Oyster Point Sunday April 23rd

For some reason I have a good feeling about this weekend, those don't always work out though.... 

Another good OP post from coastside

"Went to oyster point today to test out my new prop. Talked to the guy at the marina who had 1 and saw 4 caught. He said the fish were deep at about 20 feet. He also said there was lots of bait."

23,Sun   0230  (low)2.1   0819  (high)5.0   1441 (low)-0.1   2144  (high)5.3


Probably be best early in the morning, not as much water movement.

what time bill
allso can i buy bait i have never fish for bait so i will watch  u guys in buy my bait this time

Here's an update for the the weekend.

Bait Shop Mike at Oyster Point in South San Francisco was thrilled that the pier was finally open as of last Friday at 11:30 AM. A bunch of happy anglers were there to greet the opening. One legal sturgeon was caught off the pier on Friday, two on Saturday and three more on Sunday. In addition, stripers to 29" have been landed on boats in the South Bay drifting live smelt. A couple of halibut in the 12-13 pound range have been found either drifting live shiners or trolling green hootchies. Things have picked up here since our last reports from the area.


Jason

thank,s for the report & the info
jselli

You can buy bait at the bait shop right there, if they happen to be out you can always mooch off of someone, we usually have really good luck making bait.

Should be a good time
I have one question the sabiki rig I need can I use the ones from walmart or do I have to have something special, and how deep is the bait is a trout rod good for catching bait.
I have never made bait before but im eager to try it out, any advice would be cool thanks.

More questions from us newbies...

I like to tinker in the garage as much as the next person but is a bait tube that much better than a plastic minnow bucket?

Regarding the sabiki rig, I'm looking at picking some up from the local Sportsmart with the smallest hooks...is that the right thing to do?  Do we have to bait them up with squid or anything?

Weird story, one time when we were rockfishing off the Marin coast in a PB, anchovies were impaling them selves on our shrimp flies that had 4/0 hooks.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Gary (Sandman)

Bait tubes have a number of advantages over bait buckets:

1) Way lighter and easier to pull around.

2) Less room for the bait to move = less damage to the bait.

3) Looks like a torpedo that you can threaten PBs with! 

I use either size 10 or size 12 sabikis, I don't bait them with anything. My secret weapon is a 3oz kastmaster at the end instead of a lead ball.

Another OP report from Coastside:

"last night fished off the pier.one of my fellow fisherman
caught a nice 13# halibut off the pier. using dead anchovies
nothing else caught it was about 4.00 pm. "

That was Thursday night.

Good luck on Sun guys!!

Just an FYI, per the regs, you can only fish 1 rod, 3 hooks max in the bay.  TECHNICALLY, you would have to cut off several sabiki flies to be legal.  If you use a kastmaster, then you can only have 2 sabiki's.

Personally, I think this is a BS rule, as there should be an exception for sabikis, but I'm sure the intent was to protect stripers/sturgeon.

Just keep an eye out for "the man" if you forget and use the sabiki straight out of the package. 

Stuart

Yup, I was just about to post that.

Thanks for the heads up, Stuart.

I am going to make a drive by today at the point and the tubes. If my son was sick "again" I would probably take a spin around the tubes for some stripers and halibut. As it is I have some maintenance to do around the house. 

Here is what I am hoping for and what I will report to you guys later. 

1.  Clean water.  The South Bay tends to get a lot of wind chop. Combo that with run off and it kills the fishing. However this week the water has been perfect so I will keep my fingers crossed.

2. If there is a load of smelt by the tubes that usually mean bait everywhere!  I am hoping that is the case.  If the bait has schooled up then the fish won't be as scattered either. Good news!

Jason

Thanks Stu I take the hook off my kastmaster anyways, with the hook on it has a tendancy to snag the line on the way down.