Hi Devine,

Your best bet is to head straight out of the bay and start fishing once you hit the 100' line. We had downriggers, but didn't use them at all.

We rigged up 2 to 4 oz sinkers with ball bearing swivels on both ends, short 4 foot leaders on our mooching rigs (30 lb test), and trolled brined plug cut herring.

Trolled between 2 and 6 mph land speed per gps, about 3-4 kts water speed. Our best luck was within a half mile of the beach due north of Olson's, and we usually headed west. Bring GPS if ya got it, as the fog rolls in quickly. That is probably your biggest issue out there. One other safety note is that there are some pretty good rips out there and they can still create some big waves on a calm day, so remember to take all large waves at a quarter, NEVER EVER STRAIGHT ON!!!!!!! Straight on is 12 o'clock, quartering is about 1:30. This will help avoid taking a wave over the bow as we saw a small 14 foot aluminum get doused. Wind does whip up the waves a bit at times, just go slow, and if the waves are too rough, you can always fish the bay or cast buzzbombs from the beach between Coho and Olson's.

Short leaders made netting and controlling the fish easier once they got near the boat. The 30lb test may seem excessive, but the last thing I want to do when the fish are biting FAST AND FURIOUS, is to be tying a leader with only one rod in the water. Tried light leaders, but we ended up with a lot of trailer hooks that broke off and had to retie. These fish are not leader shy either, and we even caught one fish on bare hooks when left in the water waiting for an opportunity to rebait.

Plug cut your bait the night before figuring about 3 dozen per person. I use that little Luhr Jensen plug cutting guide for consistency. Remove the guts, and then add about a cup and a half of salt to about half a gallon of water. I use canning and pickling salt. We kept our bait in a 1 gallon plastic jug that once contained salad dressing, like the bulk containers used by restaurants. A plastic gallon milk jug with part of the top cut off will also work.

If you have a choice between getting out on the water at 5:30 am, or some morning nookie with the wife, get out on the water! The morning bite has been tremendous. We caught 30 fish is 2 hours and lost half again that many fish. We were also trolling one rod with artificials for one hour total without a single bite during the same time period, so I would stick to the bait.

Check the tide as well, especially if your are on a timetable to leave. Some of the launches are hard to get out of on a very low tide.

If you can't catch fish this way, get rid of your gear. Best of luck, and give us a report. Andy

[ 08-21-2001: Message edited by: Dogfish ]