Posted on May 16, 2020

I met up with Koji at the crack of dawn at Ferry Point and soon we were underway. We took a shortcut between wooden pilings and underneath the old pier and soon found us at our destination north of the pier where we started trolling frozen baits for halibut.

It didn't take long before I heard Koji calling on the radio that he had just caught & released a 22 incher.

Not long after Koji caught his first keeper I had mine. This one was special: it was the first fish I caught while trolling under sail power. The sail kept the boat moving forward as I was playing the fish and I thought that this would be especially great for salmon fishing.

By this time Eddie, a barber and man who slayed every halibut in the San Francisco Bay at least twice, made his entrance. He didn't come unprepared. On his back deck throwned a sizeable live well full of swarming anchovies.

I floated next to Eddie and we had a good talk going when his pole suddenly doubled over. Yes, this fish felt solid and Eddie gently coaxed the halibut to his boat for the inescapable bloody ending.

After the first halibut was put to sleep Eddie rebaited and immediately had another hit. This fish also looked strong but came off the hook.

One anchovy later (also a unit of time in Eddie's universe) he had his next major takedown and landed a second keeper-sized halibut.

These were some of the best five minutes I have witnessed in halibut fishing and there's no doubt that live bait is enormously attractive to halibut. It reminds me of the day when Keith the Anchovy caught seven big halibut over at Bolinas in the span of 30 minutes. Sometimes I don't even want to fish but just get the camera out and bear witness, that's how amazing these catches are. I'm lucky to be in the company of world-class kayak fishermen.

A little later Eddie, who now approached a limit, gave me three of his livies and another few to Koji. The results speak for themselves: Koji caught his second keeper on a live anchovy and I also had another halibut in the boat, but not for long, because it was just shy of the required 22 inches.

My other two pieces of live bait also found bidders, but unfortunately only the tails were purchased leaving me with a couple of hard-to-sell anchovy heads.

Another great day on the bay! Eddie eventually found his third halibut, Koji took home two beautiful specimens and yours truly also cashed in his customary share of 10% and brought home a nice one for the dinner table.

Distance: unknown (short, less than 6 miles)
Duration: 6 hours