{http://songslinger.virtualave.net/fishing.html}
 
 

Summary:  The summer pattern has been established.  It's going to be crabs and wind, wind and crabs. Get up early and fish before the afternoon blast comes in.  Use live bait or lures.  Or head outside the Gate, because chances are it'll be ten times calmer on the surf.   Now is the time to have that surf gear ready to grab and run.
 
 

STRIPED BASS:  Pathetic.  Few people know where the stripers are and why they are so scarce these days.  It's miserable in the Delta and a mystery in the Bay System.  Look for signs on the beaches south of San Francisco in a couple weeks.

STURGEON: Most of the sturgeon are out of reach of shoreliners, holed up on the northern shores of the Carquinez and Suisun Bay, but some are getting caught on shrimp baits at the Montezuma Slough Bridge off Grizzly Island Road.  Or you can try the usual stretch from Rio Vista down to Sherman Island.

PERCH: It's a hunting expedition for more than one perch along the rocks in the East Bay, and only slightly better across the bay.  best bet is to catch the barred, redtail, and walleyed perch from the beaches north and south of the Golden Gate.  Prospects are good because the wind is usually kinder outside San Francisco.

MISCELLANEOUS SPECIES:  Three species dominate the scene.  The first is the most obvious: halibut.  The only place worth going if you don't have a boat is Berkeley Pier.  Live anchovies are the top bait, followed by live shiners.  Forget everything else.  Reports and counts are so ridiculous that they won't be mentioned here, except to say that if even a quarter of them are true, now is the time to get that flatfish.  Sharks are also in the Bay, leopards, smooth hound, seven gill, and even some soupfin.  Whole fish like sardines are good, and so is squid.  Then there are the bat rays, who will snatch up whatever the crabs aren't stealing.

FRESHWATER: Trout planted at San Pablo,  Shadow Cliffs, Del Valle, Los Vaqueros, Lafayette, Contra Loma,  and Bon Tempe.  Use bright golden lures like Kastmasters or Little Cleos, and the old standby, PowerBait in whatever color the lake concessionaires suggest.  It changes almost daily.  Crappies are good at San Pablo, black bass fair elsewhere.

DELTA RUMORS:  High winds continue to blow dirt into the water and the fishing is pretty lousy.  It's either too windy or too hot.  In any case, the striper bite hasn't materialized.  Black bass fishing is okay wherever the water is clear (back sloughs); use Senkos or black on black spinner baits.  Catfish are hitting all manner of baits because water clarity does not effect them.  Sturgeon continue to hit lines form Rio Vista down to Sherman Island.