Vern Sasaki sent in this photo and note from last week: I took Bob Menchen (87 years strong) out in front of the Trees for his limit of salmon, 23 & 19, then down to McClures for 3 halibut 12 – 15.

Tom Treadway helped Isiah Treadway land this 22 pound salmon today. They had one other fish on but lost it. From the radio, it sounds like there's a few fish coming in from Elephant Rock.

Here's the 28 pound white sea bass caught by Jason Robertson. There was also a salmon and a thresher shark in the boat. Not too much caught by fishermen yesterday as the wind kept most of the fleet ashore. There were a couple of fish hooked and then "released" reported from the outer bay. There were some seriously nice halibut on the bar before the water cooled off. The clear water made for poor fishing but good diving conditions, with divers spearing limits of halibut up to 33 pounds and fishermen not getting a bite. The water temp has dropped and the fish have moved back out for now. 

Chris Tyson of San Francisco caught this 20 pound salmon while trolling a plug cut sardine behind a dodger near Hog Island.

Tom Treadway had to hold up the fish for this fisherman. I didn't catch his name, but this is his first salmon. This is what it is all about.

Holding the 21 pound salmon is Kathleen Williams of Jackson. The other salmon went 16 pounds. They were caught with Larry Rogers at McLure's. There were a few salmon caught today but the bite wasn't hot. The wind was strong, though. There was also a white sea bass caught today, a 28 pounder by Jason Robertson.

This 27 pound salmon was caught by Kary Kataoki while fishing with Jerry Knedel of Sacramento.

Jerry DaCruz, Patrick Schimke, and Chris Harper caught three limits of salmon to 24 pounds by 11:00 AM yesterday while trolling right off Tomales Point.

Rich Chapin of Sacramento caught this 34 pound salmon while fishing with Pete Sequeira and Herb Hansen in an undisclosed location. The salmon bite was sporadic for most and ranged from Elephant Rock to Tomales Point in 40 to 70 feet of water. Some more halibut came in, mostly from outside on the beaches but a couple from the bar. The water is really clear which is good or the divers, not so good for fishing. The local rockfish bite is slow but good up north (Fort Ross) and down south (Point Reyes).

Mike Mayry of Cameron Park caught this 27 pounder yesterday off of Bird Rock in about 60 to 70 feet of water on the troll. He and Joe Downing limited out by early afternoon.

Mike Garello of Riverbank caught this 25 pound salmon yesterday in the Bird Rock/Trees area. 

This 27.5 pound halibut was caught by Don Mosby on live bait while drifting off of Dillon Beach.He had 3 total on Thursday. There were a few other halibut on the bar yesterday, as well as a few salmon.

There were salmon caught from Tomales Point to Elephant Rock, but the bite moved around, first at Bird, then at Elephant, the Tomales Point. The depth was pretty constant at 50 to 80 feet of water. Anchovies were the successful bait for many, and I'm told that if you aren't shaking off a bunch of short lings then you probably aren't fishing close enough to the bottom. Carmet and the Russian River area had some fish as well but there were a lot of shorties to sort through, I'm told. Some halibut are showing on the beaches now.

Judy Loer of Folsom, Eric Loer of Forest Hill, and Dave Alexander of Folsom landed six salmon to 24 pounds today while trolling.

Kathleen Williams of Jackson caught this 18.5 pound salmon right off of Tomales Point while they were trolling towards home. There were quite a few fish caught above Tomales Point today as part of the school moved north.

I just talked to someone that had four nice salmon from up off the Russian River. Lots of commercial boats up there but lots of fish, too. The best bite was early in the day, then it dropped off. Also, I talked to two boats that mooched for a while and gave it up after getting no bites. They tried trolling and were immediately successful.

The first boat back had their limits by 10:30, two salmon from the Trees and two salmon, a double, from Elephant Rock. There's been a couple more limited out boats since then, and listening to the stories it sounds like the fish are near the bottom. The irregularly shaped, rocky bottom. Our sales of downrigger weights, releases and terminators has gone up, so I say keep doing hat you're doing. But you might want to try mooching.

Here's Mark Gulliford of Rocklin with the last fish weighed in yesterday, a 24 pound king. There's a south breeze that is complicating the fishing a little today and nobody has returned with early limits yet. I hear that there's a few fish out deep, 240 feet of water or so, supposedly off of Bodega Head. The "beach" bite between Tomales Point and McLure's Beach is spotty, but if you find the right spot for you it is very good. 

Cody Hineman caught these two salmon, 22 and 20 pounds, right off of Tomales Point on the troll. Several boats have had some fish there in 35 to 40 feet of water in the last few days. They don't get too much closer than that. There's been quite a few mooched up today from the Trees reef as well.

The last boat in had no salmon. They did, however, troll Ten Mile for three "chicken" halibut.

The south wind is still making things a bit choppy but it's not too bad yet today. Two boats have already returned with limits of salmon, one boat by 9:00 AM with fish running 22 and 25 pounds. Both boats were working the usual area, from Tomales Point to McLure's Beach in 50 to 70 feet of water. It is my understanding that there's still some fish coming from up at Carmet and points north, but if the south wind kicks up again the ride home may suck be unpleasant. There was a halibut caught across the bay from the Landing pier yesterday.

Today the south wind has gusted up and made it quite unpleasant on the ocean. Most of the boats have come in early with 0-3 fish, so here's a couple of leftover photos from the weekend:

Bob King caught this 21 pound salmon but doesn't seem all that excited about it. I think that maybe catching these big fish is just getting too routine for him.

John Rosasco found a way to look cheerful with his 23 pound salmon.

Back In The Land Of The Grayling

It's been a while since my last post and the last couple of months must rate as one of the most frustrating periods I can remember. I rely mostly on the weekend to get out fishing and for most of that couple of months the rain seems to  have always arrived at exactly the wrong time to flood the rivers for the weekend.

Well as I write this the sun is blazing and temperatures are well up to mid twenties so I'm hoping we are into a settled spell which will allow rivers to run a bit closer to normal for this time of year.

I took full advantage on Sunday when the rivers began to fall and myself and fishing buddy Nick headed off to the River Ithon (major upper tributary to the Wye). It was still running quite high and carrying a fair bit of colour but looked fishable when we got to the river.

Due to the adverse weather of late the water temperatures have remained low and as a result seeing any fish rising is a rare occurrence...such was today and the plan of action was an out and out nymph attack, something on par to what we would normally be doing in the depths of winter!

We soon located some nice Grayling and were both getting some pretty hefty bends in the rods, they were definitely favouring the faster/streamer water of around 2-3 foot deep and seemed to be well anchored to the bottom.


Nick's 10' #2 almost bend double with a large Grayling!

47cm hard fighting Grayling for Nick.

Although we had connected with a few trout it was a day for Grayling and plenty of them, the water level and colour had obviously instilled them with a feeling of safety and a willingness to feed.

One of a few brown trout caught on the day

I switched flies a few times during the day but I found that heavily weighted (tungsten beadhead) nymphs in the #12-#14 sizes worked best.

This current spell of warmer weather should now bring the water temperatures back up and induce more surface activity and the dry fly box may soon be re-opened!

Gabriel and Tito Machato of Sacramento caught these salmon weighing 24 and 20pounds, respectively. These fish were trolled up this morning.

Dennis Doherty of Roseville caught this 95 pound thresher today while mooching for salmon. This isn't Dennis in the picture but this gentleman does make the shark seem even larger, as if 10+ feet wasn't enough.

Mara Nursement of Colfax caught his 23 pound salmon on the troll today. The best action was from Tomales Point to south of the Trees in 40 to 60 feet of water. The 40 foot mark near the point was especially good for some. No halibut weighed in today. 

Tino Machato and Mark Bruer of Sacramento caught these 18 to 19 pound salmon while trolling FBRs in 40 feet of water just south of the Trees reef.

Rick Barry and Bob Stewart have been trying to get their pictures on here for over a year. Good job, guys! Too bad this 21 pound salmon was caught by Bob's brother, Jim.

Victoria Freggario (in white) of Stockton caught this 23 pound salmon yesterday just south of the trees. The salmon may weigh more than she does.

Mike Nursement of Colfax knows how to pose with his fish. The larger one hit 23 pounds, the other 18.

Even though he wasn't able to best Mike Nursement's fish, Mike Stahl of Loomis still seems pretty satisfied with his 22.5 pound salmon. 

Some boats came in with early limits of salmon today and some others ended up with nothing. The folks I talked to that caught were mostly fishing pretty close to shore from Bird Rock down toward McLure's Beach. There were a couple of halibut caught back by Hog and one on the bar. The salmon have been on the bar during the low tide chasing needlefish. A few of them have been caught (actually, there have been more salmon caught on the bar on the last four days than halibut). The forecast isn't the best for this weekend but the mornings should be decent enough for a few hours of fishing.

Ron Stahl of Elk Grove caught this 21 pound salmon while fishing with Dale Fortner on the "Got One." I believe that this fish came from off of Tomales Point as well.

Gage Vogler of Dillon Beach caught this 24 pound salmon yesterday, the largest of nine salmon brought to the boat while fishing 40 to 55 feet of water just south of the Trees reef, 40 feet down. This one liked a big sardine.

Aldo Freggario is posing next to Joaquin Carrusco's 24 pound salmon. Aldo drove the boat and netted, so the fish is half his, anyway.

Steve Werlin would have even a bigger smile if these were halibut he had speared, but even so he can still enjoy the victory of two salmon, 20 and 22 pounds.

Brian Underwood of Santa Rosa speared this 25 pound halibut on the bar yesterday. According to Brian, "Made numerous passes on the bar during incoming tide with two divers.  I saw two fish, shot one and spooked one, while the second diver saw none.  The water is still a bit cold and the visibility is poor." There were a few other halibut caught on the bar, as well as another salmon.

Captain Longhair dropped by to show that he still knows how to put fish in the boat.

John and Carol Kuhlman caught four salmon yesterday, two 21 pound fish and two 20 pound fish, all while trolling off of Tomales Point in 90 feet of water.

From the sound of things it wasn't a red hot bite today but there were a few guys that found some fish. The nearshore water warmed up and the halibut decided to bite, finally. Halibut were caught on Ten Mile and McLure's beaches. Salmon were spotty, but in the right spot the fishing was good. A couple of limits came from off of Tomales Point in 90 feet of water and I was lucky enough to land eight salmon and two halibut from just south of the Trees Reef in 40 to 55 feet of water, 40 feet down. All the salmon I cleaned today had either a sardine or nothing in their bellys.

Remember when I said to go north because that's where the fish are? Never mind. There are definitely fish up there but the grade dropped today, at least for the guys I spoke with. Herman Rinkel, seen here, caught a nice 24 pound salmon in 150 feet of water off of Elephant Rock. He said that there was a lot of bait in 20 feet of water on Ten Mile but nothing biting there. There really weren't that many fish caught out front here but as the fish continue to move north an fresh batch of salmon should be coming soon. Hopefully the fish caught today are the scouts for the rest.

While fishing with Ed Parsons, Jim Van Ruiten landed these salmon, 33 and 23 pounders. Ed also caught a limit. They won't say where they were except that it wasn't north. Another place that isn't north that has some salmon is the bar, which spit out a second salmon for some halibut fishermen. There was a halibut caught today as well but it came from Hog Island, not the bar.

First salmon of the year from the bar. No halibut, but salmon will do. For now.

Slow salmon fishing today south of Bodega Head. A few fish were trolled up there but the best numbers by far were from Carmet and north of there. If you're going fishing for salmon tomorrow, go north or be very patient. No flatfish reported. Even a slow rockfish bite. Flat water, though, and a beautiful evening if you like sunshine and water like a mirror. Still a good forecast for the rest of the week, so hopefully the water will warm up a bit and get the halibut started. Go white meat!

Apparently there was some drama on the high seas on Sunday when a boat sank off of Wright's Beach, north of Carmet. Here's the details, as told by the rescued fisherman:

My thanks to ANGER MANAGEMENT and his crew and everyone else who got involved to help me when I had to say that ill fated phrase May DAY, MAY DAY when my boat started taking on water and went under in about two minutes.


The day started out great. Slept late and launched about 8:45 from Bodega. Went solo as I had only a couple of hours and wanted to go to a friend’s party with a fish for the BBQ. Although I passed what appeared to be good readings, I headed all the way to 24/7. About a mile short the fish finder showed all those beautiful fish so I dropped in and bam, one fish in the box in first 5 minutes. It was then a free for all as I kept getting one fish after another that was either too small or came unbuttoned when I tried to net it with my bad shoulder holding the rod in the other hand. There was a lot of blood on the deck so after I got my other rod in the water, I picked up my hose to clean up only to have it die on me. I was about to check the fuse when my faithful PINK LADY once again goes off only to find a good keeper on the rod. About that time I noticed water was about foot high in the back of the boat, which had me concerned as was coming over the transom fast. I was about to gun the engine when the water got high enough and it sputtered and died. Putting my rod in the holder with a fish on it I called out my first May Day and got on my life jacket which was right there at my console where I hung it after getting to the fishing grounds making sure my radio was still in my pocket. From there things were a blur as by now water was at my knees and I realized this was not good and knew in was only another minute or two at the most before I’d be swimming. Knowing this, I called for the Coast Guard on channel 16 2-3 times and got no answer. Went back to channel 9 and put out another May Day this time saying I needed help real fast as the situation was deteriorating real fast beyond my control. All I was thinking was that I have to walk my daughter down the isle to get married in a couple of weeks and it’s not my time to go. By now I realized it was foggy so I started using my air horn as the boat horn is a joke. Two boats close by ignored my distress calls along with me waving frantically. Must not have been Coastsiders. Although people on the radio were telling me to use my flare gun it was too late. It was handy, but I had it taped around to keep things dry and I was having trouble getting the tape off. I knew people were looking for me with my coordinates, but it was foggy so I was using my Air horn as a direction beacon, which proved successful. Out of the fog came Anger Management as my boat was at the water line and I’m about to go for a swim. Reaching out they pulled me aboard.


Again I want to thank everyone who participated in my rescue. Without you all, I’m sure this story would have a different ending with some else telling what they believed happened to me.

MORAL OF THE STORY
1. Have a DAMMED PFD for everyone on the boat and keep it handy, not stowed away below somewhere. WEAR IT ESPECIALLY WHEN ALONE.
2. Have a portable and floatable VHF radio close by or on your person especially WHEN ALONE.
3. Have an Air horn close by and handy. I also keep a small one in my pocket.
4. Keep you flare gun and flares handyas well, not buried somewhere below. If you tape them up to keep them dry, then have a flap at the end so you can easily pull it open unlike me. 
5. Lastly, fish with a buddy, so if there’s a problem, you can step on his shoulder’s to reach higher or feed him to the sharks first. (Ha Ha)

Seriously, have safety gear handy and not stowed away like most people.
When **** happens, it happens real fast and like my case it was 3 minutes until it was all over!.


Since I sank a boat before, this story seemed important to share with you. You can't argue with his advice. I would hope that everyone reading this would do their best to help. And I for one am very glad to share the waters here with the crew of the Anger Management.

Judy Loer of Folsom caught this 22.5 pound salmon and another 19 pounder up off Carmet while fishing with Dave Alexander. The bite was still good up there while the the bite off Tomales Point has slowed. There were still some fish caught off Bird Rock today, including a 29 pound salmon landed by Herman Rinkel in 90 feet of water on a chartreuse RSK. There has been a bite near the crab pots 2 miles due west of the outer buoy but it sounds like it dried up today. No halibut that I've heard of.

Savannah Shada of Elk Grove caught this 17 pound salmon today while fishing with her father and grandfather. Grandpa Vic put the whole family over the fish for limits all around, but Savannah's was the biggest.

Scott Mason of Roseville caught a limit of salmon to 22 pounds on the troll in the fleet north of Bodega Head. Of the 29 boats we launched before 9AM today, 15 returned with limits before noon. Transit time and lack of visibility were the only complaints. Two boats got their fish off of Tomales Point but the majority went north. There were some nice big halibut caught on dead drifted bait by Hog Island this weekend, as well as some caught on live bait.

The salmon were biting like piranha up off Carmet today. Lots and lots of boats but lots of fish as well. Mike Gonzalez of Lodi caught this twenty pounder up there. He said it took longer to get there than to catch their limits.

Beryl Sanders of Loomis landed this 29 pound salmon today, as well as piloting his boat over another seven fish to limit out.

Dave Pyle (Sacramento, 18 pound salmon), Tony Zito (Sacramento, 18 pound salmon), and Kirk Willard (Carmichael, 25 pound salmon) caught these fish in an undisclosed location.

Samuel Winglewich (Occidental, 20 pound salmon) caught this salmon by "the buoy" with a light green rotary.