When I was in my mid twenties I bought a 1956 36 ft Hunter Cabin cruiser I ran across on the hard in Crockett. Beautiful shapely mahogany hull made in I think Suisun City. It had been gutted of all equipment but no dry rot. More than half of the ribs were cracked. I talked my roomate who was married into letting me put it in his back yard. I bought a few thousand ss screws, a hand powered yankee screwdriver and a bunch of oak. I sawed the oak into 3/16’s thk, 2 inch wide x 6 ft pcs and proceeded to glue them up and screw them in place. What a dumbass. Suffice to say that boat never floated again.

Debra and I have been doing a lot of epic bike rides in San Francisco on weekends. Riding the Embarcadero is very hectic but the sights and people watching are a real kick for us. We parked at 6th and Harrison and headed up towards Market. That stretch is comprised of a couple of interesting blocks featuring specimens of humanity both unique and repulsive. Right on Market dodging Muni buses, taxis, light rail, thugs and legions of homeless. Despite the green painted bike lanes Market street is an awesome death race with various twisted RR track fragments, potholes, bodies etc. to veer into. At 57 yrs of age and still recovering from a recent back injury you would think I had more sense.

Stopped at Coquetta the new Chiarello eatery on the waterfront. Cool space and reasonable execution of Tapas. We will go back and check a little deeper on the menu. Continued up to Pier 39 where we made the obligatory run up both sides of the pier. This ride takes hours because I ride every pier thats rideable from the Ferry Building to Ft Mason including all of the working piers.

This trip we spent some time on the Hyde St Pier. Well worth the visit poking around the ships. They were rebuilding an old SF based Monterey double ender and it reminded me of my summer of folly screwing that boat in the back yard.

Launched from Glorious Hole 8:00 AM Saturday.

Should have tried Commanche. NOT ONE BITE.

J Meriwether Stellman and I dragged the plastic fleet Saturday despite my feeble attempts to convince hm to let me take the tincan. Up 120 in the fog.

Continue on 108 and hang a left at Rawhide Road in Jimtown. Hwy 49 to Jerrys birthplace:

A mile later turn here

Ten dollars to the iron man and we launched around 8:30. Weather was springlike, half moon was setting, virtually no wind. I ran one ama set with tramp and left the sail at home.

Felt really great to be yakking. We decided to head up Mormon Creek arm hoping to find shad on top. Bait was there but hanging deep, grebes feeding everywhere back there. I ran a jointed shad rap in white on top. This bait runs about 15 feet deep. Caught two nice rainbows even though one escaped my inept net job. Jerry has pics of my fish but probably had thumb on lens since he TOTALLY SKUNKED on trout.  Very slow morning. On the plus side Chef Stellman whips up a hot shore lunch and we pop the cork on some red. Sausages, hoagie rolls mustard and sauerkraut.

Outstanding. We will be expanding on this theme.

We toplined all day and I think we would have done much better down 25-30 ft deep. We ran Excel spoons, flashers, naked, Thomas Bouyants, kastmasters, rapalas etc. At one point I looked for my stringer and it was gone with my lone trout. Stellarman to the rescue as it was hanging by a thread from my rudder

Afternoon was slooooow. 11 miles pedaled. 2 trout and a handful of pitifully small spotted bass. I cheated on the way back and deployed my downwind friend.

The new Exploratorium is a must see. Plan to spend a few hours. Take a kid.

I was surprised to get a pass for Sunday after crabbing on the briny Saturday. Was so excited I did not check wind reports.  Mike and I left P town at 6:00 AM adjusted for daylight savings time (wtf?). Windmills were churning already. Oh well, beats watching the Raiders. OTW at 7 .

Popped out into false river to see birds working the openings out of Little Franks. Saw whaler boyz jack a limit of schoolies looked like minnow dunkers. Ran out to the SJ for more birds but wind made it impossible.  The next few hours were a giant blow interspersed with a few small fish.

Managed to run 20 stops in the tornado.  Big Hammers again weapon of choice. Off the water by 2:00 pm.

Thelma, Randy, Mike, Henny, Debra and I left south beach at 9 AM and steamed out the gate. We dropped two rounds off of Tennessee Cove and farted around with snares. Picked up a few keeper dungies. Ran into Bonita and picked up more after coping with submerged bouys. Great Sammys from the ladies.  Final tally 12 nice dungies and a half dozen moe rock crabs. Thanks Mike for running the deck!

Randy and I launched from Russos at 6:30

Bowed to the west and headed Straight east. Terns showed us the way.

Big hammers in the SJ worked for a couple of dozen (at least) schoolies.

Bunch of ditch pickle green turds on the rattle trap and even a couple on the Big Hammer. No pickle pics. Stellar day on the delta.

SJ traffic

Birds and bait all over today. At least 4 spots we hit we were led by terns.

Rows of stationary birds (egrets and Herons) manning the riprap. Tried a lot of new spots. Acres of wildlife and flying buckshot to be dodged

We ran to Sherman as the tide dropped but the wind machine was cranking and beat us back east. Tried Mildreds and worked both tracts but the river was money. Interesting to read striper reports from Pinole to Napa/VJO with a better grade of fish. You would think Grizzly etc will really heat up. Or not.

Off the water at 4:00

Inspired by Reel Habit’s report Stellarman and I phoned in sick (bullshit we are self employed) and dragged the tin can to New Mel.

Water was way down, weather clear and hot.

Stopped at Glory Hole to help them recover from the Shutdown and Rimfire financial pounding they have taken. Quick plug, this is one of the best stocked bait and tackle stores around. Full stock of bass, kokanee and trout gear including downrigger clips weights etc. Rod’s report said Excel spoons in fire tiger and that peg was empty but Jerry had cornered the last two in the South Bay.  I have a hard time getting it up for some 65 ft OTW fishing in 220 feet of water. What fun. Trolling is like narcolepsy to me. I will really love it when I am 78 so for now it puts fish on the table. We headed for the super secret spot.

Jerry stuck the first on the troll in the bay near the dam.

Maybe 5 boats in the area. We noticed one in tight on the South wall that stayed in a very tight circle. As we got closer they landed a fish and then another. We inserted (poached) ourselves into the formation and lost a couple of nice fish 30 feet on the wire. I kept seeing bait splashing in a small cove and we slowed down to pitch into it. Boom, nice fish right on the bank

Hot bright fish. Multiple jumps. We got into a flurry casting spoons to the bank.

Fish were well fed, brightly colored, full tailed and barfing  small shad.

Jointed shad rap in white bounced off the shore and it was on

We worked on a 100 yard stretch of bank until lunchtime. Kudos to Jerry for upping the ante and presenting a hot food option.

Brats and sauerkraut on soft rolls fresh off the mini one burner.

Even better there were seconds.

A box of Bandit Wine Cab, a few stellas and Bohemias later we were back on the clock

Mid  afternoon was a bust and I did not have the inclination to troll so we blew to Carson Creek to see if there was bait there. Water so low there is no creek arm. Got back to the ramp at 3:00 (WTF). Great lookin brace of bows kept on ice all day. The only good use for an A’s rally towel.

At home they yielded this Check back later for pics of Trout Menieure (almodine with sage butter)

Fully engorged by internet rumors and innuendo regarding a striped bass bite out west Dangerous Trebles and I put in at Russos a little before 7 AM.

Moon was taunting us.

But it always loses

2 stops in the tract at first light and we were off to points west.

No wind and a weak outgoing tide made for glass like conditions

We stopped at Eddos, South Sherman, the Maze, Broad slough and out to the Steel. Some schoolie action on sub surface but nothing on top. Met a customer out fly fishing who knows his stuff who reported slow conditions. Ran up the Sac and back into Sherman. We made an easy 25 stops today and explored some new water. Finally stuck an approx 5 lb fish in N Sherman at the openings on a Big Hammer. Mike may post up a pic of that fish but guessing his thumb was on the lens.  Tide started coming in after lunch so we turned back east. Several spots in the San Joaquin with birds and bait up tight to the bank but  the area held schoolies only. Saw a big salmon roll. Made big loops around Franks until 5 PM and gave up. Probably 15 fish between Mike and I.

Truly epic fall day despite the slow fishing. I hear Marin is PLUGGED with fish so can only hope November lights it up.

Fortunately I am comfortable with my manhood and can post a shitty report after a HK World Class report.

Tractor launch solo Sunday from Russos after normal crew reported monthly visitor.

$120 of fuel from the 24 hr Pump at Sugar Barge. Fishing by 7:00 AM in North Franks. Slow. Saw terns and gulls out in False River. Found active bait and schoolies for an hour before the North wind shut that down. Bite was on Big Hammers. Spent the next 6 hrs bouncing from Franks to Mildreds. Developed a nice pattern with Lucky Craft slender pointer in Ghost Ayu for large mouth to 3 lbs. Probed Mandeville and Mildreds all corners. Slow. Finished up in Franks and off the water by 3. IMHO, a couple days after the impending full moon and it will be on.