Not too much catching going on with the salmon today. The rockfishing was pretty good for most of the guys that tried it. The Vogler family decided to go catch dinner and went out after work to try for squid. Above is Cameron, showing how to unhook a squid (and himself) from a sabiki rig.

This video shows the boat that is trying to catch all the spawning squid. With luck he leaves us a few. The squid were next to the outer red bell buoy, number 2, under the birds. For the record, it seemed like they liked the pink sabikis way better than the whitish ones. We caught 89 squid in about an hour of fishing.
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A couple of salmon landed today for the four boats that went out. The wind, so far, has remained offshore. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice but Monday's forecast calls for a 9 foot swell. At least there aren't any halibut on the bar to lure fishermen to their doom.

Not too much to report except for windy ocean conditions for the last few days. There's a big school of squid nearby that should have the fish boiling around it, but so far as I can tell the only thing to eat around there is the squid. They are tasty, though.

Summer Over...Thankfully!

The weather at last seems to be settled into what we expect for this time of year and river levels last weekend were perhaps a little low but with the implementation of a little more stealth than normal fish were definitely on the lookout for an easy meal.

On Saturday I headed off to the River Ithon and had the company of Steve...a mate who I used to fish alongside during my old coarse/match fishing days.

A midday start and a brisk walk down the river and we were soon connecting with some fish but the larger fish that this river holds were definitely very wary and not really showing themselves.

Both of us fished our way up fishing the duo style (Klinkhamer on a dropper with a small weighted nymph 18"-24" below). Persistence paid off and we had both ended up netting a couple of good quality fish along with the smaller ones, arriving back at the car with our lungs filled full of pure Welsh air and the scent of freshly baled hay from the fields...and of course the odd whiff of manure here and there!

This quality trout eventually calmed by Steve after putting on quite an aerial display! 

On Sunday I spent a few hours battling the much stronger winds a little further south on the River Irfon, a totally different river with faster flows...a true upland welsh river originating from the Cambrian Mountains.

The fishing was again a case of an extremely stealthy approach to get the best out of it and fishing was much tougher than the previous day.

All in all it felt like a good weekend to be out fishing and as I posted on this blog last year...I just love Autumn fishing...especially the back end of the trout season.

Here's Gil Mels and Ted Anderson with some more of Thursday's tuna. Yesterday's tuna mission was not as fruitful, with one boat catching five and another, returning at 10PM, with one. The weather was not good offshore 

Scott Alexander of Rocklin caught this 27 pound salmon yesterday while trolling.

Chase Conley of Healdsburg speared this 36 pound halibut on the bar today. There were a few others shot and seen on the bar by the group of divers. Fishermen scored a few more halibut off of Dillon Beach today, at least two of which were caught on jigs. Finally a few halibut to report.

The two boats that went for albacore today caught "as many as we could hold." The Due Regard reported two six way hookups. The numbers were N38 48 by W123 42. Salmon fishing was OK with fish coming from the Point/Bird area, 40 to 60 feet of water near the north parking lot, and a couple at Elephant. Again, no halibut that I heard of. Rockfishing was slow at Point Reyes.

Here's Rich Chapin, Andy Fisch and Herb Hansen with some of yesterday's tuna. They would look happier except that now they have to go clean 17 albacore.

The albacore guys caught today. I heard of 15 to 16 fish to a boat and 25 to 35 pound fish. 50 miles or so out, I didn't catch all the numbers but it sounded like 37 45 by 123 42 or so. Salmon numbers were not as good but were OK. The salmon were in the usual spots as well as a few in 30 feet off of the north parking lot on Ten Mile.

Good weather is forecast for the next few days, so if you haven't got your fill of salmon yet, here's your opportunity. They're still biting from buoy "2" down to the Trees in 50 to 70 feet of water, mostly on the bottom but some are coming up high now. It's typical late season action with nothing going on for an hour or two, then you get a little flurry of action, then nothing again. Keeping the hooks in their mouths is also challenging. Getting a halibut to put the hooks in its mouth is even more challenging this year. It should be prime time for halibut now but nobody told the flatfish. Lots of sand sole are on the beach, so maybe they could be tiny replacements. There's a few boats running for albacore tomorrow. Report to follow.

Mara Nursement caught this 20 pound (gutted) salmon on derby day. All Mike got was a cold saltwater bath from a breaker.

Paul Gross also landed a 20 pound salmon for the derby.

Terry Fogal is smiling because his salmon is half a pound bigger than the others on this entry. "Center consoles rule!"

Paul Kotko, Jake Showaker and Adam Kotko pose with the winning fish.

A wet Ron Johnson shows off his 19 pound (gutted) salmon from derby day.

Vic Shada finally found the fish later in the day but put three fish in the boat in 45 minutes just north of Bird Rock in 60 feet of water.

   The Merle Lawson Memorial Salmon Derby was held yesterday in some pretty rough water. The winners were: Jake Showaker, 1st place, 24 pounds; Roger Remington, 2nd place, 24 pounds; and Rich Chapin, 3rd place, 23.5 pounds. Tied weights went to the first fish weighed in, so Jake's early finish put him on top. About 25 boats fished in unpleasant conditions at best, with some of the boats scooping waves over their bows while trolling. Hooking a fish was difficult and actually putting one in the boat without going in the drink yourself was a major challenge. Due to the skill of the competitors (and a bit of luck) nobody got hurt and quite a few fish made it into the boats. There was a raffle at the dinner afterwards with prizes donated by Diekmann's General Store, Dillon Beach Resort, Outdoor Pro Shop, Roseberry Construction, and the Lawson family. Thanks to everyone that came out, and hopefully we can do it again next year.

Paul Page caught this 22 and this 19 pound salmon today while mooching in an undisclosed location. He caught them both early, then tried for halibut for three hours without a bite. A pair of divers speared two limits of halibut on the bar and saw another 5 fish, so the flat ones may finally be showing back up.



Craig Wilson of Colorado caught this 42 pound white sea bass yesterday while salmon fishing. Lots of salmon were caught yesterday as well, mostly in the Tomales Point to the Trees area in 35 to 70 feet of water, both by trolling and mooching. Mooching may have had an edge with a few more caught. I fished Ten Mile and saw 8 salmon jump (one was 20+ pounds) and caught 4 salmon to 26 pounds. The two "hot spots" were the north parking lot (3 salmon and a halibut) and the Keyholes. Elephant and the Keyholes definitely had more bait than anywhere else on the beach.

Newest local legend Nathan Porter now leads the big fish board with this 36 pound slug. Also pictured is a 26 pounder. The fish came on the troll south of the Trees in 50 feet of water and bit a purple label herring.

Travis Barton nailed this 20 pound salmon on Ten Mile yesterday while trolling 20 feet of water.

Bruce Schneider caught this white sea bass last year while fishing in 40 feet of water off the esteroes. Yes, this is last year's fish, but honestly, how many sea bass do we see around here?

Jeff LaLonde of West Sacramento caught this beautiful 33 pound salmon yesterday.

Mike Nursement caught this 22# salmon on a trolled glow-in-the-dark RSK with a herring.

Mike Pfiefle shot this 31 pound halibut on the bar on Saturday.

Today saw fewer boats on the water and fewer fish brought in. Of those fish, one was a 33 pound salmon (picture tomorrow) and three were halibut caught this side of Hog Island. The halibut were caught by one fisherman and he jigged them up in about a half hour.

Here's what some of those salmon looked like. These were caught Friday in the Tomales Point to the Trees area and ran 23 and 18 pounds. There was an 8 pound fish but that was one too many to hold so it didn't get in the photo. If you have fish pictures (preferably of fish caught near here) send them to lawsonslanding@gmail.com with a little info and I'll get them posted.

Some boats did well today, a few caught nothing, but most boats had 1 or 2 salmon. The salmon came from the usual places as well as off of Elephant and Ten Mile. The depths remained the same except that some of the salmon at Elephant were at the top and the beach fish were as shallow as you'd dare. A couple of halibut from Ten Mile.

There were some nice fish landed today but not as many fish per boat as yesterday. Jellyfish and seaweed moved in to "good spot" today making fishing a lot more complicated. The Keyholes had a few fish without the complications. Divers found a few halibut on the bar today. A boat out rockfishing the shallows near Tomales Point reported slow fishing but saw a few salmon on the surface and a pair of large great white sharks (do they come in any other size?).

No halibut that I heard about yesterday but good salmon counts. The salmon were, again, from the buoy to below the Trees and especially on the reef edges in 50 to 70 feet. If you're not catching and not losing gear then you need to get closer to the bottom. I'm not just saying that because we sell gear (well, maybe a little) but because it works. Greens, glow-in-the-dark and UV seem to be killers on the baitholders. Flashers and dodgers will work but in my opinion are too expensive to leave on the bottom. Luckily, the fish will bite without the shiny stuff.

The catch numbers weren't great for most fishermen yesterday but the salmon are definitely there if you can figure out the combination of things to make them bite. The fish I am aware of came from the outer bell off Tomales Point to just south of the Trees in 50 to 70 feet of water. We got five, lost two and missed several other bites while trolling near the bottom with UV baitheads just north of Bird Rock. We saw several other salmon taken in the same area. If you see a school of bait "blown up" on the fish finder you'd better circle it. The fish aren't everywhere. Halibut was a dissapointment yesterday. The best news from the bar was a diver sighting a white sea bass. There's enough squid around that there's probably more sea bass than you'd think.

Two halibut from Hog Island today for one boat. Of the two boats I checked with that went salmon fishing, one had two limits and the other had nothing. Both salmon boats fished the Bird/Trees area.

A few more were salmon landed today before the chop chased everybody off the water. Catches ranged from 0 to limits. The fish aren't all hugging the bottom. Some guys are catching salmon at 40 feet down in 70 feet and at least one salmon was caught while the angler was dragging the bait on the surface, preparing to attach his drop weight. Anybody know any good topwater plugs for salmon? No halibut landed that I heard about.

The halibut didn't play well with others today but the salmon sure were kind. They're biting light and not sticking real well, but for many fishermen today it wasn't a big problem as there was another fish on soon enough. As a tackle salesman, these are my favorite kind of fish because they are nestled right down in the rocks. Careful with your downrigger weights. If losing gear bothers you, mooching has been working as well. 45 to 70 feet of water, Tomales Point to the Trees.

The salmon are back! Well, maybe not all of them, but definitely enough to make it interesting. Scott Mason, Mara Nursement and Mike Nursement caught these four salmon today, the largest being Mike's 24 pounder. The fish were right out front in about 60 feet of brownish water and they were hugging the bottom. More fish were lost than were caught. There were other boats catching as well. If the weather stays decent the halibut count should start to rise.

The fishing (and catching) has definitely improved but it's still only fair. Salmon were scattered with most of the ones I heard of caught from Tomales Point to the Trees. Salmon totals ran 0-3. There were a few halibut caught as well, some on Ten Mile and a few by Hog Island. There was a halibut on the bar but a diver shot it. Rockfishing ran from slow out front to good at Point Reyes.

The DaCruz boys, not wanting Jake Showaker to have all the glory, brought by these two salmon. These account for a third of all the salmon that rolled through here today, but that's still more fish than we've been seeing for the last few weeks. Catch locations today have ranged from Bird Rock in 150 feet of water 40 feet down, the Trees, McLure's, and 20 feet of water on Ten Mile. No halibut that I heard of but the divers that tried the bar said it was cold and clear with needlefish but no flatfish. A late landing today was a 27 pound salmon caught by John Kuhlman in 150 feet of water off of Bird Rock.

Jake Showaker captained his boat over these salmon this morning, 23 and 26 pounders. I was so excited to see salmon that I forgot to get the fishermen's names. They were caught on the troll on the bottom in 50 to 80 feet of water near McLure's Beach. There were some other salmon caught (according to the VHF) near the Bodega whistle buoy. 

A brutally slow salmon and halibut day today. The best I heard was a couple of salmon lost. The rockfish were even slow off of Bird. There was a decent lingcod and rockfish bite at Point Reyes where Steve Towne landed a 21 pound ling to cap off four limits on the boat. The reefs off of Ten Mile had a better rockfish bite with some nice vermilions mixed in with the schoolies. The best halibut bite is by Hog, but it isn't that good. Even catching bait is tough. The good forecast this week could mean the water may be able to warm up and maybe get some color to it. Hopefully that will happen and kick things loose.

In the last two days, every boat that has gone fishing has come back with halibut! Unfortunately, that was only one boat and one fish. It has been pretty windy in the afternoon but that's all supposed to change starting today. Let's hope the weather guys are right.

Yesterday, I saw a grand total of three halibut, one salmon and one leopard shark caught. The salmon was mooched up off of Bird Rock, the halibut came from off of Dillon Beach on live jacksmelt, and the leopard came from near Hog Island. A diver speared a halibut on the bar and a few more sharks were shot by bow fishermen, but that's it.

Not much success to report on today. Very few salmon, a few rockfish, a few lingcod, and enough wind to make the ride home very unpleasant. More wind for tomorrow. On the plus side, it's not hot.

There were some salmon caught out front yesterday in the Bird/Trees area, not many, but some. Elephant Rock and the Keyholes area had squid schooled up and salmon eating them. A few salmon were caught on the troll there but the moochers did better. A commercial squid boat arrived to take a look, so there may not be any more squid there anymore. There were a few halibut caught in 30 to 40 feet of water at the Keyholes and they were also full of squid. Hog Island had a few more halibut yesterday as well as a 23 pound white sea bass caught by Mike Pfiefle. Point Reyes had quite a few boats working it yesterday and some of them did pretty well on rockfish and lingcod. Questionable weather on the way with more wind in the forecast. Hopefully they're wrong.

Marty Medin of Inverness caught this 24 pound lingcod at Point Reyes today. This one broke his rod.  Marty and Bob limited out on lings and rockfish in a couple of hours. There were some halibut caught back by Hog Island, as well as at least one from McClure's. The Trees Reef had a few more salmon this morning.

There were some salmon caught out in 250 feet of water in the last two days. They were full of herring. There were also a couple of salmon caught on the mooch close in to Bird Rock. There were a couple of halibut caught by Hog Island this morning. The divers reported that the bar was still cold and clear with no halibut in sight, and they could see pretty far. The rockfishing was even slow for a few boats, but a few others found the rockies, either out a little deeper on jigs or in close while mooching.

Upper Wye

Back up to a very pretty part of the Upper Wye just below Rhayader which again did not disappoint.

The upstream breeze which is a rare occurrence on this part of the river made casting and fly presentation so much easier and although there were no fish rising I soon found some quality fish willing to take my nymph.

There was very few upwing flies coming off the water but as usual for this time of year there was quite a few small sedges skimming just above the surface, my nymph of choice was a #16 GRHE with a 2mm tungsten bead attached to help get it down in some of the fast turbulent water often found on these boulder strewn sections of the Upper Wye system. I find the Hares Ear nymph a good choice when there are sedge flies hatching and is my usual 'go to' fly in these situations.

Much Chewed #16 Tungsten Head Gold Ribbed Hares Ear Nymph

As I have mentioned before..what this part of the river lacks in quantity it certainly makes up in quality, many of the resident fish here will put a hefty bend in the rod and give you some heart stopping fights amongst the boulders.

The weather, location and the abundance of wildlife seen pretty much made for a perfect days fishing and to have near enough a mile of river all to myself I returned home feeling more than spoilt.

Here's 40% of the salmon that were landed here yesterday, the larger one weighing 20 pounds. Jerry DaCruz was kind enough to send me this photo to remind me of what they look like.

Jeff Lanzaro caught these lingcod today as well as a his limit of rockfish while fishing with his neighbor, Mike Mayry. Quite a few lingcod found their way into the catch this weekend, partly because there's quite a few of them and partly because there's so few of everything else.

I'd like to say that these were from this weekend, or even this week, but these pictures from his August 1st fishing trip were sent in recently by Rob Sereni. Notice how he carefully set up the photo so as to not get any landmarks in the frame. It's my understanding that they came back with four salmon and had ten others on but lost them. It's also my understanding that he was somewhere south of the Trees. Of course, this was almost two weeks ago and there's a pretty good chance that those fish are in a different county by now.

I saw five salmon from three boats come in today. No halibut. Maybe the salmon are deeper. They sure weren't thick in the shallows.

The past couple of days were windy offshore with a large, close swell. Most folks avoided going out. Not being most folks, I went out yesterday and caught two salmon in front of Estero Americano. I heard of one other caught in the area. There were some boats that tried the bar and back by Hog Island for halibut but the cold clear water glued the halibut's mouths shut. For the shark fishermen out there, there's quite a few thresher sharks out in the outer bay. My boys lost a 10'+ thresher yesterday and several others have been lost or released in the last couple of weeks. At least one halibut diver had a bit of a scare when a big thresher swam past him on the bar.

Herman Rinkel of Rancho Cordova caught this 20 pound salmon out in front of Estero de San Antonio in 40 feet of water while trolling. It bit a green Krippled Anchovy, as did the keeper green lingcod he caught as well. Weather conditions were better than yesterday but not good. 

A quick note: Divers did well on the bar today. "It's as pretty underwater as it is s****y above," is the quote I have for you. In the clear water seven halibut were speared by three divers and a school of salmon were seen swimming by. Lots of bait as well. Water temp was 55 degrees "and dropping."

Mark Van Lobensels of Walnut Grove caught this 21 pound salmon today by Bird Rock. The weather is better for kite surfing than for fishing, but at least a few fish were caught today. There was also a halibut from Hog and another from off of Dillon Beach. Not too much else but wind and frustration. The zone forecast is for more wind for a few days, but the pinpoint is calling for acceptable conditions. I hope the pinpoint forecast wins.

There was a pretty good salmon bite off of Elephant today, at least for a while. Tomales Point and the "2" buoy had a few others. Great rockfishing down at Point Reyes but trolling back along the beach didn't pan out for the folks I talked to. Mike Gibson landed a 20 pound halibut while fishing off of Dillon Beach and lost two screamers, one of which looked silver near the surface right before the line broke.

Rain Stops Play

Well it's sods law...I head down to one of my favourite rivers and find it looking in excellent condition and the fish in the mood for a bit of a play then after an hour or so of some hectic fishing the heavens open and duly empties it's water reservoirs right on my little patch!

The grayling and trout were readily taking both nymph and dry but an hour or so of relentless heavy rain soon filled up the little feeder streams and gushed chocolate coloured water into the river (a familiar consequence of lowland rivers) totally wiping out any chance of continuing fishing.

 

Then the rains come and 'game over'.



One of many of the feeder streams pouring in its coloured water.

With the majority of the river trout season well behind us lots of new waters I'd planned to fish this year will likely be 'put on the shelf' until next season unless things settle down well before 30th September.