Well way back in September myself and a bunch of friends from the Sac State Marching Band wanted to go out and do a camping trip to Bodega during winter break and go out for crab and rockfish. Then crab season closed down, but we were still up for the trip. Then just before the trip the weather looked absolutely horrid during the time we were supposed to be there. A lot of people dropped out scared of the weather and I didn't blame them, but several people still wanted to go and brave the elements. I was hosting the event so I said screw it if people still want to go I'll go and rough it out with them. Wednesday we left sac around 1230 and here at home and during the entire trip it was absolutely dumping buckets. I was dredging the thought of setting up a tent in the rain. I tried not to let it bother me too much and just prayed that mother nature would let up on us just a little bit. When we got on hwy 1 only about 5 miles from Doran the road was flooded and we had to detour through the sticks to get to camp, but made it without any issues.
Got to camp and the weather was absolutely beautiful. A little cloudy with no wind what so ever.
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Got camp set up and had just a little bit of time to hit the rocks before the sun set on us. 3 of us hit the rocks only for about 45 mins and managed 3 rockfish before the tide came in on us and the sun set. We went back to camp made dinner and felt so blessed to have the sun shinning on us for what we all feared was going to be a miserable rainy day.
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It was not avoidable though, the rain came down just after 2200 and when it rained it poured. It poured from then until atleast 0500 in the morning, but we all piled into a tent and stayed warm and dry all night.
Next day we hung around camp having fun playing bocci ball all day then around 1230 I knew the tide had gone out so we all headed over to the rocks to put the hurt on some rockfish. I rigged everyone up with a texas rigged white gizit. 1/4 ounce of weight on top and a little bit of sardine scent usually does the trick. I didn't fish much for the first hour, I mostly played the part of guide. Everyone else though was either getting hits or ripping lips.
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Haley was the first to hook up and she destroyed these guys while we were out here.
Almost everyone I had with me had never caught a rockfish before and a few had even never fished before so I had a great time sharing this experience with everyone.
Jerry with his first rockfish.
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Emily with her first ever fish.
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Daniel with his first of the day
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We spent a few hours pulling fish out of the rocks and just having a great time in the beautiful weather that was never in the forecast for us.
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I did get to fish once everyone learned how to unhook their own fish and get out of snags.
A double I had with Emily
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A little over an hour into our day Haley had her limit and she asked me about this poke poling thing I kept talking about. I set her up with some squid then she went and pulled eels until the rest of the day.
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After a while our rockfish bite kind of died so Elijah and I followed suit on the eels.
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Daniel even got a rare catch of a short cabby while we were out here.
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We didn't measure it, but it was maybe an inch or two short.
We stayed until it got dark, most of us had switched to going for eels at that point since we had a full bucket full of rockfish. Right when the sun hit to horizon though the rockfish bite went WFO. Nothing bigger then 6 inches was caught but we were getting fish on the gizits every single cast. We had a ball doing some C&R with the small guys until it got two dark to see. After that it was time to go back and I went and got all the fished cleaned up and ready for a fish fry.
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Had a great dinner with friends that evening. Made fish fans out of people who don't normally like fish. I always tell them it's different when it's fresh, and probably ruined any store bought fish for the rest of them. Rain came back in around 2300 and it stayed until about 0300. Woke up Friday morning to another beautiful day on the coast. Took our time packing up, then we stopped the the birds cafe for lunch in town and made our way home.
We had a fantastic time in Bodega even with crab season being closed. The weather held out for us and we were able to have some fun in the sun. Hopefully next year we'll be able to go for some dinghies. Oh btw I asked at the gate and they told me it was safe to eat clams and mussels. I had a few the first night and didn't get sick so I picked and pulled probably 4 lbs worth of them and I haven't gotten sick from them. That's a plus I guess.
Till Next Time Guys
Mark
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Monday, January 4, 2016
New Year Sturgeon
Well school is over and I've finally found time to get back to fishing again. I've been focusing on sturgeon mostly. I enjoy the thought of catching something bigger then me and it's a fish I've been dieing to figure out and get better at chasing. Last Saturday after Christmas I launched out of Sherman with a couple of friends hoping to hook into a few. We started out at the power lines but the wind was blowing so strong I couldn't get the anchor to stick so we made the run down to broad slough to try and find shelter from the wind. Few an area holding a few fish so we set the pick in 45ft of water and soaked the bait. I had roe and eel out and I have my friend Alan and Elijah some shad so they could stay entertained with the striper bites.
Elijah with his first ever striper
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Throughout the day they were getting some fairly consistent bites and they each pulled in a keeper and a shaker.
And Alan with his.
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Nothing huge but it's enough for some taco's at home. I got a few bites on roe, throughout the day, but I wasn't able to connect on em.
We moved out to Chain at the end of the day after the winds calmed down to hope for better luck there. I dropped anchor in a 50ft hole with fish all over it. We fished it for the last hour of light in the day and saw two breachers, but no bites. Called it at sunset. No sturgeon, but we still got to pop two cherries with their first stripers ever which was cool.
In with the new year my friend Jimmy told me he has the weekend off and asked if I wanted to go fishing. Hell yea, I told him to meet me and my place at 0600 and we took off for the Mothball fleet. 01/02/16 the wind didn't seem nearly as bad as the week before so I wanted to check out the fleet and try our luck there. Dropped lines in about 33ft of water around 0830. Jimmy had one small 6ft rod he was using that I told him looked like it would be a fun fight when a sturgeon hits it. He told me it was stout and could handle it though so he would be fine. Sure enough that's the rod that gets the first hit of the day. Jimmy slams into it and is into our first fish of the day.
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That fish had Jimmy running all around the boat doing the dance, but it came up and man we were excited to see he had a great looking upper slot sized fish. Got the net around it and brought her in the boat. Tapped it out and the damn fish was 61 inches long. Just barely too long. Jimmy was heart broken, but we've only been out here for an hour the day was still young. Got a quick picture and back she went.
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No bites for a while for us after that then the tide went slack on us. We pulled anchor and I motored all around the area learning the contours, drop offs, and looking to see where the fish were hanging out at. After marking the area for close to an hour the tide had turned and we dropped our lines back in in about 18ft of water. Not too long after setting the lines of of my rods goes off and I stick my first one of the day.
A small shaker to get the blood pumping.
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Maybe 15 minutes after that my other rod goes off and I stick a nicer one. Fought the fish all the way to the boat, I saw my top shot come out of the water so I backed up and told Jimmy to get in front of me with the net and be ready to get my fish. Sure enough once I backed up the fish got its second wind and ran off of me again. We straight under the boat and I couldn't get my rod down in time, SNAP!, fish sawed me off on the prop. Damnit, rookie mistake probably costed me a keeper. Nothing I can do now though. Rods back in and another 10 minutes go by again and my rod takes a dip. Slam into it and I'm on again. Taking my time on this one we got it in the boat, but it was just an inch too short.
39 Inches
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Same day we've boated a 61 and a 39 inch fish. What are the chances?
We stayed on a pretty consistent bite for a little over an hour doing good hooking into the fish. After I got mine in Jimmy got into the action with this 37 incher.
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I told Jimmy we had to be due for a slot fish here soon then sure enough he sticks another one. We get her in the boat and it tapes out at 51! Yea baby.
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Bag it and tag it baby. Jimmy has caught his first sturgeon today has his first keeper and of course has caught the biggest fish of his life today. All we need is a keeper for me and we'll be done. I had a few more bites, but wasn't able to connect on anymore. We stuck it out until about 1630 then called it a day. We have brought 5 sturgeon to the boat and lost another one. By far my great days I've ever had chasing the dinosaurs before. We had an absolute blast and if this day is any indication on how 2016 is going to be for us it's going to be a bright year.
Till next time guys
Mark
Elijah with his first ever striper
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Throughout the day they were getting some fairly consistent bites and they each pulled in a keeper and a shaker.
And Alan with his.
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Nothing huge but it's enough for some taco's at home. I got a few bites on roe, throughout the day, but I wasn't able to connect on em.
We moved out to Chain at the end of the day after the winds calmed down to hope for better luck there. I dropped anchor in a 50ft hole with fish all over it. We fished it for the last hour of light in the day and saw two breachers, but no bites. Called it at sunset. No sturgeon, but we still got to pop two cherries with their first stripers ever which was cool.
In with the new year my friend Jimmy told me he has the weekend off and asked if I wanted to go fishing. Hell yea, I told him to meet me and my place at 0600 and we took off for the Mothball fleet. 01/02/16 the wind didn't seem nearly as bad as the week before so I wanted to check out the fleet and try our luck there. Dropped lines in about 33ft of water around 0830. Jimmy had one small 6ft rod he was using that I told him looked like it would be a fun fight when a sturgeon hits it. He told me it was stout and could handle it though so he would be fine. Sure enough that's the rod that gets the first hit of the day. Jimmy slams into it and is into our first fish of the day.
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1024x576.
That fish had Jimmy running all around the boat doing the dance, but it came up and man we were excited to see he had a great looking upper slot sized fish. Got the net around it and brought her in the boat. Tapped it out and the damn fish was 61 inches long. Just barely too long. Jimmy was heart broken, but we've only been out here for an hour the day was still young. Got a quick picture and back she went.
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No bites for a while for us after that then the tide went slack on us. We pulled anchor and I motored all around the area learning the contours, drop offs, and looking to see where the fish were hanging out at. After marking the area for close to an hour the tide had turned and we dropped our lines back in in about 18ft of water. Not too long after setting the lines of of my rods goes off and I stick my first one of the day.
A small shaker to get the blood pumping.
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1024x576.
Maybe 15 minutes after that my other rod goes off and I stick a nicer one. Fought the fish all the way to the boat, I saw my top shot come out of the water so I backed up and told Jimmy to get in front of me with the net and be ready to get my fish. Sure enough once I backed up the fish got its second wind and ran off of me again. We straight under the boat and I couldn't get my rod down in time, SNAP!, fish sawed me off on the prop. Damnit, rookie mistake probably costed me a keeper. Nothing I can do now though. Rods back in and another 10 minutes go by again and my rod takes a dip. Slam into it and I'm on again. Taking my time on this one we got it in the boat, but it was just an inch too short.
39 Inches
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1024x576.
Same day we've boated a 61 and a 39 inch fish. What are the chances?
We stayed on a pretty consistent bite for a little over an hour doing good hooking into the fish. After I got mine in Jimmy got into the action with this 37 incher.
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1024x576.
I told Jimmy we had to be due for a slot fish here soon then sure enough he sticks another one. We get her in the boat and it tapes out at 51! Yea baby.
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1024x576.
Bag it and tag it baby. Jimmy has caught his first sturgeon today has his first keeper and of course has caught the biggest fish of his life today. All we need is a keeper for me and we'll be done. I had a few more bites, but wasn't able to connect on anymore. We stuck it out until about 1630 then called it a day. We have brought 5 sturgeon to the boat and lost another one. By far my great days I've ever had chasing the dinosaurs before. We had an absolute blast and if this day is any indication on how 2016 is going to be for us it's going to be a bright year.
Till next time guys
Mark
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