In spite of having gone on many ocean fishing trips, I still enjoy live bait drifting in San Francisco Bay the best of any salt water adventure in northern California for sheer fun and variety. Normally I go on one of the first live bait trips of the season on Bay party boats in early to mid-April, so I was overdue for a live bait adventure when I boarded the Goldeneye 2000 on May 7 for the Fish Sniffer day on the bay with Captain Quang Vo.

With me were a mixture of veteran live bait drifters and a group of anglers from Sacramento who are dedicated steelhead fishermen.

"It's will take us about 10 minutes to get to the first spot where we'll fish," said Vo. "The deckhand, Greg, will rig you up and answer any questions you have about this type of fishing."

We quickly reached the area off Angel Island and began drifting. Although rain had been forecasted for the day, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Within five minutes, Jim Athey of San Leandro landed the first fish of the day, a 5 pound striper. His catch was followed by Rob Nakatomi of Sacramento, who landed the first halibut of the day, a 10 pounder. Craig Patterson of Rio Linda then landed a halibut, followed by Pat Athey of Ripon.

Other anglers aboard the boat also hooked some halibut and just-keeper stripers as we drifted at Angel Island. After a couple of hours of drifting off the island, with a good mix of halibut and stripers in the box, Vo heard about a good bite on halibut and bass in Paradise Cay and he moved the boat over there.

While we fished at Paradise Cay, some anglers found outstanding action on both stripers and halibut. For example, Mike Prettyman of Sacramento, who I see fishing on the American River regularly during steelhead season, caught his limit of quality halibut and stripers. His dad, Jerry Prettyman, also bagged his limit of striped bass, including a jackpot contender.

Craig Patterson of Rio Linda caught his limit of halibut right next to me on the stern while my anchovies remained biteless. Tony Ngyuen of Sacramento, who caught his limit of striped bass and halibut last year aboard our previous Fish Sniffer trip on the Goldeneye 2000, landed his limit of halibut again this year. Van Hopkins nailed his limit of stripers. Cliff Cook of Sacramento landed a keeper striper,while Kurtis W. Jahn of Sacramento landed both a keeper striper and keeper halibut. And other anglers around me caught lots and lots of stripers and halibut.

I was beginning to feel like I was "snakebit," with not a single bite all morning. Jayson Lira, Fish Sniffer Associate Editor, was also having a bad day, with his one fish getting off.

"Don't give up," Vo told me. "The big fish are often caught towards the end of the day."

About half an hour later, I got my first bite of the day. I let the rod load up, set the hook and was soon battling a good-sized fish. I tightened the drag on my Calcutta 700 Reel, but the fish still kept pulling out lots of line.

"It's a bat ray," a couple of the guys next to me shouted.

"No it isn't," I replied. "It feels like a big halibut."

Finally, after the fish ran me all over the stern, Greg and Vo got the fish in the net and put it in the back of the boat. I couldn't believe the size of the fish - it looked like an Alaskan barn door! It weighed 30 pounds, my biggest halibut ever.

After we got the fish in the boat, Vo said, "that's the biggest one we've put in the boat so far this season. However, we'll start seeing big fish like that when the bite starts at Seal Rocks this summer."

I was stoked; I only had one bite all day, but it was a hell of a bite! A few more fish were caught after my big fish, including a halibut by Steve Morrisette of Sacramento. However, the bite died in the last hour of the day and we went back to the harbor around 3:30 p.m.

We ended the day with a total of 38 fish in the boat, including 27 halibut averaging 8 to 10 pounds and 11 stripers to 12 pounds for 27 anglers. We also released numerous shaker bass and several shaker halibut. It was one of the Goldeneye 2000's better halibut trips this season so far.

Pat Athey of Ripon won the Fenwick Pacific Stick for the largest halibut taken by trip participants, a 15 pounder. Van Hopkins took home a brand new Abu Garcia Ambassadeur reel for taking the largest striper, a 12 pounder.

Both the striped bass and halibut populations have made a remarkable recovery in the past decade because of the fishery conservation efforts of United Anglers of California, the California Striped Bass Association, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and other fishery organizations. The landmark legislation that banned halibut trawlers from the inshore waters of the Golden Gate and the three fish sport fishing limit have directly resulted in the great halibut fishing we see now.

For more information about booking a trip aboard the Goldeneye 2000, call Captain Quang Vo at (510) 610-0888. The Happy Hooker and Baywatch are also booking trips out of the Berkeley Marina at (5100 223-5388 or (510) 222-5279. For other boats booking live bait trips out of Berkeley, call the Berkeley Marina Sport Center, (510) 849-2727.