Butlers Bay Halibut 11/22

[Red Fish]

1. Quick report from the iPhone. Glad to be recovering from a bad flu that lasted all of (2) weeks. It got worse before it got better.
2. Okay, the fishing report: Fishing has slowed down somewhat in the Eastbay/Northbay areas I have been fishing. There has fortunately still been quite a few shiners, some smelt and round herring available for live bait.
3. Fished Butler’s Bay, an area I have fished over (30) years but have the majority of the time fished pileworms and ghost shrimp there.
4. Finally started fishing live bait there and it is effective because it keeps the bat rays off your line and keeps the smelt from picking your bait apart.
5. I was fishing for striped bass and had my rod set up with a slider with 1 ounce of weight and a shiner collar-hooked on a single #2 Owner light circle (not the Mutu).
6. Used my old Abu 6500 C3/30# PowerPro/old Lamiglas 8‘5”/slow-action/12-25 rod/3’ 25# Big Game leader.
7. Set the rod in the holder with a couple pounds of drag for auto hook set (as the bait clicker is too heavy in free spool for fish that drop the hook when they feel heavy resistance).
8. 24.5” Cali Hali
9. Last notes: Fish closures and reductions for Central/Northern Cal - no take on salmon; no take on abalone ; white sturgeon 1 fish per year with slot of 42-48” fork-length measurement; Cali Hali 2 fish limit (down from 3).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[MisterT]

Happy Thanksgiving! Glad you have recovered and got a legal halibut!

 

[scaryfish]

Wow. Very cool. Does this suggest that halibut are resident in the bay all year round? I know the prime season for targeting halibut tends to be late spring and through summer, but I do not know all of the reasons for that. Nice catch!

 

[bassfanatick]

Nice!!! Happy Holiday!!!!

 

[fish-ninja]

Belated happy thanksgiving to you and your family! I am glad to read that you are recovered from your flu. Stay well and fish more!

 

[Ken Jones]

Good job Robert. And glad to hear you're feeling better.

 

[xpostman]

My favorite spot since childhood. Best night fishing the rockwall area until the shoreline was developed. Where do you catch the shiners?

 

[Red Fish]

My favorite spot since childhood. Best night fishing the rockwall area until the shoreline was developed. Where do you catch the shiners?

Ferry Point.

 

[Red Fish]

Wow. Very cool. Does this suggest that halibut are resident in the bay all year round? I know the prime season for targeting halibut tends to be late spring and through summer, but I do not know all of the reasons for that. Nice catch!

I don’t believe that to be true. Here we are Dec. 9th and I think with the drop in temperature that the halibut have finally pushed their way out of the Gate to the ocean and out of SF Bay. I have heard reports from Southern Cal and the ocean at places like Belmont Pier in Long Beach just in the last couple days or so. I believe piers and beaches like Goleta still catch them in the winter. Maybe Ken or others have info on this? Usually, SF Bay, San Pablo Bay, and the rest of the peninsula go without halibut for (3) months: December, January, February give or take a couple weeks as some people shout out that they got their first halibut February 15, March 1st, or March 15th. I think the latest I caught one was December 1, but 1 year I caught 1 on December 20 during the year of the Costco/Busan oil spill at Paradise Pier, Tiburon (but the eco-system was screwed up that year.) I was actually fishing for sturgeon already and caught it on a hi/lo leader with cut herring.

 

[Red Fish]

Good job Robert. And glad to hear you're feeling better.

Thanks Ken, I believe that was the worse flu I ever had. I am almost certain I contracted it from working with kids at school. Could have been this thing they call RSV? I just know it wasn’t COVID but a bad flu that lasted over (2) weeks. I did go to a physician twice.