Life is Good Again

I intended to write this yesterday. As usual, after a long day fishing, I ran out of steam.

What a day yesterday. I got to the boat just past 5:30 to start the engines and get things ready. The plan was to fish in the ocean. I was excited to get out there again. The fishing reports were good. People caught salmon the last few days off the Marin Coast.

Earl agreed to go with me. I was a little worried because we had such a lousy fishing trip, last time. Won't get skunked again! (I hoped).

The weather report was okay for the morning; wind picking up in the afternoon. I discussed my plan with Greg. He thought it safe to venture out as long as we came back inside the bay early before the wind picked up. I planned to come back inside around 11 a.m. 

Greg was taking some friends fishing in the Bay. He originally wanted to buddy boat with me inside; but, after looking at the weather reports, the possibility of catching salmon in the ocean was too much for me to resist.

Earl arrived at the boat about 5:45. We got live bait at Fisherman's Wharf. After fishing in the ocean, we could come back to the bay early and fish for halibut and bass.

We headed out the gate toward Point Bonita. Earl had heard about high winds (15 MPH) outside the gate. We would take a look. If the winds were high, we would head back in and fish the bay.

Point Bonita looked fine. There was some fog. I had the radar turned on. We followed some other boats north, around Point Bonita. We soon saw lots of birds feeding - a good sign.

After a few miles, close to Muir Beach, we saw lots of boats fishing. We put our lines in the water and started to troll. Other boats had nets out, putting fish aboard. 

We troll using downriggers to hold our line below the surface at the desired depth. This time we put our lines down about 35-40 feet. We clipped our lines to a metal cable held down  by a 10 pound weight, one on each side of the boat. When a fish takes the line, it pulls the line off the clip. It is an efficient way to get your line down and avoids dropping lots of lead weights in the ocean.

Earl drove the boat while I got my line in the water. He circled around where he saw others catching fish. Then, I heard the magical sound of line buzzing off my real and saw the end of my rod spring up, off the clip. I picked up the rod and started to fight the fish. Kind of crazy and hectic because Earl had to pull in his line and both downriggers, so nothing would get tangled. 

I got the fish to the boat. After a few swings around the back of the boat, it came to the net. 13 pounds. A beauty.

Now it was Earl's turn. He had been a bit down because he had not caught a lot the last few trips. We trolled north toward Rocky Point, just before Stinson. Right at Rocky Point - Earl's line sprang up  when a fish pulled it off the clip. I got the other line and downriggers up and out of the way. I grabbed the net and waited. 

Earl had an intense energy about him. He is an awesome fisherman. Experienced. He expertly and slowly reeled the fish toward the boat. He could tell it was a big one. He uses light tackle with only 12 pound test line. Earl got it to the boat several time. Each time, the spirited fish took another run. One time it saw the net and ran. Another time, I thought I had it but it dove under the net. Finally, it tired. I held the net in the water and Earl guided it directly in. It swam right into the net after about a ten minute fight. Phew! 

We looked at it on deck. Big. Earl weighed it. It broke my scale, after registering 9.7 kilos. 21 pounds. Earl had his mojo back. Life was good again.

We stuck around the Rocky Point area. Trolling north, I noticed a boat with a fish on. Next thing, my line went off again. This one was just a baby. We released it. Shortly after, I got another about 8 pounds (just a guess because Earl's big fish really did break the scale). 

After trolling some more, It was about 11 a.m. Erring on the side of caution, I pulled the plug on our fishing trip. We started the slow troll southward - back toward the Golden Gate. We got as far as Muir Beach and pulled up the lines. 

We had a discussion about the weather. I had read the reports that the wind might pick up at 11 a.m. and get bad by 2 p.m. Earl said, "look around." The weather is great. The sea is calm. The fishing is good. You don't get many days like this out here. If it gets bad, it is a short trip back in. He was right. 

We motored back over toward Rocky Point. At this point, we had three salmon. The legal limit is two per person, so we needed one more. 

The devil fish. The last one you need to reach your limit. We were after the devil fish. Back and forth, we trolled around Rocky Point. 

Out of nowhere, unexpectedly, my line went off again. Just like the first one - about 13 pounds. Happy. Elated. The devil fish. Time to head home with about 50 pounds of salmon aboard. It doesn't get much better than that.

A Sunfish

Salmon fishing lessons learned from Earl: (1) don't pull the fishes head out of the water when reeling it in; (2) don't jab outward at the fish with the net - use smooth upward strokes because you can accidentally knock the fish off the line.

Back home for dinner with Helen and Mark. 

Barbecued salmon. A magnum of chianti. By the time I finished the dishes and packed all my salmon, it was past ten p.m. No time to blog. Enough time to savor the events of a day to remember.

the bear