Gone Fishin’

Sunday I got to hang out with my brother-in-law and his work/fishing buddy Bill, and do some fishing out of Half Moon Bay.

B-I-L has a great boat – the Miss Jessica – and he’s an awesome waterman, so getting out on the ocean with him is a real treat, despite the 3:30am “boarding call”.

We launched at the HMB marina at 5am and headed south toward Pescadero. We didn’t have much luck for the first couple hours, then I was finally able to land a salmon, only to have it 3″ too short, so back into the sea it went…

About half an hour later, I pulled in this beauty:

I am not by any means a “fisherman”. As a kid I used to fish lakes and rivers with a couple of cousins, but by my teen years I had too many other interests and fishing fell off my to do list for decades. But I gotta say, this open water ocean fishing is a whole different level!

We first ran down to south towards Pescadero, but when things were not happening we headed north up through Pacifica, nearly to the Golden Gate Bridge. But evidently the fish had other plans for their Sunday…

Anyhow, as luck would have it, my keeper was the ONLY fish brought in that day. The irony that 3 fisherman (two with decades of experience!) could stay out on the water for 11 hours and the only fish brought in was by the noob with literally. 001% the experience of the other guys, was hilarious to me. Nonetheless, despite their arguments that I should take the whole Salmon, as it was my first ever caught, I insisted the we split it 3 ways – keeping with a long standing tradition of my BIL – so we all walked away with a nice couple Salmon steaks after a great day on the water.

These trips are a great learning experience for me, it’s almost information overload to be honest, but its awesome to have guys that know a LOT about a subject try to pass on as much information as they can, to make your experience all the better. And being on the water is always a joy for me, no matter the time of year or the conditions. To be honest, the fish is just a nice parting gift, the least important part of the day.

I think the old adage is true: the worst day of fishing beats the best day of working!

Thanks for a great day Captains Karel and Bill – it’s one I won’t soon forget!

Thanks for reading!