The tides and winds are starting to diminish and he Halibut counts are back on the rise. Jim Smith the "Ole man of the bay", captain of the Happy Hooker and now a with four decades running a party boat showed up the young guns yet again on Friday 5-9. Jim worked the Berkeley Flats, TI and Alameda for 14 halibut for 14 anglers including fish that went 30, 25 and 24 pounds adding 7 stripers to 9 pounds.
Jim's son James on the Cal Dawn splashed the CD last night after their unexpected trip to the boat yard. With fresh bottom paint and other minor repairs completed they will be back on the water tomorrow. The party boat business is bad enough but it has now come down to anonymous calls to newspaper fish reporters to pass along the bad luck news of others. The funny part is that these same newspaper writers told the others what was being said. The "Smith Gang" have lots of room next week and limit space available this weekend.
Frank Salazar at Emeryville Sport Fishing reported on yesterday's live bait trip New Seeker had 9 halibut to 13-pounds and a 7-pound striper for their 9 anglers. These aren't bad scores for the big minus tides. They have lots of room over the weekend for fishing and KABOOM on Saturday night.
John Akina at Oyster Point Bait, Tackle and Deli in South San Francisco said the wind continue to plague the south bay with only a few boats heading out with no reports. He said there is a lot of bait in the water, and birds are crashing all over the place. Fishermen at the pier are picking up the schools of jack smelt.
Keith Fraser at Loch Lomond Bait and Tackle in San Rafael said the heavy winds throughout the week have limited angler interest, in concert with the large tides. The winds have backed off as the week has drawn to a close. He has plenty of the famous Loch Lomond shiners for the weekend. The only limiting factor has been the weather.
 

Captain Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker just pulled up to the docks Wednesday 5-7 afternoon, and reported good action despite the minus tides and high winds. He went up to Red Rock this morning to search for bass but was turned back by muddy water. He then traveled over to Paradise, only to find more muddy water. He settled down in the central bay and had the best action at the top of the tide for an excellent count of 15 halibut and a striper for 8 anglers a two fish a rod average. He is running open loads with room tomorrow, Friday and Sunday. He said the bait at the Berkeley receiver is first class.
James on the Cal Dawn has been in the boat yard the past two days. James lent the Cal Dawn to a good friend Capt Tommy who was running a navigation class for local Coast Guard auxiliary members. On the way in on Monday night they had a mishap and put the Cal Dawn into the breakwater off Berkeley. This resulted in about $2K in damage. James was not on board and $hit does happen, even when you are trying to do the right thing. Apparently a few captains are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill and spreading rumors in the chat rooms. I guess it comes with the territory when you run one of the most popular party boat businesses in the entire Bay Area.  The Cal Dawn will be fully CG certified when it leaves the boat yard and will resume trips this Friday.
Dennis Baxter on the New Captain Pete said they did well and should have done better on his trip today. His 20 man charter group landed 15 halibut to 12 pounds fishing from TI to Berkeley to the South bay flats.
Craig Stone of Emeryville Sport Fishing didn't have scores as the boats have been fishing until early evening in the past couple of days. They will be running an afternoon trip tomorrow with a noon departure, and they are wide open for all day trips through the Mother's Day weekend.
Mike at Mike's Bait in Oakland said the shoreline action has been great for halibut in the past couple of days. The hot spot has been the Alameda Rockwall where one customer landed a limit of halibut averaging 30-inches on frozen herring and live shiners. They sold out of shiners after going through 500 in a week, but he hopes to have more by tomorrow. The majority of his clientele is bank anglers, and many regulars are hitting the beaches to pick abalone off the rocks in the minus tide.
John Akina at Oyster Point Bait, Tackle and Deli said the wind has slowed down the halibut bite the past couple of days. There were 4 halibut landed yesterday and no fish reported today. He said there is a good showing of bait off of the Pier and also at the Swirl, as the anchovies are moving in. The striped bass should be moving to the South bay chasing the bait in the next few weeks.
Joel Sinkay of Leonard's Bait in Port Sonoma reported wind, wind and more wind making fishing a low priority in the area. He has been able to shrimp and have been able to get some good loads in the past couple of days. He has a surplus of grass shrimp which is a good thing. He did see one 48-inch sturgeon caught and released from the Black Point bank on Monday.
 

KFOG's Kaboom is this coming Saturday May 10th. Several of our sponsors are booking trips for the Bay Area's best firework display. Trips can be booked on the Cal Dawn from Berkeley 510 417-5557, the Emeryville Sport Center has several boats available 510 654-6040. The New Captain Pete and the Salty Lady can be booked through the Huck Finn Sport Center at 650 726-7133 (the Salty Lady also has other evening cruises available this summer including the 4th of July).
 

Upcoming Events:
USAFishing proudly supports the many fishery and wildlife organizations that benefit anglers and hunters throughout Northern California. Does your organization have an upcoming event? Contact us at fishsite@aol.com and we will gladly post the information on our reports pages.
 

SalmonAid is a two day music and informational festival to be held on May 31 and June 1 at Jack London Square in Oakland. It is being hosted by one of the largest coalitions of salmon advocates across the West – commercial and recreational fishermen, conservationists, tribes, scientist and restaurateurs. Please join up for this fun event. 
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