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How to: SF Bay Halibut Trolling

August 13, 2014 By JD Leave a Comment

It’s kind of an old school video, but there’s some good stuff in there…

Filed Under: Saltwater, Techniques Tagged With: halibut, san francisco bay, trolling

Know Your Fish: The Sacramento Splittail

June 5, 2012 By JD 7 Comments

Here’s an interesting critter that most folks have never encountered: The Sacramento Splittail. Even if you live in its home range of Nor Cal’s Central Valley and Delta regions, it’s not a fish commonly encountered. Part of that is due to the fact that Splittail aren’t considered a gamefish and their relative obscurity is also a function of them not being present in large numbers anymore. Sure, there are isolated populations of these guys but they’re nowhere near as abundant as they were before the valley’s rivers were dammed.

These cyprinids prefer to spawn on flood plains, but with reservoirs controlling the flow of the Sacramento and her tributaries, the flooded spawning habitat they prefer occurs only intermittently these days.

While they kinda look like a mountain whitefish crossed with a pike minnow, Splittail are actually kinda cool looking beasts when you get ’em up close. The oversized upper lobe of the caudal fin for which they’re named give’s them a bit of a “brown bonefish” vibe. Unfortunately, splitties can’t burn line like the bones of the flats, but they can actually put up a decent scrap on light gear.

Splittail once ranged from San Francisco Bay to Redding but now are most commonly found in the Delta and the Sacramento’s lower reaches…up to about the town of Verona, at the confluence of the Feather and Sacramento rivers. He’s a greedy little bugger that mainly feeds on the bottom on clams, crustaceans, and insect larvae, though I’ve seen them take insects off the surface in the early mornings and I’m pretty sure they also eat small fish.

In the winter, they’ll migrate upstream and look for flooded areas in which to spawn (typically in March).

Filed Under: Exotic Species Tagged With: delta, sacramento river, san francisco bay, splittail

The World’s Ugliest Fishing Hole

February 27, 2010 By JD 2 Comments


Okay, this is just straight-up weird…but oddly entertaining, too! Lombard of the Intertidal takes you on a “deep, deep, inner city fishing experience” that is more urban than even Mike Iaconelli can get you into on City Limits Fishing.

Filed Under: Fishing Videos Tagged With: mike iaconelli, san francisco bay

Trolling for San Francisco Bay Halibut

July 21, 2008 By JD 35 Comments

jay-lopes
While live bait drifting has always been a popular method for hooking California halibut from Baja to Oregon, trolling is really gaining a good following and its easy to see why: it allows you to cover lots of ground quickly and locate fish… plus, it’s deadly!

Here’s how to do it:
Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Best of FishwithJD, Featured, Saltwater Tagged With: california halibut, halibut, Saltwater, saltwater fishing, san francisco bay

San Francisco Halibut fishing

May 30, 2007 By JD 2 Comments

San Francisco halibut trolling

To someone from outside the area, it may see odd that San Francisco Bay can produce some red hot fishing action for a variety of species. After all, the bay is the center piece of an immense and sprawling mega-metropolis and is surrounded on all sides by densely-packed civilization.

Despite all that, fishing remains good and, right now, California halibut are the main focus for anglers. On Wednesday, I headed down to the bay to see how the bite was going and I wasn’t disappointed…
Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Where to fish Tagged With: california halibut, halibut, san francisco bay

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