Last week's weather can only be described as "erratic." We had periods of wind and rain and a good swell for surfing broken by intervals of flat calm that lasted all day. Fishing reports were few and far between, but there is action to be had for those who time it right. Joel Isaacson chimed in with a report of his recent sea dory adventure. Isaason rebuilt a beautiful Swampscott Dory a couple of years ago, and is enjoying long rows along the coast to some favorite fishing spots. "I launched her late in the summer of '09, christened R/V Hunkey Dory. I was delightfully surprised at how easily she rows, with either one or two rowers. She loves surfing down the swells and makes a very stable fishing platform. Without a motor, I hesitate to go out much further than a mile from shore, or further from the harbor than Natural Bridges to the West and Pleasure Point to the East. That limits me to about 60 FOW, but I intend to learn all I can about fishing that little territory. This season I landed some rockfish, ling, greenling and mackerel. The most productive area for me has been the edges of the kelp beds off West Cliff." On his latest trip last week Isaacson rowed to Natural Bridges and picked up one black rockfish off West Cliff that was released successfully, being out of season. Remember that area off West Cliff can still hold halibut even in the winter. My suggestion would be to move a little further from the kelp beds, out to 70 or 100 feet of water.

Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine reminds us that crabbing is still going strong in our area. Limits are the rule for big tasty Dungeness crab. According to Fraser, the best reports are coming in from the area between Four-Mile Beach and Davenport in 180-200 feet of water. While we have not seen any giant Humboldt Squid yet this year, Fraser adds some market squid are still hovering on the Monterey side of the Bay, and a few white sea bass continue to be picked up in that area. In the meantime, Stagnaro's Sportfishing is relying on sand dabs as a wintertime mainstay. Weather permitting; Stagnaro's will host weekly trips. Last weekend, eleven anglers aboard the 60-foot Velocity caught over 300 'dabs on their short Saturday trip. The recent rains are raising the water levels on our local streams, but steelhead fishing won't really get going in our area until we get a significant rainfall, in the order of 4-8 inches. Typically steelheading gets good on our local streams in January and February, but if this weekend's storms bring enough precipitation we just might enjoy some pre-Christmas fishing for a welcome change.

Caption:
Joel Isaacson gets his exercise and the occasional dinner fishing from his restored Swampscott Sea Dory.