tomales bay 7-25

launched at 11:00am on a minus tide and fished the incoming until 4:00pm. trolled anchovies from hog island south. had two baits bit in half but nothing stuck. bid not see any of the boats catch anything. could not find any sardines, but loaded up on smelt which i dont care for but my cats like to eat. at the launch i heard that not much was brought in. nice for most of the day with the wind picking up about 2:00.  according to my gps i covered 7 miles. maybe next time.    gene

Good for getting out there and filing a report. Thanks. I am spending the day plastic welding holes in my aging P-15  in which some no-longer used cleats and pad-eye are leaking. I'll bet the Haibut were where the sardines were; where ever that was 

Thanks for the report...

 just curious as to why you did not use the smelt for bait?

why you did not use the smelt for bait?

Wanted them for cat food maybe. I know Anchovies are so fragile they are hard to use as bait--some die just being caught on the sabiki rig. Sardines are hardier for sure. From my experience, Jack Smelt are pretty hardy and I've used them for bait before--as I have those little torpedoes called Pacific Mackerel--those are fast little fish.

hi danglin,  i did not use the smelt for bait for for two reasons: at around 8" to 10" they were pretty large for bait and i ran into them just before returning to the launch site. by that time the wind and chop had come up and i had to get of the water to get home. i did however try cooking them and they were much better than i remember them. i filleted and skinned them and rolled them in some flour seasoned with salt, pepper and ancho chile powder. my girlfriend really liked them and my cats went crazy for them raw.     gene