Brooks Island - Maybe this evening (5/18)?

It's not THAT windy, and I've never paddled the Brooks Isl.area. If the wind stays down, and i get off work early enough, I think i'm gonna launch from the end of marina parkway and fish somewhere around there.

What's the deal with the shallow section you have to drag your kayak over?

it is windy as hell right now at 4pm



~typed with my own fingers and sent from my cubical at work

Wait 'til midnight & it might be glassy; otherwise, at least it'll blow you right back to shore. 

Tonight: WNW wind 11 to 16 kt becoming variable and less than 5 kt after midnight....

Ended up launching by the Berkeley marina. It was windy, but manageable. Paddled to the end of the pier, tossed out the drift sock and drifted the whole length of the pier tossing a swimbait around the pilings. Caught a mini-flatty (MAYBE 19 inches....) near the end of the pier, then nothin after that.

Hit it up with some live or frozen bait next time on a three way dropper rig. If you caught one one a lure that should mean there are lot's around and you are more likely to score with bait.

In my experience drifting from a boat or yak the Halibut favor the bait at least 8 or 9 to one over a swimbait. That was what I experienced when I used swimbaits instead of weights for a couple years when I had a little whaler. I know the shore guys do pretty well with the swimbaits but I think that is mainly because they can cover more water that way than with a bait.

Hope you get a nice keeper next time!


-Eliot

wow! hitting berk in springtime & mid day & fooled one?!!   i call that a success!
thnx for the follow up on your outing along the eastshore hurricane zone.....(i was raised in Albany&Berkeley)

Otter~ nice add-on with the personal experience on the bait vs. lure ratio.

I used to do really well with swimbaits in Morro Bay, Port San Luis and Cayucos. Just moved back to the bay a few years ago, and they don't seem to work nearly as well here. I know live bait is always best, but I usually go for the swimbait as a second choice cause it used to outperform dead bait for me. Maybe dead bait works better here for some reason...

Alex, dead bait behind a white hoocie as worked well for me in the past. It is harder to troll a dodger then a hoochie on a yak. I think the "Madness" is taking over, weekday fishing is always a sign it's getting bad. lol See you out there soon. 

Seriously... The little 14-18 inchers are just making it worse... I'm craving halibut tempura...