One salmon landed today and quite a few crabs from the outer bay. A little slower crabbing on the pier due to the fast currents with the low tides. Yesterday a halibut came in, probably from McClure's Beach but I can't confirm. The divers said the water was clear today but the surge made the diving difficult. The forecast is for some wind this weekend but hopefully the mornings will be good like today was.

The dungeness have moved in to the bay today. Two limits of nice, clean, sport-legal crab were caught off the pier before noon. One crabber dropped his gear in the water at 7:00 AM and had 9 dungeness by 8:00 AM. That's my kind of crabbing. Too bad it won't last long.

Even though the water isn't very nice Terry Fogal was able to put this 25# king in the boat. He was fishing close to Bird Rock and lost a second salmon in the same area. No halibut or surfperch landed this week but the dungeness crab bite has been pretty steady from the pier. Just remember, you measure the dungeness in front of the spines. The spines don't count toward the 5.75" minimum. That little bit can cost you quite a bit of money.

A few more salmon this weekend. Not everyone caught, but those that did were out in 250 feet of water. A couple of halibut from the warm end of the bay, another from the frigid water of McLure's Beach. The clamming was good with the low tides this weekend, as well as the rockpicking for abalone. The abalone divers had a good time as well with the relatively flat and clear water. Crabbing was, again, not great but still pretty darn good.

One 15 pound salmon landed here yesterday. Apparently the bite at Bird is over. Two guys shore fishing had a 5' leopard shark from Tom's Point. The water is cold and clear, not the best for fishing but very good for the divers. Ab divers on Sunday reported great visibility but ice cream headaches. The crabbing is still not great but OK.

LWD (Large Woody Debris)

Although we all mostly enjoy being able to trundle our nymphs along the river bed without the fear of getting snagged up on some sunken branches there is a school of thought that far from being a hindrance large Woody Debris (LWD) and also Coarse Woody Debris (CWD) is highly beneficial for the whole Eco-system of our rivers.

In the past, on most fishing clubs 'bank clearing days' fallen trees or sunken logs obstructing club waters were swiftly removed to leave trouble free riverbeds, but research has shown that the careful introduction of LWD has huge benefits to both the fish and invertebrate life of the river system and also helps reduce bank side erosion.

A small river I frequently fish in Shropshire is a very good example of the benefits of LWD. It can be very frustrating to fish but once you plot a mental map of the areas to avoid the overall fishing experience is greatly improved with higher than average catch rates.

Just two of many fish taken on both nymph & dry this weekend.

In my mind there is no doubt that this is the way forward to improve our rivers natural fish stocks and create a more harmonious balance between catching a few more fish and losing a few more flies.

More informative PDF file HERE.

Clay Englebrecht and John Brezina with two kings. John's went 25#.
Dan Wong put his daughter's boyfriend, Shane, on this 20 pounder, first fish on the board. The boats were fishing in 40' to 50' down in 75' to 80' of water off of Bird Rock. Yesterday I said there were no fish to be caught out there. Please ignore that.

No halibut, no salmon, and no surfperch this week. There was enough wind to chill the ocean water by 10 degrees. Even the crabbing slowed down with the cold water. The crabbing was still the best thing going. The ospreys have been flying over with perch in their talons, so the perch are there, they just aren't biting. The best bet for catching a fish this weekend would be to head back by Marshall or, even better, Inverness, where the water should be warmer and fish may actually be interested in biting.

Riverfly Partnership Course

I was fortunate to be able to participate in a one day course run by the Riverfly Partnership which is aimed at providing fisherman with the training to carry out controlled invertebrate monitoring of our waterways.



The whole event took place thanks to some hard work by the 'Severn Rivers Trust' in securing lottery funding to finance the 2 one day courses which were run in the picturesque town of Craven Arms in Shropshire on the banks of the river Onny.





The very knowledgeable Dai Roberts was the Riverfly representative and tutor for the day, he has a great passion for the scheme and the importance for anglers to get first hand information about the health of the rivers they fish and be able to monitor any sudden changes in the invertebrate life. Dai was also accompanied by a couple of local Environment Agency officers.



With the knowledge now gained I will now be able to add my own small contribution to the scheme which is so important if we are able to act quickly enough when our river come under threat from pollution.



I managed to fit in a few hours on a nearby small river after the course where the fish were rising briefly as I started to fish and a few were taken on both dry & nymph...perfect end to a good day.