Your Sunday Fishing Scoop: Low Swells this Week!

Get excited anglers, we’re looking at a solid week of fishing and crabbing in the Bay Area this week. Even Ocean Beach looks like it should be relatively calm over the next couple of days! There are only a couple weeks left in December so we’re looking to make the most out of rockfish and lingcod season.

So no time to waste, let’s dive right in!

First, our weekly fishing & stocking reports…

I’ve been following these charters for a while and they continue to impress, bringing in limits of rockfish and crab on a daily basis.

*Counts Via Fish Emeryville, Lovely Martha Sport Fishing

Some light stocking in Alameda County this week!

Lower swell heigh with longer intervals usually mean cleaner water and more predictable sets. This is when the beach opens up and you can cover more ground without fighting every cast. If the wave power is low and the period is stretching past 12 seconds that’s a good indication that the surf will be calm. This is also perfect for the pier and jetty crowd.

Some fish don’t care too much about the conditions. For example, barring super rough days, you can usually catch surf perch at your beach of choice. Halibut and striper can be a little more finicky though.

So that being said, medium swells with moderate wave power can still fish well. You just need to find structure that offers protection. Troughs, holes, pockets or any stretch of beach that naturally breaks up wave energy will hold fish. These are the days where reading the water matters more than anything. If you can find an area that settles between sets you will find fish using it as cover.

Large swells or high wave power are usually a sign to be careful. The Pacific gets messy fast and safety should be top of mind here. If things are blown out on the ocean side you can still salvage the day by fishing inside the Bay. The shorelines and piers are more protected and areas near deeper water often stay productive even when the coast looks unfishable. This is the kind of conditions that should deter you from hitting the coastal jetties too - you don’t want to get caught out there in a big swell.

Conditions change but the approach stays the same. The best thing you can do is check the numbers before going out and actually take the effort to analyze how the fishing was at that specific spot. Did you catch a bunch of fish or get skunked? Once you start matching your spots to the conditions the whole winter season becomes a lot more predictable.

Ocean Beach is best fished OUTSIDE of strong outgoing tides where there is a lot of water flowing out of the Golden Gate creating strong currents along Ocean Beach.

*Always check conditions before going out there, this data may no longer be up to date so please be safe

Good luck out there 😎