June 17, 2026
SF Bay Fishing Report: Halibut on the Flats, Stripers at the Gate
This is Artificial Lure with your San Francisco Bay fishing report.
We’re sitting on a cool, gray start around the Bay this morning. Typical marine layer, light onshore breeze 5–10 knots, and daytime highs topping out in the low 60s. Forecast calls for that breeze to bump up to 10–15 in the afternoon with a steady west wind and a light chop on the Central Bay.
Sunrise is right around a quarter past five, with sunset just after eight-thirty, so you’ve got a long window to work those tide swings. Early and late are still your best bets, especially if you can line them up with the start of an incoming or the top of the flood.
We’re on a mid‑June tide cycle, so expect decent morning water movement, easing off mid‑day, then another push late afternoon into evening. Think slower currents in the South Bay, more ripping water through the Gate and around Alcatraz and Angel.
Striped bass action has been steady, not wide‑open but consistent. Schoolie linesides with occasional legals are showing along the San Francisco shoreline, Crissy Field to Fort Point, and inside the Bay Bridge span. Boat guys tossing swimbaits and small paddletails in baitfish colors—white, pearl, and chartreuse—are doing well on the first of the incoming. Shore casters are getting fish on 3/4‑oz jigheads with 4–5 inch plastics, and the night bite has been decent around lighted structure.
Halibut fishing remains the main draw. Drifters working live anchovies and herring in the South Bay channels, along the Berkeley Flats, and the Alameda side have been putting some nice keepers in the box. Bounce‑ball trollers pulling hoochies or small anchovy‑pattern plugs behind flashers are also scoring. The bite has been best on the slower parts of the tide—top of the flood and the beginning of the ebb—when you can keep baits near bottom without too much line angle.
Leopard sharks and bat rays are chewing in the usual mudflat haunts. Any of the piers with access to deeper mud and a bit of current—Fort Point, Pier 32, or out toward Candlestick—are worth a soak. Squid strips, oily chunks of mackerel, or anchovy on a simple fish‑finder rig will keep you busy, especially on the outgoing.
As for lures, keep it simple:
- For halibut: 4–6 inch swimbaits in sardine, anchovy, or smelt patterns; slow roll them just off bottom.
- For stripers: bucktail jigs, hair raisers, and small metal spoons for working rips and current seams, especially when the wind kicks up.
- For bait: live anchovies if you can get them, otherwise frozen herring, sardines, and squid will handle halibut, sharks, and rays.
A couple of hot spots to circle for today:
First, the Berkeley Flats. That broad, relatively shallow shelf between Berkeley and Angel Island has been a classic early‑summer halibut drift. Set up on the edge of the flats on the last half of the incoming and drift across the contour lines, watching your sounder for bait schools.
Second, the Alameda Rockwall and adjacent flats. It’s been a solid producer of both halibut and stripers when the tide lays down. Work parallel drifts along the rocks with live bait or swimbaits, and don’t ignore the deeper edges where the current softens—fish like to tuck in there on the heavier flows.
If you’re stuck on shore, Crissy Field to Fort Point is still a go‑to. Work the edges of the bar and the rip lines during the slower parts of the tide. Stripers will push bait right up on the beach when the wind and current line up.
Water temps are still on the cool side, so don’t be afraid to slow your presentation. Let that swimbait tick bottom, and give halibut an extra second before you swing. For bait fishing, shorter leaders and just enough weight to hold will out‑fish the guys dragging big pyramids around.
That’s the San Francisco Bay rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
