San Francisco 12/4/10 Happy Hooker
Did another one of those spur of the moment 24 hour trips. Was thinking about heading south or east, but decided to head north this time. Heard the sturgeon was on the chew, so I persuaded my fishing friends, Dennis and James to come along. I never caught a sturgeon in my life and it was on my bucket list for a long time. We booked the Happy Hooker that was docked in Martinez Marina. Heard that was the best boat up in SF area for the sturgeon. I was able to tag my first sturgeon and totally stoked about it. Captain, crew, and regulars on the boat were awesome. Made us feel like we were part of the family and friendliest people I ever met on a party boat. Definitely chalking this up as a yearly trip. Pictures from earlier:
Here she is. No galley food. Bring your own beverage and food. Beer is OK too.
Coolers are allowed on the boat. Just like on the east coast cattle boats.
Rod holders, another east coast party boats similarity.
This is Mike, our deckhand. Here he is preparing some salmon roe, tied onto a super large owner hooks. On the Happy Hooker you do not have to bring any terminal tackle. Everything is provided and included in the fare, from hooks to leaders to sinkers. All you need to bring is your rod. They even cast your rod out for you.
In addition to Salmon roe, we had live bullheads as bait.
Also, live local shrimp.
And eels.
Here is my Sturgeon card. It is free. The limit is one per day. With 3 per year. I was hoping I can use tag #1 today.
Here is the famous PGE area. We had a bunch of bites of here. The hard part of sturgeon fishing is sticking the bites.
The first fish of the day. Some lucky regular got this one.
Here is my setup in the rod holder. I got picked up a couple of times, but sticking them was a problem.
The regulars made homemade chili and fresh baked bread. Everyone was welcomed to a bowl of chili and bread. I heard they always make something on every trip.
Our new friend Chuck hooks up to the second sturgeon of the day. He is a regular on the Happy hooker and expertly brought this one aboard.
Here is Chuck's sturgeon. It was a beauty.
They kinda look like the Florida's Cobia.
Later on in the day, Deckhand Mike hands me his rod and I am hooked onto a monster. It almost spools me, so Mike ties on a life preserver to the rod and dumps the rod overboard. Captain Jim, tells everyone to wind up, so we can chase it down. Here is the rod in the water with the life preserver. I hope we dont lose the rod and fish!
Here I am at the bow after Mike retrieves the life preserver with the rod attached. Captain Jim catches up with the fish while I reeled in the slack.
We finally catch up to the fish and I fight it at the stern. I got some seaweed stuck to my line.
I walked my line up towards the bow and she is coming up.
Got her! She was huge! So happy!
My first sturgeon tag and certainly not my last.
End of the day parting shot. That is the World War 2 battleships graveyard in Suisan Bay in the background as we head back home. What a day.
Had a seafood dinner at Speguna then head home after. Los Angeles to San Francisco then back to Los Angeles in 1 day. That was one long drive. See you all next time.
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Originally Posted by murrieta angler
