VOL. 37 • ISS. 18

Captain Trent Slate of Bite Me Charters out of Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael starting mooching with anchovies within the past two weeks, and he has been putting his clients onto limits of big fish on the mooch. I have had the opportunity to fish with Slate several times when he operated Shelter Cove Sport Fishing out of Shelter Cove in Humboldt County for 15 years, but this was the first time I have been able to fish with him since he relocated to his hometown of San Rafael two years ago.

After leaving Loch Lomond at 6:00 a. m. in Slate’ s 27-foot Boston Whaler Offshore, we started out off of Bolinas where Slate put in early limits of big fish by 9:00 a. m. on Monday, July 10, but the conditions had changed by Wednesday. There was a huge fleet for a weekday out in slightly deeper water, and we made a few drifts in the area. In addition to being able to mooch, the ocean was flat calm which led Slate to make a few adjustments such as hanging a‘ Bloody Stump,’ cutting off the head of the anchovy and running the leader through the body so the head hung towards the bottom. In the slower drift, Slate explained that the salmon prefer a more wounded presentation.

Amazingly, I had the hot hand and

Aug 17- 31, 2018

landed the first two legal salmon the boat before anyone else hooked up. My early success led every captain in the area including Jim Smith from Alaska to comment to Slate that the‘ salmon must be thick.’

These were a small grade of legal salmon to 8 pounds, and since the fish weren’ t biting in earnest, Slate made a calculation that the action would be better up north so we made the long run up to Double Point. After arriving at Double Point several minutes later, we steadily picked through a number of small, legal salmon to get close to limits. The grade was much smaller than Slate had been picking up in previous trips, but towards the end of our time at Double Point, Lenny Mejia of San Francisco / Copperopolis, was on the hook with a much larger fish. Mejia handled it like a pro, and after a few minutes, Slate deftly handled the net and brought the 18-pound salmon to the deck.

Slate wasn’ t satisfied with the overall grade, and we ran back down to the edge of the North Bar at Muir Beach to round out our limits. My highlight of the day was watching 87-year old Sandy Sanders of Ione on the hook with another salmon in the teens and successfully bring the fish to the net. Sanders has been a pilot since his teens, and he still flies and restores vintage WW II airplanes out of an airstrip in Ione. To be able to still land a big fish at nearly 90 years old is quite a feat.

Once we arrived at the North Bar, we finished out 6 limits plus three crew fish,

and deckhand Erik Castillo of Novato landed the biggest limit of the day with two salmon to 20 pounds within minutes of each other. The boat landed every fish hooked on this day, and that is the beauty of mooching, you feel the fish, feel the fight, and have the destiny of hooking the fish in your hands.

Although the action wasn’ t as‘ hot and heavy’ as in the past week, Slate said,“ I like to work for them because it always is a puzzle trying to figure out where to go, where they are biting, and when to make your move. It is always good to finish the day with limits and happy anglers.”

Slate was back out on the North Bar on Thursday, and there were big fish once again, but a south wind brought

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a nasty chop on the water. South wind is never good for salmon fishing, and they worked hard for a fish per rod of big fish to 28 pounds. The salmon are just stuffed with anchovies, and the 20 pounder that Castillo landed on Wednesday must have had 50 anchovies in its gullet and partially decomposed in its belly. The key is finding the bait, and there has been a tremendous amount of bait hanging in certain areas off of the Marin coastline.

Captain Slate is the only party boat currently running out of Loch Lomond, and he targets salmon, rockfish / ling cod, Dungeness crab, striped bass / halibut, and sturgeon, depending upon the season. He can be reached at( 415) 307- 8582 or www: bitemecharters. net.

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Captain Trent Slate( left) gives Sandy Sanders a helping hand showing off the salmon he caught while mooching outside the Golden Gate.

Photo by DAVID HURLEY, Fish Sniffer Staff.

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