Live Bait Drifting Offers Light Tackle Fun On San Francisco Bay   By: Dan Bacher August 28, 2006 More Articles by Dan

Few urban areas anywhere have a diverse, exciting fishery like the one you find in central San Francisco Bay. The beautiful bay, the heart of the Bay Area, features light tackle fishing for a variety of fish, including striped bass, halibut, king salmon, sturgeon, leopard sharks, soupfin sharks, sevengill sharks, rockfish, lingcod, perch and jacksmelt.

Many methods are used to target the bay’s two most popular fish, halibut and striped bass, but I consider live bait “potluck” drifting to be the most fun and relaxing way to fish the bay. Although charter and private boats concentrate on halibut and striped bass most of the season, on every drift you never know what you might catch. It might be a striper or halibut, or it could be a leopard shark, lingcod, blue rockfish, brown rockfish or even an occasional exotic species like a white sea bass.

My introduction to live bait fishing came as the result of a mistake. In the summer of 1980, after a frantic drive from my apartment in San Jose one morning, I arrived at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco 10 minutes late for the salmon boat I was scheduled to go on. Bummed out that I couldn’t go fishing, I noticed a line of anglers standing in front of a boat that was still tied up to the dock, the Bass Tub.

I asked one of the guys in line, “What are you going fishing for?”

“We’re going live bait potluck fishing on the bay. The boat leaves at 7 am and we got here early to get a good spot on the boat.”

I decided to get in line, putting my ice chest, tackle box and rod next to me, About 20 minutes later, I saw a big, bear-like guy with red hair arrive, get on the boat, and joke to the customers as he and his deckhand, Chuck Louie, helped the anglers and their gear get down the ladder to the boat.

“You got any spots left?” I quizzed the affable Captain Anfinson.

“No problem. We got a space for you,” assured the captain.

That afternoon, we got back to the dock with a colorful array of halibut, striped bass and rockfish after fishing the reefs and rocks of the bay and just outside the Gate at Point Bonita. Throughout the day, Cliff and Chuck told zany jokes, such as warning people to keep their hands off the “highly venomous red devils” – bolina rockfish. I caught my first ever halibut, a 9 pounder, along with a mess of “reds, blues, lings and things” as Cliff called them. I’ve been excited about going live bait fishing ever since.

Cliff passed away in 1993 and his son, Erik, now runs the boat out of Fisherman’s Wharf for halibut, striped bass, sharks and rockfish.

Since my first trip, a lot has changed on the bay. The halibut fishery, after a big decline in the late 1980’s, came back dramatically after legislation, sponsored by State Senator Henry Mello and United Anglers of California, restricted the halibut trawlers that were taking huge numbers of flatfish outside of the Golden Gate. That legislation went into effect in January 2003 and the halibut populations, though highly cyclical, have been much better than they were in the mid to late 1980’s.

The striped bass fishery has also improved, with the fishery recovering enough for the National Marine Fisheries Service to close the pen-rearing project of the Fishery Foundation of California that raised salvaged striped bass from the Delta pumps. Unfortunately, in spite of the passage of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, the state and federal governments have increased pumping of Delta water to southern California over the past several years, helping to precipitate a food chain decline on the Delta. Nobody really knows what the long-term impact of this decline may be on striped bass and other gamefish.

One thing that has remained the same is the fun that anglers can have while fishing the reefs of San Francisco Bay. For example, the 20 anglers aboard the Morning Star bagged 14 bass, 7 halibut and one solitary leopard shark on my latest trip on the bay, the Fish Sniffer charter out of Loch Lomond Marina on July 26. We caught the halibut while drifting live anchovies at Paradise Cay and Southampton Shoals and Angel Island, while we bagged the stripers at Mel’s Reef off Alcatraz.

The overall halibut fishing this year to date has been “mediocre,” noted Keith Fraser of Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle in San Rafael. However, Fraser has been impressed by the large number of big fish in the 20 to 35 pound range that he has seen this season. Walt Fung currently holds first place in the “Lord of the Sea Derby” with a 35 lb. halibut caught on a trip aboard the Morning Star off Angel Island.

Also, a great sign for coming years is the large abundance of undersized halibut showing throughout the central bay, as well as in the south bay.

Some of the top spots to drift anchovies and live shiner perch for the halibut in the central bay include the Berkeley Flats, Southampton Shoals, Angel Island, Alcatraz, Crissy Field and Paradise Cay. Normally, the halibut fishing is also great just outside of the Golden Gate at Seal Rocks, but the bite there hasn’t been good so far this season.

Striped bass fishing in the central bay has also bounced up and down over the years, with the fishing ranging from hot to slow, depending on the water conditions and abundance of bait. Fraser gave striper fishing in the central bay a “fair” rating so far this season, but noted that the fish appear to be late because of the high flows from Central Valley rivers that freshened the water of the bay this spring and summer. In contrast, the south bay appears to be loaded with big schools of marauding striped bass this year.

The current status of the striped bass population is perplexing: the juvenile abundance index surveys have been on an alarmingly downward trend since the state and federal pumps started exporting huge amounts of water in the early 1970’s, while the adult population appears to be relatively robust. After declining from an average of 1.7 million legal-sized fish in the early 1970s, the population seemed to become stable at a new, lower level of 825,000 to 1.2 million between 1977 and 1989, according to the DFG The estimate decreased to 651,000 in 1990 and declined to the lowest level on record of 547,000 in 1993.

The population bounced back to an estimate of 1,570,831 fish in 2000, but appears to have declined since then, according to preliminary data from Marty Gingras, supervising biologist for the DFG. The estimate for adult striped bass in 2002 has been calculated three times (original plus two updates) and is not yet stable. The average of the three preliminary estimates is 1,027,555 legal-sized fish, still a large number of fish compared to 1993.

“We are in the midst of calculating abundance for adult striped bass in 2003 and do not have a preliminary number,” added Gingras. “We are completing quality control procedures on data for use calculating abundance in 2004 and 2005. We could not tag striped bass in 2006, so we will never have an estimate of their abundance in 2006.”

When striper and halibut action inside the bay is slow, live bait anglers have the option of fishing the central bay reefs or just outside the Golden Gate Bridge at Point Bonita, Seal Rock and other spots for rockfish and lingcod. As opposed to just pursuing one species, like you do when going after albacore or salmon, live bait “potluck” fishing allows you to pursue an assortment of species on one trip while enjoying the scenery of one of the world’s most beautiful bays.

San Francisco Bay Facts

Location: Central San Francisco Bay is one of the world’s best urban fisheries, surrounded by the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Sausalito and San Rafael.

Seasons: Fishing for striped bass, halibut and leopard sharks is open year round. The bag limit for striped bass is two fish 18 inches or over; halibut, three fish over 22 inches; and leopard sharks, 3 fish over 36 inches.

There are seasonal closures for lingcod, rockfish, sturgeon, salmon, surfperch and soupfin sharks. The San Francisco Bay District, including San Francisco and San Pablo bays, plus all their tidal bays, tidal portions of their rivers and streams, sloughs and estuaries between the Golden Gate Bridge and Carquinez Bridge, is included in the North-Central Management Area.

Rockfish: The recreational fishery for rockfish is open to boat-based anglers from July 1 through December 31, 2006. These species may only be taken or possessed in waters less than 180 feet (30 fathoms) deep. The recreational fishery for rockfish (Sebastes) is open year-round to divers and shore-based anglers. The daily bag and possession limit is 10 fish in combination of all species within the RCG Complex (includes all species of Rockfish, Cabezon and Greenlings) per person, with a sub-limit on bocaccio (1 per person, minimum size limit of 10 inches total length, also included in the 10 fish RCG Complex aggregate limit). Yelloweye rockfish, canary rockfish and cowcod may not be retained.

Lingcod: The recreational fishery for lingcod is open to boat-based anglers from July 1 through November 30, 2006. Lingcod may only be taken or possessed in waters less than 180 feet (30 fathoms) deep. The daily bag and possession limit is 2 fish with a minimum size limit of 24 inches total length.

Charter boats: Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael features the Morning Star, (800) 464-1431, Jim Cox Sport Fishing Charters, (650) 369-3807 and Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle (415) 456-0321. The Bass Tub, (415) 456-9055, leaves out of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The Fish Hookers Sportfishing, (916) 777-6498, operates out of the Richmond Marina, while Fury Sportfishing, (800) 499-6465, departs from the Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor. Nine boats, including the New Huck Finn, Dandy, Captain Hook, Superfish, Prime Time, C-Gull II, New Seeker, New Salmon Queen and Rapid Transit, depart from the Emeryville Sportfishing Center, (800) 575-9944. The Berkeley Marina Sport Center, (510) 849-3333, has the New Easy Rider, New El Dorado III, Silver Fox (650) 867-6910, El Dorado and California Dawn, (510) 773-5511. The Happy Hooker, (510) 773-4158, and Goldeneye 2000, (510) 610-0888, are also berthed at Berkeley. Trips with Captain Dave’s Sportfishing Charters are available out of the Oyster Point Marina, (650) 364-4851.

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