San Francisco - San Pablo Bay Reports 1/11/07

[Wahoo!]

S.F.-San Pablo: Somehow, the South Bay is the place for sturgeon. It
could be the water is just a click warmer. It could be that the fish are
following the herring (and there are herring in the South Bay). Or it
could be neither. Maybe it just is. Mike Jones and the Hawaiian Hooker
made it again Saturday, back to the water off the Oakland Airport, back
on the anchor above 16 feet of bay. Same two-hook rigs, these baited
with herring fillets and ghost shrimp. His group hooked and released an
undersize sturgeon with the last of the outgoing tide. When the tide
turned, they hooked another sturgie, a 64-incher. He's steady, this
Jones. Same day, more elaborate report: Brad Fugate, VP of an online
fishing club, was out with two others on the private boat LutyFish, a
22-foot Trophy. They motored into a likely looking spot below the
Dumbarton Bridge, not far from Alviso Slough. The anchor went down
around 11 a.m., and they settled into sturgeon fishing. On the hooks
were an expensive offering of grass shrimp, herring and salmon roe. For
the first hour, nothing happened but for the constant annoyance of what
Brad called "bullhead nibbles." At noon, Mike Johnson, crew member No.
2, felt a "nibble" and set the hook. Then those immortal words: "I think
I got the bottom. Wait, the bottom is moving." The deal before departing
from dock in Redwood City was that crew member No. 3, one Pence
Mackimmie, would get a chance to land his first sturgeon, if a sturgeon
was hooked. So Mike passed the rod to Pence. Pence started reeling. And
sturgeon started swimming. And swimming. Occasionally, the fish would
work its way back to the boat, and Mackimmie would reel in the slack
line. They did this for a good hour, even managing to keep the fish
hooked after a run that left the reel with only 2-3 turns of line on the
spool before the non-reeling crew was able to pull anchor and follow the
sturgeon. Finally, an hour and a half into it, they got it alongside the
boat. They got a noose around it (not a good idea), and the noose broke.
Then they got a rope around its tail. They got it in the boat (again,
not the thing to do, but they were excited, and can you blame them?).
They measured it as best they could, with the tail curled starboard to
port. They hefted it. They took many pictures. The agreed-upon numbers
are 98 inches and far better than 200 pounds. ... North Bay: Tides were
mediocre, at best, late last week and into the weekend, but the few who
went still managed to catch sturgeon. The charter boat Predator was out
with a dozen anglers Friday, and the catch totaled five keeper sturgeon
and a striped bass. For sturgeon fishing on a charter boat, that
represents a fine score. Since the weekend, the wind has been up and
angler interest way down. Now throw in the cold, and the bait dock at
Loch Lomond is a lonely place. Some hope does arrive with the weekend.
The afternoon tide bottoms out nicely starting Friday, and goes minus
Monday. Jim Smith's Happy Hooker plans to chug on down from Martinez to
fish these waters Sunday.