Dino Hunt 01-30-08

Got up this morning... nothing new. Fed the boys and got them ready for school. Then, I got a call from Chucke saying that it might be a good day to hit the Dumbo. Luckily, Melissa was around to cart the boys off to school so, I could get ready for a dino hunt. Chucke calls back and tells me we'll be taking a detour. Instead of going to the Dumbo, we'll be going to San Pablo. He got a tip that there are some sturgeon swimming around up there. So, off we go. Traffic sucked, got to Chucke's, load up and head to the bait shop. Get some bait and we soaking bait by Rat Rock. The water was doing some weird stuff when we got there. It took a while for me to figure out which way the tide was flowing. Sometimes, it looked like it wasn't moving at all. Anyways, we moved around a little and towards the bottom of the tide, Chuck gets that classic pump. He swings and... snap. He swung so hard on the hook set that he snapped his line. He must've had a knick on the line somewhere. Poor guy... just wasn't meant to be. The tide started to roll in and after a while, I was beginning to think that was the one bite that we were going to get today. A little while later, I started to get harassed by some schoolie stripers or something. I swung a couple times but, came up empty. Then, another tap... swing... tap tap... SWING!!! The next thing I see is a sturgeon rising to the surface. I was in about 5 feet of water and I must've lifted that thing off of the bottom. With that... it started to take off. FIGHT ON...! Melissa's rod has some good mojo in it. It's two for two at this point. That fish took off and the line was going fast. It turned around on me and came straight to me. I couldn't reel line in fast enough... Nothing but slack line... I lifted the rod and felt nothing. I kept reeling in and eventually, caught up to the fish. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... it's going again. Then, it turns me and looks like it's headed for the anchor line. I get it close but, not close enough... I pop the anchor and I'm off to where ever the fish takes me. After a very valiant fight, the fish blows bubbles and it's done. I fumble around with the snare a few times before I get him and it's over.

When I first saw the fish at the hook set, I thought it was going to be oversized. When I got it on my lap... it fit in the slot nicely. I kind of feel bad knocking Melissa out of the top spot, but I had to do it sooner or later. Caught in literally right off Rat Rock using ghost/grass combo in about 5 feet of water on the flood. First time I've ever caught a dino on the flood. Chucke has some nice pictures to add and a video of how not to snare a sturgeon. It's all good though. The day was perfect. No chop on the water. Hardly no wind. Shorts and shirt kind of weather.

Thanks again Chucke.

Freddie

When I started driving up the 101 and saw how nice a day it was... I knew I'd be sorry I missed it.   


Congrats Freddie on the nice sturgeon!   


Congrats ChuckE on being a good guide and photographer... again.   

Year o' the Dino. Way to slay 'em Savage! It sounds like a lot of fun.

Z

Wow!  I keep saying that on these sturgeon posts - you guys (and that includes gals!   ) are hammering 'em down there!  Way to go - I'm looking forward to the pics and videos.   

Great job, Freddie!!!   You got a big b-day gift too!
so what are you gonna do that much meat (three in one month in one house hold)?

Freddie very nice with your family dominating the AOTY. All you need is the boys. Scott

 Congrats Savage,

 Man, I got to quit working and get out there

  Sorry ChuckE   BTW,

 Only 2 Boards @ CC&K, Missing 1 of the Collage pic Boards.... Sunrise must still have 1 ... Danglin

fab freddie is on fire again. look out aoty contestants

I guess that beats getting a passport!   Nice job.
How big was it??

Damn, man. Can we have a seperate AOTY for those of us who work 50 hours a week? 

All that needs to said...has already been said....
You are "SAVAGE!"    when you and Chuck get together  there must be some kind of MagicComboMojoMix you guys emit into the air!  anyone in the area DOES,CAN and WILL benefit from it!
If i ever get THAT CALL,PM    or I see you guys out on the water, TOGETHER?    asIpaddleTHROUGHtheAREA,IwillINHALE&hold!    


waiting for the pics&vid too!

Glad to hear that you guys got to use that intel, it was more of a "should have been here yesterday" (oh wait we were) for us.  We hit up same spot as yesterday, then moved up to sonoma area, then back out to deeper darker water-- result was one 36"er.
Slow compared to our 3-shouldabeen-4 the day before
http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/586655/an/0/page/0#586655

that was the only post that didn't totally give away the location!

Nice work guys!  Congrats Freddie... those shallow water dino fights are a lot of fun.

If this weekend is fishable, I'll be out there.

  I heard Kieth Frasier said at his recent seminar that the tides are perfect this weekend, and also that there is a derby.

It was really great catching that fish yesterday. Definitely a fun fight. Makes waiting all those hours soaking bait worth it.

Naoaki-
Yeah, we got lots of sturgeon but we also have lots of family and friends that are more than willing to take some off our hands. Out of all that flesh, we only have 2 chunks left. Yesterday's fish is all gone now.

Scott-
The boys are going to dominate in due time. I don't want them to grow up too fast though. Having too much fun with them now. It'll happen though. I can hardly wait to get them both out solo. Hint hint... watch out for the little one. He's going to be an animal.

Tote-
Yeah... passport... I'll be seeing you next week for sure. I'll give you a call. I'm thinking Wednesday. I won't forget my birth cert this time. I already pulled it out of my files and I'm ready to go. Oh and the fish was 61". Melissa wants to go back out there and try to get a bigger one now. I told her to quit while she was ahead though. We'll see...

Steve-
Thanks again for the intel and opps...

Tight lines,

Freddie