SF Bay halibut bite
- Thread starter OaklandP
- Start date
B
No luck from shore at Crissy Field yet. I've been going just about once a week and I've had a couple of tap-taps but that's about it. I think the water needs to get above 60F before the shore fishing takes off. If you're interested, here are some notes from my fishing log:
Feb 6, 2022 - Spent an hour at Crissy west beach between pier and tide station. No bites. Gorgeous morning, 46F, no wind. Guys on pier were catching crabs. Outgoing tide, water had about 0.5ft visibility. Tried white storm SM and small crocodile lure. Saw one possible baitfish jumping at tide station.
Mar 12, 2022 - An hour at the wildlife fence, and a little less at the point at East Beach. High tide going out. (1st quarter moon) Very clear water. Started at 46F with no wind, but the wind picked up. Very low fog. When I started, there was a school of anchovies (up to 3 inches) near the shore. Lots of jumps out of the water. Also the whole school jumped at one point. Tried different retrieves. I did have one short tap-tap nibble. Didn't feel like a halibut.
Mar 18, 2022 - An hour at the wildlife fence, and an hour at the point at East Beach. Bottom of tide to incoming. (Full moon) No wind! Started out 1 foot viz, then 2 feet. Viz was 3 feet at East beach. I did see a school of pinheads come by. No bites. Started with surfperch zorro loco fly, then switched to large chartreuse ice Search minnow. There were a few other anglers but did not see any action. Beautiful morning.
Mar 26, 2022 - An hour at the wildlife fence, and an hour at the point at East Beach. Top of tide to outgoing. Water clarity about 1.5 feet. Started with Scheel's grub, had two tap-taps. Switched to chartreuse 4.5in storm search minnow and had a something follow it, tapping at least 3 times. Went to East beach and had another possible tap close in just as I was pulling it out. Saw one other angler fly fishing, said hello.
April 3, 2022
East beach at outgoing for an hour. Medium chartreuse, switched to large chartreuse. The large one swims really well. Then to seaplane ramp incoming for an hour. No bites. Visibility about 1.5 feet. Fairly dirty water. Did not see any bait jumping at either place.
April 8, 2022
East of wildlife fence for an hour. Outgoing moderate halibut tide. Very clear water, 2+ feet viz. Slight breeze from the west. First time trying silver slam shady on 1/8 oz searchbait jig head. Good action. No bites.
April 23, 2022
Fished high outgoing at Wildlife fence and east from 6:20 to 8. Saw one smallish 2 inch fish jump near me. Less than a foot viz. Used white 4.5 inch search minnow. Then went to east beach and fished until 9:20. Much clearer water. Saw one other 2 inch fish jump near me. The point at the lagoon outlet is now much less well defined. Beautiful sunny morning, no wind the entire time. No bites at either spot.
April 29, 2022
Fished lagoon output at East Beach. Morning minus tide to incoming. Very clear water with green string salad on beach and in the water. No wind, mellow water. I started at 6:30 and immediately saw a very large school of adult anchovies breaking the surface. They were mostly beyond my casting distance. Did see some terns diving but otherwise very little other activity - no indication of stripers or halibut chasing the anchovies. I continued casting and had a bite at 7:30. It was on for about 5 seconds. Lot's of tugs. I paused and then had one more tug. It felt very much like a small halibut. No more bites after that. The water started flowing rapidly into the bay. As it approached 8:am the green stringy stuff started to hang on my lure more often. I went over by the rocks near yacht club. Still very clear water but no bites. Still saw a few baitfish jump. I left at 8:30am and at that point a trawler had pulled near the shore. I think it was catching anchovies.
May 6, 2022
Fished East beach from just east of lagoon outlet then west to the first tree. Had one bite about 20 feet west of the concrete lagoon barrier. Tap tap, then a really quick pull but it let go. I'm guessing a small halibut or a jacksmelt. There is a patch of seaweed there and the bite came just as I pulled it out of the seaweed. Fished 6:15 to 8:15. Thick fog, windless but the breeze picked up at 8am. Outgoing moderate tide. Water was very clear. Saw a couple of larger baitfish jump, also tern activity. Trawler was there most of the time pulling up anchovies (?) near the wildlife area.
May 14, 2022
Fished east beach from rocks west to the trees. Low fast incoming. Ultra clear water. Water temp 57F. Saw a 6-pack boat about 500ft away and someone hauled in an undersized halibut. Very little activity otherwise, saw a tern dive, saw one little fish jump. Otherwise that's it.
Feb 6, 2022 - Spent an hour at Crissy west beach between pier and tide station. No bites. Gorgeous morning, 46F, no wind. Guys on pier were catching crabs. Outgoing tide, water had about 0.5ft visibility. Tried white storm SM and small crocodile lure. Saw one possible baitfish jumping at tide station.
Mar 12, 2022 - An hour at the wildlife fence, and a little less at the point at East Beach. High tide going out. (1st quarter moon) Very clear water. Started at 46F with no wind, but the wind picked up. Very low fog. When I started, there was a school of anchovies (up to 3 inches) near the shore. Lots of jumps out of the water. Also the whole school jumped at one point. Tried different retrieves. I did have one short tap-tap nibble. Didn't feel like a halibut.
Mar 18, 2022 - An hour at the wildlife fence, and an hour at the point at East Beach. Bottom of tide to incoming. (Full moon) No wind! Started out 1 foot viz, then 2 feet. Viz was 3 feet at East beach. I did see a school of pinheads come by. No bites. Started with surfperch zorro loco fly, then switched to large chartreuse ice Search minnow. There were a few other anglers but did not see any action. Beautiful morning.
Mar 26, 2022 - An hour at the wildlife fence, and an hour at the point at East Beach. Top of tide to outgoing. Water clarity about 1.5 feet. Started with Scheel's grub, had two tap-taps. Switched to chartreuse 4.5in storm search minnow and had a something follow it, tapping at least 3 times. Went to East beach and had another possible tap close in just as I was pulling it out. Saw one other angler fly fishing, said hello.
April 3, 2022
East beach at outgoing for an hour. Medium chartreuse, switched to large chartreuse. The large one swims really well. Then to seaplane ramp incoming for an hour. No bites. Visibility about 1.5 feet. Fairly dirty water. Did not see any bait jumping at either place.
April 8, 2022
East of wildlife fence for an hour. Outgoing moderate halibut tide. Very clear water, 2+ feet viz. Slight breeze from the west. First time trying silver slam shady on 1/8 oz searchbait jig head. Good action. No bites.
April 23, 2022
Fished high outgoing at Wildlife fence and east from 6:20 to 8. Saw one smallish 2 inch fish jump near me. Less than a foot viz. Used white 4.5 inch search minnow. Then went to east beach and fished until 9:20. Much clearer water. Saw one other 2 inch fish jump near me. The point at the lagoon outlet is now much less well defined. Beautiful sunny morning, no wind the entire time. No bites at either spot.
April 29, 2022
Fished lagoon output at East Beach. Morning minus tide to incoming. Very clear water with green string salad on beach and in the water. No wind, mellow water. I started at 6:30 and immediately saw a very large school of adult anchovies breaking the surface. They were mostly beyond my casting distance. Did see some terns diving but otherwise very little other activity - no indication of stripers or halibut chasing the anchovies. I continued casting and had a bite at 7:30. It was on for about 5 seconds. Lot's of tugs. I paused and then had one more tug. It felt very much like a small halibut. No more bites after that. The water started flowing rapidly into the bay. As it approached 8:am the green stringy stuff started to hang on my lure more often. I went over by the rocks near yacht club. Still very clear water but no bites. Still saw a few baitfish jump. I left at 8:30am and at that point a trawler had pulled near the shore. I think it was catching anchovies.
May 6, 2022
Fished East beach from just east of lagoon outlet then west to the first tree. Had one bite about 20 feet west of the concrete lagoon barrier. Tap tap, then a really quick pull but it let go. I'm guessing a small halibut or a jacksmelt. There is a patch of seaweed there and the bite came just as I pulled it out of the seaweed. Fished 6:15 to 8:15. Thick fog, windless but the breeze picked up at 8am. Outgoing moderate tide. Water was very clear. Saw a couple of larger baitfish jump, also tern activity. Trawler was there most of the time pulling up anchovies (?) near the wildlife area.
May 14, 2022
Fished east beach from rocks west to the trees. Low fast incoming. Ultra clear water. Water temp 57F. Saw a 6-pack boat about 500ft away and someone hauled in an undersized halibut. Very little activity otherwise, saw a tern dive, saw one little fish jump. Otherwise that's it.
B
My guess is that the halibut are where the food is, and right now the food is probably deeper. I don't know what causes the baitfish to move closer to shore, but I'm sure temperature, wind, and plankton have a role to play. Last year was somewhat similar to this year, at least temperature-wise, and I didn't catch anything until June. One Saturday in June last year I had seven halibut on the line at East Beach in the span of an hour and a half, 3 of which got off, 2 were undersized and the remaining two were 10 lbs each. I just happened to be there when a massive school of halibut moved in close to shore chasing bait. The next day, nothing.
At least as far as Crissy goes, it's always been hit and miss for me. But it's just a 15 minutes drive for me and I enjoy just being out there, so I'll continue to go once a week as long as the wind isn't too bad. With June just around the corner, I think good things will happen soon.
At least as far as Crissy goes, it's always been hit and miss for me. But it's just a 15 minutes drive for me and I enjoy just being out there, so I'll continue to go once a week as long as the wind isn't too bad. With June just around the corner, I think good things will happen soon.
Very thorough reporting, beutelevision. Have you had luck whenever the water is stained/low viz?
It's enough to turn me away from even trying at one of the spots I go to when using lures--I've never had good luck when the water is dirty or murky. I feel like the only chance for halibut is unless the lure happens to land right in front of the fish...
It's enough to turn me away from even trying at one of the spots I go to when using lures--I've never had good luck when the water is dirty or murky. I feel like the only chance for halibut is unless the lure happens to land right in front of the fish...
B
I avoid dirty water too. When I fish the beach with waders, I like to fish it knee-deep which is about a foot and a half. I wear a pair of oversized canvas shoes with bright chartreuse shoelaces, and my rule of thumb is I need to see the laces, otherwise I'll move on. At Crissy Field, the dirtiest water comes on the outgoing tide during full moon and new moon. So I try to catch the incoming tide if possible. Also, east beach tends to be cleaner than the stretch near the tide station. I don't know why that would be but there are often some pretty dramatic eddies and swirls that happen at east beach and maybe that affects the clarity.
