San Pablo Bay 12-2-06

Arrived at Bullhead Flats around 8 to see Yakingal and Sudmucker in the parking lot. Nice to meet the two of you. Mooch arrives about 3 minutes later. Mooch and I decide to launch on the other side of Rat Rock cove since we planned on staying out late and wanted to deal with as little mudfest as possible.
As we are getting ready this guy is walking the beach area. next thing we know he is going for a swim...and it was PLENTY cold outside....



Notice how nice the water looks!!

Eric shows up and we paddle 2 miles the " The Spot". The whole time on the way out the chop is picking up. We finally anchor. The current is pulling our lines one direction and the wind is pushing our yaks the other.
This is a pic of Mooch and Eric BEFORE it got ROUGH!!!



This was seriously calm compared to how it got later.

Eric heads in to see if he can find calmer water and Mooch and I stick it out a while longer. The swells are getting BIG and my anchor isn't holding so I pull up and move to the other side of Mooch and drop again. This time letting a bit more line out. Put new bait on and cast out.
The swells are getting ridiculous now, breaking on us and over the sides. I notice my line is acting weird so I decide to reel in and recast.
ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! I must be snagged and my anchor let loose. I check the anchor and I am still hooked on to it.
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!  FISH ON!!!!!!!
I deploy the quick release and start the ride....Bummer lost it!!! Reel in...Still there..ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz!! I would get him right under the yak but no way could I pull him up. ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!
Finally I see my weight...making progress...ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz!! This guy is horsing me big time.
Mooch retrieves my anchor and paddles over to assist....Still I haven't seen any color...get close and Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
Between this fish and the ROUGH water I am in for the kayak fish of my life..
Here comes the weight....more leader...more leader....there it is!!!.... Bat Ray!
Took a while to finally land and release it. Thought for sure it was a sturgeon.
Nonetheless it was the best fight to date I have had on a kayak so I cannot complain.
Mooch snapped a couple of pics so I will let him post those.
We paddled back to see Eric fishing in the cove.
Here he is landing in the 'calm' cove. Same cove where the nutcase was swimming earlier.


When Mooch and I landed we were greeted by Guitarzan ( Ben ) bearing gifts. A beer for me and a juice drink for Mooch. That was awesome. Thanks Ben.
Hung around for a while and saw JTF up top where we parked.
Mooch, JTF and I headed to the shack/restaurant on the beach for some quick grub.
Wish we could have stayed out longer but the conditions changed on us real fast.
Hope it stays calm next time. Can't wait!

Yup... it's pretty amazing how conditions can change out there so fast.  It was the typical San Pablo bait and switch weather.  Flat calm for the whole 2-mile paddle out, then it turns on you and trys to claim you.

Wind from the  East North East direction is ugly on a big outgo.  Wind is perpendicular or quartering against the outgoing current.  It just kept getting uglier.  I figured I might be able to duck in behind rat rock for some cover but it was a washing machine in there... the current had started moving pretty good in that area and I made a quick u-turn and got out of that mess.

Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll be able to give it another shot.

Great company anyway and was glad to get my paddle wet.  All I caught was a smallish leopard in 6 feet of water near the china camp beach. 

EK

Way to get after them guys. Insaneduane and I will go out on Wed. at the Dunbarton and hopefully not get blown off the water.

Great report - your photos do show how it changed alot - that's nasty!  Cool that you got to fight the bat ray and dealt with the conditions at the same time. 

 

Frank,

Notice you call it Dunbarton Bridge.  Maybe, your "M" key does not work too good.  It is Dumbarton Bridge. " Dumb" must be  my middle name.....at least that is what my "Ex" used to called. 

I would join you guys.  But, I thinking about fishing Tues at Quarry.  Get there around 9:30 to 10 am.  It been to cold to fish and I am still getting over this "Bug".

Ken kickfish

The old "Should have been there the day before", San Pablo bay was glass  on Thursday and Friday. When I awoke on Saturday morning My thoughts went to you guys for it was Gusting in the El Sobrante hills... Burly job every one, have to catch one of those no wind/slack days......................Went to the Kieth Frazier Sturgeon Seminar with Scallen.....Ended a little short with Kieth having to go to the hospital....Pretty sure he'll be O.K....Probably would have been worse if Scallen and I weren't there..he collapsed on the podium and Scallen and I got to him before he took a 5' foot header from the stage to the ground.  Chalk one up for " Team NCKA "....He had been sick for a couple of weeks, and I guess those fish stories can take alot out of ya...I'm sure the " Best bait in the world "  will be back up in no time..... ...........Danglin

yeah san pablo can relly get rough especially on the outgo! glad you all made it back in.

Yup... it's pretty amazing how conditions can change out there so fast.  It was the typical San Pablo bait and switch weather.  Flat calm for the whole 2-mile paddle out, then it turns on you and trys to claim you.

Ditto!  Glad you guys made it in safe.

Mol Bass,

What do you think?  Still want to catch a sturgie?  Just like a "walk in the park".

But, the best places for a easy launch and quick escape are Coyote Pt., Osyter Pt. or San Mateo Bridge.  Only when the herring are spawning.

Ken kickfish

Sorry you guys had a rough day.  While crabbing at LM today I kept telling myself no matter how windy it is right now it is nothing like what can happen to you in SP Bay. Looks like I was right!  I think the Bay, especially SP Bay is one of the most unpredictable places to boat/fish around.  Ie... Sean and Jelly last year.   Still, sounded like fun.

Jason

Good to meet all of you ! And it did turn pretty nasty ! But Mary did get to hookup on a nice leapard , she got a good fight but fought her a little too long ! Even with 25 lb leader material those dang leapard teeth just chew right through ! Looking forward to the next trip to the honey hole !

Well, that's San Pablo for you.  I paddled out 2 miles straight east from Bullhead... nice conditions, not glass, but very light wind.  Got myself set up (first time with the anchor, worked flawlessly), baited up, and then put the line in the water.  I was looking forward to a beautiful day...and then somebody flipped the wind switch on.  No biggie, I'll just sit here for a few minutes and see what happens... knowing full well that it's going to get worse before it gets better.  Reel in, check bait, cast again, wait.   Uh, it's getting kinda choppy... I'm alone with no radio and my newbie spider sense is saying "go, go, go!"  The decision is made to paddle in and then wouldn't you know it... tap, tap, tap... tap, tap, tap.  SHIZE-UH!  Mr. Fishy (Sturgeon?) gets himself a nice, free grass shrimp snack... I decide not to set the hook and just let the "bite" play out.  Oh well, he stopped mouthing the bait, so I brought in my gear, pulled the anchor, and got the hell out of Dodge.  Let me tell you, it was a quick ride back in.  The Tarpon surfed that chop like you wouldn't believe!  I was doing 5.7 knots (wind at my back) without even trying... got a little worried about getting sideways in a couple of sections and there were a couple of times I though it was going to perl (sp?), but we came through ok.  I passed JTF on the way in... couldn't understand why he was paddling out... then I saw him coming back in (with Erik) about ten minutes later... good decision.  Met back up with him on the beach, and also Sudmucker and Fishingal.  We watched it go from pretty bad to worse... I was glad I wasn't Mooch and Tote out there at the Honey Hole.

Anyway, an hour and a half on the water (even in "less than ideal" conditions) is better than no fishing at all, in my book.  Glad everyone's ok.  Just remember... it can get WAY worse than that, and happen a lot faster than it did.

Backslider

Boy, I've never seen the Bay this bad before. Erik made the right call and paddled back - while Mike and I followed soon after. The paddle back proved to be difficult as I had to stradle my kayak a couple of times as the swells were hitting me on the side - Waves came over the deck and a few got me ENTIRELY wet - It brought back memories of my trip with Stuart at the Jaws of Moss Landing a few years back. It was definitely "washing machine" conditions and the wind added to the misery. YET, I look at it as another learing experience = "Learn when to call it a day" 

Erik - looking forward to another "go at it". Mike - it was cool watching you fight that sturgeon that turned into a batray SUdmucker and Mary - a pleasure meeting you guys  Ben, what can I say "Thanks for da juce bradah"  JTF - it's been a while, nice catching up with ya!

more pics to follow.....

And guess what?  It was flat and calm after 2pm....like a mill pond out there i'm told...wah wah.

AllenB and i were out there on sunday and it was blowing to beat the band- we even tried escaping to the Petaluma river for naught

And guess what?  It was flat and calm after 2pm....like a mill pond out there i'm told...wah wah.

I'd find that hard to believe... heres the actual wind chart for San Pablo Bay on Saturday.  Looks like the wind sustained itself pretty well throughout the day.

I'll be trying again on Saturday the 16th... mark your calendars.