It wasn't long until we had our first bite, but after two missed hook-sets, we finally hooked our first keeper shark of the day. After a brief battle, Leno Rodriguez from Sacramento landed the 52 inch leopard. "We're going to lose some fish because of the circle hooks. Since the fish play with the bait in their mouths before eating it, you don't want to set the hook prematurely," said Delnero.

"Make sure to stay away from their tails when they come on the boat because they can cut your leg pretty good," he warned. "You also want to make sure to clean the fish right away so that it makes good table fare."

After all of the lines were back in the water, the wait was on. Less than an hour later, the second fish took the bait and I jumped on the rod and set the hook.

"Hit him again, hit him again," yelled Delnero. "Make sure you have that fish hooked good, Jayson. I don't want to lose it." Delnero quickly put the gaff in the shark and we had our second keeper of the trip.

Next up on deck was Josh Ibarra, also of Sacramento. "Just wait for the fish to start running with the bait, then set the hook and reel and set the hook one more time, Josh," coached Delnero. After two good swings of the rod, Josh was reeling in his 52 inch leopard shark.

With the third fish in the box, we sat around exchanging fishing stories when two reels began peeling off line simultaneously. "The lines might be crossed, so don't set the hook yet," Delnero cautioned. Two seconds later, the lines went in two directions and we knew there was not just one hungry shark, but two fish on the lines. Stevie Lopez and Kenny Stewart stepped up to bat, swung and reeled in two females going 50 and 52 inches.

"That was the best fight with a fish that I have ever experienced," said Lopez after landing his first leopard shark. It was just past 10:00 a.m. and we had each put one fish in the box when we hit a slow period during slack tide.

"Go ahead and relax guys, this is the siesta part of the trip," informed Delnero. "Monday, we had the same type of action that died off at slack tide, but it's going to pick back up on the next tide."

Just as Delnero had called it, when the tide began coming back in, that lovely sound of line ripping off a reel sounded and Ibarra once again swung and hit pay dirt with a big female going 53 inches.

"We still haven't had any 'hot bait' come out of the sharks' bellies, but we are doing fine without it," he noted, referring to the half-digested bait taken out of a shark's stomach during the cleaning process.

"We're going to reel up here, guys, and head in for the day," said Delnero at 1:30 p.m. As everyone put their rods up in the holder, I kept my rod out a few extra minutes, hoping a interested shark might come along.

Well, my instincts were right and paid off with a 51 inch female leopard to finish the trip off. Besides the keeper sharks - leopards 36 inches and over - we also released several shaker leopards and one sand shark.