03
Mar 13

First of the year

Took my girl out to the pier today and we managed to pick one up early (and then lose several later). Good to get one in the book for 2013.

The girl reeled this one in (mostly)

The girl reeled this one in (mostly)

There are pretty awesome animals.

 

2013-03-02 13.51.06

Beautiful fish.

The girl was especially happy to be able to collect a couple of copepods from the shark in a little container with rubbing alcohol. This is now on her nature table. Yes. My girl is awesome.

Also witnessed being caught today were two broadnose seven gills and a ray. Cool.

Funny thing was a couple of guys who started fishing by us. Five minutes after they get there one guy lands a small leopard shark. His buddy had brought him out to catch his first fish and he did. A neat thing to see.

Take a friend fishing.


15
Oct 12

I’m doing it wrong

I have no idea what I’m doing on a pier. I didn’t grow up with them and have spent precious little time on them in the years since. The idea of pier fishing is really foreign to me. The whole bait-cast-sit-wait thing is just not what I’ve generally considered fishing.

Enter the Dumbarton Pier. It is about 4 minutes away from where I live now. My girl wants to fish. Heck, I want to fish.

So, I get a rod (the rod/reel combo was $50) and some hooks and some swivels and some shrimp and I’m good to go… right?

Oh, but I don’t have any idea what I’m doing. I can figure out the rig easy enough, but I don’t know what to do beyond huck the rig out as far as I can and then sit there and wait for “something” to happen. There are new things to learn, new rigs, new environments, new tactics, new things to look for, to pay attention to. I’m not likely to become a devotee to pier fishing. I still want to fish with a fly, but when life gives you lemons (and the Bay Area is pretty much lemons from a fly fishing perspective), you might want to learn to fish off the pier.

Luckily, others weren’t as incompetent as I was and my daughter got to touch a Seven Gilled Spotted Cow Shark, which was kind of awesome.

Cool shark.