When I felt my first bite, I can remember the rush that I felt. What a relief that I finally had a fish on, and what a fight. I felt like I was on top of the world, and all I needed was to complete my day with limits. We were all able to end that day successfully with full limits of salmon that averaged 8 to 12 pounds. We had perfect weather and perfect water conditions.

My sturgeon adventure out of Martinez aboard the Baywatch with Captain James Smith proved to be even more exciting. I remember everyone at the magazine warning me not to get my hopes up for actually landing a keeper on my first trip. I had been informed that sturgeon fishing was some of the toughest fishing there is and that there are people who have been fishing for sturgeon for years and have yet to catch a keeper.

So I boarded the Baywatch thinking that the action was going to be on the slower side in comparison to my salmon trip, and that I should not expect to go home with any sturgeon unless Dan was going to be the one. But, to my advantage and to my surprise, the trip turned out to be quite different.

I remember my first little tug on my rod, setting the hook and fighting to bring that fish aboard the boat. I thought for sure that I had a keeper because it fought about the same as the salmon I had caught two weeks before. To my surprise, I had landed a baby shaker that I kissed and sent back on it's way to the great blue beyond.

I was happy that I had had some action, but disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to prove everyone back at the office wrong. And then it happened. I saw the pump, set the hook and began to reel. At first I felt nothing but slack line and thought that I had lost it when all of a sudden the 49 pound, 52 inch monster dove and took off in the opposite direction of the boat. I was in for more than I knew.

That fish was determined that to get away and I was determined that the fish was MINE. I fought to the point of exhaustion, feeling like I could barely hold on to the rod, let alone continue to struggle with the fish to get into the boat. Luckily, the fish gave up before I did, and I had my keeper. What a feeling to be able to walk into the office the next day, totally exhausted, and tell the tale of my catch.

My trout adventures have proven to give more action overall with quality fish, but never comparable to the fight of a salmon or sturgeon. Fishing in Redding on the Sacramento River with guide Kirk Portocarrero in the summer was a very hot and slow day. In comparison to the 20 to 30 fish days that they had been experiencing before our trip, we ended up with about 4 rainbows, though they were good quality fish up to 4 pounds.

A trip to Scott's Flat Lake with Scott Bartosh was another monumental trip for me. I landed a beautiful 4 pound brown while trolling, which made me the envy of the office.

However, my most memorable trout experience was bank fishing for rainbows with Dan at Lake Amador in November. The action on the lake was great. Within a couple of hours Dan and I were able to catch seven trout while the two of us relaxed on the lake's dock. It was a great feeling to go home with 4 nice quality rainbows. But the greatest feeling was to have Dan beat by one fish!

Rockcod fishing in the Bay with Captain James Smith while aboard the Happy Hooker also proved to be a day filled with action. I had never been on a boat where there were people bringing in fish after fish with very little time in between. It was so exciting to drop your bait and within a matter of seconds have a fish on. Though rockfishing can be a lot of work, it also tends to be one of the more successful trips.

Finally, though my striper experience in the San Francisco Bay was less than desired due to the weather and my lack of planning, most anglers aboard the boat were still able to walk away with limits of quality stripers.

And in December, the whole Fish Sniffer office had planned to go striper fishing in the Delta with Captains Barry and Diana Canevaro. I was so excited to go because for over a month I had been hearing reports on how incredible the striper fishing in the Delta had been. I knew that this was my opportunity to experience striper fishing at its best.

As the trip grew closer, the excitement of the upcoming trip in the office was growing. And wouldn't you know that 2 days before the much anticipated trip, the doctor told that I had Scarlet Fever and had to be bed ridden for the next 2 to 3 days. Sure enough, on the one trip that I wasn't able to go on the boat, every body caught full limits early on in the day. Not to mention that the weather was ideal for the time of year.

Overall, I have learned a lot about how to better my technique and knowledge on fishing of all sorts. And most of all, I have gotten closer to determining to seeing what types of fishing that I prefer.