Friday Update - Weather Makes a Difference!

What a difference a week makes. I had planned on talking about crab this week, but those darn crustaceans have conspired with the weather to stay out of our pots...for now........rain or no rain however the hot bite is perch.

Loads of anglers are reporting healthy size silver dollars, rubber lips, blacks, and the odd rainbow perch everywhere from Elephant Rock in Tiburon to Pacifica and up to Pt. Reyes on the coast. One regular customer, Kirk LaRoche reported easy limits of big eye and silver dollar perch on Berkley Gulp Blood Worms and 3/8 oz Silver Kastmasters at Tennesee Valley Cove Beach on an incoming tide this last Thursday. Some of the fly guys have been quietly buying up extra patterns and leaders, and let it slip that they are heading out to Rodeo or Stinson beaches. If you haven't tried surf on the fly, it's a kick!

For those who would prefer to stay embrace of the San Francisco Bay, pile perch, ginnie perch, black perch, and rubber lip perch are being caught in good numbers at Elephant Rock in Tiburon, and along the Sausalito waterfront from the Spinnaker Restaurant to Fort Baker. Best baits are either live pile worms (watch those pincers!) or my favorite; Berkley Gulp! Blood Worms and Berkley Gulp! Sand Crabs in natural, rust red, chartreuse, or hot pink depending on the water clarity. Use the natural or rust in cleaner, greener waters and chartreuse or hot pink in more turbid waters

For those of you perch pirates hearing rumors about a treasure chest of silver dollar perch. I can only say "Arrrrrrrhhh! Those reports be true, matey!" (And it's not even "Talk Like a Pirate Day!") There are huge wads of silvers in the bay right now but they are still a bit small.

BIG BASS!!
If you think I was pumped on my last blog post, then "b-b-b-baby, you ain't seen nothin' yet".

If I were going to play hookey from work today (and by no means do I advocate that kind of behavior...) top choice is Lake Nicasio. Nicasio is normaly an 830 acre mud hole this time of year, but not right now! This year, lack of rain has kept the lake level way way down and the water unusually clear. So, when that storm blew in last weekend, instead of blowing out the lake and putting fish down, big pre-spawn females started to charge the bank and relate to mud lines. In fact right now you can't walk 50 yards without seeing a run off spot and the mud line that forms downwind of it.

Best bets are 1/2 oz spinner baits in chartreuse/white with double gold willow blades (to keep the bait from rising too fast), Lucky Craft LVMAX-500's in Mad Craw or Chartreuse Shad, 6" Junebug Yamamoto Senko worms rigged wacky, Booya! chartreuse/white chatter baits, 5" Storm Wild Eye swimming shads in chartreuse shiner, and either full size Brush Hogs, Double Wide's or 10" Berkley Power Worms all in green pumpkin or junebug rigged with Brass n' Glass.

Take your time working the bait, but don't spend more then 25 minutes on any of these runoff points unless you get bit

Oh yeah -- bring a camera and a scale! I know of five fish over 5lbs caught on Monday and Tuesday alone, with the biggest being just shy of 10lbs. The bite is on!