San Francisco/San Pablo Bay Report 11/17/05

[Wahoo!]

S.F.-San Pablo Bays: Lapper again with the report. Not crabbing and not
doing much, he's back to raiding the private South Bay ponds of
multi-billion dollar companies. How? He just walks right up and fishes,
making sure to smile real wide for the gainfully employed out trying to
enjoy their lunch. Then Lapper and Co. fling out their Broken-Back
Rebels and swimbaits and bucktail jigs and whatnot, hook halibut, and
all manner of mayhem and hell breaks loose. Great fun. Until the police
and/or security show up, which they do. In any event, there are ponds
and sloughs down South Bay way that you can fish legally. And there are
halibut in them, as well. Pound for pounding, though, they just don't
seem to inspire the same kind of fun. For Lapper, anyway ... Slow times
out at Coyote Point. Better bet this week is closer to the city, at
Oyster Point, where striped bass and at least one sturgeon have been
caught ... Not much better out of Port Sonoma, either, except that the
wind has browned up the water and stirred some interest in sturgeon. To
that end, Port Sonoma Bait, Tackle and Beer shop co-owner Joel Sinkay
has an offer. To get the season rolling, this Saturday and Sunday he's
offering a free quarter-pound of grass shrimp to anyone who wants to go
sturgeon fishing. If you catch a sturgeon and if you bring it back to
the shop, he'll buy you a six-pack of your favorite beverage (or
whatever he happens to have in the cooler). Why? Beats us. But if you're
planning to fish anyway, why not? From shore, Sonoma Creek still is
best, with bullheads and grass shrimp touted.
Suisun-Delta: The Barry Canevaro Report tells us that sturgeon fishing,
while somewhat decent all week, should slow to about nothing with the
weekend tides, which aren't much during the day. Over the weekend,
Barry's wife, Diana, got her charter into three sturgeon from the aptly
named Sturgeon Alley, in front of Ryer Island, fishing in about 25 feet
of water. Last trip for Barry was Monday, when his group landed five
striped bass at the Middlegrounds. With the slower tides this weekend,
the Canevaros recommend fishing the shallow water at Buoy 34 and at the
Middlegrounds ... Steve Talmadge's answer to the slow daytime tides is
to fish at night. He's smart like that. Friday, he'll get his group
fishing at about 11:30 a.m., right on up to midnight. Saturday, his
hours are 5 p.m. until maybe 6:30 in the a.m. These tides, he says, are
perfect. He was out Wednesday, too, and a stop at the Middlegrounds had
produced zip. So he picked up and moved to the Sandbar, near Buoy 4.
Nothing, until late in the afternoon, when they set up on and landed a
sturgeon that went 62 inches, 65 pounds. He was baited up with ghost
shrimp and eel.