The Weekly Fishing Report
Wednesday, September 30 – Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Central Valley · Sierra · Eastern Sierra · Delta · Coast | Issue 26-39
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SALMON SOUTH OF PIGEON POINT CLOSES TONIGHT • BAY AREA STAYS OPEN THROUGH OCT. 31 UNLESS THE GUIDELINE FILLS • PINE FLAT RELEASE CUT IN HALF TO 355 CFS • LOWER KINGS PLANTED A THIRD STRAIGHT WEEK • SOCAL SHALLOW ROCKFISH CLOSE OCT. 1 • 4,417 YELLOWFIN ON SAN DIEGO BOATS SUN–TUE • BLUEFIN TO 190 LB
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Today is the last day of salmon season south of Pigeon Point. Monterey and everything south of it closes tonight. From Pigeon Point up to Point Reyes the season stays open through Oct. 31, 32 days counting today, unless CDFW closes it early when the shared 20,000-fish guideline fills. As of this morning CDFW has posted no inseason action on the fall season. We could not read a tracker update past Sept. 15, so we can’t tell you how many fish are left. Neither can the landings. Fish Emeryville’s own words Tuesday: “Book before quota is met!”
The fish haven’t gotten the memo. Saturday through Tuesday the northern party boats reported 409 kings on 347 rods. On Monday only three boats went, and all three came back with limits: California Dawn II with 28 on 14 and fish to 27 pounds, Hog Heaven with 22 on 11 and fish to 28.
Closer to home, the Kings got a lot friendlier. Tuesday at 8 a.m. the Corps dropped the Pine Flat release from 700 cfs to 355 at the request of the Kings River Water Master. That is half the water, and less than half the 890 cfs it hit a week ago. CDFW also planted the river below the dam for a third straight week.
Two rule changes before you book a boat. Starting tomorrow, Oct. 1, south of Point Conception the shallow-water rockfish, cabezon and greenling season closes, and lingcod and shelf rockfish can only be taken deeper than 50 fathoms. North of Point Conception nothing changes; it’s open at all depths through December. We also owe you a correction on the vermilion limit. It’s in the Season Clock below.
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◉ This Week’s Best Bets
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Bet No. 1 · Golden Gate
Kings, While They Last
Monday: three boats, three sets of limits, 62 kings on 31 rods, the biggest 28 lb on Hog Heaven. Tuesday: 54 on 40. Over four days the fleet averaged 1.18 a rod. Open Pigeon Point to Point Reyes through Oct. 31 unless the guideline fills first, and nobody outside CDFW knows how close it is. Call (707) 576-3429 the morning you go.
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Bet No. 2 · Fresno, Kings & Tulare
The Lower Kings at Half the Water
Pine Flat’s release went from 700 cfs to 355 at 8 a.m. Tuesday and held there overnight. CDFW has the river below the dam on its plant list for the third week running, week of Sept. 27–Oct. 3, in all three counties. Lower water means the planters stack in the deeper runs and tailouts. Crawlers, eggs, PowerBait and small spinners. The water under the dam is still cold.
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Bet No. 3 · Morro Bay & Avila
Limits, Big Ling and a Bluefin
Sunday the Endeavor limited 17 anglers, added 29 lingcod to 18 lb, and brought home a bluefin tuna out of Morro Bay. The Avenger limited 31 on a half day that morning; Saturday its best lingcod went 19 lb. Avila’s Flying Fish averaged better than nine a rod Saturday. Central Coast rockfish stays open at all depths through December.
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Bet No. 4 · San Diego to Dana Point
Yellowfin, and Now Big Bluefin
San Diego boats landed 1,700 yellowfin Sunday, 1,613 Monday and 1,104 Tuesday, by the count service’s own totals. Monday H&M boats added six bluefin to 190 lb and Seaforth five to 180. Up the coast, Davey’s Blackfish put 60 yellowfin on six anglers two days running. The yellowfin limit is 10 a day, and those boats hit it.
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⚠ Water Watch
Pine Flat turned the tap way down. After peaking at 890 cfs last Wednesday afternoon, the release stepped down through the weekend to 700, then dropped to 355 cfs at 8 a.m. Tuesday. The Corps’ note says Mill and Hughes creeks are at zero, so what comes out of the dam is the river. With less going out, the lake gained 732 acre-feet Tuesday. It still lost 555 AF on the week and sits at 157,506 AF, 15.8%. Kings natural flow read 215.1 cfs Tuesday, down from 263.6 a week ago; below the North Fork near Trimmer, 203.5.
The south Valley lakes keep dropping. Isabella lost 3,960 AF, to 26.5%. Success gave up another 1,515, to 13.1%, and Kaweah 734, to 10.9%. Eastman (6.8%) and Hensley (7.4%) barely moved because there’s almost nothing left to move.
The Section 7 sheet went backwards. This morning’s “current” non-Corps report is a run with data ending Sept. 14, older than the numbers we printed last week. So there is no fresh level for Millerton, Don Pedro, McClure, New Melones, Shaver, Bass Lake or the Kaiser Pass lakes. Below we repeat the newest figures that were ever published, with their dates, and show no trend. BASS 101 runs Pine Flat Saturday and Millerton Sunday. If you’re towing to a lake on that list, call the marina first.
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◉ Lakes & Reservoirs
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District. Corps sheet: data ending midnight Sept. 29, generated Sept. 30 at 08:00. The 7-day column compares Sept. 29 with Sept. 22. Section 7 projects are shown from the newest run that ever published them, with the date in the mark, and no trend. Percent-full uses gross pool.
| Lake | Elev (ft) | Storage (AF) | % Full | 7-Day |
| Pine Flat | 741.58 | 157,506 | 15.8% | −555 |
| Millerton (Friant) | n/r | 228,333* | 43.9%* | stale* |
| Don Pedro | 789.12‡ | 1,550,780‡ | 76.4%‡† | stale‡ |
| New Melones | n/r | 1,544,821* | 64.4%* | stale* |
| McClure (New Exchequer) | 786.91‡ | 565,037‡ | 55.1%‡† | stale‡ |
| McSwain (release below) | n/a | n/a | n/a | 936 cfs‡ |
| Eastman (Buchanan) | 466.17 | 10,230 | 6.8% | −46 |
| Hensley (Hidden) | 453.40 | 6,653 | 7.4% | −34 |
| Kaweah (Terminus) | 600.54 | 20,311 | 10.9% | −734 |
| Success (Schafer) | 597.55 | 10,748 | 13.1% | −1,515 |
| Isabella | 2,557.03 | 150,488 | 26.5% | −3,960 |
| Shaver | n/r | 87,695‡ | 64.8%‡ | stale‡ |
| Bass Lake (Crane Valley) | n/r | 35,812* | 78.9%* | stale* |
| New Hogan | 667.95 | 157,206 | n/p | −1,827 |
| Huntington / Edison / Florence | n/r | 87,796 / 29,893 / 6,722‡ | n/p | stale‡ |
| Wishon & Courtright | Not published on either Corps sheet (PG&E projects). No verified level for either this week. |
‡ Data ending midnight Sept. 21, from a Section 7 run generated Sept. 22 at 23:01. Nine days old. * Data ending midnight Sept. 17. Thirteen days old. This morning’s Section 7 sheet (data ending Sept. 14, generated Sept. 15) is older than both, so these are still the newest numbers published. We print them only so you have a reference point. Don’t read them as today’s level. † Percent-full for Don Pedro and McClure is our own arithmetic against 2,030,000 AF and 1,024,600 AF gross pool; the Corps does not print a percentage for these two. n/r = the agency reported no value. n/p = we hold no published gross-pool figure we trust for that project, so we don’t estimate one.
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Bite Report
Same straight word, third week running. The weekly regional aggregator filed “no reports for this week” for Central California, Central Sierra, Sierra Foothills and the Delta. A syndicated Central California column labeled “Sept. 18–24” surfaced again in search. It has Pine Flat at 40% (the Corps says 15.8%) and talks about reopening a road on “Memorial Day 2025.” That column is from an earlier year. A newer-dated entry from the same series also showed up in search, but the page wouldn’t open for us, so we couldn’t check what year it was. We didn’t use either one. What follows comes from verified levels, flows, plants and the usual early-October pattern.
| Water | What We Know |
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| Pine Flat |
Rising slightly for the first time in weeks now that the release is cut. At 15.8% the fish are crowded into a small lake: kings and rainbows under the shad schools off main-lake points early and late, bass on ledges, brush and bluff walls. BASS 101 is on the lake Saturday, Oct. 3, and Golden Empire on Oct. 10. Launching is still the harder part. |
| Millerton |
No level published since Sept. 17 (43.9% then). The water that drained out of Florence and Edison had to come through here. Spotted bass on finesse gear, and they usually wake up when the water cools and the boat traffic thins. Catfish from the bank after dark. BASS 101 is on Millerton Sunday, Oct. 4. |
| Don Pedro & McClure |
Nothing newer than Sept. 21, when both were dropping fast. Fall pattern: trout and kings on the shad, bass deep. No permitted events on either this weekend; Don Pedro gets Battle Born Bass Nation Oct. 10–11 and McClure gets Kings VIII on the 11th. |
| New Melones |
No level since Sept. 17. Kokanee are finished as a target and moving to spawn. Trout and bass stay tough until the surface cools. |
| Eastman & Hensley |
6.8% and 7.4%, and the Fresno River above Hensley still reads zero. Eastman is the bass lake of the two; Hensley is catfish and carp. At these levels your first problem is getting the boat in. |
| Kaweah & Success |
Kaweah 10.9%, Success 13.1%, and Success is still losing about 200 AF a day. The Kaweah at Three Rivers reads 41.6 cfs. Small-water fishing: finesse plastics, minijigs for crappie, dip bait for cats after dark. Ducks Unlimited has Success Oct. 17–18. |
| Isabella |
26.5% and releasing about 380 cfs against 210 coming in. The Oct. 3 Copes Tackle event we listed last week is no longer in the state permit database; Copes now shows Oct. 17. The Kern above the lake was planted again this week (see Rivers). |
| Shaver & Huntington |
No level since Sept. 21. Kokanee are in the inlets to spawn and holdover rainbows follow them for the eggs. That’s the usual pattern; we have no report confirming it this week. |
| Wishon & Courtright |
On no Corps sheet, and we found no current report we could date. High-country trout water that fishes into October, weather allowing. Call ahead on access and the seasonal gates before you make the drive. |
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Central Coast
No verified current level for any of the four lakes this week. Last week we showed you why the third-party figures for Lopez and San Antonio looked frozen. We took them out, and we’re not putting them back. The newest Nacimiento level we found in search was from May. Where these lakes report, it’s as percent of normal for the date, not percent of capacity, so a number over 100% isn’t over full.
| Lake | Level | Who to Call |
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| Lopez | Not verified this week | San Luis Obispo County Parks |
| Santa Margarita | Not verified this week | San Luis Obispo County Parks |
| Nacimiento | Not verified this week | Monterey County Water Resources Agency |
| San Antonio | Not verified this week | Monterey County Water Resources Agency |
What we can say: the Central Coast lakes went into fall with more water than the Valley lakes. Nacimiento (Gilroy Bassmasters) and Santa Margarita (SLO County Bass Ambushers) both have permitted events Oct. 17, and Golden Empire has Nacimiento Nov. 7–8.
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◉ Eastern Sierra
First dated report from the Bridgeport end in weeks. Carolyn Webb at Virginia Lakes Resort filed Monday, Sept. 28: aspens turning gold around the resort, the lake stocked Friday, and a 5-pound, 15-ounce rainbow on Sept. 26 in the resort’s photo caption. In her words, “crawlers took over the top spot with power bait close behind.” Pink or orange with white heads, garlic glitter and yellow glitter PowerBait all worked. On hardware, stay small: 1/6-oz Buoyants, gold Kastmasters, a gold Super Duper. She says the water has warmed up again, so go deep. Fly-and-bubble with small dark flies works best early and late.
Two notes from the same report. Big Virginia is a drinking-water lake: no swimming, no gas motors, and no float tubes or boards without full waders. And high winds knocked out power on both sides of Conway Summit last Friday. Nothing new was posted this week from Crowley, the Owens or the June Lake Loop, and no Eastern Sierra plant had been posted for the week of Sept. 27–Oct. 3 as of this morning.
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⚠ The Regs Up Here Are Not the Regs Down Here
Inyo and Mono waters carry special regulations that change reach by reach on the same river. The Owens above a given bridge is not the Owens below it, and Hot Creek, the East Walker and the Upper Owens each have their own gear and take rules. Checking the statewide rules doesn’t cover you here.
A handful of Mono County waters, the East Walker among them, stay open year-round, and in the off-season those are catch-and-release, barbless, artificial lure or fly only. Most of the district runs on the general season, which closes in mid-November.
We still haven’t confirmed the exact 2026 closing date on CDFW’s own pages, so we’re not printing one. If you’re planning a late-season trip, read the Sierra District entry for your water in the current regulations booklet.
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◉ Delta, Rivers & Aqueduct
| Water | Conditions & What We Can Verify |
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| The Delta |
No regional report again this week. The tide is past the full moon and easing toward the quarter, so the weekend has the smallest swings of the window: Saturday’s biggest move at Port Chicago is only 2.6 ft. It builds again toward the Oct. 10 new moon. By Tuesday the swing is back over 4 ft, starting from a −0.1 ft low at 5:50 a.m., about an hour before sunrise. That is the week’s best west-Delta striper tide. Events: Tracy Oasis Thursday and Friday, Delta Bass Club (Contra Costa) Saturday, and a Lunkers event Saturday on San Joaquin County water that is still pending in the permit database. |
| Upper Kings, above Pine Flat |
Below the North Fork near Trimmer: 203.5 cfs; natural flow into Pine Flat 215.1 cfs Tuesday. Water below the North Fork ran 63 to 70°F through the day Tuesday on the Corps’ hourly gauge. Low, clear freestone water. Fish it early, small and quiet. |
| Lower Kings, below the dam |
Planted a third straight week, week of Sept. 27–Oct. 3, listed in Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties. Release 355 cfs since Tuesday morning, down from 700, and from 890 a week ago. Lower flow puts the planters in the deeper runs, and bars that were under water last weekend are dry now. Wading: easier doesn’t mean safe. It’s cold tailwater over slick cobble, and the Water Master can raise the release again with little notice. Check the flow before you step in. |
| Kaweah & Tule |
Kaweah at Three Rivers 41.6 cfs. Tule: South Fork near Success 4.0 cfs, near Springville 11.1, Deer Creek at Trenton Weir zero. Creek fishing, not river fishing. |
| Kern River |
At Kernville, 182.5 cfs, steady. CDFW has Kern River Sections 4, 5 and 6 on this week’s plant list, all three at once. Low, clear, freshly stocked moving water, and a shorter drive than the high country. |
| San Joaquin below Friant |
No current flow published; it’s on the stale Section 7 sheet. The last number we trust is 375 cfs on Sept. 17. Don’t plan around it. |
| California Aqueduct, San Luis & O’Neill Forebay |
No verified current report. The usual fall pattern: catfish on cut bait and dip bait along the canal, stripers in the boils and around the check gates early. This warning holds whatever the reports say: aqueduct water is swift, cold and steep-sided, with no way out. Wear a PFD, fish with somebody, and stay off wet concrete. |
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◉ Ocean Report & Charters
Boat-by-boat dock totals, Sept. 26–29. Fish-per-rod is our arithmetic from the published angler and fish counts. On multi-day trips the per-rod figure is for the whole trip, not per day; a 2-day boat had two days’ limits to work with. “YFT” = yellowfin only.
| Boat / Port | Date & Trip | Count | Per Rod |
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| Bay Area & North: Salmon |
| California Dawn II · Berkeley | Sept. 28, full day | 28 kings on 14, to 27 lb | 2.00 |
| Hog Heaven · Sausalito | Sept. 28, full day | 22 kings on 11, to 28 lb | 2.00 |
| Reel Addiction 2 · Berkeley | Sept. 28 / Sept. 29 | 12 on 6, both days | 2.00 |
| Scallywag · Emeryville | Sept. 26 / Sept. 27 | 12 on 6, then 10 on 5 | 2.00 |
| Round 2 (Right Hook) · Berkeley | Sept. 26 / Sept. 27 | 8 on 4, then 12 on 6 | 2.00 |
| New Rayann · Sausalito | Sept. 26 / Sept. 29 | 18 on 9, then 18 on 15 | 2.00 / 1.20 |
| C Gull II · Emeryville | Sept. 27, full day | 24 kings on 13 | 1.85 |
| California Dawn II · Berkeley | Sept. 29, full day | 18 kings on 15, to 22 lb | 1.20 |
| Lovely Martha · San Francisco | Sept. 27, full day | 17 kings on 22 | 0.77 |
| Northern fleet daily average | Sat 0.91 (14 boats) · Sun 1.23 (13) · Mon 2.00 (3) · Tue 1.35 (4) | 409 on 347 ≈1.18 |
| Bay Area & North: Groundfish |
| Surf Scooter · Bodega Bay | Sept. 27, full day | 100 rockfish + 20 lingcod on 10 | 10.00 limits |
| Sea Wolf · Emeryville | Sept. 28, full day | 200 rockfish + 26 lingcod on 20 | 10.00 limits |
| Queen of Hearts · Half Moon Bay | Sept. 27, full day | 260 rockfish on 26 | 10.00 limits |
| Riptide · Half Moon Bay | Sept. 26, full day | 210 rockfish + 48 bonito on 21 | 10.00 limits |
| Check Mate · Monterey | Sept. 29, full day | 90 rockfish + 18 lingcod on 9 | 10.00 limits |
| Kahuna / New Horizon · Monterey | Sept. 27, 1/2 day AM | 110 on 11 and 130 on 13, + 19 ling | 10.00 limits |
| Surf Scooter and Check Mate also limited on lingcod (two a rod). A Sept. 28 Monterey posting of “110 anglers, 110 rockfish” on one boat looks like a data-entry error, so we left it out. |
| Central Coast: Morro Bay & Avila Beach |
| Endeavor · Morro Bay | Sept. 27, full day | 170 rockfish-group + 29 lingcod to 18 lb + 1 bluefin on 17 | 10.00 limits |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Sept. 27, 1/2 day AM | 310 rockfish-group + 7 ling to 12 lb on 31 | 10.00 limits |
| Starfire · Morro Bay | Sept. 27, 3/4 day | 280 rockfish-group + 8 ling to 12 lb on 28 | 10.00 limits |
| Endeavor · Morro Bay | Sept. 26, full day | 210 rockfish-group + 7 ling to 14 lb on 21 | 10.00 limits |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Sept. 26, 3/4 day | 260 rockfish-group + 6 ling to 19 lb on 28 | 9.29 |
| Flying Fish · Avila Beach | Sept. 26, 1/2 day AM | 194 rockcod-group (bocaccio to 6 lb) on 21 | 9.24 |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Sept. 28, 3/4 day | 153 rockfish-group + 8 ling to 11 lb on 17 | 9.00 |
| Patriot · Avila Beach | Sept. 27, 3/4 day | 202 rockcod + 1 white seabass on 29 | 6.97 |
| “Rockfish-group” is our sum of the rockfish, bocaccio, copper, canary and red rockfish the landing lists separately. All of them count toward the 10-fish aggregate. |
| Southern California: Santa Barbara, Oxnard, San Pedro, Long Beach, Newport, Dana Point |
| Freedom · San Pedro (22nd St.) | In Sept. 28, 1.5 day | 10 bluefin, 85 yellowfin, 15 yellowtail, 12 dorado on 30 | 2.83 YFT, trip |
| Thunderbird · Newport | Sept. 26, 2 day | 95 yellowfin, 3 yellowtail, 1 striped marlin on 24 | 3.96 YFT, trip |
| Blackfish · Newport (Davey’s) | Sept. 27 / Sept. 28, full day | 60 yellowfin on 6, both days | 10.00 YFT |
| Lex Sea · Dana Point | Sept. 26 / Sept. 27, full day | 40 yellowfin on 4, both days | 10.00 YFT |
| Current · Dana Point | Sept. 28, 3/4 day | 50 yellowfin, 60 skipjack, 2 dorado on 5 | 10.00 YFT |
| New San Mateo · Dana Point | Sept. 26, full day | 106 yellowfin, 45 bullet tuna on 14 | 7.57 YFT |
| Clemente · Dana Point | Sept. 29, 3/4 day | 71 yellowfin, 85 bullet, 29 skipjack, 4 dorado on 43 | 1.65 YFT |
| Coral Sea · Santa Barbara | Sept. 27, 3/4 day | 43 yellowtail, 43 barracuda, 9 white seabass on 24 | n/a |
| Aloha Spirit · Oxnard | Sept. 28, full day | 39 yellowtail, 50 bonito, 37 sand bass on 30 | n/a |
| Island Fox · Oxnard | Sept. 27, full day | 25 yellowtail + 1 striped marlin on 15 | n/a |
| San Diego & Oceanside |
| All boats reporting to the San Diego count service | Sun 1,700 yellowfin · Mon 1,613 · Tue 1,104 (the service’s own totals) | n/a |
| H&M Landing, 8 boats | Sept. 28, all trips | 943 yellowfin, 6 bluefin to 190 lb, 106 yellowtail on 218 | 4.33 YFT |
| Seaforth, 6 boats | Sept. 28, all trips | 414 yellowfin, 5 bluefin to 180 lb, 68 yellowtail on 183 | 2.26 YFT |
| Point Loma, 2 boats | Sept. 28, all trips | 37 white seabass, 57 yellowtail, 37 yellowfin on 32 | n/a |
| Oceanside Sea Center, 6 boats | Sept. 27, all trips | 269 yellowfin, 34 white seabass on 114 | 2.36 YFT |
| San Diego rows are landing-level totals as the count service publishes them. The per-rod figure mixes trip lengths, so read it as a rough gauge. Seaforth and H&M boats also reported 19 wahoo on Sept. 27. |
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Catalina & the Island Boats
Nobody named Catalina in writing again this week, so neither will we. Both 22nd Street reports posted since last Wednesday were from the Freedom, and both were offshore tuna trips. Sept. 26: “Today we went to check out a diffrent zone and it payed off” for 65 yellowfin. Then Capt. Alex Natipadab’s 1.5-day came in with 10 bluefin and 85 yellowfin. Pierpoint’s Enterprise (Capt. Andy Siratt) wrote Sept. 27 that “things seem to be getting back on track on the local scene,” and on the 28th listed tuna, yellowtail, marlin, barracuda, bass and bonito. It didn’t say where. Davey’s Locker’s count page attributes nothing to the island.
22nd Street’s full-day Pursuit keeps posting island-style mixed bags: 18 yellowtail, 25 calico, 44 bonito and 10 barracuda on 39 Tuesday, and 13 yellowtail plus 142 rockfish on 40 Monday. The count service doesn’t say where those fish came from, and we won’t guess. Ask the landing: (310) 832-8304.
Rockfish rules change tomorrow for every SoCal boat, island trips included. From Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, south of Point Conception, nearshore rockfish, cabezon and greenling are closed to boat anglers, and shelf rockfish and lingcod may only be taken seaward of the 50-fathom line. Shore anglers and divers are exempt. Yellowtail, calico, bonito and tuna aren’t affected. Also still in force: yellowfin 10 a day within the 20-fish general limit, bluefin 2, and the emergency rule from Pigeon Point south: no hooks over 1½ inches and no wire leaders for shore anglers or anyone within 1,000 yards of shore.
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Landing & Charter Directory
Numbers are published landing lines. Boats sell out on a bite like this one. Call, do not just show up.
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⏳ The Season Clock
Salmon: last day south of Pigeon Point. 32 days on the calendar north of it.
Pigeon Point to the U.S./Mexico border: open Sept. 1–30. Today is the last day.
38°02′ N (near Point Reyes) to Pigeon Point: open Sept. 1 – Oct. 31. Counting today, 32 days on the calendar, if the guideline holds out.
How many fish are left? The last figure we could verify is CDFW’s tracker through Sept. 15: 7,585 caught, 12,415 remaining on the shared 20,000-fish guideline. The Sept. 16–30 estimate may be posted by now, but the tracker is a dashboard our tools can’t read, so we can’t confirm it. Last week we worked out that the first half’s pace would use up the guideline around Oct. 10. That was our arithmetic, not CDFW’s, and nothing we can see this week confirms or rules it out. CDFW’s most recent inseason notice is still the Aug. 21 post.
Two salmon a day, any species except coho, 20-inch minimum. No filleting on the boat. North of Point Conception: two single-point, single-shank barbless hooks, one rod per angler.
Call the hotline the morning you go: (707) 576-3429. Inseason closures can come with only a few days’ notice. That’s what happened to San Francisco in August.
Groundfish Limits
10 rockfish, cabezon and greenling per day, aggregate. Within that: copper 1, canary 2, and vermilion/sunset 2. The vermilion limit is 4 only in the Northern Management Area, from the Oregon line to Cape Mendocino. Lingcod 2 a day, 22-inch minimum. No retention at any time of quillback, cowcod, yelloweye or bronzespotted.
Depths from Oct. 1: Northern, Mendocino, San Francisco and Central areas (everything north of Point Conception) stay open at all depths through Dec. 31. Southern area: nearshore species closed; shelf and slope rockfish and lingcod seaward of 50 fathoms only. Cordell Bank stays closed to all groundfish, and you must carry a descending device.
Correction: Our last several issues said vermilion was 4 a day north of Point Conception. CDFW’s groundfish summary (updated June 23, 2026) says 4 applies only north of Cape Mendocino. From Morro Bay to Bodega Bay, the limit is 2. We had it wrong, and we’re sorry.
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◉ Tide Tables
Source note: this week we couldn’t reach the NOAA prediction API directly. Oct. 1–7 comes from US Harbors’ published monthly tables for the same four NOAA stations. Those are NOAA predictions, rounded by US Harbors to 0.1 ft. The Sept. 30 rows are from our own direct NOAA pull last week, to 0.01 ft, and they match US Harbors to the minute at all four stations. MLLW datum, local daylight time, heights in feet. H = high, L = low. Minus lows in red.
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More minus tides, and all of them in the dark. At the Golden Gate the low goes to −0.26 tonight at 9:00, −0.2 Thursday at 10:04 p.m. and −0.1 Friday at 11:17 p.m. After that it slides past midnight: −0.1 early Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, between 12:34 and 2:38 a.m. Monterey follows the same pattern, down to −0.2 in the small hours Sunday through Tuesday. Thursday’s swing at the Gate is the biggest of the window: a 6.2-ft high at 2:58 p.m. to −0.2 seven hours later. The weekend quiets down with the quarter moon. Saturday has no minus low at the Gate, and its afternoon high only gets to 5.8. Port Chicago’s only minus is −0.1 Tuesday at 5:50 a.m.
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San Francisco / Golden Gate · NOAA station 9414290
| Day | Highs & Lows |
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| Wed Sep 30 | 3:11a H 4.65 · 7:48a L 2.66 · 2:10p H 6.33 · 9:00p L −0.26 |
| Thu Oct 1 | 4:24a H 4.4 · 8:36a L 3.1 · 2:58p H 6.2 · 10:04p L −0.2 |
| Fri Oct 2 | 5:47a H 4.3 · 9:41a L 3.4 · 3:58p H 6.0 · 11:17p L −0.1 |
| Sat Oct 3 | 7:11a H 4.4 · 11:12a L 3.5 · 5:11p H 5.8 |
| Sun Oct 4 | 12:34a L −0.1 · 8:16a H 4.7 · 12:48p L 3.3 · 6:32p H 5.6 |
| Mon Oct 5 | 1:42a L −0.1 · 9:04a H 5.0 · 2:03p L 2.8 · 7:49p H 5.6 |
| Tue Oct 6 | 2:38a L −0.1 · 9:44a H 5.3 · 3:02p L 2.1 · 8:58p H 5.6 |
| Wed Oct 7 | 3:25a L 0.1 · 10:19a H 5.5 · 3:54p L 1.5 · 9:59p H 5.5 |
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Port Chicago / West Delta · NOAA station 9415144
| Day | Highs & Lows |
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| Wed Sep 30 | 5:39a H 3.72 · 10:35a L 1.67 · 4:20p H 5.55 |
| Thu Oct 1 | 12:14a L 0.3 · 6:52a H 3.6 · 11:25a L 2.0 · 5:08p H 5.4 |
| Fri Oct 2 | 1:28a L 0.4 · 8:10a H 3.5 · 12:28p L 2.2 · 6:05p H 5.2 |
| Sat Oct 3 | 2:48a L 0.3 · 9:22a H 3.6 · 1:47p L 2.2 · 7:18p H 4.8 |
| Sun Oct 4 | 4:00a L 0.2 · 10:25a H 3.8 · 3:16p L 2.1 · 8:48p H 4.6 |
| Mon Oct 5 | 5:00a L 0.1 · 11:18a H 4.0 · 4:35p L 1.7 · 10:17p H 4.5 |
| Tue Oct 6 | 5:50a L −0.1 · 12:04p H 4.2 · 5:42p L 1.2 |
| Wed Oct 7 | 6:33a L 0.0 · 12:45p H 4.4 · 6:40p L 0.8 |
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Monterey · NOAA station 9413450
| Day | Highs & Lows |
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| Wed Sep 30 | 2:03a H 3.88 · 6:39a L 2.56 · 12:56p H 5.94 · 8:30p L −0.06 |
| Thu Oct 1 | 3:27a H 3.6 · 7:19a L 3.0 · 1:45p H 5.8 · 9:39p L −0.1 |
| Fri Oct 2 | 5:07a H 3.6 · 8:16a L 3.3 · 2:48p H 5.6 · 10:55p L −0.1 |
| Sat Oct 3 | 6:36a H 3.7 · 9:52a L 3.4 · 4:06p H 5.4 |
| Sun Oct 4 | 12:07a L −0.2 · 7:31a H 4.0 · 11:41a L 3.2 · 5:30p H 5.3 |
| Mon Oct 5 | 1:08a L −0.2 · 8:11a H 4.3 · 1:04p L 2.7 · 6:47p H 5.3 |
| Tue Oct 6 | 1:59a L −0.2 · 8:43a H 4.6 · 2:07p L 2.1 · 7:54p H 5.2 |
| Wed Oct 7 | 2:42a L 0.0 · 9:14a H 4.9 · 3:01p L 1.5 · 8:54p H 5.1 |
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Port San Luis (Avila / Morro Bay) · NOAA station 9412110
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Sep 30 | 1:28a H 3.83 · 6:04a L 2.51 · 12:27p H 5.97 · 8:02p L 0.06 |
| Thu Oct 1 | 2:52a H 3.5 · 6:42a L 2.9 · 1:16p H 5.8 · 9:15p L 0.1 |
| Fri Oct 2 | 4:47a H 3.5 · 7:36a L 3.3 · 2:20p H 5.6 · 10:37p L 0.0 |
| Sat Oct 3 | 6:19a H 3.7 · 9:28a L 3.5 · 3:45p H 5.4 · 11:49p L −0.1 |
| Sun Oct 4 | 7:11a H 4.0 · 11:26a L 3.2 · 5:14p H 5.3 |
| Mon Oct 5 | 12:49a L −0.2 · 7:48a H 4.3 · 12:45p L 2.7 · 6:29p H 5.3 |
| Tue Oct 6 | 1:38a L −0.1 · 8:19a H 4.7 · 1:45p L 2.1 · 7:34p H 5.3 |
| Wed Oct 7 | 2:20a L 0.0 · 8:48a H 5.0 · 2:36p L 1.4 · 8:30p H 5.3 |
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◉ Moon Phase & Best Days
Phase computed from the synodic month (29.530588853 days) against the reference new moon of Jan. 6, 2000, 18:14 UTC, and checked against the moon’s true position. Sunrise, sunset and lunar transits computed for Fresno (36.75°N, 119.77°W), PDT. Solunar majors are the moon overhead and underfoot, listed in the order they fall in the day. Illumination is at local noon. Almanac convention: the best fishing brackets the new and the full moon.
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This is the in-between week. Last quarter comes Saturday morning, Oct. 3, at about 6:25 a.m. by the moon’s true position (about 5 p.m. that afternoon by the mean synodic month). The next new moon is Saturday, Oct. 10, about 8:50 a.m. true, early Sunday by the mean month. On the almanac this window sits between the two good brackets, and the new-moon bracket opens on the last day of this issue, Wednesday, Oct. 7.
The clock helps where the phase doesn’t. Around a last quarter the moon passes overhead near dawn. Saturday it transits at 6:57 a.m. against a 6:56 sunrise, so the day’s major lands right on first light. Friday it comes an hour before sunrise (5:55); Sunday an hour after (7:57). Saturday’s underfoot major is 7:28 p.m., about 50 minutes after sunset. If you only get one morning this week, make it Saturday. At the Gate, Saturday’s 7:11 a.m. high lands within 15 minutes of that major.
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| Day | Moon | Majors | Sun | Rating |
|---|
| Wed Sept. 30 | Waning gibbous, 80% | 3:52a / 4:21p | 6:53a – 6:43p | ●●●○○ Decent |
| Thu Oct. 1 | Waning gibbous, 70% | 4:52a / 5:23p | 6:54a – 6:42p | ●●○○○ Slow |
| Fri Oct. 2 | Waning gibbous, 59% | 5:55a / 6:26p | 6:55a – 6:40p | ●●●○○ Dawn major |
| Sat Oct. 3 | Last quarter, 47% | 6:57a / 7:28p | 6:56a – 6:39p | ●●●○○ Best timing |
| Sun Oct. 4 | Waning crescent, 36% | 7:57a / 8:25p | 6:57a – 6:37p | ●●●○○ Decent |
| Mon Oct. 5 | Waning crescent, 26% | 8:52a / 9:19p | 6:57a – 6:36p | ●●○○○ Slow |
| Tue Oct. 6 | Waning crescent, 17% | 9:44a / 10:08p | 6:58a – 6:34p | ●●●○○ Building |
| Wed Oct. 7 | Waning crescent, 9% | 10:32a / 10:55p | 6:59a – 6:33p | ●●●●○ Bracket opens |
Major times are computed from lunar transit and are good to within about fifteen minutes. Ratings apply the almanac convention straight, and they’re not a promise. Next week’s issue covers the new moon itself.
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◉ Fish Stocking Report
CDFW plants are posted as a week range, not a date. This is the list for the week of Sept. 27–Oct. 3, 2026. All rainbow trout, all CDFW.
| County | Water |
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| Fresno | Kings River, below Pine Flat Dam |
| Kings | Kings River, below Pine Flat Dam |
| Tulare | Kings River below Pine Flat Dam · Kern River Sections 4, 5 and 6 |
| Trinity | Trinity River above Clair Engle, East Fork and Stuart Fork · Coffee Creek · Carrville Dredge Pond |
| Mono / Inyo | Nothing posted for this week as of this morning |
The listing also files the three Trinity River waters under Humboldt County. They’re in Trinity County, so we list them once.
Still no valley-floor lake on the list. Through the warm months CDFW plants only cold tailwaters and high country, because a hatchery rainbow dropped into a warm valley lake doesn’t live long. That changes as the water cools later in the fall. For now, closest to home: the Kings below Pine Flat, three weeks straight, now at half the flow, and three sections of the Kern above Kernville in a single week.
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◉ Tournament Board
Pulled this morning from the CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, black bass category. Events are approved unless marked pending. Dates and venues can still change at the club’s end.
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A quiet weekend statewide, a busy one close to home. Eight events are on the water Saturday (one still pending), down from eighteen last Saturday, and BASS 101 has Pine Flat Saturday and Millerton Sunday. Expect trailers at both ramps. Nothing is permitted on Don Pedro, McClure, Kaweah or Success this weekend. Two changes from what we printed last week: the Oct. 3 Isabella event is gone from the database (Copes Tackle now shows Oct. 17), and Oro Madre’s Oct. 24 Don Pedro date now reads pending.
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On the Water This Window: Sept. 30 to Oct. 7
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Thu 1 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Fri 2 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Weekend Oct. 3–4: Central Valley |
| Sat 3 | Pine Flat | BASS 101 |
| Sun 4 | Millerton | BASS 101 |
| Sat 3 | Delta (Contra Costa) | Delta Bass Club |
| Sat 3 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Lunkers Tournament of Anglers (pending) |
| Rest of the window |
| Sat 3 – Sun 4 | Clear Lake, 2 day (two events) | Anglers Press Outdoors · Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club |
| Sat 3 | Ruth Lake · Elsinore · San Vicente | Alder Point Volunteer Fire Dept. · Orange County Bass Club · Summit Bass Anglers |
| Sun 4 | Oroville | TBF / Student Angler Federation |
Mark the Calendar
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Oct. 8–10 | Delta (San Joaquin), 3 day | NorCal Bass |
| Oct. 10 | Pine Flat | Golden Empire Bass Club |
| Oct. 10 | Bass Lake (Madera) | Kerman Bass Club |
| Oct. 10–11 | Don Pedro, 2 day | Battle Born Bass Nation |
| Oct. 11 | McClure | Kings VIII Bass Club |
| Oct. 16–18 | Don Pedro, 3 day | Bass Angler Inc. |
| Oct. 17 | Isabella | Copes Tackle and Rod |
| Oct. 17–18 | Lake Success, 2 day | Ducks Unlimited |
| Oct. 17–18 | McClure, 2 day | River Bank Bass Anglers |
| Oct. 17 | Nacimiento | Gilroy Bassmasters |
| Oct. 17 | Santa Margarita | SLO County Bass Ambushers |
| Oct. 17–18 | Delta (Sacramento), 2 day | Fresno Bass Club |
| Oct. 24 | Don Pedro | Oro Madre Bass Anglers (pending) |
| Nov. 1 | McClure · Don Pedro | Modesto Ambassadors · SAF/Oakdale HS Bass Team |
| Nov. 7 | Millerton | Kerman Bass Club |
| Nov. 7–8 | Nacimiento, 2 day | Golden Empire Bass Club |
| Nov. 8 | Millerton | Kings VIII Bass Club |
| Nov. 14 | Pine Flat | BTuff Magazine & Cope’s Tackle and Rod Shop |
We don’t print last week’s weights. Host clubs post results on no verifiable schedule, and many never post at all, so a results table here would be part fact and part guess. Upcoming permitted events only.
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Did We Miss Your Water?
Tell us about water we are not covering. The Eastern Sierra section, the Southern California dock totals and the Catalina block are all here because readers wrote in and asked. Say the word and yours could be next.
Rather talk it through? (559) 816-3889.
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⚠ Heat & Water Safety
Lower water on the Kings makes people bold. At 355 cfs you’ll see crossings and bars you couldn’t reach last week, and fresh planters are sitting in the deep runs on the other side. It’s still cold tailwater over slick cobble, and the release is set by request, so it can go back up. Wear the vest, carry a staff, and check the flow before you cross back.
The minus tides are all night tides. Tonight’s Golden Gate low comes at 9:00, Thursday’s at 10:04, and by Sunday they’re after midnight. If you walk a drained flat or reef for clams or bait, carry a real light, know your way back before you walk out, and start back before the turn.
Young white sharks are still close to shore. The emergency rule from Pigeon Point south still bans big hooks and wire leaders from shore and within 1,000 yards of it. If you hook one, cut the line. Don’t try to land it.
Low lakes, and a blank row isn’t a safe row. Pine Flat 15.8%, Success 13.1%, Kaweah 10.9%, Eastman 6.8%. Every stump and roadbed that cleared your hull in July is at prop depth now. Millerton, Don Pedro, McClure, New Melones and Bass Lake have no current published level at all. Idle in, watch the sounder, and call the marina before you tow.
Wind and fire season aren’t over. High winds knocked out power around Conway Summit last Friday. Check road, fire and wind before you head for Shaver, Huntington, the Kaiser Pass lakes, Wishon, or over the hill to the Owens, and know a second way out. Tell somebody where you went and when you’ll be back.
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Three things this week. First, salmon. If you fish out of Monterey or Santa Cruz, today is your last day. If you fish out of the Bay, the calendar gives you through Oct. 31, but the guideline may not. We couldn’t verify how many fish are left, and we won’t guess. The boats that went Monday all came back with limits. If you want one more king, go soon, and call (707) 576-3429 the morning you go.
Second, the Kings. Half the water and a third straight week of plants. That’s the best setup on the lower river this fall. Saturday’s major lands right at sunrise, so if you only get one morning, make it that one.
Third, a correction. We’ve been printing the vermilion rockfish limit as 4 north of Point Conception. CDFW says 4 applies only north of Cape Mendocino. From there south to Mexico, it’s 2. If you kept a third or fourth vermilion on our say-so, that one’s on us. We fixed it above.
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Tight lines
Bryan Mello
B Mello Ag Services · Central Valley, California
Every issue we have ever published is free at bmelloag.com/reports: field conditions, ag crime, markets, fuel and fishing.
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(559) 816-3889
bryan@bmelloag.com
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Sources used for this issue: Tide predictions for Oct. 1–7 came from US Harbors’ published monthly tables for NOAA stations 9414290 San Francisco, 9415144 Port Chicago, 9413450 Monterey and 9412110 Port San Luis (MLLW, local time, rounded to 0.1 ft). The NOAA CO-OPS API was not reachable from our tools this week. The Sept. 30 rows are from our direct NOAA API pull last week and match US Harbors at all four stations · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District: Corps reservoir sheet with data ending midnight Sept. 29, generated Sept. 30 at 08:00; Pine Flat hourly report through 08:00 Sept. 30; Pine Flat release-change notice generated Sept. 29 at 08:21; Section 7 sheet (data ending Sept. 14, generated Sept. 15), plus the Sept. 21 and Sept. 17 Section 7 figures carried from last week’s issue and marked as such · NorCalFishReports.com boat-by-boat dock totals for Sept. 26–29, its weekly report for the week of Sept. 28, and Fish Emeryville’s posts of Sept. 28–29 · SoCalFishReports.com boat-by-boat counts for Sept. 26–29, source of the Morro Bay, Avila and Southern California rows, and its saltwater report page including Pierpoint’s Enterprise posts of Sept. 27–28 · SanDiegoFishReports.com dock totals for Sept. 27–29; daily yellowfin figures are the service’s own species totals · 22ndstreet.com reports through Sept. 27 and the daveyslocker.com count page; neither attributed a trip in this window to Catalina · CDFW ocean salmon regulation page and Marine Management News blog, both checked this morning; newest salmon inseason post still Aug. 21 · CDFW Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations (updated June 23, 2026), source of the Oct. 1 depth changes and the vermilion correction · NorCalFishReports.com fish plant listing for Sept. 27–Oct. 3, credited to CDFW, and EasternSierraFishReports.com plant listing · Virginia Lakes Resort report by Carolyn Webb, Sept. 28 · CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, black bass category, pulled this morning. Moon phase, solunar transits, sunrise and sunset computed from first principles and checked against the moon’s true position.
What we couldn’t get, and what we threw out: No current Section 7 data: this morning’s sheet is a Sept. 14 run, so Millerton, New Melones and Bass Lake are shown from Sept. 17 and Don Pedro, McClure, Shaver, Huntington, Edison, Florence and the McSwain release from Sept. 21. No San Joaquin flow below Friant since Sept. 17 · The CDFW salmon tracker couldn’t be read, so we have no catch estimate after Sept. 15 · No verified Central Coast lake levels · Wishon and Courtright appear on no Corps sheet · No verified current report for the Delta, the California Aqueduct, San Luis or O’Neill Forebay · No Crowley, Owens or June Lake report newer than Sept. 16, and no Eastern Sierra plant posted for this week · We couldn’t confirm the 2026 Eastern Sierra general-season closing date on CDFW’s pages, so we printed none · A Sept. 28 Monterey posting of 110 anglers and 110 rockfish on one boat was left out as an apparent data-entry error · And one we discarded outright: a syndicated Central California column labeled “Sept. 18–24” conflicts with the Corps sheet on every lake and refers to Memorial Day 2025 in the future tense. It is an older year’s report. A newer-dated entry from the same series wouldn’t open for us. We didn’t use a word of either.
Please read: Conditions, seasons, bag limits and closures change, sometimes with a single day’s notice. The 20,000-Chinook fall guideline can close the remaining area early by inseason action. Groundfish depth rules and sublimits change by area and month, and the Southern Management Area changes on Oct. 1. Eastern Sierra waters carry their own special regulations that differ from statewide rules and vary reach by reach on the same river. Everything here is a snapshot of what the public data said when this was written on Wednesday morning. Confirm current regulations with CDFW at wildlife.ca.gov, call the salmon hotline at (707) 576-3429 before an ocean trip, and check ramp access and lake levels with the operating agency before you travel. Where a figure was stale, missing, from a second source or in conflict with another published source, we said so and dated it rather than guessing.
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