questions

ok so i've been looking over your site for a few days now and i few a couple questions for you san fransico area folks

1. what's your primary bay fish species? here we target mainly flounder, speckled trout, and redfish in the bays but we have alot more then that hanging around just most folks don't like to eat them.

2. what kind of tackle do you use for bay fishing?

3. when in the pacific what size tackle is recommended and what do most folks target?

4. are there any groups that fish the pacific together that get together regularly and wouldn't mind a pacific newbie to hang around and ask questions?

5. since i'll be in the travis afb area where's a good launch point or wade point to get in some after work fishing done that's close by?

6. how deep are the area's ya'll fish? whether it be bay or ocean. here our bays are about 10' deep at it's deepest points, most places are 2 to 3 foot deep. out in the pacific how far out do you have to go to hit the 100' depth mark? i see it mentioned in a few places on the site that you're fishing 100' waters. here you have to head out damn near 60 miles before you hit 100'

still waiting to hear when this project is supposed to start up. i could be heading that way as early as tomorrow or as late as end of next month. looking forward to fishing with ya'll but damn do ya'll have some weird looking fish

 Sounds like your comming from back east?  I fish mainly fresh water lakes to date.  Trout, Large mouth bass, some smallies, and panfish, (Bluegill/ crappy)
  What most of the guys on this site target are, Sturgeon, (Dino's') halibut (Hali's) salmon, and many species of rock fish.  In Santa Cruz, the waters just outside of the harbour I think run around 40'   Places north of SC guys launch, Bean hollow beach. Half moon bay are just a few of the many used to access the ocean.  I don't fish the ocean yet, so I can't say how deep these places are, I do know that off Davenport about 1/2 mile the ocean botton is approx 300' Used to rock fish with dad off his boat there.
  The guys that actually do fish those and many more areas will chimn in here shortly I'm sure, with more accurate info.

Troy

ya i'm coming from south texas so i guess you could say back east. i'm mainly trying to figure out what to bring. i have everything from ultra light rigs to 6/0's and i don't really want to bring everything. right now i'm planning on 2 long rods with a penn 535 and a daiwa 50 shv, 1 medium light rod and 1 medium action rod with associated reel for the bay, and either a couple 20lb class or 30 lb class rods with either jigmasters, squidders, or diawa 50 shv's for fishing off the coast, may even bring a 4 wide for giggles. hell i'm going to try and keep the amount of gear to bare essentials otherwise i'll end up with 20 sets ups in the truck like the last time i went to florida.

plus i plan to bring my soft plastics, topwaters, crank baits and leader boxes so i should be able to handle everything up to an 7' shark from the beach or yak. may have to redesign my shark leaders while i'm out there but won't know for sure till i get accustomed to your waters.

knowing what ya'll have available fish wise will really help reduce the amount of needless crap i bring with me.

1. Stripers and sturgeon will be the main gamefish targeted in the bay in the coming months.  Bycatch will consist of sting rays, kingfish, starry flounder, leopard and sand sharks (harmless 1-5 foot bottom feeders)  

On the ocean the salmon are spotty right now and will be upriver soon. Rockfish are pretty much closed unless you fish from shore or spearfish.  There's always the option of daytripping to santa cruz or monterrey where rockies are still open to boat fishing.  Crabbing is also a good time and the rewards are IMO one of the best eating species we have to offer.


2. Standard tackle for the bay is similar to a carolina rig but beefed up.  Plastic slider with a 4-10 oz pyramid sinker, swivel attached to a 60-100lb leader (1'-3' in length) and a 5/0-7/0 mustad baitholder hook.  Of course preferences vary in leader length and hook style/size.  Bait will be mud shrimg, grass shrimp or ghost shrimp...or herring/anchovy.  You will be fishing off the anchor so its a sit and wait game.

Rod and reel, typical newbie set up is a penn 500, 20-30 lb mono paired up to a 7' conventional boat rod.  Its a beefy setup and some guys will go lighter or use spectra but for someone just visiting this will be the best sized gear.  

3. For the ocean you can get away with the same sized rod/reel as the bay but its a bit funner and more forgiving if you downgrade in size.  Your current bay rods should do fine chasing rockfish here.

Rock Fishing is 99% vertical jigging on the drift,  4-6" plastic shad style bodies on 2-6 oz jigheads and iron jigs in the same weight.  

There is also perch fishing and shore rockfishing if you're willing to fish from land.  

4. Weather Conditions are everything and it would be up to the discretion of whoever is going out.  There are guides available which will be your best bet.  


5. Someone else will probably have alot more info on that area for you

6. In the bay you might be anywhere from 6-40 feet, sometimes deeper depending on the location you're fishing. 15-25 is common. Keep in mind the tide flucuations might mean you launch from a nice rocky bank but return to mud.  

Ocean is a whole different ball game.  Rockfishing is done at 240' or less because of regulations.  Most yakable  nearshore RF structure is between 40 and 100 feet. Mostly done within a mile of shore.  There are exceptions to that of course.



You'll also pick up alot of info by browsing around the reports section from last november and some of the gear reccomendation threads.  That should get you started.

Great tips from the other guys...Don't forget the Spider-man,  Fred Flintstone, or Scooby-do or whatever little crappy pole you had when you were 6 years old,     hope it was(wait, wow earthquake just now!!-not kidding..)... anyway..not a hello kitty,  they will all work especially nice because you can hold it on your lap and whip out the sabiki with the quickness as you find the bait. Standand now days it seems to have Gps/ (fog)fishfinder (obvious reason) and vhf hand held, (shark attacks and other useful communication)   :sharklots more to come from this crew...they're great! Jeff  5.6 Magnitude