Early Summer Halibut Heat: Morning Floods and Live Bait Dominate SF Bay

This is Artificial Lure with your San Francisco Bay fishing report. We’ve got a classic early-summer pattern on the Bay. Weather’s starting cool with marine layer and light wind, then building to breezy northwest this afternoon. Expect mid‑50s in the morning, climbing into the 60s later, with that usual afternoon chop once the wind kicks up. Sunrise is right around 5:45 a.m., sunset about 8:35 p.m., giving you a long window to work both tides. Tides are running decent swings the next couple of cycles. Think low tide pre‑dawn, flooding through mid‑morning, then a solid afternoon outgoing. That morning flood has been the money tide for halibut and stripers inside the Bay, especially where you can drift along edges from 15 to 35 feet. Halibut fishing has been the main show lately. Party boats and six‑packs coming out of Fisherman’s Wharf and Berkeley have been reporting anywhere from a fish per rod to near limits on the better days, with a mix of keeper halibut in the 22–30 inch class and a few doormats over 15 pounds. Stripers are mixed in, mostly schoolies with the occasional 10–15 pounder. Live bait is still king. If the bait receivers have them, **live anchovies** and **live shiners** are your best bet for halibut—drifted on a three‑way rig with just enough weight to tap bottom. If you’re running artificials, go with **5–6 inch swimbaits** in anchovy, smelt, or white, on 1–2 ounce jigheads. Slow, steady drifts with short hops off bottom are getting bit. For stripers, **topwater walkers** and **poppers** at first light along current seams, rock walls, and around the pier shadows can be electric. Once the sun’s up, switch to **white bucktail jigs**, **paddle‑tail swimbaits**, or **hair raisers** in chartreuse or white. Shore casters have been picking off fish on cut anchovy and sardine on a sliding sinker rig, especially on the outgoing. A couple hot spots to circle on your mental chart: • **Alameda Rockwall & South Bay flats** – The rockwall and nearby flats have been steady for halibut on the morning flood. Slow drifts parallel to the structure, 20–30 feet of water, have been putting fish in the box. • **Berkeley Flats & Treasure Island area** – Good mix of halibut and schoolie stripers. Work the edges of the flats on the incoming and the drop‑offs on the outgoing. When the wind’s down, drifting here with live bait or swimbaits has been very productive. Pier and shore anglers around **Fort Point, Pier 7, and Candlestick** have been seeing a mix of schoolie stripers, jacksmelt, and the odd halibut from shore. Best bets there are high‑low rigs with pile worms or pieces of anchovy, and Carolina rigs with whole anchovies for a shot at halibut tight to the bottom. Overall fish activity has been best early and late, bracketing the stronger parts of the tide. Midday, once the wind stacks up the waves, bites slow and presentations get tougher, so plan your trip around that morning flood or the later afternoon outgoing if the wind allows. That’s your Bay report from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next update. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn