School(ie) Time!

hey folks its Striper time...

I’m posting this to help out the newbies who may not have gotten to experience the fun that can be had around here in fall.  I'm by no means an expert on this fishery, but i've done pretty well year after year for the last 8 years or so. I’m gonna focus on Marin, and most specifically near San Rafael. Over the years it seems that this is where it can be most consistent, and it is what I know best.  There are lots of other areas, feel free to search these boards, or PM me if you want more intel.  I'm sure Kingfisher, ChuckE and others can pipe in with more info.

The last few years have been more or less crummy striper runs. However, with the banner ocean season, this year looks to be shaping up. If you ask some of the OGs you'll find a few that have had 50+ fish days—though most are small.

What
Mostly “schoolie” stripers- meaning 12-24”, I’d bet that the majority are in the 14-17” category. Given the size, you should probably prepare and design your approach to assume you’ll CPRing every fish you catch. You’ll weed through a lot of small fish if you are looking for something to eat, so let’s not let those short ones die off.


Launches:
Loch Lomond marina- easy, but it’ll cost ya. Any tide you can launch. Good for access to the islands
North East end of San Pedro rip rap: High tide to .5 feet ONLY – unless you want a mud hike to make China Camp look like cake. Park on the road next to the trash can, carry over the little berm and you are on a nice sand beach. Good for access to the brickyard area.

There’s one more launch that I actually prefer now if I want to work both the islands and the brickyard. I’d probably be hung by those-more-local-than-I if I publically posted it, so PM me if you want it. It works for nearly all tides, down to about a -.5 or so.
Below is a picture to help you get oriented. Loch Lomond Marina is the obvious marina.
 
Where
1.   Marin Islands area
The islands can hold a surprising number of fish at certain times. Best for me has always been on the start of the outgoing tide.  Starting from Left to right of the circles:
West side rip: This is a shallow ridge that runs to the NW from the SW corner of the rock. The water is ever so slightly deeper on the west side of this ridge. Fish often hold tight to the ridge, and off the SW point.  Its really hard to troll through here, so tossing lures is the best bet. Set up your drift outside, and cast back toward the shore while drifting past. Try both up current tosses and down current.
East side West island: there is a large rock and a deep hole on the SE corner of this island. When the current is moving and the tide is high you can see the rock as a slick spot. This one you can troll through—try both directions, starting away from the submerged rock and moving in closer to it if no hits. There’s also a miniscule “cove” just N of this submerged rock—tossing lures into that cove and retrieving them out can be deadly.
East island west rip: This is the long circle on the picture. This is a CLASSIC ridge rip. Water drains off the flats NE of the island over this ridge- you can clearly see it in the picture. The ridge at high tide will be about 1-2 feet deep, but it should drop to 6-8 on the other side. I’ve got a zillion fish off this rip both casting and trolling. You can usually set up on the SW corner where the ridge meets the island proper and cast up current ONTO the ridge, then retrieve off and down current…deadly. If there is someone else working this, please don’t horn in on the spot, as it can be sensitive.  I’ve also done well when the fish are thick by anchoring ABOVE (NE) of the rip and casting down current from it, then retrieving up onto the rip- having blow ups in a foot of water is thrilling even with small fish.
NE hole on East island:  You can troll that entire east side of the east island, occasionally there’s fish holding there, but usually there in tight to the NE corner—it drops to 18-20 feet right at the corner, and often times there’s bait stuck in there- with the marauding stripers chowing down. If it  is off, its off…

2.   Brickyard/Chapel Cove Area
This one is a bit trickier. Top of the tide is key. Forget it if the tide is low, as this is a mud flat. With that said, the biggest striper I’ve caught to date was caught on the bottom of the tide in about 2 feet of water off the brickyard.
Working bottom to top on the orange circles
Bird Rock/ Loch Lomond rip-rap area: This area is always hit or miss for me, but I can usually pick up a fish or two if the water is clear.  The SE end of the Loch Lomond rip rap has a deep spot in close to the corner, water goes from about 5-6 feet at top of tide to about 8 or so in close. Trolling through this can be productive, but watch the shore fisherman. Further North there is a small rock sitting just off the houses. Keith calls this “bird rock” or something similar, there is a small underwater ridge that runs from it to the shore. Trolling the outside of this rock can be productive, as can casting to the ridge from up current. Just North of this rock there is a small pier before the San Pedro road rip-rap starts, for some reason between Bird Rock and this pier seems to hold fish quite often.  Lots of times there is a mud line here, created from the current, and working the edge of the clear water and the mudline can be deadly.
San Pedro Road Rip-rap: At the top of the tide, and with the right conditions, this can be the most productive spot I know. The water is at most about 6 feet deep. About 1/3 way North from the small park, there is an outflow from the Peacock gap lagoon (it is about where Knight dr comes in). The water is actually SHALLOWER in the outflow area, but this thing can hold fish like crazy. ChuckE and I watched stripers boil on the rocks in this area, and had a couple of amazing days tossing lures and trolling along this area.  Its shallow, so lure up appropriately.

Brickyard rip-rap: Classic Marin trolling…perfect rocky shore, drops off to about 8-10 feet. Work the shoreline close in, there’s a small point on the east side of this where the shore turns to mostly bricks – under the old stacks- just E of this point seems to be very productive.

Other Areas
If you turn North from the brickyard you run up along the quarry shoreline and eventually to McNears. There’s some absolutely great structure here. There’s a small pier next to an old boat launch that can hold tremendous numbers of fish on the outgoing tide. The current rips through here, so be prepared. The Sisters which are just offshore from the quarry, are another place- water drops to 50+ feet around them…
South toward the SR bridge is a large area of flats, and more rip-rap that you'll see posted as "behind Home Depot"...San Quentin as well can hold fish. I’ll let you explore those places.

Lures and tackle
First thing to remember, the water in most of these areas is less than 8 feet deep. Floating plugs, really light hair-raisers, and swim baits are the ticket.  Most of these fish are keying in on little smelt, so match the hatch appropriately. The little x-rap 8 in blue/white or brown/white is my fav, followed closely by a slightly moded yozuri chrystal minnow in blue/white. I’ve got an extreme shallow water go to—the tiny little Pet Spoon, when nothing else seems to work.
I go barbless and usually take the trebles off too. I’ve found that the trebles are harder to get out, and for some reason I lose more fish with them—the little guys twist a ton, and I’ve had many a fish magically open the split rings on the trebles!
Second thing to remember is, these fish are small. So gear down. Your little trout rod can be totally fun. 6 lb test isn’t too light. I go with braid, then a 10# fluoro top shot, but that’s just because I’m crochety and set in my ways.

Questions, comments, flames feel free to PM or post

Nicely done!  Thanks for the tips Steve.

thanks for the great tips steve, the islands, are these the brother and sister ive read about here with the ripping fast current?

The few times I have hit stripers I had a blast. A hook up 'event' would be great! Always nice to learn from the pros!

Thanks for the intel Steve. Very informative.

Jedmo

bwodun ---

the 'islands' are the marin islands, the two wooded islands that you can see from the SR bridge (to the north). The current moves pretty good, but not fast enough to get dangerous for the most part

The brothers are the two rocks, one with a B&B/lighthouse, on the east side North of the SR bridge. The current does RIP here, but drifting for stripers can be amazing on big tides...but it is a dangerous place for a yak, big ships, blazing ferrys, and the current make it dicey.

The sisters you can actually see in the pic-- they are opposite the brothers- again two rocks. They are off  the quarry in the extreme North end of this picture. The current machs through here as well, but there is not the added "bonus" of the ships, so its far safer.

Steve - Thanks for sharing and schooling us on some new tips. John 

Steve, awesome stuff. I've fished this area from shore in my youth growing up in SR, but the yak fishing is new to me and I can't wait to hit this area in a couple weeks while up visiting family. Thanks so much for the tips and tricks. Don't you occasionally see big fish here in the fall? I'd be a little worried with a trout rod and 6 lb. that I could hit the random 15+ lber and break off instantly. If you're planning to hit it the weekend of Sept. 27th or Oct. 5-8, let me know. I'll hopefully be out there then on my trip north, weather and tides permitting.

Awesome, thanks Steve!

Do they still have the "keep offshore 100yds" signs at the Marin Islands? The times I plugged the shoreline nobody hassled me, but I never underestimate the bird zealots...

http://www.fws.gov/SFBAYREFUGES/Marin_Islands/

mikechin

Steve,

Thanks for the great detailed info, it's much appreciated,

Dale

Thats a wrap!!! Great Class Steve...BOOKMARK...everything I wanted know bout bay striper fishin, I've found out... I havn't tried it yet but up and coming!!! Thanks so MUCH...

Great Post!!!

Awesome, thanks Steve!

Do they still have the "keep offshore 100yds" signs at the Marin Islands? The times I plugged the shoreline nobody hassled me, but I never underestimate the bird zealots...

http://www.fws.gov/SFBAYREFUGES/Marin_Islands/

mikechin

I've never been bugged- even had teh researchers out there once...spring might be a different story as the islands are white with egrets

SteveS: I'm posting U some grattitude here... It's like you read my mind... wondering, wondering, wondering what's up with stripers in Marin since I read you mentioned possible stripers in the channel behind Outback Adventures of Larkspur (where I bought my boat recently). Problem was I'm seriously clueless about striper fishing, although starting to find out about the Alameda area, tho remaining curious about Marin's waterways.

I grew up in Marin, tho didn't fish much (dad please take me fishing!!! another time son). We used to go out on the scary Marin Rod & Gun Club pier. Since I was just a kid I would get handed my trout rod with a basic carolina rig and a couple of pile worms. Mostly skunked, but sometimes a rubber-lipped perch would get retrieved. Once I caught a flounder (hopefully not a small hali). The adults would get drunk. It kinda sucked. To dad's credit we would also catch rainbows at pheonix lake back when it was stocked.

So to make up for the inadequacies of my childhood  I'm figuring it all out again on a yak! Now it's all good because its much more fun & I get to drink the beer  . Oh & I can buy my own gear too!

So, thanks to you I have a place to start instead of bumping around in the dark.

I have to ask you: do you ever launch in Strawberry? My folks live there now, & there's a little public (& free) boat launch there near the spits. Aside from the an amazing array of bird life, I actually spotted an otter swimming there once and found its footprints all over the shore. Sadly the prints lead back & forth to a garbage can tho. Last time I walked my dog over there lots of bait fish (pro'lly smelts) were percolating. It's muddy so I suspect the hali's may be around occasionally, but I also suspect the stripers because of the slough-ness. Any thoughts?

Strawberry?  No, there's no stripers there, or halibut... 

When i lived in the apartments above the Mcdonalds there i used to wade from the point back toward the bridge all the time. i never did much good there in fall, but in spring it could be on.

I'll give ya a couple-but I'm not particularly expert at that place.
1. i'd troll that point on the outgoing tide.
2. the bridge pilings area
3. across from Acqua there is a small bridge (not the big one) over the bike path, when there is a high high-tide, the beginning of hte outgo flushes all kinds of tasty things into the bay. Its a sure bet of a six-pack of micro brew that there's loads of stripers lined up there
4. the little 'marina' or whatever you call it just past Acqua has a narrow outlflow- i've never caught fish there, but i know they can get stacked up on the outgoing
5. you can always troll for halibut towards the main bay...

Hello all -

Brand new noob here. I wanted to thank Steves for his most awsome and generous post.

I have a sit-in kayak  - a 12 ft Precision. I guess I'll need a SOT for serious fishing but until then I'm going to add a couple rod holders and a milk crate and see what I can do knocking around the local bay waters in Marin.

I was paddling with my 10 y/o off Strawberry Pt on Labor Day afternoon. We saw a fair bit of bait activity and one (most likely) Striper surface.  I plan to get him onto some smelt and macks - he love's that from the piers - should be twice the fun from his yak. I'm not sure how long they'll be running though.

Oh and props to Sailfish too. We met him in the parking lot at Paradise. Great guy and an embassador for this board.