New to the forum: East Coast transplant (moved Jan 2018), based in San Francisco, have been surf/pier fishing ~1x/week for the last 6 months.
Now for the report:
I went to Oyster Point on Sunday around 1pm with a dropshot/gulp mullet setup to plug for a bit. Pier was dead after 1hr, on my way out I met a fish counter from DFW who interviewed me. I asked him where he'd seen action lately and he mentioned Pacifica pier had quite a striper bite from late July into early August.
While I assumed this info was probably stale, I decided to give the pier another shot, as I had a bad experience when I had tried for surf perch in March (belligerent homeless, lots of trash, crab lines EVERYWHERE with nonstop tangles). Found parking and got onto the pier, which was wall to wall along the first 2/3. Saw lots of surf perch in buckets (mostly smaller walleyes) and everyone who was fishing for them seemed to be catching jacksmelt. I kept throwing my gulp (3" white mullet on a size 1 hook with a 1oz ball sinker drop shot) and first cast I got hit by a 12" white croaker. I threw him back but was immediately elbow to elbow with three more folks who were excitedly shouting "kingfish!" Got hit on the second cast / missed him, but realized my hook was likely too large... switched to a half gulp (just the curly tail) on a size 4 but unfortunately had no more action over the next 45 mins.
Went down to the beach where there were several folks fishing sandfleas on fishfinder rigs and saw one had a 24" striper in the cooler. I started throwing a kastmaster and came back with sandfleas snagged on 2/3 treble points. I could take a hint, so I went home and grabbed a bigger surf rig with a 3oz hi low (size 2 hooks) and a sandflea scoop... first two scoops were loaded with nice sized fleas, including soft shells and several with eggs. I got perch hits on the soft shells but the outgoing tide and swell made it hard to hold bottom, even after going up to 4oz. Also tons of seaweed in the water so I moved back up to the pier. I got up there and found out the angler next to me had caught a 25" striper 30 mins before so I was hopeful. Unfortunately all of my soft shells got picked off by tiny perch (probably more walleyes) and I had trouble keeping the crabs off as well. Hooked/landed two legal dungies that evidently liked sand fleas but threw both back (out of season) - to the chagrin of the woman next to me who asked if she could keep both!
Eventually got late (~7pm) and witnessed a pretty heated altercation between a homeless man and a fisherman, so I decided it was time to head home.
Hopefully next report will have more fish. I would love to find one consistent local pier and work it hard / really learn the ropes out here, as everything land-based (save for a July 4th trip to Bolinas that had all the sharays I could handle) has been very hit or miss - mostly jacksmelt, small surf perch, bullheads, small brown rockfish, small rays on bait and consistent skunks on metals/swimbaits.
If anyone has any local tips, feel free to PM me!
Now for the report:
I went to Oyster Point on Sunday around 1pm with a dropshot/gulp mullet setup to plug for a bit. Pier was dead after 1hr, on my way out I met a fish counter from DFW who interviewed me. I asked him where he'd seen action lately and he mentioned Pacifica pier had quite a striper bite from late July into early August.
While I assumed this info was probably stale, I decided to give the pier another shot, as I had a bad experience when I had tried for surf perch in March (belligerent homeless, lots of trash, crab lines EVERYWHERE with nonstop tangles). Found parking and got onto the pier, which was wall to wall along the first 2/3. Saw lots of surf perch in buckets (mostly smaller walleyes) and everyone who was fishing for them seemed to be catching jacksmelt. I kept throwing my gulp (3" white mullet on a size 1 hook with a 1oz ball sinker drop shot) and first cast I got hit by a 12" white croaker. I threw him back but was immediately elbow to elbow with three more folks who were excitedly shouting "kingfish!" Got hit on the second cast / missed him, but realized my hook was likely too large... switched to a half gulp (just the curly tail) on a size 4 but unfortunately had no more action over the next 45 mins.
Went down to the beach where there were several folks fishing sandfleas on fishfinder rigs and saw one had a 24" striper in the cooler. I started throwing a kastmaster and came back with sandfleas snagged on 2/3 treble points. I could take a hint, so I went home and grabbed a bigger surf rig with a 3oz hi low (size 2 hooks) and a sandflea scoop... first two scoops were loaded with nice sized fleas, including soft shells and several with eggs. I got perch hits on the soft shells but the outgoing tide and swell made it hard to hold bottom, even after going up to 4oz. Also tons of seaweed in the water so I moved back up to the pier. I got up there and found out the angler next to me had caught a 25" striper 30 mins before so I was hopeful. Unfortunately all of my soft shells got picked off by tiny perch (probably more walleyes) and I had trouble keeping the crabs off as well. Hooked/landed two legal dungies that evidently liked sand fleas but threw both back (out of season) - to the chagrin of the woman next to me who asked if she could keep both!
Eventually got late (~7pm) and witnessed a pretty heated altercation between a homeless man and a fisherman, so I decided it was time to head home.
Hopefully next report will have more fish. I would love to find one consistent local pier and work it hard / really learn the ropes out here, as everything land-based (save for a July 4th trip to Bolinas that had all the sharays I could handle) has been very hit or miss - mostly jacksmelt, small surf perch, bullheads, small brown rockfish, small rays on bait and consistent skunks on metals/swimbaits.
If anyone has any local tips, feel free to PM me!
