Ocean Beach (San Francisco) Surf
San Francisco · near San Francisco · SF Bay Area
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Best season
- Perch year-round · stripers summer–fall
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) required. Ocean Beach along San Francisco's western edge offers urban surf fishing for perch and, in season, striped bass in the surf. DANGER: Ocean Beach has powerful, deadly rip currents — it's for experienced, careful shore anglers only; never wade deep, never turn your back on the ocean.
What is here
- Features
- Urban surf fishing in the city · Surfperch & surf stripers · Wild Pacific beach in SF · Sutro/Cliff House backdrop
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Fishing detail
- Water type
- surf
- Water
- salt
- Methods
- Surf casting · Bait
- Boat
- shore
- Target species
- Barred & redtail surfperch · Striped bass (surf) · Jacksmelt · Sand dab
- Intl tip
- License required. Urban Pacific surf fishing — perch year-round, surf stripers summer/fall. DANGER: Ocean Beach has deadly rip currents — for careful, experienced anglers only. Never wade deep or turn your back on the surf. Foggy and wild. Combine with Lands End and the SF coast. Fish from the sand, safely.
The guide
Ocean Beach, the wild three-mile strand along San Francisco's foggy western edge, offers a rare thing: genuine Pacific surf fis…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Ocean Beach (San Francisco) Surf — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.759, -122.511