18 Miles Out

June 19, 2020

I got up at five a.m. to go fishing with Greg Goddard. He called last night and invited me salmon fishing on his boat. Beth gave me a little stink eye when I brought it up; but, she relented.

I had to get up early to drop by my boat to get my rod, reel and tackle. I met Greg and his friend Mickey at seven a.m. I was a little late because there was traffic on the bay bridge. I did not expect it. Things are returning to normal (in a bad way).

We headed out the golden gate into a pretty good swell. It was a solid 5 foot swell all day, with a few bigger. Greg had good info re where the fish were biting - 18 miles out! It took us over an hour to get there. South west of the gate. Surprisingly, there were a lot of boats out there fishing. My guess is that there were 30 or so boats.

First Fish

Feel the swell of the ocean in this video

Note to self - check ears before taking pic

I'll spare you the details of hours of trolling around - "we" caught five salmon. Greg three; Mickey two; Barry - a shaker :(

Nice ride back to San Francisco. The swell died down a bit. Greg, as usual, answered many questions I had about piloting a boat and navigating the San Francisco Bar.

As corny as it sounds, there is something magical about the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a symbol of the place I grew up. An icon. A separation of Bay and Ocean. The water is much wilder outside the Gate. More natural. You feel much more in touch with nature in the ocean. The power of the waves, swell and wind. I try to pick the days carefully that I go out into the ocean.

Back at the dock. Lots of seals lounging. (I had to look up the difference between seals and sea lions)