As we prepared to depart from the Berkeley Marina at 6:00 am, the lovely Pam Anderson - deckhand/chef - took control of the grill and whipped up a fine breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs and sausage. Meanwhile, deckhand Ravin Persaud ran over the rules and tips for the day.

The first stop on our voyage was a shallow area near Yellow Bluff. After a few drifts with live bait, we had our first fish on board, a fat 15 pound bass taken by Steve Kynard of Woodland.

James gave this area a few more passes, but no fish were caught, other than a jacksmelt released by Chuck Dunham, so we moved over to fish Paradise Cay. We had several hook-ups each drift, landing one fish on the first drift and two on the next drift. We also lost a few big halibut, including one that Art Furtado of Dublin lost after several lines became tangled with his.

Don Petty from Sutter made the most of his drifts, picking up the first halibut of the trip while fishing off Paradise. Soon after Petty's fish hit the deck, Furtado regained his composure and hauled in a large halibut. "It's not as big as the one I lost, but it will do," he noted.

Despite catching just one fish here and there, James kept at it and worked hard until he was unable to produce any more fish before moving on.

Our next fishing grounds and the top producing area of the trip was the east side of Red Rock and the San Rafael Bridge. On the way to Red Rock, The Fish Sniffer Staff handed out bags full of fishing supplies. Inside the "goody bags" was a Fish Sniffer or Okuma fishing hat, a jar of krill scent supplied by Pautzke, saltwater and freshwater plugs from River 2 Sea, Berkley Power Bait Swim Baits and a spool of fishing line from Power Pro and Berkeley.

Staying true to his word, James gave Furtado a free Cal-Dawn burger for landing the biggest fish before noon. After Pam was done serving up Cal-Dawn burgers, everyone was eager to get back to drifting.

The first drift we made on the east side of Red Rock yielded a good number of striped bass, followed up by another batch of quality stripers on the following drift. As the tide began to taper off, James decided to give the bass a rest and target halibut off the San Rafael Bridge.

"Fish On, Fish On," screamed Chuck Dunham as a big halibut doubled over his Ugly Stick. With all the yelling going on during the trip, Dan Bacher, Fish Sniffer Managing Editor, still found some time to read a book. And as it always seems to happen with Dan, his rod was slammed down by a fish and he quickly landed a 14-plus pound halibut.

With a few more halibut in the box, we once again returned to Red Rock and picked up several more quality stripers. Mitch Miller of Sacramento and Robert Tonna of Concord each picked up schoolie bass, while Fish Sniffer staffer Sheldon Bright boated two bass and a halibut. Larry Nelson and Kenny Miyao each were rewarded with a bass for their efforts. In addition, anglers also released several dozen rockfish and lingcod.

The staff and readers had a great time on the water sharing stories from past trips and we got to know the people who keep the Fish Sniffer thriving. The total fish count for the day was 13 striped bass and 9 halibut.

On the way back to the harbor, Sheldon Bright and myself passed out the winning rod and reel combos for big fish.

Taking home one rod and reel combo donated by Okuma High Performance was Art Furtado of Dublin with the largest halibut of the day. Steve Kynard from Woodland took home the second Okuma package by weighing in the largest striped bass. Don Petty of Sutter, who caught the third largest fish, a halibut, took home the third rod and reel combo, donated by Pure Fishing.

Join The Fish Sniffer Staff for our next fishing adventure on the ocean for king salmon with Telstar Charters out of Fort Bragg on June 23.