Up at O-Dark 30 we launched from China Basin in the fishing boat John Frederick. Rod named his 20 foot Grady White after his youngest son who he lost in a motorcycle accident. It was clear skies until we passed under the Bay Bridge and as we rounded the tip of The City we ran into the fog San Francisco is famous for. Unable to see anything in the thick mists we could hear the fog horns as we stayed close to the shore and searched for the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. Finally the south tower loomed in front of us. This is the dangerous part.... crossing the shipping lanes to go out under the gate to the fishing grounds off Stinson Beach in Marin County north of The City. In the fog you can't see any big ships who might be heading in to the ports of the San Francisco Bay but if you listen close you may be able to hear them before it's too late. Then we have good luck as we see a Coast Guard Cutter and follow in her wake out the gate.
I'm feeling a little queasy so I'm sipping a Coke and munching saltine crackers. It's choppy at the mouth of the bay as the floor of the ocean rises up to pass through that narrow channel but the queasiness disappears as soon as we're out on the ocean. The sea is calm as we speed along up to Duxbury, the fishing grounds off Stinson Beach and the Marin headlands. It's late summer into fall and this is where the salmon are at this time of year on they're migration back to the streams and rivers of the Pacific Northwest to spawn. We're in thick fog all around but if you look straight up you can see blue sky because it only goes up about ten feet. I'm standing by Rod who's at the wheel as we make way and he's using a Lowrance which is a navigation device that tells us where we are and guides us to where we want to go.
It's cold on the ocean in the fog so we have layers of clothing on...long sleeved shirts, light jackets, and I have on bright yellow rubber rain gear and warm boots. Rod's rain gear is dark green almost black and called Helly-Hansens and was a gift from our Czech friend Paul. Rod looks like a Norwegian fisherman in his black watch cap. Rod's first boat was Paul's Zodiac, a 17 foot blow up rubber boat, which Rod bought when Paul bought his Boston Whaler. The Coast Guard also run Zodiacs as they're very sturdy but Rod says it's like going to sea in a condom. Rod fished with a group of friends that he worked with at United Airlines. There was Paul, of course, and Peter Wolfgramm who had an eighteen foot Proline and who took his Rhodesian Ridgeback out to sea with him, and Jim Sharron who had a commercial fishing license with his brother.
When we get out to Duxbury Rod puts the boat in idle and starts pulling out the fishing gear and setting up the downriggers. We put two poles off the back and a pole off each side. If we had another person with us we could put two poles off the front of the boat as the Grady White has a walk around deck. After we're set up we start trolling. Trolling is going along at a slow speed with our lines trailing out behind us waiting for a fish to bite. For salmon we fish with anchovies and flashers and hoochies.
When a fish bites it tugs the line and the tip of the pole dips and jiggles. It's exciting to call "fish on!" and then the real fun begins as you disconnect the pole from the downrigger and start reeling your fish in. Rod stands and reels but I'm short and not as strong so I straddle a cooler and sit while I reel in a salmon 'cause it's hard to keep my balance on the rolling ocean and reel, too. While I'm reeling my fish in Rod's managing the boat so that it's in the best position for pulling the fish in to the boat then he'll grab the net and pull my fish on board. What you do when the fish gets up to the boat is you need to keep the tip of your rod up and let the fish swim into the net because once he's in the net he can't swim backwards out again. He's caught! My first salmon was a nine pounder.
Around noon we turned the engine off and made sandwiches and sat and enjoyed ourselves. The sun is shining down from above but we still have fog all around us. While we're talking we hear a rolling in the water and it's a whale and it's eye is looking right at us and then she disappears. Rod said once when he was out in the Zodiac he had a whale come up and put her calf between her and the boat. He also told me about the time he and his brother Ray were out fishing and a Great White passed beneath the Grady White and Rod could see him on one side and Ray could see him on the other at the same time. He was that big.
After lunch we trolled some more and then decided to head home. At about three o'clock in the afternoon as we're cruising back the fog lifts and the sun shines bright and beautiful and we could see the headlands and the shore and miles out to sea in the west. There were pelicans flying in tandem three and four at a time like prehistoric pterodactyls. It was so beautiful and wild and primordial it made you feel special to be alive.
As we approached the gate the sea became rougher and confused as the floor of the ocean was rising up. This is the area they call the potato patch and you navigate around it because it's only 20 feet deep here and if there are big swells twenty feet high one minute you might be on top and the next minute the sea is gone and your "plowing potatoes". Under the gate and into the bay with The City to the south and Alcatraz and Angel Island to the north we head back under the Bay Bridge to China Basin to pull our boat out of the water and go home.
At home we hose the ocean off the boat and unload our stuff and clean the fish. While Rod is cleaning the fish he whistles for Cleo the neighbor cat and she comes walking fast with her tail in the air happy to have the tidbits Rod will fix for her. That evening we grill the fish on the bar-b-que and make artichokes and salad and there's nothing better than fresh caught salmon grilled the same day you catch it. Perfect.
No comments:
Post a Comment