As you can easily imagine, the San Francisco Bay Area gives you access to wonderful urban fishing but what are the best spots that you should consider? This is what we will answer in the following paragraphs, offering a short description of the best possible fishing places that you can enjoy in San Francisco.
Fisherman’s Wharf
If you are an angler, you will love this highly popular location. It is located right in the San Francisco peninsula’s northern edge and you can find so many interesting charters, piers, seafood restaurants, attractions and public events. You can easily catch perch, flounder, sharks and sturgeons, all around the coastline. From here you can also go to various deep sea locations that are perfect for fishing.
Pier 7
Pier 7 is the largest of the San Francisco piers, with a length of 840 feet. This is a really productive pier and it is really special because of all the fish that becomes available. Besides excellent fishery, you also gain access to a really great old style charm, even if it was recently re-built. The water has a depth of 40 feet. You will love catching leopard sharks, pileperch and spotted seaperch.
Coyote Point
Coyote Point is easily accessible since it is located just two miles east of the San Francisco International Airport. It is a highly popular recreational area that is popularized by sailing, cycling, beaches and windsurfers. People can easily enjoy sturgeon fishery, mainly during early winter and autumn. It is recommended for boat fishermen but you can also fish from the shore.
Candlestick Park
The area here is quite windy but if you manage to brave it, you will find fish every single day of the year. This includes shark, flounder, rays, sturgeon, shark, kingfish and perch. The only problem is that this park is available for fishing just from 7 AM to 8 PM. You will want to fish at the Sunrise Point since that is where sturgeon will feed on eggs and small fish.
Municipal Pier
This is by far the most impressive and biggest pier that you can find in the San Francisco County. It measures close to 1,900 feet and offers fishermen the opportunity of catching perch, rays, halibut, skates, sharks and rockfish. Municipal Pier is highly popular for joggers and tourists because of the location so during summertime, you can expect it to be really crowded.
San Pablo Reservoir
Many consider this to be the best fishing lake in the San Francisco Bay region. It is hard to argue with this claim because it is filled with channel catfish and trout, covering an area of 855 acres. Fishing is popular here because of the rainbow trout that can be fished, with so many fish reaching a weight of 20 pounds. If you enjoy bass fishing, you can also take advantage of what is offered. The record here for largemouth bass is 18 pounds. Sometimes you will catch sturgeon. Keep in mind that there is a need to have a local fishing permit in order to be allowed to fish in the San Pablo Reservoir but you only need to pay $4.5 per day for that. Heavy restrictions apply on boats so make sure that you ask about that if you want to visit with a boat.
Bon Tempe Lake
The lake covers 140 acres and can be found in the Marin County. You only need to drive for around 45 minutes from the downtown San Francisco area to get there. You can easily fish for trout there and bass fishery is quite interesting. The rainbow trout usually has a length of 11 to 14 inches. Fishermen are not allowed to fish on a boat.
Pacifica Pier
This is obviously one of the best of the fishing piers in the entire California state. There are so many interesting fish species that can be caught, making the Pacifica Pier one of the most popular of the fishing destinations in the San Francisco Bay area. Based on when you fish, you can catch pompano, halibut, large perch, flounder and salmon. Make sure that you bring a lot of gear with you though and many rods so that you can catch as many species as possible.
