Tomalas Bay 8-23-07

I headed for Tomalas Bay this morning at about 5am. I arrived from Ukiah at 0645 am at Miller's Landing. Construction is still ongoing, but parking was plentiful, and they had a reserved space for unloading and launching. (pic #1)

I headed over to Hog Island to make bait, as I only brought my Sabiki rig and no other bait. It took about an hour to make bait on the South side of the island. (pic #1)

After that I headed for the shore on the South side of the bay. I talked to a dude in a PB and he said he had been on the bay for 6 days. He landed three leopard sharks, which was what he was targeting. He told me there have been several halibut's caught over the last 6 days. One went 38 inches. WOW!

Anyway, the wind was light until about 1030 hours, when it picked up to about 10-15 MPH. Fortunately it was coming from the Southeast, which pushed me toward the launch and helped on the return.

I was not fortunate enough to hook into a halibut, but it was a good outing anyway. I was off the water by 1130 hours, which was mostly due to the wind. I was just too tired of fighting it.

Pic #2 is of the audience I had and pic # 3 is of the bait. I think one os a jacksmelt and the other a shiner? But I don't know.

CHEERS!

Looks like a jacksmelt and a herring.

Which is Which?

Which is Which?

The one on top is the Jack Smelt.

Nice                   Dan which one tasted better?

one of my favorite things about fishing at tomales is stopping at the bakery in freestone on the way home. they have some of the best breads and scones i have ever had the pleasure of eating. everything is baked in a wood-fired brick oven. my favorites are the fougasse and goatflat breads and the chocolate scones. i highly reccomend stopping there on the way home as they dont open til 8:30 am. it is located on the corner of bodega hwy & bohemian hwy.

AND they make a killer sticky bun... if you're so inclined!

Backslider

Nice bait. 

I live about 5 min from the Wild Flour Bakery in Freestone and my wife is addicted to their breads.    She goes there so often that besides knowing us by name, our 19 month old son has his photo on the wall.

The bakery in the village of Tomales is also very good for more traditional sweet pastries like lemon bars.

Brian

I must give myself oral pleasure by saying the first pic is incredible for my cheap government issued camera. I have saved it as my desktop background. I'm so pleased!

Dan,
The fish on the bottom looks to be an American shad.  I caught one out there a couple of weeks ago too.  I blew your pictures up and those spots on it, the mouth and the striations on the operculum (gill cover) set it apart from a herring. There's a good picture of one on this site:

http://www.fishbase.com/Photos/PicturesSummary.cfm?ID=1584&what=species

Dan,
The fish on the bottom looks to be an American shad.  I caught one out there a couple of weeks ago too.  I blew your pictures up and those spots on it, the mouth and the striations on the operculum (gill cover0 set it apart from a herring. There's a good picture of one on this site:

http://www.fishbase.com/Photos/PicturesSummary.cfm?ID=1584&what=species

You are so right! It looks exactly the same, but mine was bigger.

Thanks!

I must give myself oral pleasure by saying the first pic is incredible for my cheap government issued camera. I have saved it as my desktop background. I'm so pleased!

Way to make the best of vacation, Dan.  Good times.

Eric

Thanks Mahi Mahi,

 I guess I'll be round 2, Going to the same area tomarrow,

 Thanks for the update, Get to try out my new Avent ...

....... Danglin

That's an American shad.  Another key feature is the sharp keel on the belly, if you want to distinguish it from a Pacific herring.  I attached a pic of a Pacific sardine, Pacific herring, and an American shad which were all caught in Tomales Bay.  Don't ignore the area between Nick's Cove and Hog Island its pretty shallow and a lot of people blow right by it, but I've picked up some nice halibut there.  A good spot to make bait is to head over to the patches of kelp on the west shore.  I think there's a good patch between Pelican Point and Tomales Beach.  The kelp areas are usually loaded with shiners.  If I'm starting to smell a skunk, I usually head for what I've dubbed the Butt Hole and its usually good for 1-2 legal butts. Its across from Marshall Boat Works on the west shore there's a deep hole between Sacramento and Lairds Landing.  Its also a good spot for smoothounds and angel sharks.  From my experience, the halibut there tend to be closer to legal size than bigger halibut up by Hog Island.

Tomales Bakery is great but its only open Thur - Sun.  I love their pastries, but get there around noon and you can try their awesome pizza-ettes or calzones.   If you're heading up from the south Bovine Bakery in Point Reyes Station is great.  My favorite there is the chicken pesto croissants.  Damn, I'm hungry!

If I'm starting to smell a skunk, I usually head for what I've dubbed the Butt Hole ...

That sounds a stinky proposition all around...