Lazy evening fishin

Black's beach, Aug, 27, 2006.

The season is changing. The water is colder and the once plentiful sandcrabs have almost all disappeared. Now, only their little micro-buddies are around. Baby crabs! Now I spend at least 15 minutes digging up the surf looking for decent sized ones. I'll tell ya, lots of wierd things in that sand. I also pulled up huge clams, worms, and a freaky Schwarzenegger sand crab (far left) that scared me. . . just a little.



Grunions (little fishies) are spawning on the shoreline and the birds are going insano. Shovelnose sharks are spawning too, I think. They're digging holes all over the surf at night. Almost tripped over one. Ahhh, nature tis a wonderful thing.

Right before the sun set, I found a nice little corbina to play with. Have seen them in a while.

A

Trab Crapping

Fort Point, Aug 25, 2006

Message from Jonadon and Little Wing

"Hey, Andy!

Thanks again for your hospitality last weekend. I had a great time, and I was certainly well-fed.

Buffalo Wing and I went fishing out near the Golden Gate Bridge this evening, but there wasn't a whole lot of action going on. We decided to throw in the old crab net while we were at it, using some bludgeoned chicken breasts as bait. Low and behold, in a few minutes, we were pulling up four or five crabs with every drop (once we pulled up eight of the irritable fellas). Mmm . . . boiled crabs for dinner.

Jonathan Shih"

Piggy Perch

Black's beach, Aug 24, 2006.

Well, my experiments didn't work today, so I headed down to the beach. Ahhh, its a win-win situation. The Fish Gods blessed me today.


Dang, thems some hairy feet. Better trim those babies.

Jigging with Jonathan

Coronado Island, Mid August Sometime.

Well, good ol' Jonathan came down to San Diego and with the his girfriend Chicken Wing. Poor guy tore his ACL so we ditched the hike-in beaches for some pier fishing.

Those macs are feeeeisty. It was almost unfair when we pulled out the sabiki multi-hook jigging setup loaded with shrimp.



Our success got all the local kids excited, so Jonathan gave a little mackereling 101 and set them up with rigs. Haaaa good times! Check out the crutches.




Mister local guy. Uh oh. . . this is me in 20 years.




All of a sudden his line starts peeeeeling off. What is it? The ferry passengers are cheering him on.



The beast is slain. A monster bat ray.



I really enjoyed fishing with Jonathan. He's a trooper. Torn ACL, crutches, diarrhea. . . nothing stops him.

Ahhhh, The Beautiful Skagit

Skagit River, Aug 18, 2006

Every summer, the Skagit river floods during the spring melt-off and then returns to a calm trickling glacier river. The river changes every year. This time we found that our beloved fishing spot was gone - choked by logs swept down the river. It was time to rediscover the river.

As we hiked along the river bank, the glaciers were still visible.

Fiona the 'Fishtress' had the look of determination.

Evan had a new fandangled thing tied to the end of his line. Skagit PowerPak!

Finally a fish! The Fishtress in an action pose!



Nice!



A rockfish? Hey rocks don't fight back. . .



Hero Shot, Fiona's first river rainbow. By far my favorite photo.

Mac Attack

Pacifica Pier, Aug, 2006

Message from Jonathan:

"Hey, Everyone.
Pacifica Pier was pretty cold and windy the other day, and William (Wing's brother) and I were sniffling and wiping our noses constantly after the first few minutes. Fishing-wise, though, it was pretty good -- William hooked two mackerel at once on his second cast. I wouldn't say I've hit the big time, but at least I've caught fish now that I can't eat in one bite. Jonathan"

Way to go boys. All you can eat mackerel and smelt.

Spotfin!

Black's beach, weekend of Aug 6, 2006

Saturday: Well, it finally happened. I got hit in the ass by a rogue wave and fell into the surf, total beginner style. Camera's dead. All the more reason why I should have saved up and bought that Pentax Optio Waterproof. One day. . .oh . . .one day it shall be in these soggy soggy hands.

Sunday: Decided to wipe yesterday off the books by going big, like stoopid big. I dug around for the fattest juiciest sand crab I could find. Perfect. Never used a crab the size of my thumb before. Cast it out with no expectations. The rod started bending right away. What? wierd. Holy crap its a fish. I set the hook and played my very first Spotfin Croaker. Of course I had to catch one today when I had no camera. I took a reeeeaaaallyyy good look at it hoping to remember it, and let it swim back into the waves.

Another big crab and another fish. This time even bigger. It must be my lucky day. This time a dad and son out fishing walked by to witness this craziness. They had a big hungry family and wanted to take the fish home. So I traded them for a picture.

I stuck on one more crab for a final cast and wouldn't you know it, another big spotfin. This is too easy. I must have mastered the art of surf fishing.

Monday. Same place, same time. Not even a sniff. Just like that they were gone, and I walked back to the car in the moonlight.