Posted on April 10, 2022

Halibut fishing is the first highlight on our fishing calendar. When the waters in the estuaries warm up halibut come in to spawn. It was still very early in the season but we were eager to try our luck. In most locations water temperature was still too low, but the shallows along the eastern shore of the San Francisco started to warm up. We chose the marina at Bay Oyster Point to launch us into this adventure.

Jason was already there when I arrived and had his boat ready, a Mirage Tandem Island wich is a sailing trimaran comprised of a two-seat kayak, an aka on either side connected to the hull via two iakos, and a tall mast with a simple but powerful 90 ft² sail. It's a heavy boat, a bit too much to take out by yourself, but with two sailers it turns into an amazing fishing machine.

The bay was calm and beautiful but we knew that winds would build to more than 25 kts over the course of a few hours and we were prepared for it. Our target the Bird Cage, a well-known fishing spot which laid upwind from our location. Should the winds build as forcasted we would be able to cruise back under sailpower in a downwind direction.

We began trolling and half-way to Bird Cage Jason hooked up. A solid halibut in the mid 20s, a legal catch since this species needs to measure at least 22 inches in length or you need to return with minimal harm. Almost immediately after the catch Jason's rod started to bounce again and he landed another solid halibut. Damn, we were doing pretty much the same thing but the halis were clearly favoring Jason's line. At this point I switch to the job of navigator to keep us circling over these profitable grounds. Soon the third fish struck, and again on Jason's line. This one was quite a bit bigger, a mid 30 incher, a really stout halibut from this part of the world. We took extra care to not lose this trophy and soon had the third fish in the boat.

After this event things went quiet. We searched for a while longer but then decided to continue our journey to the Bird Cage. The wind was already blowing at a respectable clip and we set sail on an upwind course to the cage while still trolling our baits.

It was a slog upwind but when we rounded the Bird Cage the real fun began: criss-crossing the bay under sail power while running with the wind.

For a couple more hours nothing happened on the ends of our fishing lines, but sailing was super enjoyable and we had a good talk going. Then, suddenly, my rod started to bend. Finally! I had connected with a good halibut and knowing that this might be my one and only shot of the day I made every effort to secure this catch. It worked out well and fish numero quatro went into the bag.

At this point winds had built up to well over 20 kts, we were approaching force 6 conditions on the Beaufort scale, and it was high time to get off the water. Also, Jason and I were frozen to the bone, another side effect of fishing these early season winds. Luckily, we weren't too far from Oyster Point and made it back ok.

What a great day! We completed our adventure with a couple of fat burritos over at South San Francisco. Most unfortuntely, weather in South San Francisco wasn't any better and with everybody huddled inside, mind you that these were still the dark days of Covid, we opted to eat outside where we could not escape the strong cold wind. I think I never saw Jason swallow a giant burrito this fast, but we continued to freeze and didn't warm up until much later at our respective homes.

Beaufort Force 6: 22-27 knots, strong breeze, large waves begin to form; the white foam crests are more extensive everywhere.