Bill Lynch: Fishing is red-hot in the San Francisco Bay

Halibut fishing in San Francisco is the best it has been in a long time, with anglers reporting catches not seen in years.

Keith Fraser at Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael says the best shore-fishing location continues to be Paradise Pier, while the McNear Park Pier is also pretty good. Of course if you have a boat, you can find fish in a lot of places on the Bay.

There are also a lot of undersized (less than 22 inches) halibut being caught and released and that means good fishing in future years.

Anglers are catching lots of striped bass too, and last weekend sturgeon were still biting in the area of the Pump House.

Keith says that the tides this weekend are excellent for sturgeon. It is possible to have a Bay fishing hat trick by caching limits of halibut, stripers and sturgeon on the same trip.

I’ve also seen reports of anglers catching white seabass in the bay now.

You can book a bay fishing party boat by calling Keith at (415) 456-0321. He can put you on Capt. Trent Slade’s six-pack party boat, Bite Me. The nice thing about that kind of deal is you can move around the bay and find the best spots for each type of fish. Bring an ice chest along so you can have lots of fresh fish to take home.

If you prefer ocean fishing, then head over to Bodega Bay and hitch a ride on the New Sea Angler, Capt. Rick Powers’ party boat. His clients have been bringing home full limits of quality rock fish plus near limits of ling cod virtually every trip this week.

The weather has been excellent and the seas relatively calm.

Rick’s crew will even clean and filet the fish for you to take home in your ice chest. Call him at 875-3344 to reserve a spot.

Fly-fishers are having excellent action on the Sacramento River between Redding and Anderson right now, while further upriver near Dunsmuir, the fishing has been fair. Just over the hill on the McCloud River, however, the fishing has been good. Other spots reporting good action include the Fall River, Pit River and Hat Creek.

If you want a good guide for fly-fishing the Sacramento River near Redding, call former Sonoman Tyler Lee at (530) 515-3787. Tyler is a nice guy and a great guide and you’ll have a fun day catching lots of trout. It is an easy three-hour drive from Sonoma to Redding.