Salmon Opener

Fish from 6 AM to 1 PM out of Moss Landing. Not a single bite

Thanks for the report. What areas and depths were you trying?

Went out to the mile buoy. Then followed the edge of the canyon for 3-4 miles. Fished from 30 feet down to 80 feet. Found bait and marked a few fish but nothing bit (except for a mackerel).

From the report at Bayside, it sounds like salmon fishing was really slow. The did mention that mackerel were everywhere…

It didn’t sound slow on the radio. Boats were limiting by 10am and 11am.

Fish from 6 AM to 1 PM out of Moss Landing. Not a single bite

Thanks for the report. What areas and depths were you trying?

Went out to the mile buoy. Then followed the edge of the canyon for 3-4 miles. Fished from 30 feet down to 80 feet. Found bait and marked a few fish but nothing bit (except for a mackerel).

From the report at Bayside, it sounds like salmon fishing was really slow. The did mention that mackerel were everywhere…

It didn’t sound slow on the radio. Boats were limiting by 10am and 11am.

it is insanely wide open south of the farallons, party boats probably put in near 1000 fish today, seen multiple limits for 25 before 9am. they will do the same thing tomorrow and the pb fleet will be even bigger. good fishing south as well. scratch everywhere else. we will not get july opener so if u wanna go for salmon do it tomorrow or wait till sept which should be a lot better for kayaks

I’d like to know how HMB  and Pacifica was.

I’d like to know how HMB  and Pacifica was.

snort some preworkout, point your kayak west of hmb or pacifica and go 13 miles offshore and u can have all the fish u want. i know youre asking about in close but i dont think its happening in close yet. imo for what its worth i think its a mirror of 2022 where the great majority of the fish are offshore on bait right now and it wont be happening inshore for a bit

Pacifica was very slow for Salmon, maybe heard 2 or so salmon get caught? There were several bait balls that were on the surface on the water but I got no bites while going past them. Do you normally still fish below them like 20 feet even if they're boiling on the surface or do you run something near the surface? Lots of kayakers switched to rockfishing and several lingcods were caught, I ended up with a 32 incher as a consolation prize.

Pacifica was dead slow. Stinson or Dux is probably the best bet nearshore for closing day.

Bolinas was hit or miss for salmon. I had 2 hits: one 27" striper and an unknown (suspect striper based on the fight). Only saw one boat land a fish. I mostly stayed in the 50-80 FOW range with all the power boats. Another kayaker was shallower in 30-50 FOW and did better with salmon and saw others land a handful.

Went out on the Pacific Pearl out of emeryville on Saturday. We fished out by the Farallons. There was an armada of boats out there.  We could see nets going in the water on lots of boats as we arrived.  The boat had limits by 10am. The seas were calm and there was little wind.  Most of the fish were in the small to medium range with a handful of bigger fish landed. Overall a great morning of fishing.

Fish and game were at the dock when we arrived.  Law enforcement checked licenses and confirmed none of the fish were silvers.  Then the science folks were collecting heads (tags) and measuring fish. I was given a receipt and will be able to see where my fish came from.

I put in about 18 hours on the water - split evenly between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay with equal results. Lots of bait and whales (at HMB) but no salmon for me or anyone around me. Got to see a blue whale up close at HMB with a good shot of his flukes as he dove deep, and then a pair of grey whales doing full aerials in the distance were highlights of the weekend. You couldn't have asked for better conditions especially given the time of year. I was able to cover a lot of new ground and came home with a half dozen rockfish bycatch to have a few good meals. Really grateful for the weekend even without catching the main target.

Cheers,
Brad

.... I was given a receipt and will be able to see where my fish came from.

pretty cool you can learn where your fish came from

Would love to hear more about your kayak guide life, sir.   

Anything specific? We only take people into the Elkhorn Slough to see wildlife. I also do fishing clinics through them out of the SC harbor. We’re not allowed to take people into the ocean in Moss.

That's kind of what I figured, once I thought about it - that you do Elkhorn tours and that you don't take people fishing out of Moss due to the challenges of entering and exiting the open ocean through there.

I was basically just being whimsical about wanting to hear more from other guides on this platform.

Carry on.   

snort some preworkout, point your kayak west of hmb or pacifica and go 13 miles offshore…

LOL

But yeah it’s definitely happening out near the Farallons. I was out Sunday on a charter. Limits (crew included) before noon.