Bay Area Bass and Halibut Heat Up This April Morning

About this episode

Artificial Lure discusses the current fishing conditions and best practices for catching bass and halibut in the Bay Area.

Hey folks, this is Artificial Lure, your Bay Area fishing guru, comin' at ya live from the foggy shores of San Francisco Bay on this crisp April 20th mornin'. Weather's lookin' prime today—partly cloudy with temps hoverin' around 55-62°F, light northwest winds at 5-10 knots, perfect for gettin' out there without gettin' soaked. Sunrise hit at 6:28 AM, sunset's 7:52 PM, givin' ya a solid 13+ hours of daylight to chase 'em. Tides are on your side: low at 4:12 AM (-0.8 ft), high at 10:05 AM (5.2 ft), then droppin' to low at 4:48 PM (1.1 ft)—fish the incomin' flood around mid-mornin' when bait gets pushed in. Fish activity's heatin' up with that Godzilla El Niño pushin' warm water north; stripers and halibut are strikin' hot, per BDOutdoors reports from SoCal Bight extendin' up here. Recent catches? Limits of striped bass to 20+ lbs, fat halibuts in the 15-30 lb range, plus rockfish stacks and the odd yellowtail showin' early. Anglers pulled 20-40 fish days last week on incoming tides. Best lures right now: swimbaits and jerk minnows in anchovy patterns for stripers, live-lookin' grubs or Big Hammer plastics on jigheads for halibut. Top baits? Anchovies or sardines on a Carolina rig…

People in this episode

Host: Artificial Lure

Topics covered

• fishing
• weather
• tides
• striped bass
• halibut
• bait
• locations

Keywords

• fishing report
• San Francisco Bay
• striped bass
• halibut
• April fishing
• tide times
• best lures

Mentioned in this episode

Products: swimbaits, jerk minnows, Big Hammer plastics, Carolina rig, pile worms, anchovies, sardines

Books & works: BDOutdoors

Places: San Francisco Bay, Oyster Point, South Bay, Angel Island

More episodes of San Francisco Bay Fishing Report Today

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• Early Summer Stripers and Halibut: Golden Gate Tides and Morning Bite · June 12, 2026 · 4 min
• Early Summer Bay Halibut and Stripers: Timing the Tides and Low Light · June 11, 2026 · 3 min
• Bay Bite Window: Chase the Tide Swing for Stripers and Halibut Today · June 10, 2026 · 3 min
• Early Summer Bay Bite: Stripers and Halibut on the Afternoon Flood · June 9, 2026 · 3 min
• Early Summer Halibut and Stripers: Ride the Afternoon Ebb on the Bay · June 8, 2026 · 3 min