Year 2000 Photos 
July 09, 2000
SF Bay/Pt Bonita/Ft. Cronkite
Halibut, Stripers, Rock
Cod
Met Arnold and John at my house to do some fishingin the Bay and outside
the Gate. We launched out of Oyster Point at 6:30am. picked up Bait at
Pier 45, also met up with Jeff (Tomcod) and picked up my New GLoomis he
had made for me. He told me it was warrantied to catch fish!! :) We then
proceeded to head over to the fleet who was working the Rockpile. Tons
of Boats, could have passed things to each other we were so close together.
I managed to hook up with a 10 pound striper on our 2nd Drift while dodging
2 party boats who somehow sandwiched us in between them. Not many nets
were going down and the bite died shortly after. We decided to head over
to Pt. Bonita to try for Halibut (recently did a tuneup and this was the
first day I was able to get the boat out for a run in 3 weeks). As we were
fishing the Point we Observed the Fleet of boats out about 2 miles in Front
of Ft. Cronkite at the North Bar going across past seal rock (What a mass
of boats), The radio chatter was "Big Hot Halibut Bite". As we prepared
to reset for a another drift I went to start the motor and found it to
be acting really funny and kept dying. Not wanting to be near the rocks
we were able to limp to the center of Pt. Bonita to do some troubleshooting
on the engine. The smell of gas was really strong and noticed the engine
was sucking a bit of air and fuel pouring out the sides of the engine cover
(Shut Down!!!). Pulled the Cowl off the engine and found the inline fuel
filter had split at the factory seam and was spitting fuel everywhere!!!.
Immediatley Fired up the 8hp kicker for safety to keep from being adrift
without power. Tried to see how fast we could go with the kicker only to
find 5 knots was our top speed with the 3 of us onboard. Decided to call
Vessel Assist to request a tow or if they could possibly bring us a fuel
filter. They were able to accomodate the fuel filter and a couple of tie
straps so I could make the repair. While waiting for VA we decided to throw
our lines in and fish since VA was coming out of Richmond it would be about
30 minutes before he would arrive. I hooked up to a nice 12 pound halibut
(First butt of the season for me) and happily threw that in the cooler.
Before we knew it VA showed up and the Capt. gently positioned his boat
along side with the parts I needed to save the trip. In the years I've
been boating I've never had to call for assistance an this was a first
for me, but really happy I had kept up on my membership with VA. Dispatch
and Capt Phillip were very professional, most courteous, and the response
time was excellent (I would recommend getting VA if you don't have towing
Insurance). I quickly replaced the defective filter and we were on our
way back to fishing in a few minutes. Thank you Vessel Assist for being
there for all us boaters. After a short safety check we were on are way
out past bonita point to Ft. Cronkite to join the fleet. Khan (Back brace)
hailed us on the radio when he spotted us and told us where to line up
our drift. I landed another 10 Pound Striper and threw that in the box.
We did a few more drifts and nothing was going on, only a few scratches,
we had missed the Hot Bite because of our short delay. We decided to head
back to Pt Bonita and try for Rockcods and managed a half dozen. We also
hit Crissy field (Shakers again), then last stop Oyster Point for one last
drift. Only 1 shaker and we decided to call it a day at 4pm. Total catch
1- 30" 12 pound Halibut, 2 - 10 Pound Stripers, and 6 Rock cods and quite
a few thrown back. Great weather, overcast but flat calm till the afternoon
then the usual wind picked up to about 20 knots. We all had a fun time
fishing as usual and being on the water again.
Click on Pic to Enlarge
Updated 07/10/2000
