San Francisco Bay & Ocean Fishing Report

Report Updated March 17, 2010

Nice cornucopia of action!

This week, there’s a bunch of cool stuff going on in and around the Bay. According to all-around great guy and Bay Area fishing guru, Jonah Li at Hi’s Tackle Box in San Francisco, there’s already a pretty decent halibut bite going for trollers pulling anchovies or herring behind size 0 or 00 Jensen Dodgers or Kone Zone flashers. At the top of the tide, fish near the reefs out in front of Oyster Point. Then, on the out-go, hit the mouth of the Oyster as the fish stack up there waiting for bait to get washed out. Candlestick has been good around the flats, too.

For stripers try the islands of Marin…Red Rock has been especially good for drifting live bait or casting 3/4-ounce swimbaits. Most of these fish are small — the biggest of which are 4-6 pounds and the rest are shakers.

Outside the Golden Gate, the surf is calming down and perch are getting more active. Carolina-rigged GULP sandworms on a 12-inch leader are hot. A few stripers are showing at Rockaway and the crabbers are still doing well off the pier at Pacifica. Of course, squid are an all-you-want type of deal still…

Sturgeon are still hanging around down south of the Dumbarton bridge and up in Suisun Bay has been kinda up and down for sturgeon, though the bite has been a bit funky. There are fish jumping but not eating so much at the moment. Water’s still salty up high…there are crabs up in Suisun still.

About San Francisco Bay

With the amount of urbanization that surrounds San Francisco Bay, it’s a wonder there are any fish here at all. But fish there are! Stripers, halibut and sturgeon make up the Bay’s Big 3 and Chinook salmon pass through here en route to their spawning rivers every fall, too. You’ve also got hard-pulling sharks like leopards, soupfins and sevengills, not to mention rockfish and lingcod. For the light tackle enthusiast, there’s also plenty of perch and jacksemlt and a few starry flounder.

Trolling for Halibut Tips
The Not-so-secret Sturgeon Bait
Shallow Water Rockfishing