ARW 3/1

Finally managed to squeeze in some time to try for early season halibut. Drifted around the Rockwall with live smelt for around 3 hours, not one bite. Seemed like there was a decent amount of bait below, but no halibut or stripers for me. Water temps 55-56. I suppose there's always next time, and hopefully it should only get better

Right on thanks for the report!

Been ARW curious as well recently and looking forward to our local waters warming up and bring the fish to us.

 

Thanks for the ARW halibut scouting report Batrat24.

Agreed with above, thanks for the scouting report.
The water will warm and it’ll improve 👍

I know everybody tracks the water temperature with their FFs, but does anyone pay attention to salinity?  My salinity measurements at the Richmond marina are above 30ppt in the summer and fall, but my last two months were 20 and 24ppt.  This is a little low for California halibut.  I wonder if the temperature may be less important than the time since a big rainfall.  Any thoughts on this?

I know everybody tracks the water temperature with their FFs, but does anyone pay attention to salinity?  My salinity measurements at the Richmond marina are above 30ppt in the summer and fall, but my last two months were 20 and 24ppt.  This is a little low for California halibut.  I wonder if the temperature may be less important than the time since a big rainfall.  Any thoughts on this?

No but that's a smart idea. How are you tracking the salinity? I think it's totally plausible that the salinity could be affecting the halibut's behavior as much if not more than SWTs

Thanks for the report. Oyster and surrounds always goes off first and reports are already coming in from that side.

I know everybody tracks the water temperature with their FFs, but does anyone pay attention to salinity?  My salinity measurements at the Richmond marina are above 30ppt in the summer and fall, but my last two months were 20 and 24ppt.  This is a little low for California halibut.  I wonder if the temperature may be less important than the time since a big rainfall.  Any thoughts on this?

No but that's a smart idea. How are you tracking the salinity? I think it's totally plausible that the salinity could be affecting the halibut's behavior as much if not more than SWTs

I use this kind of refractometer.  I'm doing harmful algae monitoring as a volunteer with SF Baykeepers, so I take a bunch of measurements on a regular basis.

https://a.co/d/07J9HUXT