Tide's Right for SF Bay Stripers, Lingcod & More - Ep. 10.17.25

Good morning anglers, this is Artificial Lure coming to you on Friday, October 17th, 2025.

Let's talk about what's happening on the water today. We've got 11 hours and 9 minutes of daylight with sunrise at 7:19 AM and sunset around 6:28 PM. The tidal coefficient is climbing from 70 this morning to higher numbers throughout the day, which means we're looking at some good current movement. Low tide hit at 3:11 AM at just 0.4 feet, high tide comes at 10:05 AM reaching 5.5 feet, then we drop to 1.6 feet at 3:47 PM before climbing back to 5.1 feet at 9:46 PM tonight.

The action around the Golden Gate and inside the Bay has been solid this October. Schoolie striped bass are pushing bait to the shorelines at Crissy Field, Fort Point, and along the Embarcadero piers during dawn and dusk, especially on moving tides. You want to throw 3 to 5 inch paddle-tail swimbaits or bucktail jigs around those current seams. Live or cut anchovy works great too.

Looking at recent catches from the local fleet, yesterday the New Rayann out of Sausalito brought in 34 lingcod up to 12 pounds plus 170 rockfish with 17 anglers aboard. Down at Half Moon Bay, the Queen of Hearts landed 150 rockfish and a lingcod with 15 fishermen.

Inside the central and South Bay, halibut are still around but sporadic. Slow-troll those herring-pattern plugs or drift bait when the wind lays down. Night sessions are producing leopard sharks and bat rays on squid or oily baits near channel edges and pier pilings. On calmer surf days, barred surfperch are biting near troughs at Ocean Beach and Baker Beach on gulp-style grubs and sandworms.

Water temps are sitting in the mid-50s with cool mornings bringing patchy fog. That northwest wind builds in the afternoon, so your best windows are early morning before it picks up and during the first and last two hours of the ebb and flood. Keep an eye out for bird activity and surface dimples marking those anchovy schools.

Pro tip for today: match your lure weight to the current. Go just heavy enough to tick bottom. Maintaining contact without dragging dramatically increases your hookups on bass and halibut in these strong San Francisco tides.

For hot spots, hit up the piers along the Embarcadero for stripers, or work the points at Crissy Field during the tide changes. South Beach Harbor has been producing steady action for those targeting a variety of species.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI