I finally got a free weekend to fish, so I decided to head out to a beach on the SF peninsula. I arrived three hours before the high tide, and saw a bunch of guys fishing a small stretch of beach south of my position. Wanting to avoid the crowds at first, I scanned the beach for structure and headed northward. I found some pockets of deeper water, and started casting various jerkbaits and swimbaits in hopes of some halibut. I got a bump, which resulted in a swing and miss. I spotted a lone striper cruising the surf, but soon lost sight of him. After an hour of walking and casting along the beach without anymore hits, I saw a pod of grey whales 300 yards from the beach and decided to stop and whale watch while having lunch.

As I was returning to my starting position, I saw a bunch of birds working the shoreline by the group of fishermen, and I figured that I might as well head down that way to check out what was going on. I got to the spot and found that half of the guys were plugging for stripers and the other half throwing cast nets for buckets full of surf smelt. The smelt were right at our feet, so I began casting; alternating between hair raisers, swimbaits, and topwaters. I asked the others if there were any stripers caught prior to my arrival, and they replied that there hadn't been any caught yet. It wasn't long before somebody hooked up on a 25" striper. The fish came in two hours before the top of the tide, right on cue. I got slammed a few minutes later by healthy 28" fish, which I released. I grew tired of casting, so I obtained a live smelt to flyline in the surf. No takers. I decided to call it quits after we lost the tide. I saw two others caught ranging from 26-30", and to my surprise, three out of the four fish lived to see another day. It was a beautiful, warm, and sunny day to be out fishing on the coast.

Rod: G. Loomis MBR843C IMX 7' Med-Heavy
Reel: Daiwa Zillion Type-R 7.3:1
Line: 12 lb. Toray Hi-Class Fluorocarbon
Lure: 1/2 oz. White hair raiser with white grub trailer
Tide: Top of the incoming

Nice Fish FT! That hair raiser is a good all around jig for the stripers...

Thanks, Glen. Yeah the hair raisers are a must have for stripers. I was really hoping for some topwater action, but it just didn't happen.

Nice fish FT! Can't wait to get some on topwater myself. It's a blast...