I know a fellow who has a fishing lodge in Homer Alaska. They target big halibut and salmon, a well as bottom fish. From the people that I know who have fished there they say the technique is very much like the live bait drifting we do in the bay, but on steroids. Instead of 4-6 ounces of weight, it can be as much as 4lbs. Instead of a sardine for bait a whole rock cod is baited up. Broomstick rods with roller guides and huge low geared reels. One of the things about halibut in Alaska are the huge tides. A tide with 14' of change is not uncommon. So you have a very short "window" at the end of the tides. Considering that Pacific halibut tend to hold in deeper water than the halibut do here, there is only about an hour or at the most 2 at the end of the tides that even with big weights you will be able to get your bait any where near where the fish are.

I realize they are different sub specie. S.F. bay is the southern most extent of the range of Pacific halibut. Generally a much colder water fish. You occasionally hear of them caught offshore, but rarely in the bay. A buddy caught one at the Farallon's, rocky islands 26 miles offshore. It was 50lbs. These are the infamous "barndoors" of Alaska, just do not get as big as they do n Alaska.

What is the size limit on flounder where you are? Here California Halibut are 22" minimum. When I commercially fished for them (commercial here is a rod and reel technique) I usually did not keep anything under 24" due to the shrinkage before getting them to the wholesaler. My own personal best was 35 lbs. There is a bait shop in the north bay that has an all summer tournament on halibut and striped bass. The winning fish is usually in the 30-40 lb range. Our techniques here are mostly live bait bait drifting with anchovies or sardines. In the spring before live bait is available some people will troll frozen bait. Another trolling technique uses a long leader with 3 hootchie rubber skirts on the leader with a hook in the last one. This is a modified commercial technique that you basically are bouncing over the bottom. Takes a lot of retrieving to clean the hooks but can work very well.

Nice fish. I have a question for you. I have never fished the east coast, but would say that is a dead ringer for a halibut that we catch in S.F. bay. You are even holding it the way we do suggesting a jaw full of teeth, like our halibut have. So my question is does that guy have teeth? Here what is called a starry flounder does not have teeth, and a much smaller mouth.

I agree with charlykilo. Even though I worked as a guide for 23 years, when I go to fish a new area I will hire a guide. The success rate will be higher and the frustration rate much lower.

I have fished S.F. and San Pablo bay for years, Trolling is my favorite method. I rank lures more by the depth they run at. I have many choices for shallow runners down to 5'. Any jointed small bill anchovy shaped lure will work, As well as Rattle traps and the most common in shallow water hair raiser with a worm tail. Hair raiser is just a small jig head with some feathers you add a worm tail to. Any where from 1/4 ounce on up. Next category would be deep divers. P-line, Yozuri, Rebel all make a large bill deep diver. Again an anchovy shape broken back. These lures work down to about 15'. To troll deeper you can add weight and get down to 20-25'. For the most part if the fish are deeper than 15' I would switch to live bait.
Late summer is a great time to troll San Pablo bay. Get shallow towards Hamilton Air Force base or Sonoma creek. San Pablo is a smooth mud bottom, no surprise changes or rocks etc. Any lure that is trolled could be cast from the shore, I would just go for the larger heavier models. Good luck!

We use frozen anchovies. Get them in a box or bag. Even the super market has them in bags, for bait that is.

Your last picture of the halibut mouth reminds me of that saying "how do you tell a halibut from a flounder? Stick your finger in it's mouth, if you still have a finger it is a flounder"

I was wondering how sure the mechanic you talked to was that it is rust in your tank. Rust indicates water has been in the tank. I would think that condensation would be the most likely reason. Back in the 80's and 90's I had an Olympic Boat with an aluminum tank. To combat condensation I used an alcohol additive, worked on condensation but ate up the non-alcohol fuel and vent lines. These days restore is an essential with the fuel we have. I used alcohol and restore for 15 years on that fuel system. Eventually a welded seem started leaking. I don't know if the additives had any thing to do with that. But if rust is in the tank it would indicate to me that no condensation preventative had been used. I had a water separating fuel filter on that boat that even with the anti-condensation additives it still needed emptying about every 6 months. I would think aluminum tanks would be fairly rust resistant, but if your Mako has not had condensation additives used for 16 years that could be the problem. Either way I think something new is in your future, a new tank, or a different boat. Good luck, keep us posted please.

Try this forum lots of information on fuel tanks and repairs https://forum.classicmako.com/forum/classicmako-com-forums/mako-discussion/57803-171-fuel-tank-questions

What manufacturer is your boat, and what model year? Do you know the size of the tank, and possibly dimensions?

Manteca means lard in Spanish. There is a lard rendering plant just north of Manteca. So when the wind is out of the north it is definitely "manstinka"

I also have a Garmin. That is very good advice about turning sensitivity down. Most weekend fishers will turn up the sensitivity thinking it will show more detail. You have to look at it like speakers on a stereo, because sonar is a sound wave. If you turn up speakers to loud all you hear is a lot of distortion and not clear sound. Same thing with a depth finder, to much sensitivity and all you are seeing is distortion and echo's. Keep this in mind when moving from deep to shallow water. The sensitivity setting that shows a nice clear image in 40' is going to be too high in 5'.
There is an area I fish sturgeon that has a shipping channel and then a couple of steps up to a large shallow area of about 7'. Most guys use the channel to get to the area and then fish the shallows. I have heard many conversations on the VHF, when people used the VHF, where some one has come out of the channel into the shallows and thinks all those marks on his screen are fish. If he did not drop sensitivity what he is seeing are echo's.

When anchored the fish below your boat should look like long slightly arched lines. That is because they are moving slowly through the sound cone.

Good luck with your Garmin.

Congrats, that would be a monster around here.

Too many. Had a bachelor party out one time. 6 guys bring 6 cases of beer, and 1 of the guys did not drink. The groom drank to the point of stumbling, slurring words. I got out a life jacket and asked he put it on. Good padding as well as floatation. He balked which told me he did need it. I told him " if you fall out of the boat you will be a lot easier to get back in floating rather than sinking. You get more drunk and I will tie a rope on you so I know where you are." Then he put on life jacket. Those guys had 2 six packs left at the end of the day. Missed more fish than they caught but had a good time doing it.