 50 feet of water, and the long, deep drift has been paying off. 

   The winner of today's competition (Yeah, I know, it's not a competition.....Unless you're winning.) was Conner Padon of Uncle Alan fame. A couple of days ago Conner and crew had three nice fish. Today Conner went alone and landed a nice halibut and a 31 pound halibut. He was able to slide that angry area rug into his net, somehow. I'm a gaffer (and I've raised my boys to be proud gaffers) but Conner made his net work, and if it works, it ain't wrong. Nice work, Conner, and really nice job landing a big fish by yourself. It isn't easy.

    There were a few other boats with fish, but there were also the boats without any. The fish aren't thick in the water, but the few fish that are here have a few thick ones mixed in. It doesn't make up how slow the fishing is, but at least someone is trying.

    As spoken by the Led Zeppelin, the song remains the same. Mostly poor fishing. The McAlisters had a rough last few days, mostly not catching (like everybody else, mostly), but today, redemption. These halibut weighed 31 and 15 pounds. Matt Workman of San Francisco caught the bigger one, and I wasn't given the name of the other slayer, but these guys were the high boat today, as far as I heard. The word was that they lost an even larger halibut on the bar. Just losing a fish today would put them in the top ranks. I didn't speak with anybody else, but nobody else came to me with a better story, so as far as I know, these guys won today.

    For the rock fisherman: "

Quillback Rockfish Retention Prohibited Statewide, Effective Aug. 7

Retention of quillback rockfish (Sebastes maliger) is prohibited statewide in both the recreational and commercial fisheries effective Aug. 7, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced today.

CDFW projects the combined recreational and commercial take of quillback rockfish will exceed the harvest limits specified in federal regulation for 2023, and in-season action must occur to reduce the risk of overfishing. Pursuant to California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 27.20(e), when federal harvest limits are projected to be exceeded, CDFW has authority to make in-season changes, including adjustments to bag and sub-bag limits.

The 2021 stock assessment for quillback rockfish off California indicated severe population declines. As a result, a recreational one-fish limit and reduced commercial limits were implemented in 2022 to reduce catch. Further constraints to the groundfish seasons for 2023 have not sufficiently reduced catch for quillback rockfish to meet federal harvest guidelines.

CDFW urges anglers to use best fishing practices to reduce impacts to quillback rockfish and other prohibited species. These include reducing mortality when releasing fish by utilizing a descending device and relocating to different fishing grounds or switching targets if you are catching and releasing quillback rockfish or other prohibited species.

The Rockfish, Cabezon, Greenling (RCG) complex bag and possession limit will remain 10 fish daily, with a one fish sub-bag limit for copper rockfish, and a four fish sub-bag limit for vermilion rockfish. Along with quillback rockfish, take of bronzespotted rockfish, cowcod and yelloweye rockfish continue to be prohibited year-round at all depths.

To better assist anglers with identifying rockfish species while fishing, CDFW has prepared informational flyers to distinguish quillback rockfish from similar looking species, such as China and black-and-yellow rockfish. Additional fish identification materials on rockfish and other species can be found on CDFW’s Fish and Shellfish Identification web page.

CDFW will continue to monitor groundfish species of concern, such as quillback rockfish. If the current in-season change prohibiting take of quillback rockfish is not sufficient to reduce harvest, additional in-season actions such as modifications to the season dates and/or depth constraints may be implemented. Anglers are strongly encouraged to minimize catch of quillback rockfish and other prohibited species to reduce the possibility of further in-season actions in 2023 and beyond. CDFW recommends reviewing the Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations web page before each trip to ensure anglers are up to date on the most recent groundfish regulations.

For information on groundfish fishery science, management and other frequently asked questions, please visit CDFW’s Marine Region Groundfish web page." Well, you guys that have gone rockfishing in the shallows since they opened up thirteen days ago, congrats! I guess you caught so many of these relatively rare rockfish (for here) that the option will be closed. Less than two weeks! I knew that I was surrounded by a bunch of fishing baddasses, and this just proves it. Good work! And stay away from my halibut.

 

   Most fishermen today had sad stories. No bites, or the only one got away. Not so for the crew of the Uncle Al. These guys had three bites and that equaled three fish to 18 pounds. For the record, as usual, the smallest fisherman actually caught the largest fish. The fish were distributed by size related to the fisherman, not by who caught which fish. My man on the right in the photo wanted me to make that clear. I don't know his name, but I know that he caught the big one. And I know that he wants you to know that, too.

    What happened today? Let's talk about yesterday some more. Larry Varela sent over this picture from yesterday, today. This photo shows a portion of Team Alexander, otherwise known as the Evil Twins or Double Trouble, plus a lot of fish. Today the Team stayed ashore, looking for those stripers off of Sand Point. Many people lined the Point today, waiting for those pelicans to start diving. And waiting. And waiting. Gage and I were waiting, too. The pelicans never started their blitz. As far as I know, the bite never happened, but then again, I wasn't there all day. Gage and I caught two halibut, 12 and 14 pounds, both on live jacksmelt. We couldn't find the school bait. We did try trolling for halibut in front of the esteros, but we caught nothing, except...

    Our trolling for halibut ended after the second, non-existent king salmon bit the bait. I am happy that they're here, but damn. My hand was shaking a bit on the release. The hand that was saying, "Give it the wood!" was shaking. No wood was given, but I'm guessing that more fish will be going up the river this fall than were predicted. 

     Mason caught this 16 pound striper in the surf from the shore today. It bit a rubber eel. The pelicans were pounding the water and finally moved just barely close enough for him to drop that eel right on the striper's head. Instant hookup. Mason has been throwing lures from the beach for a while now and his number finally came up. You know, Mason, the first one is the hardest. Unfortunately, the second one ain't a whole lot easier, but it will come. Follow them birds.

    Angel Loera caught this 24.5 pound halibut on a live jacksmelt this afternoon. They had just reached the end of the drift and either had to move the boat or walk home. When Angel went to reel up he discovered that it was going to be a little harder than just a few cranks of the handle. He was fishing with Mike Torres and they had one other fish on that released itself. Most of the boats came back with at least one halibut today, but Angel's was the largest. The most noteworthy boat today caught one bat ray, two halibut and four thresher sharks, all while anchored. Yes, threshers. There's some bait moving into the bay and the threshers are following it. Things are getting interesting, even though the water isn't warming up.

    Gage hooked four stripers during the pelican blitz, keeping one. What are they eating? Looks like mostly anchovies, but you can see a small bullhead and a pretty digested large sardine. Yesterday some surf fishermen had 8" sardines leaping out of the surf onto the beach with them. It's probably not surprising that they hooked a few stripers during that time. Sardines make some of the best live bait you can catch, so this discovery gets double interesting. I need to get some larger sabikis...