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 Summary:  Spring is in the air and all the signs are hopeful for good fishing from now until late summer.  Stripers are moving, halibut are moving, and maybe even the sturgeon will get moving.  In any case, there are fish all over the Bay/Delta system, and they are biting.
 

STRIPED BASS:  Ashby/Frontage Road in Berkeley has been a consistent spot for stripers--at least for this time of year.  Several keepers and a bunch of shakers have been pulled in during this past week.  Grass shrimp, pile worms, and anchovies are all getting bites.  Also, China Camp and adjacent area has stripers hitting the same baits, though crabs remain a problem in San Pablo waters.  Suisun Bay has them, too, mostly out of reach to shoreliners.

STURGEON:  Still waiting for the sturgeon to move into Carquinez Strait in good numbers.  Some are there already, and if you can get past the mitten crabs, you have a chance at Benicia, Martinez, and Port Costa.  The Napa River, from downtown Vallejo to Highway 37, has been good on shrimp baits.  Slow elsewhere except for the Delta.  Next week will lift the Closure and that means Emeryville, Point Isabel, and Fort Baker will be back in business for legal diamondbacks.

PERCH: Fishing is good all over the Bay, with the more consistent spots being Emeryville, Berkeley, Sausalito, and Muni Pier in San Francisco.  Look for rocks and fish close to them.  Pile worms are the best bait.  Black, pile, and striped perch are the regular fare.

MISCELLANEOUS SPECIES:  Some halibut are in the Bay.  The sandy areas from Crissy Field to Fort Point have seen a few, chasing baits that are reeled in, or hitting Rat-L-Traps; and so has Berkeley Pier, where one was caught this past week (though the bait is unknown).  This is cause for more optimism than excitement but it is a sign that summer is on the way.  Also,
kingfish are still in San Pablo Bay, Fort Baker pier, East Bay shoreline.  Anchovies and worms will bring them in.  Flounder are scattered around San Pablo Bay.  Some cabezons in nearly legal sizes across the Bay.  Pile worms are the way to go.  Bullheads are hitting all over, with Point Pinole, Muni Pier, and the Berkeley waterfront being the better places to catch your striper bait.

FRESHWATER: Trout planted at Del Valle, Chabot, Shadow Cliffs, Contra Loma, and Phoenix. The water is clearing up and that means an improvement in trout fishing.  Marshmallow/worm combos, PowerBait (almost any color will do, or use corn-flavored to excite the newly planted fish), or small Kastmasters are effective.  Catfish will take the usual baits, but have been hitting worms and shrimp.  Black bass action is fair on spinners, jigs, and plastic worms.

DELTA RUMORS: The word is Sturgeon.  Sherman Island,  all the way up to Cache Slough, has had a good amount of keepers taken along the way.  Shrimp baits are the key.  Fast tides make the big waters a challenge, but that's when and where the sturgeon are around.  Windy weather continues to screw things up in the unsheltered areas of the Delta, especially in the north.  Striped bass fishing has slowed due to murky fast water, but you can still find them at Three Mile Slough, Sherman Island (both rivers), and especially in the Franks Tract area.  South Delta is okay for catfish and that's about it.