On Saturday, April 7, 2008, I had the pleasure of fishing with Captain Jay Yokomizo (and his two wonderful labradors, Daphne and Cricket), skilled Deckhand Dave, and 10 other anglers on the first Halibut trolling trip of the season out of Emeryville Sportfishing. We started fishing in beautiful conditions off of the Berkeley flats. Within 15 minutes of setting the engines to a slow 1 knot per hour, we had already landed three short halibut and one keeper 22 incher. The bite continued on dead anchovies for the next 3 hours - a steady pick at first, then flurries of legal-sized 'buts, with a handful of 6-8 pounders thrown in the mix. The jackpot 20 pound flattie was taken later in the day on a fluke double-rod hit; the jackpot winner Gabriel R. took home the heaviest limit sack of 'buts, some sportfishingreport.com stickers, and the praise and admiration of the entire boat! Other notable catches include Kim T. of San Francisco, who scored her first two halibut, the first of 6 pounds, and the second at 8 pounds! Seasoned New Huck Finner Calvin Y. scored easy and early limits of flatties and was the hot-stick for the day, as his rod was even catching fish when he was catching some zzzz's in the galley! All in all, we had an incredible time fishing with Jay, watching his sleek hounds jump on the rails in anticipation of each fish caught, and enjoying an excellent day on the Bay. It is because of landings like Emeryville, and boats like Jay's that make fishing so incredibly fun in the San Francisco Bay. We, as anglers, need to support these guys more though - with recent cuts in the Salmon and Rockfish seasons, we are dangerously close to losing boats and landings from this part of the coast. Do your part, and think that if every angler, including yourself, went fishing simply one more time a year, that'd mean that much more revenue for these landings and boat owners, deckhands and employees. The power to keep the fishing industry in Northern California alive is our hands - let's do our part! For now, tight lines, and enjoy the report! Leigh