Summary:  Water movement really gets going this week and that will stir things up.
 
 

STRIPED BASS:  While many people are touting the onset of the Fall Run, it is nothing to get excited about for shoreliners just yet.  Stripers are taking pile worms and grass shrimp at Golden Gate Fields in the morning and bullheads in Carquinez Strait, but elsewhere it is hit and miss so far.  This is subject to change at any moment, so keep your ears and eyes open and get out and do some exploration of your own.  Any time now.
 
 

STURGEON: A mystery.  Either no one is fishing or no one is talking.
 

PERCH: Small tides and slow water make for tepid perch angling.  Lots of shiners at Golden Gate Fields (but not much worth as bait for some reason).  Some black perch around the east bay rocks and over at Sausalito.  The commercial boats have been doing well from Sausalito to just outside the gate on the north side, so try Kirby Cove or--if you are brave--the rocks below Point Bonita lighthouse.  The surf is still mucked with eel grass but you can find some walleyed and silver perch at Fort Cronkite where the sand meets the rocks.  Or head up to Bodega Bay and fish the jetty walls.

MISCELLANEOUS SPECIES:   Jacksmelt are all over, especially on the low tide.  Cut anchovies on a fixed rig or the standard styrofoam float apparatus with pile worms are all good.  Bat rays and sharks are scarce, with some lingering in San Pablo Bay or south of Oyster Point.  Halibut are pretty rare, too, with some small ones hanging around San Quentin and Crissy Field.  Salmon fishing was pretty good--and crowded in a big way--this past week at Dillon Point and Benicia.  Blue Fox, Flying C, Mepps--the usual spinning lures--have all been productive.   Rockfish are near the rocky shores but still kind of small.

FRESHWATER:   Trout plants at Los Vaqueros, Chabot, and Del Valle.  Water levels are down just about everywhere and that has hurt the bite.  But things are looking up.  Now that the weather is turning towards autumn conditions, trout plants are being resumed and hope is alive.  Los Vaqueros has been rated "red hot" this week, due in no small part to the fact that fishing has just begun.  PowerBait will get you trout, lures will get you kokanee and black bass, chicken livers will get you catfish.  if you're tired of the Skunk, this is the place to go.

DELTA RUMORS: Water temperatures have cooled down significantly and that has turned the bite around.  Striped bass are active, fresh from San Pablo Bay, and are getting caught in decent sizes from Sherman Island to Rio Vista.  Also try the Whisky Slough region for keepers.  Live shad and mudsuckers are good baits.  Some are also brought in on lures targeted for salmon, such as Mepps and Wiggle Warts.  Stay in the main or deep channel areas; the back sloughs are filled with small stripers.  Salmon fishing is okay from Isleton on up on the lures mentioned, best north of Walnut Grove still.  Catfish are a great prospect now as well.  Black bass are biting minnows in Antioch by the bridges.