Cockles

 Salmon fishing is really picking up. Last weekend and the last few days have yielded many salmon. On Wednesday, an almost-40-pounder was brought in. See here for details.Most when fishing that day,but I took advantage of the low tide and went digging for cockles. While I was not particularly successful that day, they were still unbelievably tasty. Today I'll tell you about the process to catch them.

After

Before

First, you want to wait for a low tide, preferably one that's 0.0 or below. The lower the tide, the more clams are exposed. Unlike most clams, cockles are located on rocky shores. When scouting out a location, look for obvious holes in the beach. This indicates the someone has already been there and that it's a bad spot. Bring a hoe or rake to dig them up with. Start digging. If your hole doesn't yield many clams, don't be afraid to move to a new hole. If you have a lot of luck with one hole and then you dig all the clams out of it, dry digging outwards rather than deeper. Remember that cockles have a daily bag limit of 50 and a size limit of 1.5". Most crab gauges have a hole in them can be used to measure cockles.

Bells and Whistles

Salmon finally went on the bite in earnest last weekend. A number of fish over 20 lb. were brought in. I also heard that on Wednesday, the New Sea Angler, a charter (or party) boat out of Bodega Harbor, hooked 18 salmon and landed ten and only returned because several folks on board had very disagreeable stomachs. At the time they were in 180'-deep water off of Bird Rock.

There are countless different modifications to lures that fishermen swear by. Many of these additions have been wildly successful catchers. Of fishermen, that is. You should be careful when purchasing gear so your "quick stop" won't turn into a triple-digit bill. Not all of these are just a waste of packaging, though.

Flashers can be wildly successful. Often times, it's a coin toss between the fish finding it an irresistible toy or it being completely terrified. The idea is that they grab the fish's attention. The soon-to-be-dinner then hopefully notices the weaker, slower, smaller fish (your lure/bait) behind and hits it. My best and worst days of fishing both involved flashers. A good bet is to give half your rods flashers, to see what's catching.

Scents been largely unsuccessful for me. That is, I haven't noticed a scented rod get more fish than any other. However, scents have been known to assist greatly with crabbing. The boathouse carries Smelly Jelly for crabs.

Glow-in-the-Dark products are actually quite useful despite how odd they appear. I have heard people say, "Only a moron would try something so stupid." If that's the case, then I am a gigantic moron. But I'm a moron that catches fish. 

These are only a few of the thingamajigs out there asking to be bought. If you're considering something iffy, remember the following:

• Does it look like a fish?
• Might it scare the fish?
• Is it too expensive to gamble on?
• Does a sales rep recommend it, and if so, might it be because of sales commission? 

Of course, there are exceptions to all rules and this one defies most of them, but I can vouch for it personally.

Rockfish

Bait fishing off the pier has been terrific. From how many are being caught, I would estimate several hundred perch in the waters under the pier. A 16-1/2 lb. salmon was brought in today as well, but salmon has yet to pick up. However, the regulars are lining the boathouse's benches, waiting for someone to come in shrieking, "The fish are coming! The fish are coming!"

Rockfish season began June 1, but with salmon on the mind, no one went. I felt it was pertinent to say a thing about them, though. There is a ten apiece limit with no size regulations. You can have one line with a maximum of two hooks, with no regulation on hook type. Bait is helpful but not necessary for the typical and reliable setup shown below.

Notice that despite the hook type, I don't spring for the treble hooks. Think about where you're fishing. Rockfishing. Single hooks are considerably easier to get off a rock than a treble hook. Monofilament fishing line is also detrimental to getting hooks loose due to the flexibility. But, before you get cocky, you will lose gear. I would estimate that I have left $30 in lead, line, and lures floating on the bottom of the ocean. And that's being very conservative.