Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3811 May 10-24 2019 | Page 16
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HOW TO...
May 10 - 24, 2019
VOL.38 • ISS. 11
Tapping S.F. Bay’s Bounty!
presents
Fishing The Pacific Coast’s Largest Estuary!
T
^
Anchovies are the primary
forage item for halibut
in bay waters and as a result
they are a top bait for anglers.
Live anchovies can be drifted
or still fished with good results
and trollers often rely on rigged
frozen anchovies teamed
with dodgers and flashers for
rounding up a halibut dinner.
^
Soft plastic swimbaits like
this Optimum Opti Shad
teamed with an underspin head
are a top offering for S.F. Bay
pluggers working from both
boats and the bank. Baits like
these imitate anchovies and
smelt. As a result they tempt
strikes from both stripers and
halibut.
he largest estuary on the Pacific
coast of the Americas, San
Francisco Bay encompasses 1,600 square
miles of water. Much of S.F. Bay is made
up of shallow flats that range from 10 to 30
feet deep, but there are some
much deeper areas, particu-
larly in the Central Bay where
the water may be over 100
feet deep.
About 40 percent of Califor-
nia’s fresh water eventually
ends up in S.F. Bay where it
mixes with saltwater from
the Pacific Ocean, creating a
rich estuary that supports vast
array of marine life.
From an angling perspec-
tive, S.F. Bay is one of
the world’s great fisheries
with a long list of gamefish
including striped bass, Cali-
fornia halibut, sturgeon, sevengill sharks,
leopard sharks, white sea bass, rockfish,
lingcod, surfperch and even salmon.
Of these fish, halibut, stripers and sharks
are the most popular and abundant species
targeted by sport anglers. These species are
hunted by both boaters and bank anglers
with a high level of success. Let’s take a
closer look!
FISH SNIFFER
HOW – TO
by Cal Kellogg
Halibut
^
Leopard sharks like this beautiful fish are the “Bonefish Of The
Bay”. They cruise extremely shallow water during the summer
months and can often be seen “tailing” when the tide is rolling in.
Leopards will gobble a variety of baits including sardines, mackerel,
squid and midshipmen.
tipped with a 1, 1/0 or 2/0 live bait hook
tied on a perfection loop connected to one
of the swivel’s eyes. To the second eye a
short dropper of 10-pound mono is attached
with either a loop or cheap snap on the other
end. Your sinker is attached to the
dropper. The dropper is made of
light line, such that in the event
you should snag it will break
before your leader or main line.
With this rig attached to your
rod, you arm the hook with a live
anchovy by hooking the little guy
upward through the nose. You
don’t want to man handle the bait
or hook it too deeply. You want
the bait to be as lively as possible,
so handle it with care.
With the bait wriggling on the
hook, lower the rig to the bottom,
place the rod in a holder and allow
it to drag along the sand. When
the rod bends deeply, you’ve hooked a fish
and it’s time to fight it to the net.
It’s true that shore and pier anglers don’t
stack up as many halibut as boaters, but the
guys that put in their time on the bank do
score plenty of halibut fillets.
Most pier anglers spend time working
with a spinning rod to catch either a small
surfperch or a smelt to use as live bait. With
a baitfish secured. They pin the bait on a
three-way rig like the one described above,
toss the rig out and wait for a halibut to
come knocking.
If sitting and waiting isn’t your style, fan
casting with soft plastic swimbaits in the 4
to 8-inch class is an effective and interactive
approach. Make long casts and slow roll the
bait just off the bottom. The more hiking
you do and the more ground that is covered
the better your chances of hooking up.
So where do you find halibut in S.F. Bay?
For consistency, the central bay is the place,
but the south bay and north bay can kick out
fish too. You are looking for areas that have
a firm sand or gravel bottom with evidence
of bait. Days with clear water and small
While shore anglers do round up halibut
in the bay, the majority of halibut caught are
caught by boaters drifting live bait either
from a charter boat or a private boat.
Starting in spring and extending through
fall, bait receivers in San Francisco and
Berkeley supply anglers with live anchovies
and occasionally live sardines.
For halibut drifting you’ll need a medium
or medium light rod teamed with a reel
spooled with 15 to 20-pound mono or 30
to 65-pound braid. Baitcasting outfits are
preferred, but spinning gear will work.
The standard terminal tackle used for live
bait drifting consists of a 3-way swivel with
a 36 inch 25-pound monofilament leader
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