THE FISHING REPORT

Not more than five minutes into the first drift of the day, I
looked over and saw my son Charlie put the “marlin hook set” on a
fish and the subsequent “fish on” cry was heard. He expertly landed
the 5 pound striped bass and we were off the “shnyder.” What is a
“shnyder” anyway? It is something my dad used to say, far too
often, and I haven’t ever known what a shnyder actually is except
that it is good to be off it. It is used as a term for catching a
fish and avoiding a skunk, but beyond that, I have no idea where it
came from.
I was fishing aboard Andy Gulliano’s six pack boat, the Talisman
(www.ggcharters.com) out of Emeryville, on a father-son trip with
other fathers and sons, Bob and Beau Besancon and Mike and Andrew
Devries. It was a typical San Francisco Bay summer day, cool and
foggy, just like Frank Sinatra would remember it. The sons were all
eager and, while leepy eyed, pretty ready to go. The second drift
Andrew hooked up and another striper was landed. This one was
around 12 pounds and gave Andrew, his first striped bass, all he
could handle. Several more fish were landed by others until the
tide started to wane, and Andy made the call to try and get some
halibut.
We started fishing in the bay, and Mike and Bob both picked up
respectable “butts” to 10 pounds. We then moved outside the Golden
Gate and drifted Ocean Beach. More halibut were caught by everyone
except me. This is truly one of those fisheries that the more you
know or think you know, doesn’t reward your efforts. In fact, it
seems, when it comes down to halibut fishing, the less you know
almost guarantees quality fishing. 
The day wore on and it was getting late, and I still hadn’t
landed a striped bass or a halibut. I finally got what I thought
was a halibut bite. I fed it line as I thought I should, then
reeled the line taught and brought the very small fish to the net.
At first, I thought I may have caught my first halibut, all be it a
sub legal, but alas, it turned out to be just a lemon sole. From
that point on, the digging started and I was dubbed the “fruit fish
fishermen”… lovely! That moniker stuck for the rest of the day as I
never did catch a legal fish.  Everyone else did, though, and we
ended just short of limits of halibut and a handful of striped
bass. At the end of the day, while I got skunked, the boat had the
sweet smell of success.
Striped bass fishing remains strong in and out of San Francisco
Bay. Larger fish are starting to show up. Ed Janowicz reported
boating a 35 pound halibut last Saturday.  Also the stripers are
showing on the beaches down towards Pacifica.
For more information and/or reports, please contact Hunt
Conrad at Prospect Mortgage in Healdsburg, 431-9715.