Maya: Good morning, and welcome to Tides and Fishing, your Tuesday, October sixth, twenty twenty-six briefing for Point Reyes, Tomales Bay, and Bodega Bay. I'm Maya.
Devon: And I'm Devon. If you're up early and thinking about the water, here's everything you need for today.
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Maya: Tides first, from Noah, and all three stations are running within the normal range today — nothing near the seven foot flag. At Point Reyes on the open ocean: a low just below zero at two thirteen A M, a high of five point zero five feet at eight fifty-nine A M, a low of two point three feet at two twenty-nine P M, and the day's highest water, five point five five feet, at eight fifteen P M.
Devon: In Tomales Bay, using Inverness as the reference: low just below zero at three forty-six A M, a high of four point nine four feet at ten thirteen A M, a low of one point nine two feet at four ten P M, and a high of five point two five feet at nine twenty-seven P M.
Maya: At the Bodega Harbor entrance: low right around zero at two twenty-two A M, a high of five point zero five feet at nine oh six A M, a low of two point two one feet at two forty-six P M, and a high of five point three nine feet at eight twenty P M.
Devon: Tomorrow runs almost identical and about an hour later. Point Reyes tops out at five point five feet, Tomales Bay at five point two, and Bodega Harbor at five point three four — still no flags anywhere.
Maya: Now the fishing, and the bluefin bite off Bodega Bay is genuinely hot. A local charter put full ten-fish limits on the deck by three thirty P M Saturday, fish running thirty to seventy pounds and averaging about forty-five, and they did it again Sunday before the wind kicked up. Spreader bars out-fished the madmacs this weekend, if you're picking gear.
Devon: The same boat found a rare treat Friday — bonito around twelve pounds off Ten Mile Beach, on feathers and jigs on the stop. Inshore, the rockfish and lingcod fishing has been excellent, with a really good lingcod bite and fish to thirty pounds on Saturday. Party boat counts show twenty-four to thirty anglers per boat landing eight to ten lingcod apiece on the weekend trips.
Maya: Season to date out of Bodega Bay: more than five thousand fish, nearly thirty-eight hundred rockfish, just under nine hundred king salmon, and over seven hundred lingcod. Honesty note: the Fish Sniffer's north coast write-ups are stale — the latest Bodega Bay salmon report is from July — and we found no fresh in-bay Tomales Bay report this week, so fish the bay on tides and birds.
Devon: Marine weather from the Weather Service, and it's a green light for small boats today. From Point Arena to Point Reyes: northwesterly winds five to ten knots, seas three to five feet inshore, holding tonight and Wednesday. Patchy dense fog possible in the morning — run slow crossing in.
Maya: No small craft advisories or warnings in effect, but the weekend is a different story: winds build to twenty to twenty-five knots Saturday afternoon with seas six to nine feet, and worse offshore. So today is your window. On the Bodega Harbor entrance bar, nearshore seas of three to five feet look manageable, but we couldn't verify a bar-specific bulletin this morning — mind the ebb against the swell.
Devon: For tonight's night anglers, the stars. The moon is out of the way — a waning crescent at about seventeen percent, set before dinner, not back until about four A M Wednesday. Dark sky until the small hours.
Maya: Saturn is the star of the month: just past opposition on October fourth, at its closest and brightest all year, visible all night. The Summer Triangle dominates the evening sky — Deneb in Cygnus nearly overhead, Vega and Altair flanking it — with Cassiopeia's W high in the northeast and the Milky Way arching through Cygnus, visible from the dark north coast if the sky stays clear.
Devon: One catch: dense marine fog rolls in after about one A M, so the best star window runs from evening until one. Up before dawn? Jupiter and reddish Mars climb in the east, but the fog will likely eat them. Around three A M the thin moon slides in front of Jupiter — a rare occultation, if the fog lets you see it. No visible space station passes tonight.
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Maya: That's your north coast briefing. Good tides, biting bluefin, and a dark sky before the fog. Get out there and catch something.
Devon: See you in the morning.