Fishing Berkeley Marina From Shore?

I recently sold my little starter kayak and won't have the time to purchase another one (Feelfree Moken 12.5) until after taking my finals. So it looks like I'll be stuck shore fishing for a little bit. Has anyone fished the Berkeley Marina from shore or any places like behind the Golden Gate Park racetrack? I'm also thinking about using a coin or torpedo weight instead of a pyramid weight to reduce the likelihood of getting snagged.

Any insights into fishing Berkeley from shore, the Moken 12.5 or using a different weight on rocks?

Ditch soaking bait for plugging swimbaits.  There's are schools of striped bass along the shoreline from Emeryville to Pinole.  Some days I might get one or two, but just a few days ago we (my friend and I) caught over 30 in a short period. 

Berkeley is a mud flat despite having all those rocks on shore,it's only on shore and maybe about 10yrds out.if your using anything besides live fish as bait,get ready to test out how strong your drag is

I’ll give it a try with some swimbaits and maybe some live chovies. Shame the pier is closed for the foreseeable future. I’ve heard it use to be a killer spot for fishing. How’s the pier at the Emeryville Marina? Haven’t heard anything about it.

@Ler It’s still pretty fun! In many ways it’s less of a hassle but it’s also a huge pain to scope out and find new spots sometimes. It also sucks to be on shore and know that there are probably a bunch of fish right in front of you but beyond your reach :/

Fishing the Berkeley pier can be tons of fun.  I've caught shiner perch, rubber lip perch, cabezon, and crabs.  Mostly on 2 inch Gulp sand worms and pile worms.  Also, you may want to try fishing Pt. Isabelle   from the rocks.  I've caught several Jack Smelt there on 2 inch Gulp sand worms.  Fishing those areas with relatively light light line and rig can make it more fun.  Personally I really love the fight of perch and Jack Smelt - if you're a fishing addict like myself it doesn't it doesn't matter whats on the other end of the line.  Its true these two area are Snag City so be prepared.  Good luck fishing and with finals!

Also would it be okay to use my yak rod (Ugly Stik Tiger 7’ med power 2pc) on short piers like the one in Emeryville? I have a one piece 8’ rod but I’d be taking it on public transportation to get to the Berkeley Marina and I feel like that’d be kind of rude to the other passengers.

@Ler Yeah I’ve read some articles about good places to fish. Some of them seem pretty good until I look at the date and realize that it was written over half a decade or more ago. I hope that it’s cyclical and that the fish become more abundant.

@Ler I know that you mean! Every time I go fishing the older folks always tell me about how fishing was back in the day. I've read that Ugly Stik Tigers and Penn Jigmasters are pretty standard for charter boats but I've never used a baitcaster. I've been itching to learn but it's hard to justify more $$ when my spinning stuff works just fine.