Just throwing it out there y'all... my good friend Dave was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's. He wants to get in as much fishing as he can before he can't. We're looking at booking a couple of spots on the Cal Dawn I or II for a live bait Halibut trip on May 8th. Great boats and crews. It would be great to see some of the Ohana on the trip. I'll post the details as to which of the two boats we will be on soon...
* Good reports of fish up to #20... I believe there is going to be some kind of vote to lower the bag limit down to 2 very soon...
Cool
halibut fishing has been better than ever, but i'll be tied to the dock here until i start making some progress in the garage.
It's a go... we booked 3 spots this morning. More open spots as of then. We're on the Cal Dawn II ... let me know if any of the Ohana book a spot so I Can look for ya.
Cool
What are the times for the trip?
You can board as early as 4:15 am and check in no later than 5:15 am. Boat leaves promptly at 5:30... usually back by 2:00 pm... but you never know.
Cool
Great boats and captains cant go wrong on either one. :d
I'm all booked for the eighth. So what kind of gear am I going to need? How deep are we fishing?
Great! No heavy gear needed. I use a 12-30# rod (270) size and a Squidder Jr. Filled with 20# mono... you want a rod with a nice bend/ tip action. The boat has rental gear also. Fishing pretty shallow prob 10 to 25 feet. The bay is huge so you never know where the Cap is going to take us...
Cool
I have all the gear I just need to know what to bring. What wheight of sinkers, rigging what are you using.
What weight we use depends on the current and drift. It's pretty fluid and the Cap will let us know what size to use. I think last tine it was 6,8 and 10 oz torpedo style. It's important that everyone listens to the Cap / crew or major tangles will insue. I make my own live bait 3way swivel drift rigs but they are available on the boat. Trap rigs ( with a treble hook in the tail ) are frowned upon as they are more likely to get caught up in the net...
Cool
I was getting my gear together and realized the mono on my narrow Squidder needs changing. #20 again prob Big Game... Looks like no rain for Monday !
(https://i.imgur.com/Y6fce65.jpg)
Cool
Like the cord wrap, and who doesn't love a framed 146!
Yea, green is kinda my jam... I love that slow little reel ! Just right for Bay Butts... on two separate Bay trips guys next to me landed 30# fish ( those fish had some shoulders) My best to date was a 15# fish...
Cool
Squidders are my favorite reels, Cool. That blue and silver one has been lots of places and killed lots of fish. This pic was from our March 2023 Yellowtail trip to Baja. We fished Isla Cerralvo, had a great time!
Nice fish and reel... I've got Cortez 112H blue plates and Jigmaster silver plates but haven't built them out yet.
Cool
Probably drifting. I use these slider things in front of a swivel with the leader on the other end of the swivel. Allows the fish to swim with the bait without feeling the sinker too much. Makes changing shirkers easy too
Got back about an hour ago from our day on the bay. We arrived early and boarded the Cal Dawn II (recently re-powered) smooth and fast. Light load of only 13 anglers. Found Mikeysn and chatted while motored over to get fuel and bait. After that we jetted over to the South Bay (near the SF Airport) we fished very shallow, probably around 10ft deep. Bait was small to medium and sort of lively. Most were hooking up, some more than others. There were more keepers than dinks... a couple close to 20#. Cap and deckhand kept count and told us to reel um up when we were close to a (boat limit) of halibut, and I caught about a 4# very spunky striper. The Cap and deckhand, were able to take care of the anglers and catch fish also.
Then we jetted to an area and found working birds and set up for quite a few drifts to round out our day with limits of stripers for all... oh yea it was shallower there at about 5 or 6ft I'd say.
Great weather with very low winds and minimal light rain. All and all a great trip !
Cool
Sorry no pics on my end..
I'm glad you guys had a great trip. Bill
Cool that you nailed them .................... good work.
Todd
I lost a nice one at the net, prob 10#, hook popped out. One of my old fart buddies was having problems all day with hooks coming off (bad knots) and also problems with the 30# braid the had on his reel. All user error imo...
I love the guy but I would wager the only thing harder than his head would be Boron Nitride... the man does not take coaching or constructive criticism well. Life is to short not to accept the fact that we all can learn from others...
Cool
Some pics from trip...
(https://i.imgur.com/vgggSZJ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/c3LDVhtl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/eNZ5kUml.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/z0Zyd77.jpg)
Happy anglers...
Cool
Nice rack-o-fish!!!
This morning I trimmed and vacuumed sealed all of the fish. I've got family from Texas arriving tomorrow. I'll prepare a Surf and Turf dinner in a couple of days... I'll pull out some BFT also as my son-in-law is the only one other than me that eats sashimi . Might even pull out some YT and BFT collars to grill... Life is fishy and I like it !
Cool
The Halibut is a premium tasting fish. I'm glad I went it was fun. Lots of room on the boat for fishing.
so are you allowed to keep all the fish you catch? and how much doe sit cost per person? thx
Yes you keep your catch up to your limit of 3 halibut and 2 stripers. Cost is $200 for the day...
Cool
Don't calculate what it costs to catch fish ............................ you don't want to know !! My wife likes the California halibut better than the Pacific halibut for eating.
Cheers:
Todd
Owning a boat is the most expensive way to get free fish.
Well done. :d
That's $40 per fish. At that size that's a great deal. You cant beat that at walmart.
It's hard to put a price on a great day on the Bay with friends and the fish biting ...
Cool
If anyone want to fish for Halibut they better do it soon. They might lower the daily limit.
Excellent report, pictures and fishing day, Gents. Thanks! I'd say, overall you guys really made-out.
Wondering what the Stripers and the But's were after in such shallow water. Get a chance to see any stomach content samples?
There's a lot of bait in the bay (Anchovies). After we caught our limits of Halibut the Cap looked for birds working bait balls. That's where we got our Stripers. While we fished live bait the Cap was throwing white swimbaits with many hookups... personally I always check the stomach contents when I clean a fish. We paid the deckhand to filet our fish so we didn't have time for the necropsy...
Cool