Dumbarton - Perch fishing questions

[Heretic]

I really should be taking more advantage of the proximity of my work to this pier even if it's not the most productive (for fish or use of my time. )

I can keep a light rod at work for perch to get some fishing in during lunches - are there tips on where I should I be fishing along this long pier to find perch, alternatively, how deep should the water be if drop a weight down to measure the depth?

Where to target? Stick to the pilings? Cast near the utility towers? Do pockets even exist in the mud flats for surf perch to congregate? For example where would I find the barred surf perch on the picture in Ken's page about Dumbarton Pier?

Thanks for any tips.

 

[The Pond King]

I would say just get out there and try fishing it. It's very easy to catch perch at Dumbarton. You will learn everything you need to know by just getting out there once. It's actually a good spot, and you'll catch numbers of fat dandy surf perch. One after the other on good days and perch fight well for a fish of their size.

When fishing for perch at Dumbarton, you don't have to go to the end of the pier. In fact, it's better to fish the beginning of the pier. Go on a high tide. Buy some market shrimp and cut into small pieces and put it on a 3 hook surf rig/high-low-low rig and use a 1-2oz weight. Use a size 8 baitholder hook. The eagle claw pre snelled hooks are the ones I use. I also recommend a limber but strong rod. Something like an ugly stick. That way, you'll have fun fighting the fish but won't break your rod from using heavy weights and lugging fish over the rail.

I recommend catch and release. I personally would not eat fish out of there. If you want to each perch, go surf fishing for them in the ocean.

I'm giving out one of my secrets, but I work so much these days, I never have time to fish, so I don't care. All I ask is you post reports with lots of pictures in return, so I can vicariously live through them lol.