Fish reports — SF Bay Area and NorCal

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#1
Been trying to get some reports for both areas but it's like pulling teeth. People either don't answer their phone or say they don't know what's being caught. Result: no reports for SF Bay and NorCal.

Carquinez Strait-West Delta is posted.
 

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#2
I understand the problem. As we've discussed, the notion of fish reports on a web site may be dated or outdated. Some say web sites and message boards are dated given cell phones, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They may be right.
 
#3
View attachment 105

We are cautious for a good reason. In the Bay Area it's an almost daily competition for scarce resources. We lose access all the time. Just recently in Richmond, for example, there were two producing locales that are now off limits due to construction and new charter schools. One report or one cell phone call can change a spot that supported two mellow people into a swarm of twenty anxious anglers. In most cases this increased impact also harms the environment. In other words, spot rushed and ultimately spot ruined. Even so, members of this message board are good about locations and strategies--if you text or PM them. But a forum like this can be read by more than just its members.

Right now...the trend in the Bay System is small stripers and small halibut near the shore and piers. The ratio is close to 10:1 shaker to keeper in both species. Lures will be better for legal stripers. So will targeting them on San Pablo Bay. But the halis are cagey. The boats aren't doing that well with them, either. This is all subject to the change (hey, it's the Bay), so the determined angler should keep mobile and try different spots for, say, an hour, and then move on. Here's where artificials rule.

Perch are around, mostly black and wall-eyed (some are decent sized), but you still need to be on the move. Pile worms all the way, incoming to an hour after the top.

If you feel like sitting all day, bat rays and sharks persist, and dead fish or squid will work. But right now bait-and-wait is slightly faster than watching the Golf Channel.
Thanks for the report, "Happy Wanderer". Haven't been out in awhile, hoping to wet a line even though catching seems to be slim.

Salty.
 

Red Fish

Senior Member
#4
I understand the problem. As we've discussed, the notion of fish reports on a web site may be dated or outdated. Some say web sites and message boards are dated given cell phones, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They may be right.
Yes and No Ken. It depends on what type of information you are looking for. Anyone that knows how to look for information uses multiple sources of media. Some methods of research can/will be dependent on the age of the person. Just because a medium may be up-to-date, fast, and convenient does not necessarily make it superior and put older methods of gathering research to sleep.

Example: I personally gather data from 4 or 5 websites, including in that number this website. Not all are the same. A couple are just printed biweekly general reports. There is no opportunity for discussion, just reading a report. These are basically what you would read in a newspaper’s sports section years ago. A couple are interactive like this one where you can actually trade information. Others just share pictures and locations by members that are many times obscure, not updated, and not very useful except as “clickbait.” Then, there are YouTube videos by individuals that are online training videos and visual learning. The You Tube videos are very valuable for personal learning of knots, specific fishing techniques, and how to fish specific spots. You can “see” what people are talking about.

For me, I get more of a feel of what’s happening currently on piers and shores and the culture of the present day pier fishing from PFIC.
 
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