Went to point pinole today. Not much of anything for the first few hours. Pier was full like always. Many people were cast netting for Jack's melt or perch although none were caught today a few hours into our trip. My friend Trevor saw a hit on his rod. The tip bounced a second time and he set the hook. He said it felt like a small fish and when we got it up to the pier it was the largest bullhead I've ever seen. That thing was so huge. You could have got some meat off of it and had a small meal. We clipped the horns and threw it out in hopes for a monster striper. After a few hours of soaking we took them off the hook and let him go. Right around the time we released the bullhead a fellow angler landed a 21-in striped bass off of an anchovy tail. Shortly after that I hooked into a good 46-in leopard shark which took me for a ride surprisingly. After getting the leopard released it was not a lot of action for about 30 minutes then out of nowhere. Me and my buddy Travis Pole both been down like crazy. I had hooked a decently sized skate and he was on a 40-in leopard. We were some of the only people left on the pier at that time at least at the far end so there was only one net. We dropped the net down. Got the leopard up unhooked it and then dropped the net down again for the skate. Very chaotic. Adrenaline filled few moments. After that, the action died for another good 30 minutes until another angler landed a similar skate and a striped bass around 12 in. As I was walking down the end of the pier heading back to my car. I remarked on how funny it was that these people were fishing all the way at the end of the pier and maybe 1 ft of water on such a low negative tide. The moment I tried telling one of them to go move farther up than they might have. Better luck pole that did not seem to belong to anyone. Started bending down like crazy and almost got pulled into the water. I instinctually picked it up and set the hook into what ended up being a barely legal 18 and 1/2 in striped bass that choked the hook so deep we had to cut the leader. By the time I had the fish unhooked the man who owned the pole came running back from the bathroom surprised to see a random stranger with a striper and his pole in hand. It was a funny end to a surprisingly okay day at the pier. Sturgeon were scene. Rolling but as always catching a sturgeon from that pier is extremely difficult with all the Crabs. Overall, it seems like the point pinol bite might be on for a week. But who knows. Maybe next week it'll be dead again.
