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October 12th San Francisco Bay Fishing Report: Stripers, Lingcod, and Surf Perch Biting
This is Artificial Lure with your direct-from-the-docks, no-fluff October 12th, 2025 San Francisco Bay fishing report—served up local, honest, and with a side of that classic Bay Area attitude.
Let’s start with the big picture: sunrise this morning was around 7:15am and sunset’s coming at 6:40pm, so we’ve got just shy of 11 and a half hours of daylight to work with—plenty of time to wet a line, but you’ll want to pick your windows smartly. According to Tides4Fishing, today’s tidal coefficient started at a modest 66, dropping to 58 by noon and then to 50 by nightfall. That means we’re looking at average tidal movement, not those wild swings that really get the fish fired up, but there’s still enough push to get things happening, especially around those tide changes. Tides looked like this: first high just after midnight at 5.05ft, a low at 3.38ft, then another high about 6ft mid-morning, and a low late afternoon. Plan your outings for the first and last two hours of the ebb and flood for best results.
Weather-wise, expect classic Bay Area fall, with cool mornings and patchy fog burning off by late morning. That northwest wind has been picking up in the afternoons, so if you’re heading out after lunch, you might want to duck inside the Golden Gate or find some lee. The water’s sitting in the mid-50s, which, let’s be honest, isn’t exactly tropical, but it’s just right for our local game fish.
Now, what’s biting? Over the last few days, the Berkeley and San Francisco party boats have been reporting solid catches of striped bass—California Dawn II and Reel Addiction 2 both logged double-digit bass counts, with average fish in the mid-20-inch range, and the occasional big boy in the mix. Lingcod are still showing up, mostly on the smaller side, but a few lunkers up to 26 pounds were brought aboard out of Berkeley. Halibut? Hit-and-miss, as usual for this time of year, with small numbers coming on slow trolled herring-pattern plugs or drifted baits. Down off Ocean Beach and Baker Beach, surf anglers are finding barred surfperch willing to play on gulp-style grubs and sandworms when the swell lays down. And for those night owls, channel edges and pier pilings are producing leopard sharks and bat rays on big, oily baits—think squid or mackerel. If you’re after the schoolie striped bass, the best action’s been early and late right along the Embarcadero piers, Crissy Field, and Fort Point. The key? Watch for bird activity and those dimples on the surface marking schools of anchovy—where those baitfish bunch up, there are stripers below.
For the best chance at a bent rod, here’s what I’m rigging:
- For striped bass, 3–5 inch paddle-tail swimbaits or bucktail jigs fished tight to current seams have been deadly. Live or cut anchovy also gets it done—match your lure weight to the current, just heavy enough to tick bottom. If you’re dragging, go lighter; if you’re floating past, go heavier.
- Lingcod want anything that resembles a greenling or tiny rockfish—try Shimano Colt Sniper jigs or rootbeer-colored plastics.
- Surfperch, as always, love small, scented plastics or sandworms fished in the wash.
- For halibut, think “slow and low”—herring-pattern plugs, live shiner perch, or a hoochie drifted right along the sandy drop-offs.
Let’s talk spots. For shore pounders, Crissy Field and Fort Point remain the gold standard for stripers, especially on the moving tide. The Embarcadero piers—Pier 7, 14, and the old Pier 2—always hold fish, and the crowds are lighter these days. If you’re up for something quieter, try the deep water off China Basin or the protected corners of South Beach Harbor for halibut. For a different vibe, hit Ocean Beach at the slack of the tide and fish the troughs—this is perch country, but a big striper or flattie isn’t out of the question, especially if the bait moves in.
There hasn’t been much rumbling about salmon inside the bay lately—
Published on 2 months, 1 week ago