What Fish To Target During Winter?

Totally sorry if this has been asked somewhere, I can't figure out how to search for this for the life of me.

Was wondering what might be good to target from a kayak during the winter?  Ocean or fresh water.  I'm around the sf bay area.  Don't need specific locations, just wondering what kind of fish I can target.  I'm used to targeting rock cod, but the seasons closed for them from boats at the moment.  Is it too early to try for halibut along the shore?

I believe trout is good if I'm going out on lakes, but bass/catfish are pretty sluggish?  Anything else active in lakes around this time? 

With the warmer temps we've been having, the bass bite is definitely turning on. You could try the delta for striper, largemouth, sturgeon, and cats.

Hey Bro, here's what I did when I started out.
Go to the AOTY archives and look at when each species of fish were caught, and hopefully if the angler gave any insight as to how.
After a bit you notice some patterns, then fish accordingly.

Hey, twitchie - welcome!  I checked out some of your blog - I like your style.   

There's no magic pill for what to fish for this time of year - sturgeon seems like a good pursuit down your way right now.  Options are definitely limited. 

It's obvious in your writing and pics that you love rockfishing - and lingcod, I'm sure!  We exercise that angst at Shelter Cove in May for the rockfish and lingcod opener.  Maybe you can join us.  Your considerations about whether to get a kayak or not are funny!  Believe me, your fishing life will never be the same after you discover kayakfishing.   

Fishing for spotted bass in January and February can be pretty awesome in freshwater. Especially if the body of water you are fishing is on the rise from runoff.

Thanks Eric, (Loleta),  I completely missed the link, but looks like Twitche's blog will definetly supply me with some enjoyable reading..........

Sturgeon are about the only thing I fish for this time of year, but if you're new to anchoring a yak in some powerful cold fast moving water be careful and search QRAS here on the site. "Quick Release Anchor System (Setup?)" 

Welcome aboard

Your near the bay, so sharks, rays, maybe striper or sturgeon should be around there.  You can always fish for Perch, Sanddabs, and Crabs in the ocean, possibly some halibut.  For freshwater, this is just about to be pre-spawn time for the bass, so bass fishing should start being good soon.  Oh yeah, and Trout if you want to do some trolling!

I haven't done it from my yak yet, but we used to target sharks (Leopard, Six and Seven Gill) during the winter until rockfish and salmon opened back up.

A little birdie told me a few hali have been keeping their dinner dates in the S bay.

Rockfish........from my freezer  

Whoa, thats quite a but of great advice, thanks everyone!

If bass are getting active id say i definitely got a kayak at the right time about time i give those rock cod a break ^^