So we packed up lots of clothing, sleeping bags, food. Mark brought his propane latern and stove. We launched around 2 or 3 PM on a Saturday out of Antioch. We were armed with Grass and Ghost shrimp.
First we tried out by the Big Cut in Suisun bay but no luck except for a croaker hook in a berry (inside joke). After night fall we moved around and settled on anchoring out by Honker light 27. Around midnight just after the coffee was made, I get a jingle on my Ugly Stik Tiger rod. I go to check it and I feel some tapping so I set the hook. I started reeling in and it didn't feel too heavy. I think I told Mark that it might be a shaker or trash fish. But as it started getting close to the boat it made a run back down. At that point, I knew it was something sizeable.
It made another run towards the boat. I was worried as it was peeling line that I might get spooled or break off. The line I had on was maybe 25 lb. test mono. Luckily it held on and as the fish got closer I told Mark to get the net. He woke up JR to help. Then Mark said "Whoa! There it is!" The fish surfaced. It looked like it might be a keeper. Mark tried to net it and it freaked out and went back down. I reeled it back and it was finally netted. Hi fives!
We got the dino in the boat and Mark measured it out... only 40". The slot is 46" minimum and 66" maximum. We took pics and released her back in. The adrenaline was pumping and we were definitely hooked.
After that, Mark managed to hook into his first ever delta sturgeon, a small shaker. He pulled up 3 more shakers as the night went on. We also landed some Starry flounders.
In the morning we moved to PG&E for lots of shaker stripers, one shaker sturgeon and two keeper stripers.
The night pics aren't that good since they were taken with a cell phone camera but here they are. All in all, it was a good first time overnighter trip... cold but fun.
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