Mare Island Strait, Vallejo, 12/29/2008

I met up with Jedmo this morning at about 10:30 for a little recon of the Mare Island Strait and some exploration of the nearby sloughs. While in the lot, Dave arrives and introduces himself as a long-time lurker who finally decided to enter "the madness" of NCKA. Dave is a nice guy that Jed and I really enjoyed fishing with, so hopefully he'll get an account! Hint! Hint!   

The three of us rode the incoming up toward the Mare Island Causeway and HWY 37 and marked a lot of fish, but not a whole lot of big-uns. We fished around a few holes near the bridges and where a nearby slough pours into the Napa River, but never got much more than little taps.

We found some places that have some real potential for sturgeon with decent holes and channels. The current RIPS through here, so a long anchor rope and plenty of weight are needed, but I think that it will produce with some continued effort.

Once we get some more rain I plan on hitting the strait again to see if I can't figure this place out. I have some pics, but the camera is dead, so I'll post later.

Nice job scoping out some sites. Did you see anyone else out there?
I always wondered what the fishing is like N. of 37 at skags ilse rd.

Even with the lack of action today, I still had a wonderful time. Thanks again for
the invite Jay. I have been fishing Mare Island since I was little, so having to try
the kayak there was special. Here are some pictures.

Jedmo

Great recon of a fairly protected spot, I know that they used to pick up sturgeon off the public pier/old bridge (that's be gone for years).

Looks like it was a great day to be on the water anywhere today.  Thanks for the report guys!

Good for yous, for reconing a close to me spot! Did you guys anchor? or just troll? or just recon?(I like to use that word, in place of a skunk report)

Jed~did you get a taste of how it feels to be in current? kind of a strange&scary feeling at first....but easy to get used to.

another DantheLurker?......we only know of one Dan here, and he is the Real_DantheLurker........DIDyouHAPPENtoSHOOTaCOMPARISON pic?

Hello FisHunter, you're right about fast current being scary and all. Actually the
scariest part was going under the Mare Island bridge on incoming and outgoing
tide. The water seemed very unstable and anything wrong could actually happen
any moment. I was praying each time a past the bridge.

Jedmo

Thanks for the recon... adding to the knowledge bank is always a plus.

What kind of depth were you in?

EK

Man, you guys have been busy!  Way to put in the time.   

Depth in most areas ranged between 10 and 40 feet, but the current was no joke. When Jed and I first dropped anchor in about 35 feet of water neither one of us could get the anchor to stick. We had to go into less than 30 feet in order to get a solid hold. However, both of us only had 50 foot long anchor ropes.

There were a few power boats in the area, but definitely no yaks. I think with some time spent figuring it out this place will produce. BTW, I bought bait at the launch and the owner there told me she had 75 dozen ghost shrimp currently in stock, so she may be the only one with any of those left right now in the north bay.