Not everyone caught salmon today, but almost. Flat water and biting fish made for memorable a day for most of the fishermen today. Visibility would have been nice, but you can't get everything you want. Besides, all you would have seen was boats, and a lot of them. Looks like a weather change for the worse starting tomorrow afternoon, so it's a good thing that there's a solid morning bite. Go early tomorrow or don't go. The rockfishing picked up today with half to full limits coming in. Dungeness season is closed at midnight and they will be sorely missed.

Wally Frei landed these 18 and 14 pound salmon yesterday while fishing with Tom Brodsky. They couldn't buy a bite in the morning but limited out after lunch. There were a few boats that never had the fish turn on for them, but the majority put fish in the boat. Today you could probably walk across the boats from Bodega Head to Elephant Rock. If you're not catching, start hopping boats until you find one that is. The fish have been coming up high, mostly 20 to 40 feet down, and biting on anchovies, herring (red and green), and Watermelon Apexes. To a lesser extent I heard of fish caught on Brad's Super Cut Plug and Apexes in Cop Car and Purple Haze. Rockfishing was slow. No halibut that I heard about yesterday. Today is it for Dungeness until November 3. 

John Brezina is modelling for Marsha Englebrecht's salmon. The salmon went 23# but Marsha didn't want to be photographed with it (or John?). All four fish for this boat came from shallower water, up on top, and on straight anchovies. 

We've had three boats return with five limits of salmon between them so far this morning. First to return was at 8:00 and he fished 120 feet of water using herring. Second back with two limits fished in 200 feet, all caught on a watermelon Apex. Sounds to me like the one thing in common was fishing the edge of the fleet, which seems to be working 140 to 180 feet. Not everyone is clobbering them, but at least we know that it's possible. Halibut seems to have taken a back seat to salmon right now, with most of the dedicated local halibut guys out trolling for "carp". Last call for Dungeness crab. No surfperch ot leopard shark to report.

It got pretty windy yesterday but today isn't quite as bad. One boat came back with salmon limits by 10:30 or so. He said he caught out in 200 feet but other boats were doing well in 100 feet of water. Most of the boats are still fishing within a couple of miles of Tomales Point. One boat that went for halibut tried for bait for three hours and came up empty, both by Hog and the bar. No halibut, either. The Dungeness have slowed a bit but you can still expect to catch some.

Captain Longhair and Skiller of Nevada City caught these four salmon off of Tomales Point in 200' of water. The fish were caught on an Apex, an anchovy, and two on herring. The water is not as nice today with a bit of wind starting to make the fishing a bit less fun. The jellies are thick in the shallower water which also makes for a bit less fun. No halibut reports but there's still quite a few Dungeness around if you work the right areas. 

The Wettest Draught On Record!

At the back end of March I was posting about how many of the rivers I fish were in desperate need of some rain to bring the levels back up...well all I can say is - be careful what you wish for!!!

The draught warnings imposed on many counties are a thing of the past and have been replaced by flood warnings making river fishing a bit of a lottery.

The main problem for me is that over the last few weeks the heaviest rain had fallen at the back end of the week which pushed the spate rivers up instantly and although they normally drop quickly they always seemed to stay too high over the weekend leaving me frustrated.

Last weekend I headed for the Elan Valley reservoirs run by the Rhayader And Elan Valley Angling Association to relieve some of the frustration of not being able to fish the rivers.

With 850 acres of water available to fish the key is to have some idea of which likely spots are worth heading for first. I would imagine even regular long term fishermen here still find fish location a little hit and miss. Much will depend on wind direction as to which bank to head for (no boat fishing available here).

After a few visits here I'm now starting to get my head around it a little and have a better idea on giving myself a chance to connect with some of the trout which it holds.

Although there is some stocking carried out the majority of the fish here are natural wild brown trout, a fish of a pound in weight would be classed as a good fish. There are no rainbow trout stocked at the Elan reservoirs.

I ended an enjoyable afternoon with half a dozen fish (all wild) and a little more knowledge but still longing to cast a dry fly upstream to a rising fish on a river...please!!!

    Bobby Serini of Calistoga landed both of these beauties today. The bigger one went 21 pounds. There were five fish total on the boat and another five fish that got away for a .500 average. 

I'm sorry but I didn't catch the names of these fellows. I do know that the big salmon pictured here is 16 pounds. If this is you, or you know these guys, please let me know their names and where the fish were biting.

Here's Bob King of Dillon Beach with his largest of the year to date, 23 pounds. 

Justin Westervelt of Rocklin caught this 21 pound salmon off of Elephant Rock this morning. By the time he limited out there were eight party boats from San Francisco working the same area. The fish must be here.

Another day, another picture of new local legend Jake Showaker and crew. Notably this time is Sue Richardson's 35 pound king, the largest one landed here this year.

     Pictured is the Anglin family from the Woodland/Winters area. It looks to me like they found the fish today, up to 20 pounds. Very nicely done. I hope everyone looks that happy when it's time to clean the fish.
     The following is a firsthand report submitted by reader EJ Koford: I had 2 crab pots out from 3-7 yesterday near marker 10.. and prospected north of marker 10 with a crab snare….lots of undersize, many female rocks. Kept two dungies, but there were in sorry shape.. small claws, missing legs, not very feisty. Makes me appreciate the opener. Also drizzled on me a lot. Too much wind (too small a boat) to venture into the bay for salmon, maybe next time.  Saw 2 boats trolling a bit for halibut at Hog Island, but didn’t see any hookups and they were out of there by 4 or so.

     Mike Nursement caught this nice 22 pound salmon out in 130 feet of water this morning. Mara caught another salmon in the teens. Both fish on a watermelon Apex.

     Mark Eras, Cody, Taylor and Pete Portlock on the Fish Raider II were back in by 1:30 today with four limits of nice kings to 18 pounds. The salmon are close and biting best early.
     The first halibut from the bar was brought in today, so that may be something to try in the next week. From what I heard Hog Island didn't produce many more than that. Randy from Carson City had a pot on the pier with 12 keeper Dungeness in it this morning. Half were females that he tossed back, but that's still good numbers for the pier. The ocean is pretty flat out there but there's a hidden lump from the south that flares up every so often. Two boats from Lodi got flipped today while abbing in close. Maybe everyone else should stay out a little deeper. Thanks to Jake Showaker (again with Jake!) for running out to tow in the two boats.

First boat is back with a limit of salmon. 14 line, Bodega Head, near the surface. Not big fish, but easy ones.

Flat water and lots of hungry salmon out there. Boats caught from at least Elephant to Salmon Creek and in to 100 feet of water or less. The guys I spoke with were getting bit 25 to 40 feet down, although the fish might move deeper later in the day. Bait and watermelon Apexes seemed to be the ticket. At least one halibut landed back at Hog today. Still a lot of Dungeness in the bay but they are recently molted and a little light. Tasty, though.

The halibut around Hog Island are still biting for a few guys with up to four fish landed  by one boat. The big swell over the last couple of days has kept most of the Lawson's Landing boats in the bay, so no salmon reports since a couple were landed on Sunday. Good Dungeness crab action in the bay including the pier.

This is starting to look like the Jake Showaker fishing blog. Captain Jake put the boat over six salmon to 22 pounds. There were a few other boats with a salmon or two and lots of stories of lost fish. The halibut fishing was very slow. Good numbers of Dungeness for most of the crabbers. There are what appears to be surf smelt being caught in large numbers from the pier. The kids are loading up on them with size 14 sabikis.

There have been a few more halibut landed from Hog Island in the last couple of days, all on live bait. The salmon slowed down as the wind sped up. Wind for the next few days. Still some decent crabbing on the pier. Yesterday a young man caught a party boat limit of Dungeness (6 crabs, 6" minimum size) off the pier by 9:00 AM using a ring net.

Jake Showaker put the boat over these four salmon to 18 pounds today. He fished 120 feet of water, 60 feet down and used straight green label herring. The water was bumpy but fishable for some. For those that decided to enjoy the flat water in the bay, today saw the official start of halibut season with at least four boats landing a halibut. The halibut size ran in the low teens and bit live and trolled baits. The Hog Island area had most of those bites.

A -1.9 foot tide will reveal many things. For Rick Gerlack it revealed a nice geoduck. When he described how much work it was to get this clam I realized again that the geoducks are safe from me. He had the top of his clam pipe 18" underground and had to dig a trench to lay in to reach down and grab the clam. Nice work, Mr. Gerlack, but I think I'll go get some cockles.

It's very windy today and supposed to be windy all weekend. The salmon are only a mile or so out, so if there is a short window of no wind in the morning it would be worth giving it a try. The Dungeness are still available in decent numbers in the bay, although there are a lot of females showing up in the traps.

Limits of salmon coming in from off Tomales Point. Most of the fish have been coming from 160 to 200 feet of water, but there was at least one caught today in 70 feet. Watermelon Apexes have been working well, as well as bait in all its forms. Most of the guys I spoke with were fishing from 40 to 60 feet down. The Dungeness crabbing is still pretty good in the bay. Good clam tides this week and I saw my first geoduck of the year come in today. Fish and Game were out in force today. They seem to be getting tired of catching guys with clam necks stuffed in their pants. For the record, I'm not advocating that anyone should start hiding clam parts in other places just to give the wardens some variety. Please just stick with your ten clams in a bucket while you're here. What you do when you get home is your business.

A few more salmon came in today, even though the weather wasn't quite optimal. The grade was a bit better than its been. Decent surfperch action on the incoming tide out on the beach. Pretty good Dungeness action in the bay as well. I talked to two guys yesterday that had two borrowed traps and had never crabbed before. Today they were in to get a second bucket to hold the 16 Dungeness they had caught back by Hog Island.

The wind is blowing offshore but it is still fishable near shore. These fish, taken by John Henke and crew, and others like them, came from 160 to 190 feet of water off of Bird Rock and Tomales Point. Rockfish is open but so far no takers. The crabbing is picking up with half-limits of Dungeness being the norm from the pier the last few days.