2010
March 1
Cheryl, Dave, Jeff & I took off out of
Santa Cruz late this morning for a little
over a 3 hour tour aboard Alibi II. Today
was a sea trail for Jeff, not the boat. He
tried Scopace for the first time today and
managed to hang in there. We had no rain,
no wind, and a fishable swell. While it wasn't
perfect for Jeff today we'll get him dialed
in enough to be able to go on a dive trip
to the Galapagos Islands this Summer with
Cheryl, Dave and me.
We hit depths from 150' to 250' to catch
7 sand dabs but we culled kingfish to use
later this year for lingcod and halibut baits.
The water was really clear and there was
lots of birds working just off the harbor.
The swell was dropping but it's getting ready
to blow again. Might be worth a look around
for halibut after the weather settles again.
February 28
Jerry, Leanna, Steve, Doug and I joined Patrick
and Debra on "Peridot"; a beautiful
36' Albin. We left pier 39 in San Francisco
bay and headed for the San Pablo bridge as
the first bloody Mary's were mixed. Doug had
scored us 2 pounds of live grass shrimp and
a few trays of herring. The sun was out and
everyone was hell bent on having a great time
and maybe catching some sturgeon.
We starting on an incoming tide and got hammered
by dungeness crab. We kept flicking the little
buggars off our lines and trying again. I
hooked the first shark of the day. Considering
this was my first foray into the new year
I was very pleased to get a new species to
add to my conquests... Of course my little
leopard shark would've looked much cooler
if I'd held it "color side out"
for the photo before I let it go.
Leanna's awesome sherry cake was laid out
for us, followed by Debra's ham with egg salad
sandwiches. The beer and wine flowed freely
too. During our continuous food feast the
outgoing tide stared to kick into high gear
and some striped bass made a showing as well
as a larger leopard shark that Leanna fought,
photographed and released. Doug had a sizeable
striper on but it escaped just off the stern
after rolling to show us just how fat he was!
Patrick, Steve and Leanna all managed to catch
and release stripers as well.
Just before we called it an afternoon Jerry
ducked into the galley and made some tasty
stombollies in feta cheese sauce. The food
was off the hook all day and all I managed
to bring were some weak ass brownies. Somehow
I even managed to gain 3 beers when I got
home and looked in my cooler, lol!
On the way back in the top deck had fun with
the lower deck with a few slalom-style moves
which had us sliding back and forth in our
deck chairs. I don't think we spilled a drop,
ha-ha.
Link
to my 2009 Fishing Diary
Link
to my 2008 Fishing Diary
Link
to my 2007 Fishing Diary
