"I made it out twice this weekend," explained Smith. "My 35 passengers boated a total of 18 striped bass and 24 halibut on Saturday. On the following day, the 30 anglers caught 34 halibut and 18 bass."

Other boats departing from Berkeley also enjoyed success on stripers and halibut on June 1. The New Goldeneye fished inside the bay for a total of 24 halibut to 36 pounds and 18 striped bass to 16 pounds for 32 anglers. The New El Dorado III had 12 halibut and 7 striped bass to 11 pounds for 27 people.

"The water has been rough all week long, so our salmon boats have been at the docks while our live bait trips continue to bring in one to two fish per rod," said Craig Stone of Emeryville Sportfishing. "The striper fishing should turn on any day now in the south and north bay, but until then we will keep loading up on halibut in the south bay."

The Captain Hook ran a live bait trip on Sunday, June 1 that yielded 18 halibut, 7 striped bass and one white seabass for 21 passengers. The C-Gull II checked in with 6 stripers and 22 halibut. New Huck Finn finished off the day with 22 halibut and 17 striped bass to 15 pounds.

The Rapid Transit ran out with 20 anglers on board and returned to the harbor with 14 halibut, 7 leopard shark and 10 stripers. The New Seeker ended their live bait trip with 15 flatties and 2 stripers.

On the other hand, bass have been far and few between around Brooks Island and the Rock Pile on the opposite end of the S.F. Bay. "Right now, the bass are in the south bay at the Rockwall, and we won't see those fish until later in the month when we start fishing the Rockpile," confirmed Captain Gordie Hough aboard Morning Star.

"However, we have been hauling in solid numbers of halibut while fishing off the Berkeley Pier and Brooks Island," said Hough. "Although there are good numbers of halibut around Berkeley, the fish at Brooks have been much bigger."

Meanwhile, big groundswells and wind outside of the Golden Gate have kept salmon boats off the water many days over the past two weeks. "We didn't get out on the water until Saturday and the bite was fairly tough due to big groundswells," said Bill Beckett at Huck Finn Sportfishing. The New Captain Pete managed to get out 11 miles west of the harbor to catch 24 salmon for 18 passengers, while the Ankeney Street took 14 anglers mooching for 5 salmon.

The bite turned on the following day for Ankeney Street and Queen of Hearts, who both checked in with limits of king salmon. The New Captain Pete came back with 18 fish for 16 people.