Date: Thursday, December 30, 2004 at 16:43:40
Current Report:

Sorry to report I'm still down with engine problems. But I should be up and running soon, so keep in touch. I have been on the water a few times last couple of weeks. My boy Marky (age 10) caught his second sturgeon going 53 inches. We were fishing with a friend of mine Josh ( he acts 10 ) and his new 29' Striper just off Light 34. Well Josh was messing around with something or another and Marky was down in the heated V-Berth ( where else ) watching DVD's on the plasma screen. So I had to play rod monitor ( I didn't mind ). When Josh's rod took a dip. I said "Hey Josh!" and he said " Get it!". I set the hook, and then he took the rod from me. I said "Not fair", He said "Too bad". ( It's OK though, it was only 44 inches ). Well another fifteen minutes passed when Marky's rod went south, so I set the hook! And all of a sudden, Marky comes flying out of the cabin yelling "Gimme my rod!" I said, "Not fair", he said, "too bad.....watch your rod". You'd think they were related. About a week later, my brother Dave and I fished Montezuma Slough in my little 14' tinny. Just as the tide started on the income, Dave's rod gets a bite. I said "Hey Dave!" ( he wasn't watching, of course ) He set hook, and for the next 20 minutes battled the Big One. It mesured in at 68 inches and weighed 64 lbs. I think I'm going to fish alone next time.... Happy New Year, Stay Bent....Mark

I know it's been awhile since the last report but the truth is I'm having a heck of a time keeping the boat running. I've been down for almost a month (water in a couple of cylinders, not good!) but I'll be up and running real soon. I did manage to get out and do a little fishing this past week. On Thursday the 22 nd. a friend of mine, Mark Thompson, my son Marky and myself did a little jigging for salmon at my old stomping grounds on the Mokelumne River near Wimpy's Marina in Walnut Grove. We hit the water about 9:30 am. and by noon we had three "rotten rainbows" in the box and lost four others at the boat. But when the outgoing tide died, so did the fishing. All the fish were caught "not snagged" on blue & chrome 2 oz. Gibb's Minnows. We fished down river between the Grain Towers and the mouth of Beaver Slough in 18 to 22 ft. of water. Thompson took the fish home ( for fertilizer, I'm sure.) On the following day another friend, Larry Frey, invited me to do some sturgeon fishing on the Sacramento River near Collinsville. It was another perfect day, sleep in, get out on the water about 9:30, no hurry. Well after getting the anchor set, our baits in the water, it wasn't long before Larry's pole ( he fishes with a pole) went down, he set hook and the line began burning off the reel. Just as the fish slowed, the line snapped! Reeled it back in only to see it was his leader that broke, which he said was 40 lb. ( looked more like 20 lb. to me ). He retied another leader with 60 lb. mono and the next one didn't get away. Yep, Lucky Larry just boated a 62 incher which was released moments later. Then it was my turn. I caught the next three fish, two shakers and a 48 incher that I released. We had so much fun we decided to do it again the following day. The only difference is Larry had the "small fish blues" and I caught all the big ones! Starting off pretty much like Larry's day, I snapped my 30 lb. main line trying to muscle in a big fish, S*** Happens! The next one wasn't so lucky. I brought out my new Accurate 270 Boss Twin Drag spooled with 65 lb. braid, OOOH what a difference! Didn't take long to winch the 62 incher in . So I put another strip of eel on and within minutes another big fish hit. I threw the rod in reverse ( I fish with a rod ) and it was on again! Since I'm such a nice guy, I decided to share. After the single finger wave from Larry, he took the rod/pole and landed another nice D'Back going 57 inches. The fourth fish I farmed, oh well, we had our limits. Well, fishing was too good to stop now, so we went Sunday too. This time we brought Thompson with us, he went up the river the day before looking for salmon only to find a skunk! Sunday turned out to be a little slower. Larry & Mark got a shaker apiece and I landed the only keeper, a 52 incher plus a couple shakers. Looks like a great sturgeon season ahead. I can't wait much longer to get my boat back up and running, should be about another week. Until then..... BEND'EM HARD!! Mark

Up and down, up and down, seems to be how the bite is lately. Salmon have been a little tough to get the last couple weeks. I have been mostly trolling R.S.K's or F.B.R's behind Vance's Dodgers. My last four trips have been a little slow, about a half a fish a rod. On 9-4 the four anglers on the boat landed four kings to 17 lbs. the following day six anglers landed two salmon to 12 lbs. And on Labor Day six more anglers and anglerettes landed three salmon to 14 lbs. The shark bite has improved quite a bit. There for a while I thought that the bite was slow because of the Bay Bridge work, it seemed all the "big ones" wouldn't bite until resently when the work on the bridge slowed drastically and I started catching big males & females again. I have been getting about 12 to 18 shark per trip, not keeping any big females ( they are holding live pup's this time of year ). One day a couple weeks ago I had a wierd trip. Six anglers landed 12 shark, keeping 6 and releasing 6 females. A few of the guy's wanted to see what a Bat Ray looked like so I figured I'd show them. I took the midshipman off the hook and replaced it with a few frozen anchovies and dropped it straight down. Got a nibble instantly, Rusty set hook, Mud Marlin on! So I thought, but the big fish just stayed down. Fourty pound halibut crossed my mind...naw no way. But what did come up really suprised me, how about a 62 lb. Giant Black Sea Bass!! I was thinking biggest rock cod I'd ever seen! After a few pictures, we weighted it and released it. (their protected) I'll post some pictures in about a week. I'll be moving the boat back to Pittsburg around mid October for some sturgeon and bass fishing ( striped bass ). Keep'em Bending!! Mark

I told you I'd be back! Not too much has changed with the salmon bite, still very good. On Monday Mike Stallings of Lodi fished with four of his employees landing 10 salmon to 17 lbs. trolling E-chip R.S.K's behind Vance's Dodgers with 1 1/2 lb. balls at 25 to 30 pulls. On Wednesday the 4th Duane White of Stockton was out with some friends doing a little trolling. We managed to land 9 kings to 15 lbs. with most in the 10 to 12 lb. range. We also released some smaller fish. On the 5th. and 6th. I had shark trips. They were a little on the slow side landing 10 Leopards each day for five anglers fishing near "A" Bouy in about 35 ft. of water with Midshipman. Back to Salmon....On Saturday the 7th. Tom Nelson and friends managed to land over 30 kings to 29 1/2 lbs. keeping 14 (I caught two as well) and releasing the rest.And on Sunday Keith Baker, his 7 year old son Michael and few friends "mooched" for a change landing 6 kings to 12 lbs. losing twice as many. Dam circle hooks! (I left the "n" out on purpose) As it turned out, Michael landed his "first" Chinook going 7 lbs. That's pretty big when your only three and half feet tall! Way to go Mike!! And on Monday the 9th., I had a two person charter. Kent Raverty and his girlfriend Tami landed limits to 15 lbs. in about an hour and a half, mooching just off Muir Beach in 90 ft. of water. I have trips the next five days so...I'll Be Back!! Stay Bent...Mark

Ever wonder why boats don't run like cars? I do. And if you're a boat owner, you know what I mean. The person who said "A boat is a hole in the water you pour money into" or " The two happiest days in a boat owners life is the day you buy it, and the day you sell it" hit it right on the head! I'm back up running after being down for almost three weeks. That'll drive ya nuts!! But I'm up and running. On my last live bait trip, the bait was alive but the fishing wasn't. On Sunday the 31 st. the six anglers I had out got a lot of fresh air and a 8 lb. halibut, a very long day. Yesterday was a little different, the salmon charter was a little faster paced having caught limits by 10:00 a.m. up to 16 lbs. fishing near the outer ship channel trolling E-chip Salmon Rotery Killers with a Vance's Dodger. I'll be fishing both salmon and shark trips the next six days so I'll keep you posted...( A little sooner this time if the boat stays running ...ha ha ) Stay Bent!! Mark

Looks like the salmon bite is picking up on the north side. I had six anglers out yesterday hooking up 12 but only landing 5, with the two bigger fish going 28 and 33 lbs.with the other three fish going 8 to 10 lbs. My day was cut a little short when I spun a prop comming in, but still had a good day. The shark bite was real good on Saturday, landing 19 leopards, keeping 11 big fish and releasing 8 smaller leopards for six anglers. Last week I had a couple live bait trips.On Monday the six guy's landed 3 bass to 8 lbs. 2 halibut to 13 lbs. and a leopard shark from censored. Not too bad for a minus 1.9 ft. tide. The only clean water I could find was over by the rock wall. On the following day I tried there again, only to be eaten alive by small dog fish, I mean 40 or 50 of them. We did manage to get a bass and a but' out of there. It's lunch time...I'm outta here...Stay Bent, Not Broke....Mark

Shark, shark, shark! And more shark! Last friday 6-11 Greg Allen (17 years in the US Army), his wife Dana, his dad Jim and nephew JR had a awsome time landing 23 Leopards keeping 10 and releasing the rest. The morning started out a little rough, seems the last time Jim was on a boat with his son somewhere back in 2000, the boat sank and they were in the water for close to an hour before being picked up by the Coast Guard. So he was a little nervous when it was time to leave. But once we got down there, Jim was like a kid in a candy store. Like I said, 23 shark by 11:00 am. On Saturday 6-12 the bite slowed just a little landing only 11 and keeping 6. (must of scared them from the day before) Bruce Wagner, his son Buk and daughter Tiffany and a couple more friends still had a great time. I had about the same results on Sunday keeping 5 and releasing 6. Monday was back up to standards. Steve Graham and his wife Jeanette both of W. Sac, and her sister Clare (no "i" ) husband Tom and daughters Melissa & Mariah Schisler all from St. Paul, MN. We started the day off a little late, around 9:00 am we haeded out to do some sight seeing and after seeing nearly the whole Bay, we managed to do some fishing. I didn't go far, Alameda Rock Wall to be exact where we landed over 10 sharks and losing about as many in about two hours . Most of the fish were big females going 20 to 25 lbs. all were caught on Midshipman with the incoming tide being the best bite. The halibut bite is picking up, on Saturday some good friends landed 7 but's going 25,20,15,15,10,and an 8 plus a bass to boot! All off Angel Island.( Man, I would kill for a live bait trip!) I have all shark trips this week, I'll keep you posted....Till then, hook a shark, they'll KEEP YA' BENT!! Mark

I only had one trip this week, shark of course. It was the "big blow" last Monday the 17 th. I had six anglers, five of which were corectional guards at Folsom Prison and a regular named Dave who referes to me only as "Fish God" (only because he's had a few good trips with me). Any ways the day started out very calm, I was still in the marina of course, but by the time I got down to the Bay Bridge, things started to get a little bumpy. I tried fishing near the yellow can bouy off of Hunters Point, but my anchore wouldn't hold even though I had out 120 ft. of chain out. We did manage to pick up two nice 50" keepers and released a couple of smaller males. And after a while the wind got to us, so I moved to find some shelter, ending up at...where else..."the big red stack" again, out of the wind. It was a good thing, we ended up catching another 12 leopards there, keeping a total of 11 shark and releasing 5. ( I couldn't tell you how many they missed...just kidding guys!) Every shark was caught on midshipman on an incomming tide. See ya on the water! Don't worry, those leopards will Keep You Bent!! See Ya...Mark

Who said 13 is an unlucky number? That's how many shark we ended with by 11:30 am yesterday. Rick Vales of Tracy along with his family, David Hill, Don Vales, Aron Hill all from Mountain House and one other member that we never seen too much of.( something to do with the hair of the dog or something like that) Any way, the day started out a little rough, you know, wind with a big minus tide, the water was a little sloppy so I anchored in tight next to "the big red stack" just above Pac Bell park. I don't think we were there more than 10 minutes when Dan landed the first shark of the season, a 55 incher, I thought it was a big Soupfin by the way it took off. It almost spooled us! What a way to start the day. And after a short dry spell, I picked up the hook and headed for deeper water just below Hunters Point where I dropped the anchor in 45'. By the time I casted out the last ROD, the first one was burning line, the bite never slowed down, they landed 12 more leopards keeping only 2 for the BBQ. Boy did I luck out not having to clean all those fish!! So it looks like another great season for leopard shark fishing. I'm also booking trips for salmon, halibut & bass. So give me a call....Forever Bent!!! Mark

Wow! Two reports in a month! However not too much to report lately. I haven't had a D'Back in almost three weeks, I can't even recall who caught it, it's been so long ago. I do remember it was 67 inches and came off the upper end of Chain Island on eel. (what else) With all the wind we have had lately, that hasn't done much for the bite either. I've only had some small male stripers. However I have heard of quite a few big bass taken trolling Rebels on the Mokelumne River this past week with most of the action on the North Fork. I'll be moving back to the Bay around May 5th. I'm already booking a load of shark trips. (YIPPEE!!) Looks like we should have a good salmon season too. Take Care & Forever Bent!! Mark

I was just reminded of my last report somewhere around last November, you see I lost it when I was receiving about 300 worthless emails a day. I would check my mail about every two or three days which would result in hours of fun! I tried a spam blocker but it only worked a short while, then one day I snapped when I seen over a thousand spam mails. Did I mention I had dial up to boot? But here I am, back with lightning fast comcast service, WOW what a difference!! So on with a report! I'm sure most of you know the D'Back bite is very good. I've had fourteen keepers to 81 lbs. the last couple of weeks, including three oversize to 76 inches and a ton of shakers. Most of the action has been happening on the top of the tide. My #1 bait is still eel and my second choice is more eel. On my last trip, six anglers (three of which were kids) landed four shakers, a 48" and a 63" that went 70 lbs. We also released a 73"er near "Chain Island". Good bets include Montezuma Slough, the area between the top row of the ships and light 9 in Grizzly Bay, Big Cut, and the area around Middle Grounds. For me, the fishing's been great, as long as the wind isn't blowing. By the way, I'll be offering FREE fishing trips today, and today only....April Fool's!!! Be back soon! (this month BOB) Take care & Keep'em Bent!! Mark...