After an hour or so of running, Chin finally slowed the engines and positioned the boat for our first drift of the morning. We were sitting in about 10 feet of water directly between 3Com Park and the San Francisco Airport. Deckhands Zac Koehn and Dace Sherman instructed the 18 passengers to put 4 ounce weights on their live bait rigs and drop 'em down.

It couldn't have been more than a minute or two when my rod suddenly took a sharp bounce and I quickly eased it out of the rod holder. I dropped the tip towards the water and fed out a few extra feet of line before setting into our first fish of the day. Unfortunately, this one didn't quite keep and was released to fight another day. Peter Hsi from Fremont hit the next fish, our first keeper of the day, a couple minutes later. From then on, it was a steady stream of action on a mix of undersized fish and small keepers running 22 to 26 inches.

By 10:00 am, we had worked our way to about a fish per rod and it was time to make a serious decision. Captain Chin gathered everyone around the stern and made the announcement. "I know everyone was planning on fishing the rockpiles for stripers today, so we need to make the move now if we want to hit the tide just right," he explained. "On the other hand, we haven't a halibut bite like this in several weeks and we haven't even hit the best part of the tide yet. If we stick it out here all day, we could put together a big score on the halibut."

Upon asking for a show of hands who would like to switch over to stripers, it was nearly unanimous to make the move. I have a feeling it may have gone the other way if the halibut would have been larger, but the best fish in the boat was barely six pounds.

While sunny skies and barely a wisp of wind made for a thoroughly enjoyable morning of fishing in the protected waters of the south bay. As we made our way under the Bay Bridge for the rockpiles, it became obvious we were in for a major change in conditions. The central bay was socked in with a heavy fog and the wind was already blowing a solid 20 mph with three to four foot waves making it a bit of a bumpy ride.

It was now time to break out the heavy gear with 8 ounce sinkers, Captain Chin began our first drift in about 60 feet of water and instructed everyone to drop their baits to the bottom. "The bottom will be coming up in a hurry to 40 feet, so you need to pay attention so you don't get hung up," shouted Captain Chin over the loudspeaker. "This drift will last about 15 seconds, so you have to be ready or you'll miss it."

As our baits hit bottom, the two anglers to my left, Leo Pointer and Dan Christian, both from Pacifica, immediately tied into fish. Several anglers on the bow were also hooked up and by the time it was over, we had four nice stripers on the deck. They were all fat and healthy fish running 7 to 10 pounds. The next several drifts produced a few hook-ups with anywhere from 1 to 3 fish landed and it slowly tapered off from their. By the time it was over, we had a total of 15 striped bass, close to a fish a rod, with the largest fish going around 14 pounds.

With a couple hours left in the day, Captain Chin made an attempt to drift the deeper water for halibut, but the strong tide and howling wind made it extremely difficult. A quick run to the back of Treasure Island found conditions much more agreeable and we started a drift in 20 feet of water along the edge of a shipping channel. "We'll stick it out here for the rest of the trip," explained Chin. "We might hit a striper here and the water still looks good for a shot at halibut."

Chin made the right move as one of the passengers tied into our first decent halibut of the day right at 11 pounds. The bite held steady with a hook-up coming every 10 minutes or so and a few of the halibut were better quality fish running 8 to 10 pounds.

As our day came to a close, Captain Chin announced this would be our last drift and everyone should put on a fresh bait to make it count. I grabbed the largest anchovy I could find and gently lowered it to the bottom. As I was putting my rod into the rod holder, I felt a gentle tap and quickly dropped the tip of my rod. As the line tightened up, the fish made a strong surge and actually ripped a few feet of drag off the reel. After several strong runs off the stern, the fish came into view and Captain Chin gently eased the net under the large halibut. The fish weighed in at 16-1/2 pounds, barely beating out a 15 pound striper for the jackpot.

It was time to head home and a quick fish count revealed a total of 30 halibut and 15 striped bass for the 18 passengers. Steve Lachenauer of Sacramento had the hot stick of the day with the only full limit of both stripers and halibut. John Jorgensen of Antioch nailed 2 striped bass and a halibut. Don Wright of Sacramento had a striper and a halibut. Rangel Yorks, President of the Yerba Buena Angling Club landed a pair of halibut. Other members of the club including Tom Westphal of Mt. View, Ken Nakashima of Los Altos and Fred Yomata of Sunnyvale all scored on halibut and stripers. Dan Christian from Pacifica landed one of the few halibut limits of the day and his friend Leo Pointer had a limit of quality stripers. Fred Leonard checked in with a pair of halibut.