Paradise Endurance Challenge.....

    Fished Paradise Friday and Saturday with family and friends then Tomales Sunday with family and even more friends. It's all a blurrrrrr now so I'll try to recap. Over the three days we fished with Adam, Jonesz, Guitarzan, FishinJay, Naoaki, and Danglin (did I miss anyone?)

    Friday started out flat, when the sun came out the wind machine started slowly and built from there. The breeze was welcome at first as the sun was baking my noggin. Patrick went north to the old pier caught some monster baits and shared them with the rest of us. At one point a party boat cut between Jonesz and I and set up just above me in the drift then proceeded to land two fish on top of us. Later in the morning I landed a keeper.
   
     Saturday we all met up and launched into an already breezy bay. We made bait and drifted downstream from there. Within ten minutes my rod tip went whack..whack.........waited a bit and then raised the rod to see it load up .....fish on. The halibut came up without too much fuss and as it neared the surface I could see it was definitely  legal but not the fish I was looking for. I stowed the gaff and brought the fish alongside and tried to ease my hawg trough under the fish in attempt to get a measurement ........tried this twice before the fish shook off and disappeared. The fish was about 26" so no harm no foul. A few other fish were hooked and some landed...but that's their story to tell.
    A commercial halibut fisherman spent most of the day cruising back and forth along the beach and I had quite a few conversations with him. He was real friendly and informative but I couldn't help think that the fish I  had so painstakingly released might be one of the 11 fish he had caught while we were on the water.
    The wind finally blew us off the water and we met up in the picnic grounds for yummy beans, sausages, and bread ala  FisHunter. The laughs and teasing were nonstop .....as usual.
   
    Sunday was a beautiful day on Tomales. Bait was tough to come by so we trolled frozen bait throughout  the bay. Patrick and I made the trek to the surf break at the bar and back for nada.  By the time we made it back to the island Jonesz had caught come nice smelt and offered some to us but the wind had set in so we called it a day. Lunch at Nick's capped off a beautiful weekend on the water.

     Thanks to everyone for the entertainment.
 

couple more...

Nice report. Sorry I wasnt able to attend. It looks like quite a diverse crowd out there. Awesome pics as usual.

I was out there Saturday with Alan and others and when he hooked up almost right away I was thinking "this is going to be a good day." Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of action overall. I managed to hook one late in the day and when I got it up to the yak it was a definite keeper, probably 27"-28". But, as soon as it saw me it made a mad dash and came loose. 

Not too much later the wind really got to blowing and it was a tough paddle against the wind back to the launch. Adam hooked us up with some good beans and man-dogs as we relaxed while bs'ing.

Good to see everyone! I'm looking forward to the next time so I can hopefully knock the skunk off my boat!

 
Nice pics and thanks for the report.

Hopefully the blur clears in time for next weekend.  I'll be up at Van Damme with an 11" rootbeer boneyard to pay ya back.

That is a butt chasing marathon!  Heck of a try, good luck on the hunt.

I'm not familiar with the salt water species...what kind of fish is that (I know its not a Halibut)?

I'm assuming it was bait for a bigger fish.

Sounds like a fun trip.  Wish I didn't get sea sick so easily...it would be fun to try something new.

HobieBlue

What, no pic of the pair we got on Friday? Oh, that's right, I remember you grumbling about mine bigger than yours...   Had a good time fishing with you guys. Was fun checking out you Hobie Pros. Every time it blows, I get a little giddy how nice it is to fish from the new Hobie. Still thinking about the rod holder situation. Wanna make sure what I want before I start drilling...I don't know what it is with the bait in Tomales this year, but it's tough getting any I made a few more drifts for nadda after you guys headed in.

Hey HB,
if sea sickness is all your worried about don't sweat it. No swells in the bays, just wind chop. Same as you would get out there in the delta in the afternoons. As for the bait, that's a sample of the size we had to use. Funny thing was, the capt. of the party boat that cut us off says "your bait's too big" Allen replies, "depends on what size your fishing for"  We both landed one, on those "too big baits" 

Jonesz,  Now that you mention it there are a couple more shots to post....You and I with our fish and a special someone caught a halibut to fill his "dance card". 

Nice goin', guys!  Clockin' some serious time on the hali hunt!
Wish I had caught your heads up in time, would've liked to join you out there Saturday.  Oh well, next time...

Great report with excellent pictures.  Grand Adventures.   

I'm Hip....

Got out 3 times since Thursday, Introducing 4 Newbies to the sport.....

 Man that's a lot of work.... Set up, make sure everyone has a idea of whats going on, safety, ect ect...

 Break down, and clean equipment x4 plus my stuff.

just got thru getting to the rest of the stuff just now... Lets do it Again!!!!!!   

 Really Kool seeing you guys there Yesterday, wish my Bait spot was a little more productive

I did pick one nice smelty just letting the sabiki hang baited with sardine,

let my Nephew go with it till he asked for squid because I told him it would probably get him a shark,

Brought it up and something slammed it, bit the middle, I put it on ( Still Alive )

Tap...Tap,,,... Runs..... Swing!!!! ..... Nothing   

My Nephew ( Arron ) got to battle with a Mud Marlin and also locked horns with a decent shark till it bit

thru wire leader.... Hmmmm,  I thought it was just another Dogfish

Great getting him out there and getting a little action on a Nice day,

Now he's back to LA, senior year and his band " Slinky " is on a tear..

You can now say you knew who he was " Way back when "


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...did I miss Don at Paradise?  it's all still a blurr butt'?

A big old fashioned CONGRADULATIONS on filling out your FUN-CARD!
You hunted hard for bait, then hunted harder for that flattie....well deserved!

I was plannin to hit the Bean, but the Bean would have hit back,plus it would be hard knowing all da'Boyz were were posse'n-up, so I had to meet the crew on another frontyard adventure.
Trolled a pop-herring w/blade&hoochie for not all day on friday.
Saturday was a different story......I had the pleasure of(THANKSuncleALLEN!) babysittin one of them BigBaits ALL DAY LONG for NADA....but it did have a MOUTH BITE on it at the end of the day....and it was fun knowing that if it does happen....it's gonna be FUN!
It was fun, but not ACTION WISE!

It's a good thing we have so much fun doing other activities......cause going 2 days / 14mi. of OTW time without a FISH to battle leaves (theREAL)FisHunter..
DAZED&confused!

pic1~prelaunch

pic2~ niceguy UncleAllen pre-measuring his catch before doing a release job.

pic3~ Jay, Naoaki and Patrick blending into the scenery.

a few more HIGH&lowLIGHTS....

Pic1~ if your down at the bottom with your yak on wheels and need a tow up to the lot. Hail down this cart(you might get lucky) and ask for a ride up! It's part of the FRI-SUN $8 you'll be paying($6 weekdays) and she don't take tips or hits.

pic2~A Ripp'd-off version of AlsHobieOutBacks' BakedBeansW/grilled whatever.
           (Hotlinks&Dogs&Roasted on the spot Garlic)
          ...I'm calling it Als_HOBBBGoulash   ..sorry Al.

and the ONE lowlight of the day....
pic3~ Did you have to drive 55 all the way home?  that sucked!

.....way to get it done Glen, Allen and YP(YoungPatrick)
and for the rest of us SkunkSmell'ers......we'll have our day!