Weak ARW Report

Headed out at Noon to outstanding conditions...  but left my ff battery at home on the charger, oops!  Rode the tide to the end of the wall casting and trolling a Danglin Special wildeye anchovie with no luck, the switched over to the sabiki looking for bait that's usually around that area...  no dice.  About then Duane rolls up, guns glistening in the sun, we chat briefly and I confirm he hasn't seen bait either, then he's a speck in the distance, never to be seen again.  Then it got windy so I decided to head back, this is 5pm, tide just starting to slow a bit, making the fight not too bad.

Then I did what I shoulda done FIRST, and hit the tires for bait.  Within seconds I had two nice shiners and thier bigger cousin:

... who was released unharmed.

I headed out to the hole with my bait, but by the time I re-rigged it was dark so I headed home...  defeated, but now with a plan of attack for next time!

Btw some guys in a powerboat caught 3 butts right in front of me, end of the wall...  using shiners and mudsuckers.

Way to give it a shot.  You ended up with a beefy walleye at least!

I could have written the same report on Thursday - weak being the operative word. I've been inspired or perhaps aggravated by this SF Gate article that mentions all the white sea bass being had in the bay:

http://www.sfgate.com/sports/outdoors/fishing/

In terms of what I can report - I spotted lots of top smelt (really small), and some small anchovies of which I've never had luck getting 'em onto a sabiki. Actually I got one pinky-sized 'chovy once, but seemed like an anomaly. Otherwise no bait to be had except for the walleyes from the tires. I only secured one that was bait sized, and fished it no avail. I don't yet own a FF so its tougher for me to mark schools while out in the open water. Seems I always have to hope structure pays off.

The other perch were rather large & a lady fishing from shore started heckling me about throwing 'em back. "Hey I need those fish!" she said. My logic was: then catch 'em, we're fishing the same exact area! I saw that her mini-van was much nicer than my car, but since there were a couple of kids in it I flowed her the last perch I caught only asking that she tell me how she intended to prepare it for the table. Answer: bread'd 'n fried.

Some PB'ers cruised past me at the end of the wall stating they, "caught a couple, but nothing spectacular." Assumed they meant Halibut.

Back to the bait subject... I'm observing & catching sardines in the inner estuary. The 'dines show up big time at the top of the flood tide in the area sharky & I call Container Bay. Haven't succeeded in keeping them alive long enough to bring them to the wall tho. I also caught two mackerel today along with the 'dines. The Macks really surprised me. The dead 'dines and the macks are about to be placed on the grill.

Gotta wonder how Duane did, eh?

Well, cheers from Pacific Ave., Alameda!

There were tons of tiny something or other bait skittering the surface in front of the ramp at dusk.

Building a sabiki rod now...

Not so weak - good report, regardless of returning 'but-less.    The tides were not too weak, either, which probably didn't help any: .64 low to 6.02 high. ARW sounds like the place to be if it was gonna happen.

Heard a boat announce a butt caught at the wall while I was OTW paddling with an NCKA yakuza man-fish swimming across the bay...

huh?......Eric ready to use live bait?! WTHellGives?! .......i like your plan dude, finally you've come to your senses.
Why weren't you at the HMB BBQ saturday?!   everyone asked where you were.

Yeah, despite seeing first-hand the effectiveness of bait I was still resisting...  messin with sabikis and bait buckets just seemed like such a hassle, plus it meant buying more than I'd need, or netting them the night before, (so I thought).

But with my new sabiki rod, (that I was building Sat) it should be a snap to jig up 3-4 troopers to swim in my footwells on the "morning of".

Nice try Eric. At least now you have a game plan on your next trip. Dying to see
how that sabiki rod will look like once it is completed.

Jedmo