Weather and sea conditions continue to plague our dedicated anglers on the Monterey Bay. Fickle south and east winds created choppy wind waves over the remnants of last week’s big northwest swell, making fishing trips more difficult. Fishermen, however, will always find a way.

My solution this week was to take the short drive up to San Francisco Bay on Wednesday. Charter and private boats in the SF Bay have been enjoying early season halibut fishing as well as an unusually extended striped bass bite in the bay this month. I hopped on my favorite charter, the New Huck Finn at Emeryville Sportfishing.

Skippers on SF Bay have a definite advantage of being sheltered from open-ocean swells. The winds of course, can kick up some heavy chop. But, the primary key to fishing the SF Bay is knowledge of the underwater structure, tidal movement and the interrelationships between the two. A fishing spot that holds stripers on the beginning of the outgoing tide may have no fish whatsoever on the incoming or slack tide. With a light load of 22 anglers aboard, Captain Jay Yokomizo brought us to a nearby spot off Treasure Island that features some rocky structure. The slope attracts striped bass that lie in wait while tidal action sweeps baitfish up for an ambush and quick meal.

Yokomizo and co-captain Dave Stevens have the minute details of Bay fishing dialed in. It’s no wonder, as Yokomizo remarked “It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this daily for what, 39 years now.” The skipper practices “hit and run” fishing. Trying a likely spot, and repeating the drift if we got any bites. Moving quickly to the next location if we didn’t. It was amazing to me how varied the structure within the central bay can be, and how close to the small islands such as Richmond’s Red Rock Yokomizo would set his drifts.

That knowledge and daring paid off big-time for us anglers aboard the New Huck Finn. After a couple halibut up to 16 pounds early in the morning, we enjoyed a steady bite of striped bass ranging from undersized shakers to a whopper of 13 pounds. The final “go-home” stop on the same rockpile we started the day put a cap on our limits with a wide-open flurry of bass hitting our live anchovies.

I was not the only Monterey Bay angler aboard. I met Andy Villanueva from Moss Landing, who is an expert long-range fisherman, and actually prefers to fish the SF Bay rather than his home waters. Villanueva laughingly said, “The charter boats don’t target halibut and stripers in Monterey Bay. Plus, I’ve been fishing with Jay since he was a deckhand, baiting my hooks for me. It’s worth the drive.” Villanueva proved his point with a full limit of striped bass and one of the two halibut caught Wednesday aboard the New Huck Finn.

Bushnell also operates Santa Cruz Kayak Fishing Guide Service. Please send your reports, pictures or questions to [email protected].