Mason caught this 16 pound striper in the surf from the shore today. It bit a rubber eel. The pelicans were pounding the water and finally moved just barely close enough for him to drop that eel right on the striper's head. Instant hookup. Mason has been throwing lures from the beach for a while now and his number finally came up. You know, Mason, the first one is the hardest. Unfortunately, the second one ain't a whole lot easier, but it will come. Follow them birds.

    Angel Loera caught this 24.5 pound halibut on a live jacksmelt this afternoon. They had just reached the end of the drift and either had to move the boat or walk home. When Angel went to reel up he discovered that it was going to be a little harder than just a few cranks of the handle. He was fishing with Mike Torres and they had one other fish on that released itself. Most of the boats came back with at least one halibut today, but Angel's was the largest. The most noteworthy boat today caught one bat ray, two halibut and four thresher sharks, all while anchored. Yes, threshers. There's some bait moving into the bay and the threshers are following it. Things are getting interesting, even though the water isn't warming up.

    Gage hooked four stripers during the pelican blitz, keeping one. What are they eating? Looks like mostly anchovies, but you can see a small bullhead and a pretty digested large sardine. Yesterday some surf fishermen had 8" sardines leaping out of the surf onto the beach with them. It's probably not surprising that they hooked a few stripers during that time. Sardines make some of the best live bait you can catch, so this discovery gets double interesting. I need to get some larger sabikis...