May 16th - Emeryville, CA -- Captain Donny, deckhand Mike and 14 other anglers and I departed on a potluck live bait trip aboard the C-Gull II to target the strong recent bite of Halibut and Striped Bass in the SF Bay. Though I was told in advance that this trip was not to be truly representative of the Great Bay's fishing potential since we were dealing with maximum tides, I nonetheless was excited to fish again out of Emeryville Sportfishing, a landing that has always treated me to good times aboard great boats - regardless of the fishing.

This was my first trip inside the Bay to target Stripers and 'Buts - I was raised on SoCal boats, and admittedly, I'm still getting used to Northern California fishing (you can't wear sandals and a t-shirt). Overall our trip was a great one, though on the slower side on account of the tide, but we still were entertained by flurries of Halibut and Striped Bass throughout the day. Though we caught about 3 times the fish we eventually kept -- the ratio of small 'buts and stripers to keepers was about 2:1 -- we had a helluva time exploring the Bay, watching a newbie Marine trainee who on leave whack a 25 pound flattie, and, of course stalking the Halibut, Stripers and the most unlikely target: the DFG.

The morning started off fishing the backside of Angel Island on a few drifts for Halibut - we nailed one keeper of about 5 pounds, and let another handful go that were in the 20-inch class. After stopping in Berkeley to get bait during slack tide, Donny guided the boat back to the Berkeley Flats where we gave it another flatty go-around before he decided to relocate to near the Carquinez Bridge for the hot Striper action. Along the way we saw a lot of SF Bay life: oil tankers docking, the DFG stocking juvenile salmon into the Bay, and much more. We didn't see those two wayward whales, however.... Striper fishing in uber-shallow water was successful - after about 5 drifts in as many feet of water we had a dozen keeper Stripies up to 8 pounds. Back to the Flats and the G Buoy for a few last drifts before calling it a day....and young Marine Arthur Mitchell of Oakland, who had just happened to bring his entire family with him while on leave for 10 days from Marine Boot Camp (!!!) hooked, fought and landed his first-ever Halibut, a mean 25 pound flatty that won him the jackpot and a free SportfishingReport.com t-shirt! Congrats Arthur!

All in all, the trip was one of shorts -- and not the kind I used to wear in San Diego -- rather, we landed a substantial number of short fish, which makes me excited for my second, third, and fiftieth trips into the Bay -- there's a lot of fish out there still to catch!

I have to put in a simple plug: Go fishing with Donny on the C-Gull II. Not only will you find a captain that is - like his colleagues from Emeryville - of the utmost professionalism and skill, but, truly, you'll find a guy you want to be around. He's a fun cat, and knows the inside of the Bay like the back of his hand.

That's all for now....in the mean, wishing you tight lines! Leigh from SportfishingReport.com