St Patrick's Day Fish
 

Jason splashed his boat today, so we headed to the Power Plant to try our luck. We couldn't get out until the afternoon, and the rips were always best for me early in the morning (before a lot of boat traffic); but you go when you can go:D

We started with great optimism and threw 10 inch BKD's. We kept a close eye on the few boats around us, and saw small fish being brought over the gunnels. I switched to a 6 inch BKD and picked up the first fish of 2017.

Jason switched to a smaller bait as well, and proceeded to out fish me:eek: We put 18 fish in the boat (average 20 inches). Our biggest fish were in the 24-26 inch range.

At least we had some pull-age. Weather bounced back and forth between 5-6 mph wind; to 15-20 mph winds:mad: One moment we were in shirts, next minute we were in sweatshirts. One minute the braided lines were silent, the next minute, the braid was singing in the wind:D

I can't thank Jason enough for asking me to join him, my boat is still in need of being loaded with gear:mad: Guess I need to get my a$$ in motion and get ready for the season.

I will say that south of the gas docks, the gannets were diving like crazy on bait. Didn't see many gannets north of gas docks. Bait balls are not showing up on the screen; but the winter jellies are out in numbers:mad::mad::mad:

Maybe they will be done by opening day:):):)

Water temps were only slightly above 40* in the bay proper; 43-44 in the rips.
It doesn't look promising for trolling 6 rods at the present time; but we know how quickly that can change.

So, final report is that we had a fun trip to the rips with some success. More reports to follow soon:):):):):)
5th

Nice way to start the season.

A HAPPY St Patrick's day outing!!

Thanks for posting the report, and thanks for joining me, Marty... It was a fun day!

I wouldn't really say I outfished Marty. The truth is that hooks on my heavy jigheads were too big for the smaller than expected fish... For 1st half hour or so I would get occasional hits but couldn't hook up, while Marty caught his first few fish. As soon as Marty gave me one of his jigheads with more reasonable size hook, I got my 1st fish. We also quickly realized that the fish liked a very slow jig right on the bottom... Snapping the jig hard like we do in the summer didn't work even when the screen was completely lit up. From then we were pretty much neck and neck the entire time... Marty would catch a small fish, I would catch a small fish. Marty would snag a boulder, I would snag a boulder. Marty would catch a decent size fish, I would catch a decent size fish. It went on like that for 3 hours or so, with a slow but steady bite. When we got to slack tide, the bite shutoff and it was time to run home in 2-3 foot seas. Good thing the wind was from the south, and also thst once we got past west river winds dropped from 15-20 down to 5-7mph and we could push down the throttle and get home before sunset.

Early on we went over a spot several times that looked like there were lots of perch on the bottom. Wish we had stopped and dropped a stingsilver on them and brought dinner home. When we went back to look for them before we headed home, of course they were gone. Wondering if anyone ever tries for perch there at the plant... Seems like a good idea since we can't keep the rockfish.

With the winter jellies around and the water so cold, we might have to make some more trips south to jig rather than trolling. On a flat day it shouldn't be more than about an hour run.

Glad you got some fish Marty!
I was out on my buddies boat on St Patties. We wanted to head to the plant, but given it was his first trip of the year and with a new transducer, stayed closer to home. We can report that fish are scarce around the bay bridge area. Found some marks just below the thermocline near the pilings, but as they weren't biting could have been jellies or junk. Water temps were barely 40 deg. Thought we might get lucky fishing some flats in the middle of a sunny day, but no luck.