San Pablo Flats 1-16

Launched solo out of Buck's Landing this morning to one of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen in a long time. Brilliant oranges and pinks pasted up against the high cloud layer. The water was glass, the tules were filled with egrets, and a lone blue heron was digging furiously in the mud. I paddled toward the Pumphouse and stopped just North East of the last duck blind and dropped anchor. I fished plump, healthy ghostshrimp that I pumped yesterday afternoon. My first cast got the classic pump, but I waited for the second one and it never came. Reeled in to find my bait was gone. Shortly after my next cast I got a few little taps, but nothing solid. I saw Sharkbait and Erik paddle into the Honey Hole, so I pulled anchor and joined them.

A little after the tide turned I got another pump. This time I pointed my rod tip toward the fish, waited for the second pump and swung for the fences. Fish on! I went for the ol’ sturgy sleigh ride and Erik paddled over for the assist. He snapped a few pics with the disposable then we measured it out at 57”. Gave the big fella a pat on the head and off he went. My first keeper! Much props to Erik for the assist – there’s no way I could’ve landed that thing by myself.

Towards the top of the tide I rounded out my action with a ~16” striper. Took off after that to try and beat the tide swing and prevent a more laborious paddle.

Man, this stuff is addicting!

Good seeing you out on the water Rock Hopper, nice work on the sturgeon. Not much action for me today, a few hits which I assume were small stripers pecking at my bait ... none of them stuck though. Great day on the water! The fast outgoing tide made for a very easy paddle back to China Camp. 

Damn that is awesome!  Congrats.

Awesome day on the water was made even better by finding a bucket of freshly pumped ghost shrimp on my doorstep when I walked out of my house.  Mickfish had pumped them this weekend but wound up not being able to fish so he graciously dropped them off at my house on his way to work.  That's what I call service.  Thanks a bunch Mike... that was enough bait to get me through the whole day.  Maybe you're on to something... bait delivery service... kind of like the milkman but smellier!   

Awesome weather conditions... flat calm and very clear air and it lasted the ENTIRE day!  Too bad the fish weren't cooperating. 

I wound up with a handful of smallish stripers, all of which came on the outgoing tide in the afternoon... no dino love today... but it was a blast helping Dustin land his fish... a very nice fish it was.  Props to Dustin for releasing it.  I'll develop my disposable camera this week and post some pictures.  He handled it like a champ.   

It was nice to see Pondsurf back in action today and good to meet is friend as well (name was Max I think?... sorry).

For most of the morning incoming tide I fished about a half mile toward the pumphouse from the honey hole.  After assisting Dustin with his Dino, I fished the remainder of the incoming close to the honey hole.  I did mark quite a few large fish (dinos?) pushing through the area toward the end of the incoming tide but no takers. 

At the top of the tide, Pondsurf and his buddy and I headed out closer to the pumphouse and found an attractive area with about a 2-foot dropoff that had a nice little rip current going through it.  Bottom must have been covered with clam beds... got quite a few shells on my hooks reeling in.  Marked quite a few fish at the beginning on the outgo.  Caught a few small stripers and lost bait to numerous more.  That'll be a spot to check out again on a good tide... lots of potential there. 

I fished the outgo until about 3:00 and headed in.  The other guys stayed out... hopefullly they did us proud. 

We'll get em next time!  EK

Wow it seems every trip out someone is at least hooking up if not landing a keeper. It is sturgeon city!

Congrats Dustin!
Sorry I couldnt make it out. Looks like your fresh pumped shrimp did the trick!

Right on.... Dustin.  Congrats!
Like you said... this is addicting.  But for me, it's an obsession to land my first legal dino.

Nice job Dustin.  I was trying to get out this weekend but things came up on Monday (job interview) and I wasn’t feeling well on Sunday am.  Very commendable on the release, as well as to SteveS and Erik for their earlier C&R too.

Stuart

Got my disposable camera developed... Here are the pics...

I heard a "ya Hoooo!!!!" from about a half mile away and saw Rockhopper's boat going whizzing across the bay... so I paddled in to check it out.



He was definitely having fun!!!





Once Dustin got the fish snared, he passed the snare over to me for a measurement off of my giant floating ruler.  We agreed to 57 inches, but if you ask me, looks like you could squeak another inch to inch and a half out of that bad boy...



Here's the money Shot!!!

It was really great to hook up with you pros again. My back is feeling better after my injury but was a bit stiff and hurting after sitting for so long waiting for those dinos to find me. It was awesome to see you, Erik. Sorry, Dustin i didn't get a chance to meet you. i waned to paddle over but you were probably close to a mile away. WTG! There was only a few little bait stealers taking my sagging pathetic ghost shrimp. A most awesome day out on the water though. Definitely ready to go again.
Brent

Brent:  Nice to see your amongst the living.  Hope all is well.  Hows the new addition?

Solid fish!


Right on, congrats!   

Right on...! Nice job. I can't wait to get back out there and give it another try.

Freddie

Damn, Its simply amazing how you guys handle the sturgeon when you get them near the yak, when Red had his on I was freaking out!!!  I was so worried that I was gonna lose his fish before we even had a chance to measure it.  In my defense, the water was rough, and the biggest thing I've ever handled from my yak was a batray, to lose a batray is no big deal!!!!  But to lose a sturgeon, now that is a different story, all the time and effort put into hooking a dino and then to lose it, well, lets just say, I was a bit nervous, and then!!! out of the sunset came mooch!! , I quickly handed my net over to him and he landed the dino like it was nothing, mind you, paddleling into the current in rough conditions he swooped it up.  Thank you Joel for that assist with reds dino, I learned a couple things watching.  I cant imagine what it would be like to be hooked into a 6 footer in choppy conditions.  A big WTG to everyone who has landed a dino in the last month, anyone can land in a dino in a boat, but to land a dino in a kayak is a whole different element not to be taken lightly. JTF..

Awesome! Thanks for taking/developing/scanning/posting those pics, Erik! You R D Man!

JTF - I was extremely nervous that sucker was gonna tip me once we had it snared. It was pretty worn out, but still had some kick left in it!