SF South Bay Sturgeon Fishing Friday 11/23/12

Hey all,
I'll be launching from the Palo Alto Baylands dock around 10:30AM Friday and head south toward Alviso.  Will need to burn off those Thanksgiving calories.   While not my first time yak fishing in the South Bay, this will be my first attempt for sturgeon.  See you out there.

I actually saw on the news tonite that DFG was out in that area checking up on sturgeon fishermen. 

Always thought the southbay would be a good place to try for sturgeon from the yak but never have got around to hitting the area,  the launches I've found don't look like somewhere I'd leave my vehicle un attended all day.

Post up a report even if it's a skunk, I'd like to hear about it.

Good Luck, be safe

Thanks Dale, had not heard that DFG was out there. But I had a friend of mine hook into a nice sized sturgeon last week over there so I guess I am not surprised. As far as parking goes. You are are right about being careful where you park. The only places I feel comfortable leaving my car in the south bay is redwood city port because its crawling with security and the police station is only a few blocks away and the Palo Alto Baylands near the dock itself. Thats because the ranger/security guy usually parks there. Granted he likes to fall a sleep (no, I am not kidding LOL ) but at least he is there. When I can, I have my wife just drop be off, that way O don't have to worry about it.

I used to sneak on the train bridge on the Newark side back in the 70's and fish off the 3rd piling.., 2hours before and after high tide were best .... and always did well

 I hear Cooley Landing Park on Bay Road in EPA opened in July of this year but I haven't checked it out.... That would be a great launch site to target sturgeon.check out these links

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=26188
http://www.cooleylanding.org/

Glad to hear that Cooley Landing Park is open again. Last time I was there, there were a bunch of bulldozers and other equipment out there. I will have to check it out some time. As far as yak fishing the old bridge. I have tried it once on a huge outgoing. I had just got my kayak the month before and someone told me it would be a great place to hook into some leopards. Needless to say I was totally unprepared for the insane current that was ripping through there and have not had the nerve to try it since.  One thing that I did learn on that trip though is that straight out from Cooley Landing Park is a small channel thats about 7-9 feet deep. You can actually see it on google maps. I think its called Mayfield slough.  Anyway, as I paddled through it I was able to mark several good sized fish on the finder. Looking back on it, I am guessing they were probably sturgeon. One of these days I will have to work up the nerve to give it another try, now that I have a few more trips under my belt.

Love fishing outta PA harbor. Time those tides that channel gets down to a few inches deep....

Hey Dale, since you had asked for a report I thought I'd give you the run down. It was a fabulous day. Launched at the PA harbor around 10:40am. The water was like glass. Water temp was 56 degrees with a very, very light breeze coming from the North. My original plan was to head straight down towards the mouth of Guadalupe Slough since that was where my friend (not a kayak fisherman) had picked up a sturgeon the other day. However, I kept a close eye on my depth finder and as I continued paddling I noticed that the depth was not changing. (On west side of the bay the water was 5.5 ft deep at high tide.) This kind of freaked me out a bit since I have heard dozens of stories of folks getting stranded by the tide. So I changed course and headed towards the Don Edwards Wild Life Refuge. I knew that there was a channel on that side and felt that I would be safer there.

After about 30 min of paddling I reached the channel just north of Calaveras Pt. As I entered the channel, the fish finder picked up several large fish on the bottom, so I decided to anchor there. I then rigged up with mackerel and within minutes something took a hold of my bait and made a run for it. It was a small sand shark. After that I landed something every 30 min. The most notable were 4 leopards from 38" to 58" (all released to fight another day  ).

Unfortunately, I did not hook into any sturgeons but I was having so much fun with the sharks I didn't care. Then, just before I left a sturgeon broke the surface 20 yds from where I was sitting, its whole body coming clean out of the water. It was pretty amazing (anyone know why these fish that are otherwise bottom feeders break the surface?). Anyway they were indeed there.

On the way back at around 3 EWB's warning kept going through my head. My plan was to head north and catch the channel back into the harbor. Unfortunately, I cut the corner a little too soon and found myself in about 8 inches of water. That was a bit scary. However, I was able to use my anchor as a makeshift grappling hook in the mud to coax my kayak back into the channel. After that, things went smoothly. By the time I made it back to the dock I was pretty tired. But I did take one last glance at the depth finder and noticed that the water there at low tide was about 4 feet. Anyway, that was my day. Hopefully something I mentioned will be helpful to someone else who's thinking about tackling they south bay     

I've heard, and I believe, Sturgeon break the water after they are done feeding to clean the mud/silt out of the their gills. Makes sense to me.

Good post.   Where are the photos?

I have to admit I have not perfected the art of photographing a large fish while on my kayak. However, I did manage to snap a few. I did not get a picture of the largest one unfortunately. When I got it in the kayak it went ballistic and nearly knocked my iphone into the water. So rather then risk hurting either us us I just let her go.  Anyway, I have attached some of the images I did manage to take. (Two of them are of the same shark, she was more cooperative then the others)

Leopards are fun to catch and pretty tasty, but one of the most mercury laden fish in the bay.  For me they are strictly CP&R.  Sounds like you had a good day.  Mixing sharks into the hunt for sturgeon makes it a little less boring.  Tides are always important but become pretty critical when mud is involved.


Thanks for the detailed report,

I would llove to try that area, not too far from where I work.  Let me know the next time you are going out.

Squidder

Does Mackerel work as sturgeon bait?  I mean, of course it will work with them being bottom feeders and all, but does it work well?  Damn shrimp are so expensive at bait shops... and mackerel stays on the hook well too.

Sigel, I'd rather go out with a 1/4 pound of grass shrimp. Pretty economical at less than $5 for a day of fishing bait. Just make sure u have some magic thread.

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I have found that Mackerel works for just about everything else in the south bay so I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. The strong smell of the Mackerel seems to last longer in the faster currents of the bay. Also while Rookie is probably right about shrimp being a better choice. I have found that in general its more about the freshness of your bait then anything else. As a rule I will not soak bait (unless its alive) more then 45 min.