Kayak fishing for Ocean Perch Berkeley area

Hello,

Well I moved to Berkeley 6 months ago, but have yet to take the yak out.  I am interested in fishin the bay in the Berkeley area, particularly interested in Perch.  Any advice most appreciated.

Welcome To The Madness!!  now about those perch,,,,,i read in a local newspaper fishing reporta few wks. ago, the perch were plentiful over at OysterPoint (South SF) those who know how,where&when always seem to do well(i am not one of them) but i can tell you that they will be in berkeley too(if not now, then real soon) most target them with small pcs. of pile worm or KalinsGrubs/ motor oil. I have witnessed them getting hooked with pcs. of shrimp, dropped down into pilings also.
I'm sure someone w/some real advice will chime in soon.
Good luck and dont forget your camera or to post a full report afterwards please.

When I fish off the Mendo coast we use 1/0 octopus hooks  with squid for bait.  1 oz weight .  We also catch rock fish this same way and will catch them together

I do really well drifting high/low set up just off the bottom with squid and a #1 hook. I drift the area around the mouth of the marina, and I usually catch all I care to take home and fillet.

Well, really depends what your looking for. "Perch" are not all the same and there are very real differences in behavior and feed selection between them. Not particularly familiar with the Berkeley area, but at a guess your main quarry would be black perch and pile perch, neither of which I would use the same exact tactics for the other.

If you are starting out black perch would be the better target as they are among the easier to catch species and aren't shy at all. Any of the suggestions above would work, dropper loop bait setups or dropshot pileworms, shrimp, etc. I would suggest a smaller hook then 1/0, size 4-6 is a good place to start.

Fish pilings. Like underneath the resturant, or the old half of the pier that is gated off. 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces of pileworms on size 6-8 hooks fished on high-low or single dropper loop rigs with a 1-3 oz. weight. Good luck!

Good call, forgot about targeting.

Aim for structure, be it rocks, pilings or anything else. Not all pilings are the same - go for growth encrusted ones over the copper treated ones. If you're not working structure when perching, be it a depression on the beach or a barnacle encrusted rock/piling in the bay you are basically pissing in the wind.

Welcome aboard Zenfisher.  After catching your limit on Perch, you can also drifting Achovies or Squids for Halibut too