hunter::gathering

hit the pacific o for some fishing this past saturday. such an underutilized resource for us san franciscans. seriously, when’s the last time you’ve been in the bay or the ocean when it hasn’t been some crazy boat party or a drunken ferry ride back from sam’s or when your aunt and uncle dragged you to alcatraz?

hit the farallon islands early saturday morning for some rockfishing aboard the tigerfish. based out of half moon bay, the tigerfish had a great captain (alan) and first mate (andrea) who did us right. the morning started with a two hour, twenty-six mile drive out to the islands famed for their abundant sea and wildlife. on that note, we saw plenty of seals, dolphins, and birds, but were disappointed not to spot any whales or great white sharks, which are oft-sighted there. first order of business was to catch sanddabs to use as baitfish. small piece of squid on two hooks dropped to the bottom resulted in two fish at a time every minute or so. after we caught dozens of these, captain alan located a school of rockfish. dropping down about 25-50 feet deep, the real fun began. literally within seconds everyone on the boat was reeling in rockfish, one or two at a time. this onslaught went on for about a half-hour straight. after about an hour, everyone had their limit of ten rockfish, and then it was onto the lingcod. using a sanddab as bait, we dropped down 40-60 feet and waited. the lingcod proved to be more elusive, with about half the boat catching one (me too). a proper fishing day always includes some frustration, and the next couple hours were pretty slow and then we started in for shore.

all in all a great day. fishing was good and it was just nice to be out on the ocean. and to finally see the farallones. water was super-calm, the beers were cold, and the company was fine. plus i have a huge bag of fish in my freezer waiting for you to come over for dinner.

interested?