2009/2010 Waterfowl Regulations Update - 2 Pintail!

According to our good friends over at California Waterfowl Association, Waterfowl regulations for the 2009-2010 hunting season have been approved by the California Fish and Game Commission, including a two pintail limit for the first time in twelve years. Other highlights for hunters include a raised limit on scaup and a reopening on canvasback.

According to Greg Yarris, Director of Conservation Policy for California Waterfowl, “The liberal regulations approved this year are the result of a strong western stock of mallards and improved local duck production this year because of timely spring rains.”

Waterfowl hunters will benefit this fall with a recommendation which calls for a duck season of 100 days, and a daily bag limit of seven ducks. In addition to pintails, there is also good news for hunters who enjoy diving ducks. The bag limit on redheads remains two birds, but the limit on canvasbacks (which was closed last season) is one for the entire season. The scaup season length remains at 86 days, but the bag limit went from two birds to three.

The pintail breeding population increased by 23% in North America, but it was the change in the distribution of pintail from the north to prairies further south that had the greatest effect on the regulatory outcome.

“Pintail are typically more successful when breeding in Prairie habitats,” explained Bob McLandress, President of California Waterfowl, “which allows for more hunter opportunity and an increased bag limit due to a southern shift in their distribution.”


REGULATION HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2009/10:


• The duck season will be > 100 days, and the bag limit 7 birds/day in all zones.

• Pintail bag is 2 birds/day (either sex) for the entire season (for the 1st time in 12 years).
• Mallard bag will 7 birds/day, and two may be hens. (up from one hen last season)

• Canvasback bag is 1 bird/day for the entire season. (it was closed last season)

• Scaup bag is 3 birds/day, and the season will be 86 days. (up from 2 last season)

• Spinning wing decoys regs. remain unchanged, and will be allowed from December 1 until the season ends (statewide). (Note - this refers to battery operated and/or motorized spinning wing decoys. Natural wind-driven decoys can be used through the season.)
  

DFG Waterfowl Zone Map -
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/waterfowl/images/waterfowlzonemap.gif

BALANCE OF STATE ZONE

Seasons:

Ducks and Geese: 100 Day Straight Season (scaup during last 86 days only)
October 24, 2009 through January 31, 2010.

Brant Special Management Areas: Northcoast Brant (Humboldt Bay) November 7,
2009 through December 6, 2009. Southcoast Brant (Tomales and Morro Bay),
November 14, 2009 through December 13, 2009; 2 per day, 4 possession.

Special Youth Hunt Days: February 6 and February 7, 2010 


Limits:

Ducks: Daily bag limit: 7. Daily bag limit may contain 7 mallards of which only 2 
can be female; 2 pintail; 1 canvasback; 2 redheads; 3 scaup. 
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

Geese: Daily bag limit: 8. Daily bag limit may contain 8 geese of which only 6 
can be dark geese. Bag may include up to 6 large Canada geese; 6 small Canada geese, 6 white geese; 4 white fronts.


Sacramento Valley Special Management Area: No more than 2 white fronts may be taken only from October 24, 2009 until December 14, 2009. For more information 
on the Sacramento Valley (West) Special Management Area limits and boundaries, please refer to the Fish and Game Waterfowl Regulation Booklet.
 Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

NORTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA ZONE

Seasons:

Ducks: 105 Day Straight Season (scaup during first 86 days only)
October 10, 2009 through January 22, 2010 

Geese: 100 Day Straight Season 
October 10, 2009 through January 17, 2010 
Special Youth Hunt Days: September 26 and 27, 2009


Limits:

Ducks: Daily bag limit: 7. Daily bag limit may contain 7 mallards, of which only 2 
can be female; 2 pintail; 1 canvasback; 2 redheads; 3 scaup. 
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.
Geese: Daily bag limit: 8. Daily bag limit may contain 8 geese of which only 6 
may be dark geese. Only 1 may be a small Canada goose (Aleutian or cackling)
and only 2 may be large Canada geese; 6 white geese; 4 white fronts. 
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY ZONE

Seasons:

Ducks: 102 days split Season (scaup during last 79 days only)
October 10, 2009 through November 1, 2009 and November 14, 2009 through
January 31, 2010

Geese: 100 Day Straight Season
October 24, 2009 through January 31, 2010

Special Youth Hunt Days: February 6 and February 7, 2010

Limits:

Ducks: Daily bag limit: 7. Daily bag limit may contain 7 mallards, of which only 2
can be female; 2 pintail; 1 canvasback; 2 redheads; 3 scaup. 
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

Geese: Daily bag limit: 8. Daily bag limit may contain 8 geese, of which only 6 
may be dark geese, and include up to 6 large Canada geese; 6 small Canada geese; 6 white geese; 4 white fronts. 
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ZONE

Seasons:

Ducks and Geese: 100 Day Straight Season (scaup during last 86 days only)
October 24, 2009 through January 31, 2010

Special Youth Hunt Days: February 6 and February 7, 2010
Limits:
Ducks: Daily bag limit: 7. Daily bag limit may contain 7 mallards, of which only 2 
can be female; 2 pintail; 1 canvasback; 2 redheads; 3 scaup. 
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

Geese: Daily bag limit: 8. Daily bag limit may contain 8 geese, of which only 6 
may be white geese and 3 may be dark geese.
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

COLORADO RIVER ZONE

Seasons:

Ducks and Geese: 101 Day Straight Season (scaup during last 86 days only)
October 23, 2009 through January 31, 2010

Special Youth Hunt Days: February 6 and February 7, 2010
Limits:
Ducks: Daily bag limit: 7. Daily bag limit may contain 7 mallards, but not more than 2 female mallards or Mexican-like ducks; 2 pintail (either sex); 1 canvasback; 2 redheads; 
3 scaup. 
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

Geese: Daily bag limit: 6. Daily bag limits may contain 6 white geese and up to 3 
may be dark geese. 
Possession limit: Double the daily bag limit.

For more information as well as any changes or corrections which may affect you or the limits in your area, visit DFG’s website at
http://dfg.ca.gov/regulations/09-10-waterfowl-sum.html

Shooting Times:
Northern California -
http://dfg.ca.gov/regulations/bird-shoot-times-no-cal.html

Southern California -
http://dfg.ca.gov/regulations/bird-shoot-times-so-cal.html

Waning Days of Summer

It's starting to look like the dog days of summer are winding down, and the fish (in response to shorter days) are begining to enter the summer/fall transition phase of their year. The dominant fish holding in cover like grass, tules, hyacinth, or wood is becoming scarcer as falling water levels leave many areas high and dry. Bass (and most other fish) do need water.

Lakes such as Nicasio, Stafford, and Soulajule have areas of shoreline weeds that hold a lot of bluegill, red-earred, and green sunfish right alongside juvenile bass in the 6-10" range, and bass fry in the 1.5-3" range. They congregate here to stay safe from the bigger bass (2.5lbs-10lbs).

The weed beds are basicly like a cross between a sanctuary and a nursery, with bass fry hanging around the shallow side of the weed bed eating insects and insect larva whilst enjoying relative saftey from predation. On the outer edge (deeper edge) juvenile bass (dinks) in the 3/4lb-2lb use these weed beds as a home base from which to forage and hide from the bigger bass (3-10lbs) which stage raids up from the depths a couple times a day.

When the water levels fall it begins to squeeze these weed beds like a sponge. Lack of safe areas forces all of these smaller fish to play musical chairs in a desperate attempt to secure a safe chunk of the cover for themselves. All this active struggling keys the big bass to leave the depths and patrol back and forth on the outside weed line that is constantly pushing fish out to them. When the smaller fish lose their place in line, they become a larger fish's lunch.

During this period, I have had epic days taking advantage this dramatic struggle with swimjigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, basstrix, super flukes, and shallow crank baits. I select which bait I use based on water clarity, wind, temperature, barometric pressure, and cloud cover (or lack there of).

Two years ago in august I was fishing a strip of soon to be high and dry weedbed with overcast skys and strong but warm wind on the golf course side of Stafford Lake - testing a new spinnerbait design . I noticed a V-wake zip up and down the little weedline so I turned and started throwing the spinnerbait directly into the wind and slow rolled it over the little strip of weedline and - bang - a 5.1oz bass with the tale of a 1/2lb bass sticking out of its throat. The next four casts produced four more fish all in the 4-6lb range until the wind stopped and so did the bite. Because I was testing I did not have much tackle with me so I grabbed a second spinnerbait (the exact same size and color) and cut the arm off of it about an inch above the head and rolled it over so as to create an eye that I could tie to. Other than the blades the bait was identical.

The first cast produced a 4.5 bass. Three more casts? Three more fish! Nothing under 4lbs. Then the wind started up again and I stopped getting bit. I tied on the spinnerbait again and bam, back in action. It went on for about 4 hrs like that and I ended up with my best 5 weighing almost 25lbs! Since Stafford is not known as a big fish lake so I was blown away.

You need to have a different approach for clear lakes like Alpine or Kent. In that type of lake, when the water starts to get really low and the cover is less available, you want to start looking for lay-downs that straddle two depths. In other words, you need to think vertically. My first cast would be to throw senkos or lite jigs.

A little research can be very helpful as well - this is a great time to look at either a topographical map of the lake and the hills around it or a hydrographic map if you can find one. Look for areas where the break line (edge of the old creek channel) swings closer to shore, or where a point reaches out into the creek channel itself .

Bass will still come up shallow and cruise around looking for food and can often times be found sitting in 10" of water right within about a foot from shore at dawn, but for the most part the bulk of fish will remain deep for most of the day. Another thing to remember about this period is that the fish school up. This makes makes it easier to catch them once found, because feeding bass are very compettive - even though they may not like the bait you are throwing when they are alone, they sure aren't going to stand by while some other fish gets it!

The baits to throw during this period are finesse stuff like drop shots, split shot rigs, shaky heads and wacky jig heads. Use Roboworms for these baits primarily but the slim Senko is great too.

These are the rigs that catch numbers of fish especially during daytime hours when the bite is tough. For the better quality fish, you can't beat a 5" watermelon w/black flake Senko rigged with a weighted wacky jig head, a Texas-rigged weightless 6" Senko, and my favorite the 1/2 oz-3/4 oz Jigmonster Chaos football head jig in P.B.J., or hell hound with either a Trixie Beaver, double tail grub, or chigger craw.

If you get a strong prolonged wind that is not significantly cold, expect fish to move up on the rocky banks where they will blast jerk baits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 100, or the Rapala x-rap. The Hildenbrandt blade is a "go-to" spinner bait, because it has much smaller blades then most others and performs great in clear water.

We're also heading into the time to rock the SPRO BBZ-1 slow sink trout for a couple bites a day (big bites). Best bet is to pick it up at dawn, dusk, or (my favorite) during heavy wind and make very long casts either across points, or along the breaklines, and then slow roll the bait just above your depth of vision, and every time you pass a potential ambush point rip the rod hard like a jerk bait and then go back to slowrolling. Stay focused! If the fish blasts right when you rip the bait, you need to set the hook hard and manage your line ( if no ambush points exist rip the bait about every 10').

Ocean Salmon Fishing? Well.... Yeah! Sort of...

We received a ton of calls over the weekend concerning the California Department of Fish & Game Announcement of a limited ocean salmon fishing season for this year.

In short, they are allowing a limited period of fishing near the mouth of the Klamath River, so unless you plan on trailering your boat or making a long run, most of the San Francisco Bay boat owners are better off chasing the local halibut and striped bass.

Here's the press release we received from the DFG:

From: "Marine Management News" <marinenews@dfg.ca.gov>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:30:13 -0700
Subject: CDFG News Release: Ten-Day Recreational Ocean Salmon Season to Open
in Northern California Aug. 29

California Department of Fish and Game News Release

NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 20, 2009

Contact: Joe Duran, Associate Marine Biologist, (707) 576-3456
Harry Morse, Public Information Officer, (916) 322-8962

Ten-Day Recreational Ocean Salmon Season to Open in Northern California
Aug. 29

California¹s only 2009 recreational ocean salmon season will be open
Aug. 29 through Sept. 7 in the Klamath Management Zone along the north
coast. The brief season was authorized by the Pacific Fishery Management
Council and California Fish and Game Commission, based on data collected
by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) showing enough adult Klamath
fall run Chinook will return to the Klamath River Basin to allow for a
limited ocean harvest while maintaining conservation goals. Since 2008,
commercial and recreational fishing for salmon has been closed in all
other ocean areas off California in order to protect Sacramento River
fall run Chinook, which have been at historically low numbers the last
two years.

³This northern California season was specifically designed to
minimize the incidental take of Sacramento River fall Chinook,² said
Marija Vojkovich, Marine Region Manager and DFG¹s representative to
the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

The boundaries of the open ocean fishing area extend from north of
Horse Mt. (40° 05¹ 00² N. latitude) to the California - Oregon
border. The retention of coho salmon or steelhead trout is prohibited in
all California ocean fisheries. Anglers are required to use barbless
hooks and are limited to one rod per person when fishing for salmon, or
when fishing from a boat with salmon on board.

The daily bag and possession limit is two salmon of any species except
coho, with a minimum size limit of 24 inches total length. A salmon
report card is no longer required when fishing for salmon in the
ocean.

The opening of this salmon season is expected to provide some relief to
businesses that cater to the salmon anglers. According to DFG economist
Terry Tillman, the 10-day ocean salmon sport fishing season could boost
economic output by $2 million statewide. Locally, in Humboldt and Del
Norte counties, the season could contribute an additional $370,000 to
total economic output for the region.

The 2009-2010 Freshwater and Ocean Sport Fishing Supplement, published
by DFG, lists all current regulations and restrictions. The supplement
is available at sport fishing licenses dealers, DFG offices and online
at www.dfg.ca.gov/regulations. Anglers may also call the Ocean Salmon
Hotline at (707) 576-3429 for additional information.

Salmon news and related information compiled by DFG is online at:
www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/salmon.

Seven Days Until Serious Savings!

Yep - it's that time!

If you 've been in the store during the past couple of weeks, you've probably noticed that there have been non-stop deliveries of decoys, ammunition, camo clothing and all the gear you need for the fall shooting season.

And just in case you missed the flyers - the 2009 Western Sport Shop Fall Shooting Sports Super Sale starts on Friday, August 28 and runs through Sunday, August 30.

We've got everything stacked up and ready, we've been sharpening our pencils to figure out the lowest prices of the season on clothing from Browning and Gamehide, decoys from Greenhead and Avery (plus the Winducks - wind-driven decoys that are the best trick for getting birds close), ammunition from Kent, Federal and HeviShot, and the hot new models from Benelli, Browning, Remington and Beretta.

Simply put, this is the time to stock up for what you'll need and save big while you're doing it.

3 Days of the lowest prices of the season. Don't miss this event!

Check back here for some "blog-only" specials as we get closer to the event.

Nicasio Reservoir - Marin Bass Club Results

On Sunday 7/26 six two-man teams competed for prize money and bragging rights at the 4th Marin County Bass Club Event of the season held on Lake Nicasio.

Of the anglers that showed we had grown men like Joe Hargreaves from jigmonster.com and Western Sport Shop and Randy Kid from the Sonoma County Belly Boat Club. Randy was coming in with the momentum of having just won his last tournament on the California Delta in dominant fashion with a 24lb bag that included a 10.3 lb and a 9.4 lb fish. A number of cagey locals who knew the lake very well showed up too - even one former east coast tournament angler who had won events on Lake Champlain before moving west.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, a couple of "kids" showed up as well; 16 year old Jeff Russell, who has acted as a stand-in whenever I've had to pull out of a team tourney in the past, and 16 year old Eduardo Li of Hi's tackle - another stand-in during the Team tournament season. These two were matched up as a team. We never saw what hit us!

Ok, you're probably laughing already, but these kids beat us - all of us! They posted an 18 pound lead over the second heaviest limit of the day.

Let's just take these facts one at a time -
1 - They clobbered everyone.
2 - Their LEAD was 18 pounts - not their limit.

Not only that - Jeff set a new Marin Bass Club Tournament Record with a single fish of 11lb 3oz. That's a nice fish. Uh... yeah.

For those of you interested, we will be trying a new format at our next event where you will be allowed to fish any publicly accessible lake in Marin County as long as you are back for the weigh in on time. Also, our next tournament will be ope to everyone - so even if you are not a member of the Marin County Bass Club, you'll get to join in the fun.

And here are some photos of the fun:





Click on through to see more photos.

Ok folks, I know a number of you have called the stores and emailed about
the Benelli Factory Field Day at Black Point Sport Clubs on Saturday, August
8th. Most of you have signed up, but a few people may have been distracted by
work, travel or other tasks and forgotten to follow through - So, here's your last
chance!

We are closing in the shooter limit and will be closing registration by noon
on Tuesday, August 4th - If you haven't signed up by then, you'll just have to
look at the pictures and hear all about the new Benelli Vinci and other
smooth-shooting semiautomatic shotguns that were on the rack.

This is a rare opportunity to get a chance to shoot these at moving targets,
using the Black Point Sports Club sporting clays stations. Kent Brown, the
Benelli factory rep, will be on hand throughout the morning to answer
questions and discuss the operation of the various models. You will be able to fire
the Vinci, M2, Super Black Eagle 2 and other models on the clays circuit.

The $50 fee covers access to the Black Point Sports Club, a 25 round circuit
on the sporting clays course, use of the Benelli models and shells for the
round. After the shooting, there will be a lunch barbeque for all attendees. Look
for a set of special "attendee-only" coupons as well.

Sign-in will be at 9:30 and the clays course will open at 10. It will be -
no pun intended - a "shotgun" start. So, all shooters should be ready to go at
10 am. Lunch will be served at about 12:30, which should give you plenty of
time to check out the various Benelli models or even squeeze in another round of 25
if you want to. (You can shoot an additional round for a fee - look for Mike if
you want to do this.)

You can sign up via our website -
http://www.westernsportshop.com/benelli

Downloadable signup sheet - Feel free to copy, share and post!
http://www.westernsportshop.com/anonftp/pub/hunt/benelli_blackpoint2009.pdf

Please note - this is a private event and there will be no "day of" signups.
Attendees will be limited to those who have signed up and paid in full before August 8th.

Price includes shells, the use of the clays course and the meal - $50 per
attendee.

(Please note, attendee‚s under the age of 18 must posses a valid California
Hunting License and be directly supervised by an adult. Note - the
requirement for a valid hunting license is a Western Sport Shop, Inc. requirement to
insure that all shooters have passed their Hunter Safety Course.)

This event will be limited and spaces will be available on a first-come,
first-served basis (and we'll create a waiting list if the number of slots
fill up).

Again - To reserve space right now, you can sign up on our website -

www.westernsportshop.com/benelli

You will be contacted with specific times and directions before the event.

For more information about Benelli, visit the Benelli USA site -

http://www.benelliusa.com/index.php

For more information about the Black Point Sports Club - please take a
moment to
visit their website -

http://blackpointsportsclub.com/

Hope to see you there!

Dog Days of Summer...?

So much for that!
If the bites we have going this month are the dog days, then I want a dog house and a big bone to chew on because I have never seen so many crazy bites happening all at once.

July tides have kicked off an epic halibut bite at Point Bonita with anglers reporting fast limits of jumbo flatties up to 45 lbs on live bait, frozen jumbo herring, and jigs. Even with heavy fishing pressure these fish just won't give up.

HALIBUT TECHNIQUES:
I have heard reports of guys throwing live jack smelt from 8 to 10 inches long ( the smelt can be caught on a sz 14 Sabiki rig) and live sardines (which also can be caught using the same Sabiki rig) 6 to 8 inches long with a slip sinker and a 50lb mono leader (about 3-4 ft long) as close to the back of the surf as safely possible and sticking flatties up to 30lbs (and stripers up to 25lbs!) The smaller boat folks who have stayed in the bay are also clobbering the flatties in places like Crissy Field, Angel Island, and Alcatraz. Inside the bay, catch reports are running up to 35lbs with good numbers of fish in the 20lb class. Top technique is drifting live bait, the bigger the better.

Last week local striper guru Tommy Glasser fished with one of our tackle guys here at the San Rafael Shop, Sean Daugherty. They reported fast afternoon action at Bonita and on the North Bar, but found a honey hole at Angel Island when they made a quick stop on their way home with a big concentration of "cookie cutter" 20lb flatties.

Several former commercial fishermen in Bolinas report that they have been able to catch a three fish limit of flatties in less than an hour at dozens of spots from Stinson Beach to Point Reyes and just beyond. These guys use use big frozen herring and live bait when they can catch it but they're doing just as well on jigs and plastics coated with either Pro-cure "'but juice" or Pro-cure sardine oil. They are enjoying a whole lot of water to themselves so if you find yourself starting to get crowded in at point bonita or at the beaches, head north.

Also while Tomales Bay can only handle so many boats before it gets hammered down, the flatties are kicking butt there as well. WSS G.M. Tom Nelson's son Wes Nelson is an expert on Tomales and he and his dad along with "Frank the Tomales Guru" have been catching limits of halibut in the 15-20lb class on almost every trip.

As great as the live bait/frozen bait drift fishing is. The striped bass surf bite is the best I have ever seen. Six or seven big schools of BIG stripers are haunting the coast line from Monterey to Pt. Reyes with Ocean Beach and Half Moon Bay being the epicenter of an incredible natural event.

Picture this - massive schools of sardines in the 5-8 inch size are being pushed up against the beaches and surf by huge stripers, huge halibut that are acting like stripers and chasing bait, a sprinkling of giant white sea bass (up to 52lbs), body surfing sea lions, and get this, DOLPHINS! Well...actually they are porpises, but none the less they are less than 30' from shore!

Even if you don't fish you have to see this, it's like watching a live performance of "Planet Earth"!

The good news is that they are all eating sardines and not stripers and halibut, but the bad news is that the white sea bass are not biting and appear to be just kind of hanging around (maybe preparing to spawn?)

The best bets for gear are Pencil Poppers in chrome with a blue back or white with a red head, silver or silver/blue kastmasters in the 2-4 oz range, hevier Hopkins spoons (~3 oz) in hammered chrome, SPRO hair jigs (2-3 oz sizes) in all white or white with either a black, blue, or green back. My absolute favorite would have to be an 8" Cheasapeake Bay Pencil Popper in pink/white, black scale, and yellow bunker unless it's really windy, in which case I like the River2Sea Dumbbell POP200 in deep blue.

If that is still not enough for you, Albacore in the 25-30lb class are on the bite with reports of fish anywhere from 38 miles out of Sausalito to 15 miles off Fort Bragg and Monterey. Best tactics have been to find albacore with surface trolled unpainted Cedar Plugs (various sizes) and and Tuna Clones in "Mexican Flag." Once you locate the schools, you can then bring them up with live bait, and it's on.

Most boats report that once they bring the fish up it's not just fast action, but the fish are blasting jigs, swimbaits, plastics, and even flies like 6" deceivers or clousers in white/chartreuse, white/green, or white/blue.

But what I think is the coolest thing going on right now, is the appearance of thresher sharks. The same water that brought in the tuna and larger schools of sardines, has also brought us hundreds of threshers. I have heard several reports of large thresher sharks just kind of cruising under the surfcace with their long sickle like tail jutting up into the air, whipping from side to side as they swim by.

These sharks are so prolific at the moment (and again I have lived here my whole life and have only seen two) that some guys have begun to target them. The usual man to thresher shark encounter in this area involves a salmon fisherman trolling big sardine baits and hooking into a juvenile that quickly breaks the line, not by strengh, but by slicing up the line with their big long tail. They use this tail to rip through schools of bait, doing damage to whatever is in front of them with a similar posture to a scorpion, then returning and eating whichever bait fish were stunned or injunred by the whipping tail - not unlike king salmon who use the same basic attck, but use their open toothy mouths.

Some thresher sharks have been landed but this is rare and they are typicaly quite small. Anglers who are targeting them now have found that the best way to get one of these critters is by trolling a big marlin or wahoo type plug or Magnum Rapala on a 5'-8' wire leader made of 90lb sevenstrand on the same kind of high capacity trolling outfit you would use when searching for albacore.

So far, the biggest landed in the bay was 35lbs and it took a jumbo trolled herring just off Alcatraz. The same boat reported losing one that they believed to be over 100lbs just off Yellow Bluff that same day. In the ocean, I know of one fish over 80lbs taken on a Magnum Rapala near Duxbury Reef and another that was released after being measured against the boat. That fish is the largest reported so far, having a body of about 8ft for a total of 14 ft with its tail. These amazing sharks are often described as the best eating of all sharks.

(ed note - fishing for sharks has obvious inherent dangers, both in the catch and handling of these fish. We recommend you fish with an experienced angler or research the topic thoroughly before attempting this.)

If all of this stuff is to intense and you want to take it easy, try fishing with Berkely Gulp Sand Sorms, 2-3 inch Curly Tail Grubs in smoke, rootbeer, motor oil, white, or chartreuse, or simply soak live sand crabs at Stinson Beach for big redtail perch and barred surf perch. Some of these have run so big that they have been caught on 8" striper plugs.

Freshwater fishing is not quite as hot as salt but there are fish to be caught.

Bon Tempe will kick out trout on Power Bait and Power Nuggets or pink Berkley Gulp Worms. The effective tactics have changed since spring, of course - you need to tie leaders that are 3-4 ft long and use a 3/4oz eggsinker so as to get the bait out as far and deep as possible. Try to fish the steepest banks you can find or near the outflow pump when it is activated and pumping water up from Alpine Lake.

Smallmouth Bass are also there but you have to work for them. For best results, target steep shorelines at dawn with topwater baits like the Ima Skimmer or jerk baits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in Ghost Minnow. Once the sun is up you either drop shot 4.5" finesse worms, or you fish a 1/2-3/4 oz Jig Monster Chaos football head jig with a double tail grub trailer slowly on deep water points. Best colors are green pumpkin watermelon, P.B.J., bludgeon, hell hound, and cold water craw.

You can take the same approach to Alpine Lake for smallies and largemouth, but also try throwing 5-6 inch senkos rigged wacky in watermelon w/black flake, or green pumpkin w/black flake. Kent Lake can be fished in this same manor as well but the bite should be a whole lot better. At Kent, add swimbaits and crank baits to your arsenal. Look for wood cover that is still submerged especialy if it spans across shallow and deep water.

With all three lakes it pays to keep moving. The harder you have to work to get to the good spots the better those spots will be. While you will find that once the sun is on the water the reaction bite (i.e. - topwater, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and swimbaits) will mostly shut down, and the majority of bites will come on jigs and plastics, there is an exception: wind.

When the afternoon wind gets going and it lasts for more than a few minutes than no matter how much direct sunlight hits the water, the surface chop makes it impossible for birds to hunt fish and the bass go on the bite with confidence. best baits for afternoon wind are spinnerbaits, either 3/8 or 1/2 oz with tandem blades, or double willow blades like the Hildenbrandt blade series or Persuader. Whites or white chartreuse or good but the Hildenbrandt in bluegill, or alewife are even better. Nicasio is pretty tough (and low) right now but after the Marin Bass Club Derby there on Sunday there will be a full report.


Names of Note: I wanted to give some credit here to Jeff Russell who is fishing a junior pro tournament this week, we wish him good luck. Jigmonster pro Chris "Flipper" Franks garnered some serious ink with a big article in the Marin Independant Journal about himself and his pro bass career.


Marin IJ Photo

Finally, a huge thanks and vote of respect goes out to the park rangers who acted when I complained to them about poaching and other abuses reported and encountered at Lake Nicasio - they followed through by reporting to the Marin County Sheriff and vigorously enforcing the law and regulations, ensuring a fair and quality fishing experience for those who follow the rules. Thanks a lot guys! I am proud have such standup rangers out here, we are lucky we have you.