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 and others like  "Dyno" are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill and spreading rumors in the chat rooms. This is all just BS and 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.
 

Captain Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker called Sunday 5-4 afternoon after putting in a long day until 5:00 p.m. They fished the Berkeley Flats in the heavy winds, but were able to located 22 halibut to 23-pounds and 6 stripers for their 23 anglers. Most of those fish were caught on the morning flood tide before 11AM and before the winds began to howl. Captain James Smith on the California Dawn today and had 31 halibut for the day.
Frank Salazar of Emeryville Sport Fishing didn't have today's scores as of 5:00 PM. Except for the Wet Spot that boated 7 halibut to 25-pounds and 4 stripers to 9-pounds for their 5 anglers. Yesterday the new Huck Finn landed 31 halibut to 20-pounds and 4 stripers to 14-pounds for their 18 anglers with the Tigerfish picked up 20 halibut to 18-pounds and 4 stripers to 14-pounds for 9 anglers. The conditions on the bay were far less breezy yesterday.
Speaking of breezy, Keith Fraser of Loch Lomond Bait and Tackle in San Rafael said, "It was worse than awful today" with high winds� in San Pablo Bay. He said the minus tides began yesterday, so things on the halibut front should slow down for the next week until the tides back off next week. Sturgeon fishing produced at least one 65-incher for the group from Clear Lake that hadn't caught a legal sturgeon until their breakout day last weekend.
Joel Sinkay of Leonard's Bait in Port Sonoma said things have been very slow with the high winds. He thought there would be at least 5 foot rollers out at the Pump house. One angler did make it out to the Pump house and Buoy 7 yesterday before the winds made things impossible, but sharks and rays were the only bait takers. There have been good numbers of sturgeon jumping in San Pablo Bay and with the good minus tides, action should improve.
Ly Tu of Ly's Fishing Goods in San Jose said the Santa Cruz area rockfishing has been dismally slow according to reports from his customers. One party boat went up to Pigeon Point and only landed a couple of china cod for 18 anglers on board. Monterey area rockfishing has been better with 22 limits of rockfish and a ling taken from Point Sur yesterday. Tu will celebrate his 10th year of being in business tomorrow and is lowering his prices on rods and reels from 15 to 20 percent for the month of May.

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).
 

It was a wild and crazy day on the bay on Saturday 5-3. Several hundred private boats showed up for the "only game in town" and all the launches were very backed up as were the lines at the bait receivers. In Berkeley it was so crowded that the Berkeley PD had to be called to the marina to direct traffic. Despite all the traffic we didn't hear a single complaint and counts held up as well. Scores for the party boat fleet did drop off a tad probably due to the pressure but that is to be expected. Jim Smith on the Happy Hooker had a fine day reporting 18 halibut to 22 pounds and 4 stripers for 16 anglers. His son James on the Cal Dawn reported 31 halibut to 21 pounds for 25 anglers adding two stripers. Dennis on the New Captain Pete reported 15 halibut to 12 pounds for 15 anglers adding 3 bass to 8 pounds. Here on Sunday morning at 11AM Jim on the Hooker just called in to say they have about 20 halibut already in the box.
 

The halibut action remains great and we are seeing the best season in over ten years. On Friday 5-2 James on the Cal Dawn out of Berkeley reported 41 halibut to 34 pounds, 10 stripers to 14 for their 25 anglers. James said they had two fish in the 30 class, 4 in the 20s, several teeners and the rest  running from 6 to 12 pounds.
James's dad Jim on the Happy Hooker just got done with his annual Coast Guard inspection ( a very close inspection of all systems and safety features that all full size party boats have to pass every year) and is back in the Berkeley. The old man of the fleet will be back to showing up the young farts this weekend. He still has room available. 510 223-5388
Emeryville Sport Fishing reported great halibut action today as well with the C Gull II reporting 23 halibut to 24-pounds and an 8-pound striper for 10 anglers with the New Huck Finn finding 24 halibut to 22-pounds and a 16-pound striper for 12 anglers. Both boats are drifting live bait. They will have two boats out both days over the weekend with room on both. The Wet Spot “their 4-pack“ will be out on Sunday. You can expect plenty of company this weekend with back-ups at all the major launches and lines at the bait receivers.
Jay Lopes on the six pack Right Hook Sport Fishing out of Berkeley Marina reported great action the past two days with 10 halibut with 3 in the mid-teens to go with 5 stripers yesterday, and they had 12 halibut to 25-pounds today. He has been staying out of the main areas where most anglers are targeting and seeking his own water. He will be back on the water tomorrow, and you can listen to today's action on the California Sportsman AM 1140 tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m.
John Akina of Oyster Point Bait, Tackle and Deli reported halibut action has been a bit slower in the South bay over the past couple of days. The winds were blowing this afternoon, and Akina said 7 halibut came in today with 11 yesterday. The fish that are being landed on the Oyster Point side of the bay have been a larger grade. One troubling observation has been the lack of anchovies or live bait out at the Swirl. Anglers are having no luck jigging up or casting for anchovies.

Pictured Above Left KFOG's Big Rick shows off a brace of Berkeley flat halibut. Get your tickets now for what will be a great day at KFOG KaBoom on Saturday, May 10

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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