The Lead Pile

Too tired to blog yesterday after fishing. I came home, ate dinner and started watching Hamilton. I lasted about 26 minutes and went to bed.

Back to yesterday's fishing trip. It was disappointing in many ways. I did not have my usual fishing mojo - my usual confidence. I really wanted to fish for salmon in the ocean. The ocean was too rough. The previous two days fishing reports were VERY good for halibut and striped bass inside San Francisco Bay. So, there was hope for a good day of fishing there.

The crew was right: Greg, Earl and Roe. Earl and Roe met me at the boat. Easy set up and we headed to fisherman's wharf for bait. I expected a long line of boats and found hardly any.  We left the bait receiver at 7:00 a.m. and picked up Greg at Gashouse Cove. 

There were a bunch of boats, including several party boats, off Chrissy Field (just inside the Golden Gate Bridge). We joined them for a while. What I really wanted to do was a drift near Alcatraz, over Arch Rock/the rock pile. That would have to wait. The tide was not right yet.

We did two or three drifts near Chrissy Field, yielding a single Leopard Shark, which we released.

Roe gets credit for the photography on this trip. He is a professional, and it shows.

Fishing was slow. We decided to try Baker Beach, just outside the Golden Gate Bridge.

An incredible shot - surfers and pelican's under the GGB at Fort Point 

We did one drift at Baker Beach. I was nervous because we were right off the beach in about 40 feet of water. Some swells; but nothing breaking. I trust Greg's experience and instincts. I would not normally get that close to the beach.

By now, it was time for Arch Rock. We motored over. There were a bunch of boats there, lining up for the 30 second drift and then doing it over and over. The area around AR is about 80 feet deep. AR rises to about 40 feet. We probably did five or so drifts. We caught nothing; but lost a bunch of gear that got stuck in the rocks on the bottom. I have a new name for the rock pile - "the lead pile".

I caught a lot of striped bass before at AR. When the fish are there, every dropped line results in a bite. Very disappointing yesterday. Maybe we were too early? We tried a drift or two at other rocky spots near there. Nothing.

We moved over by Angel Island to another favorite spot. Nada. Where were all the party boats? We moved east to investigate. We found them, along with the fleet, in the Berkeley Flats. We did two or so drifts for one undersized halibut. Then, the party boats left the area, one by one, heading West. We followed - back to AR.

There were more boats at AR. Lots of party boats. We had better luck, Greg caught two striped bass.

We tried one other spot then Alcatraz. No more luck. We dropped Greg off at Gashouse Cove.

Roe, Earl and I continued to fish (unsuccessfully) until 4 p.m. We tried Mission Rock and the Alameda Rock wall. Other than a couple of sharks and two shaker halibut, we had nothing to show for it.

The entire fishing trip was dissatisfying. I should have had lower expectations. There was a minus tide in the morning, which is terrible for halibut fishing. Fishing for halibut and bass in the bay does not measure up to the excitement of fishing for salmon in the ocean. It was not all bad: Earl brought ribs and corn that he barbecued for the 4th of July. 

It was not just the mediocre fishing. Earl seemed down. 

At the end of the day, he bemoaned that the last few trips had been terrible. Maybe a big crowd on the boat is less enjoyable; although, you would think the contrary.

As I mentioned, I did not have my mojo. I was just not into it. Would it have been different if we caught tons of fish? Probably. This was a fishing trip not to be remembered.

the bear