It is all projection and guess without a report card or quota. There is no way for them to even know (especially this year) how many recreational guys are out each day and how many are taking limits. Especially with the species closures this year they have even less a clue what is going on. Nobody knows. there's an influx of commercial guys too, at least they have a clue on permits pulled. 

Malibu, I guess the question is then, without data, how small of a sample group's opinion/experience are you willing to accept as fact? your local tomales bay kayak buddies is enough to project regs across the state?   


All im saying is if a decision is being made, there needs to be some baseline or foundation or structure to the decision.  Right now we have a powerpoint that shows a single graph from one subset of the people fishing (Charter boats) with no data sources referenced.  I cant even look at the actual numbers because they're not referenced or included....  So, to say people are complaining about having no data, then providing the only single source of data which is done on a volunteer basis, irregularly, and without any rhyme or reason is not very helpful.. What makes it a good chart Pole? Is it the poor sample sample selection, or just cuz its pretty. fish counters go to like 1 dock for a day on a weekend.... lol

1) Collect real data, even if it require #s from all anglers, all the time. logging released fish and kept fish on a report card is not hard; make an app or something. The possession limit is daily limits anyway, so unless you're eating 1 halibut a week, you're not going to have more than like 20 keeper fish on your docket anyway.    If we are making decisions they should be informed, and until we can make informed decisions I don't think it is correct to make uninformed or poorly informed ones.    Of course this is just my opinion, but if other people's just as "poorly" informed opinion is all it takes to change regs, mines worth just as much.

Raise limit back to 3, sell halibut report cards, use proceeds and the no-turn in fees to fund yearly population sampling. hollyyy imagine the uproar that would cause. Even better if after a few years the data supported a 2 fish limit, the tantrums would be legendary.

Halibut limit decreased because no salmon and limited rockfish increasing pressure.

Almost certainly no salmon next year.
Sturgeon curtailed and possible closure incoming
Nearshore rockfish will HOPEFULLY be April 1 - Mid August next year (based on PFMC projected values used)

Why increase halibut limit again? I support an extension to 2 fish limit because personally I would rather keep 2 fish forever than have to sit through a halibut closure in the future. Especially paired with a salmon and rockfish closure

Wow happened quick

this year for me tomales was weird. I started fishing tomales in june, found a couple but very spread out, late june to early july not a lot of fish around but they were big. mid july thought I got located, was wrong. end of july to august was windy, didnt catch anything in the wind, spent multiple trips this year in mid 20mph wind per lawsons webcam, windy and wet. through august couldnt find fish in the bay so I spent all my time on the bar and off dillons, caught and released a lot (easy 20+) of 22"-24" fish and connected with several threshers. september rolled around and the weather finally got good and finally a good slug of fish moved into the bay. I heard a lot more catching from others and I got located and finished filling the freezer. my last trip was the 24th and I was done in an hour and a half or so of fishing.

shallowest fish: 8ft off dillon
deepest: 25ft down in 36ft in the bay mouth

most successful trolling rig was a purple haze hoochie behind 8" hotspot (my leftover salmon rig, barbless and all). also caught 1 on a lucky craft flash minnow, and got a few stripers on a trolled glide bait.
- i never trolled bait, 2 expensive and 2 much work

artificials: bigfoot baits white tube caught the most halibut, probably around 15 or so, good portion of those were a few inches under though, biggest on the tube was maybe 28", almost all tube fish got released. classic chart/pearl swimbait got most quality fish, nothing on the drop shot fluke, the laser minnow, or the 7" fluke

1 perch got eaten and the fish broke me off
nothing on mudsuckers sometimes I snag them with my swimbait and send them down on a rig. once this season one of my halibut had a few in its stomach though

most fish were caught on smelt
biggest fish was caught on smelt

as always thanks for the report charles, glad to hear you got on some good fish . 

I search the forums for info a lot so while this info isn't really useful 99% of the time I thought I should put it out there for anyone in the future.

I have a V2 mirage drive with turbo fins for reference and I push my drive hard, either high mile days for salmon or pushing it against the tide/wind.

For reference, I had extra battery and recorded a strava run in :

I expect to go through a pair of fin masts a season and a pair of chain assemblys a season and carry extras in the kayak. IF you break 1 fin mast you WILL break the other one soon after, bite the bullet, buy 2 and keep the other as a spare in your dry bag.

If you break a fin mast and need to get it out there are a few threads here to help you. For me if there is enough of the mast sticking out of the sprocket I will use a vise grip to try and twist out the mast. If you are cracked you can just use pliers.

Otherwise you can saw off part of the sprocket as shown in the attachment to then unscrew the remains of the mast.
Or you could drill it out, I don't have a drill press and did this once by hand and decided halfway through I rather would have paid $20 to never do that shit ever again...

If you have turbo fins and buy standard length masts it will make it easier to pedal BUT your top speed will be decreased AND they don't really last any longer.

Just putting this out there for someone searching in the future. Unrelated but if you have a v2 drive and any questions I might be able to answer some.

This is the real deal. Epic trip and a great read. Thank you for posting. Good luck on your next adventure

i almost always see the elk off drakes beach road. at least in the morning. if it’s not closed off the old lifeboat station is a very easy hike and if you’re lucky you might find a seal or two down there. have fun