"Summer time, and the living in easy. " applied when teenagers still mowed lawns, wives were home to handle the discusting chores now shared on Saturday , and Americans still trusted politicans and lawyers. Today, as the SEAL'S motto --- "The only easy day was yesterday" --defines our lives , There's never enough time. "Honey do's" infect weekends. Camp or backpack and you need reservations. Plan ahead? It's all most of us can do to slip away for a few hours after work on those happy days when your commute takes only the time you claim. Fortunately, Northern California residents still enjoy spontaneous summer stripers close to home. Even the worst striper day beats weeding and summer reruns.
"Spontaneous" means exactly that. Simple gear, minimal preparations, minimal transit time and easily accessible areas with a chance a striper offer an welcome escape from summer reruns without the energy required by complex trips to remote climes. People used to fish like this before technology replaced techniques and the amount of money spent on fishing gear seems in inverse proportion to fishing hours.
Choice depends on your mood, gear, available time and the unavoidable vaugeries of wind and weather. Sweat hard all day? Consider dunking bait at shore or off a seawall as the sun sets over the Golden Gate.. Trapped in an office? Cast topwater plugs after dark, or fly fish the flats for welcome exercise.
Since time is money, even though we often forget money buys time, spend your precious hours fishing, not driving! If your driving time is greater than your fishing time, consider a spot nearer home!
SAN FRANCISCO, PENINSULA AND SAN JOSE
For the San Francisco or Peninsula resident with proper surf gear "near home" might mean a run out of the summer sun to a foggy beach. During baseball season stripers savage bait within casting range as tides wax and wane between Land's End and Half Moon Bay. Absent surf sticks , try Pacifica Pier during the summer with anchovy bait or brave the rocks off Morie's Point to plug up big stripers with poppers and large plugs. Lighter tackle buffs find action in protected ocean coves and harbors all the way to Santa Cruz.
Inside the bay, spring striper action isn't unknown off Crissy Field ain the Marina nd at Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge during summer. A bit earlier in the year the PG&E Plant, a small boater's choice at the south end of the water-front, attracts school stripers in the three to ten pound range: it's a "hot spot" during winter months as warm water discharges attract bait and bass from all over the bay. Do lock your car if you fish in this area.
