Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3806 Mar 1-15 2019 | Page 33

SALTWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 6 March 1 - 15, 2019 31 Banking On San Francisco Bay! I grew up in the Bay Area and learned the productivity of fishing the rich waters of San Francisco Bay at an early age. Indeed, some of my earliest fishing memories dating back to the early 70’s concern accompanying my dad and uncle Bob on outings along the Alameda, Oakland and San Leandro shorelines. When they were after stripers they would typically work the area around the Bay Farm Island Bridge with plugs after the sun had set. At other times, Dad would use anchovies and pile worms to tempt flounders, jack smelt and other fish that frequent the south bay flats. By the time, I reached my teens we were living in San Lorenzo about a mile and a half from the shoreline trail that runs from the San Leandro Marina to the San Mateo Bridge. As a result, I became a dedicated bay angler, employing a mountain bike and surf rod to ply south bay waters for sharks, rays, stripers, perch and anything else that came within casting range of the shoreline. These days I live in the foothills and enjoy the fishing opportunities that the streams and reservoirs in the Sierra offer. Yet, I still hit the bay from the bank every spring and summer hunting for stripers and hard fighting leopard sharks. While S.F. Bay is home to a myriad of different fish, the dynamic duo as far as bank anglers are concerned are striped bass and leopard sharks. Stripers generally begin showing up in bay waters during the month of March. For shore anglers plugging and fishing cut baits are the most effective ways to bag stripers. For these approaches, I employ two different rods. A good set up for plugging is a 7 to 8-foot spinning rod with a medium fast action and enough power to cast up to an ounce and a half of weight. The rod should be teamed with a spinning reel spooled with 200 yards of abrasion resistant 12-pound monofilament or 20 to 30 pound braid. This same rig can be used for bait fishing, but a 8 to 10-foot surf rod mated with a braid filled spinning reel is an all-around better choice for hurling bait. I also use a surf stick for targeting sharks. When the water has a decent level of clarity, nothing can match the excitement of plugging for stripers. Shiner perch, anchovies and smelt are the primary forage fish within S.F. Bay stripers will gobble a long list of different the bay and your lures should be natural baits. Ghost shrimp, like the one shown here chosen accordingly. top the list for bank bound bait anglers hoping to battle Nothing does a better job of a striper along the East Bay shoreline. FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY by Cal Kellogg Photo courtesy of RICKY JENKINGS, Facebook. CALL NOW FOR BOAT SHOW PRICING!! Celebrating 61 years of “The Unsinkable Legend”!! 2019 Models HAVE ARRIVED! 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If the bass are feeding on anchovies or For catching leopards, I use the same smelt, top artificials include Yo-Zuri or sliding sinker rig that I use for stripers Rapala minnows in the 3 to 7-inch range, except I incorporate a light 20-inch leader Gulp! 6 inch swimbaits rigged on half either made of cable or a 100-pound ounce jig heads and bucktail jigs. test monofilament tipped with a 9/0 Early in the season lures in the 1 to circle hook. If standard leader material 2-inch range should be utilized since the is used, the shark’s abrasive teeth will baitfish will be small at this time. As the quickly wear through it. The circle hook summer progresses and the forage fish prevents gut hooking the sharks, and grow you can begin using larger lures. allows unwanted leopards to be released Plugging for stripers is a run and gun unharmed. proposition in which the angler is well For bait a lot of anglers rely on squid advised to stay on the move seeking out because it is cheap and effective. The actively feeding bass. The last hour of downside with using squid is that it the incoming tide and the first hour of the attracts a lot of small sharks and bat rays. outgoing offer shore pluggers the best In terms of availability and cost I have opportunity, since this is when the bass found no better bait than sardines. will move within close proximity of the To use them I simply cut them in half bank. and pin them on the hook. For me sardines One of the fundamental rules of striper have proven highly effective in drawing plugging is to finish out your retrieve. strikes for large sharks and bat rays, while This means retrieving the lure and being the smaller fish tend to leave them alone. ready for a strike until the bait is lifted I’ve landed leopard sharks to 61 inches from the water. and bat rays in excess of 100 pounds While plugging for stripers offers while soaking sardines on the mudflats. excitement, targeting them with bait offers consistency across a broader spectrum of situations. When baitfish are not present stripers will happily feed on crabs, clams, marine worms, shrimp and a long list of other creepy crawlers that call the bay mud home. For this reason, bass cruising the mudflats will readily take a variety of baits including pile worms, ghost shrimp and cut anchovies to mention only a few. When presenting natural bait, the Leopard sharks are a great gamefish for S.F. Bay anglers whether standard set up is fishing off the bank or out of small craft and kayaks. Andrea a sliding sinker rig Kukulka landed this big leopard while soaking bait from her kayak. weighed with a 2 to Photo courtesy of ANDREA KUKULKA, Facebook. 3-ounce weight and featuring a 24 inch 20-pound test leader tipped with a No. 2 bait holder hook. Not that many ClearVu, SideVu and CHIRP Sonar. years ago leopard Garmin’s echoMAP 94sv combination sharks were consid- GPS/Fishfinder offers a 9” keypad ered trash fish by controlled color display with Preloaded most anglers. Today Bluechart G2 Charts for the Coastal US. after discovering the Internal 5Hz GPS Antenna, NMEA2000 excellent table fair Connectivity and Panoptix Compatibility. they offer leopards are considered gamefish with both a minimum size and 2855 Soquel Ave. daily harvest limit. Santa Cruz, CA Call For Details! MARITIME ELECTRONICS (800)582-1333 3623