San Francisco is home to an exciting striper fishery. Having grown up here in the Bay Area, mostly targeting trout in the Sierras, I was surprised to find out what The City had to offer in terms of fishing when I moved here. Each year, I’ve learned a little more about chasing this quarry but finding patterns with stripers has proven to be a bit of a challenge for me. At times I’d hear full-time guides talk about how moon phases and tides would line up for epic days on the water, but I just hadn’t figured it out yet.
At the beginning of this season, I vowed to start collecting data on each of my trips to see if I could find some patterns amongst the madness. What you’ll read below is a summary of my 2019 season. Keep in mind, I work full time, don’t have a boat, and choose steelhead over any other fishing opportunity. With that said, I still made it out for 33 fishing sessions that lasted an average of two hours and twenty minutes.
One thing I learned this year is that fly color matters a lot less than fly size. I tend to tie a LOT of flies and have quite a few boxes filled with a variety of colors and this year I used one color (Black, Redfish, and Electric Yellow Adachi Clouser) more than any other. In the Spring I used a much smaller Chartreuse and While buck tail clouser with a lot of success. As the year went on, I transitioned to larger flies and by the end of the year was using an Adachi Clouser with a rattle almost exclusively. Some spots I fished required a much smaller fly and as the bait changed, the size of my flies followed suit.
Over the 33 sessions I landed 212 stripers this year, for an average of 6.4 fish a trip (about 3 an hour). The season started on April 6th for me and my last session was October 22nd. In all honesty, I could have started the season a bit earlier and did’t get a chance to fish November due to work, travel, and steelhead. In general, you could probably start fishing in March and fish through the first week of December and have success in the Bay.
By biggest fish was about 13lbs, pictured above, but most of my fish were sub 18 inches. Towards the Fall, I began landing some larger fish in the 22-28 inch range but those were always the exception, not the rule. I found that different areas of the Bay produced bigger fish and different times of year would yield different sizes of fish as well.
Although all that sounds like a lot of success, just know that I also got skunked 7 times this season, 21% of the time! There was a bit of a pattern in the times I got skunked. Out of the seven trips without fish, five of them happened on a Waxing Gibbous or Waxing Crescent moon. Although that was a bit of a pattern, there are a lot of other factors that could have led to low fish numbers on those days. Things like water clarity, weather, availability of bait and a huge list of other items could have played into the results. In order to find success with Stripers, you have to be ok with getting blanked. One thing that’s helped me is knowing that I’m learning something new every time I get out on the water.
Another thing you absolutely need to do in order to have success is to try new spots. Of the thirty three sessions I had, there were a minimum of six different spots that I fished. There are a few more I have on my list for this coming Spring! It’s critical that you have a number of spots to explore as the fish move and the water quality changes from spot to spot. I often see people out at Crissy Field. That can be a great place to catch fish and it’s the most convenient for me, I can walk there from home. However, if I had only fished there this year I would have averaged 1.7 fish a session. In total, I fished Crissy Field 7 times, got skunked in 4 of those sessions, landed one fish two other times, and 10 fish one lucky day. You really need to branch out and fish other places in the Bay. I won’t give out particular spots, but know you can catch them in the North Bay, around The City, The East Bay, and all down the coast to Big Sur. There are countless spots to fish, so get out there and explore with a friend.
As far as gear goes, I almost always fished a new 8-90 Sage Igniter that bought last Spring. However, I fished a 8-90 Winston BIII Plus, and an 11 foot 6wt Sage X from time to time as well. Most of the time I fished an intermediate line, especially inside The Bay. When I was out on the beaches, I typically fished a two handed rod with a full sinking line. There were a handful of times that I was able to get out on a boat and then I’d try to get deeper, using a full sink line on a single hand rod. in those situations.
Of the times I got out on a boat, there were a few times I was lucky enough to throw a floating line and get some fish on top water flies. It’s rare that you get the chance, but if you do, it’s an absolute blast to be able to cast to busting fish. It usually results in landing a lot of fish too!
There were some good learnings from this year. I landed a good number of fish while learning more about this special little fishery. Below are a few of my general insights.
Fishing the mornings was much better for me. Low light situations are going to up your odds of catching stripers on The Bay.
Moving around and finding new spots gives you flexibility and the opportunity to select a place to fish based on the weather, water quality, and tides.
I also learned that it’s just not worth it to fish when the tide isn’t moving. Moving water, gets the fish eating!
Fly size matters!
Fishing on a boat is 100 times better than wading. My best sessions on foot this season were 10, 11, and 13 fish. I had double digits every time I went on a boat with two sessions resulting in more than 40 fish!
If you have other questions, feel free to reach out over email or Instagram. I’m more than happy to share some of the general information I’ve learned over the last few years. Next year, I’m probably going to be doing some guided sessions, if you’re interested in going out, let me know. I’m also happy to set you up with some flies if you’re looking to fill out your box as well! Lost Coast Outfitters is also a fantastic place to find rods, reels, lines, flies, guides, and great advice on this fishery.
Get out there and explore!
