Dumbarton Pier — Fremont

If you don’t have the time or the effort sturgeon fishing isn’t for you. Honestly. Hours upon hours like I said sacrifice. If you really want it bad, you make time. And for those of you that think it’s silly or extreme I give up all this stuff just for fishing. Don’t expect to be successful.

I say again I’m not on anyone’s side or picking on anyone. I love you all. Put’ em in and get one. Hope this helps. Can’t fish today so I guess I gotta talk about it. See what I mean?  Jason “bayrunner”

Date: February 29, 2004; To: PFIC Message Board; From: ben; Subject: (In reply to: Newbie Needs Advice – Dumbarton Pier posted by peilien on Feb-29-04)

I used to fish Dumbarton almost 3 to 4 days a week in 2001… the regulars there use mostly braided line.. 80 to 100 lb..main line and 100-150 leader. We mostly used the Kahle hooks in a 4/0 5/0 variety but i stuck with Gamakatsu 8/0 octopus. 2-3 foot leader and 8-10 oz pyramids. I used to go to San Jose and buy at least a dozen ghost shrimp (wrap with magic string) and a tray of quality herring (when putting the herring on we would mostly fillet it then thread it on the hook and hold it down with magic string). I used a 13-foot Kencor with a Stella 16000 (first series) loaded with 100-lb Berkeley whiplash and a 11-foot Kencor with a Fin Nor Ahab 20 loaded with 65-lb braid… the 65-lb held better with 8-oz more than the 100-lb with 10 oz. when the current rips through there is one of the best times to fish it but I have seen them catch when there is little or no movement. I caught my first sturgie there after a year of trying… so be patient… hope it helps

Posted by gyozadude

 Good advice, here too, but…I’d probably go with a beefy 7 ft. rod to start with. Pilings aren’t as big a problem at Dumbarton as is the current. More leverage to fight the fish is well worth the extra 3 ft. of rod tip length to try to feebly keep it away from the pilings. The trick is to play out the fish before letting come close. I’ve seen pros like ‘Slinger and Eelmaster lose fish at the MMD with longer rods. I wouldn’t take the long rod advice to heart.

Carry 8-oz spider or pyramid weights with you, 6/0 hooks for rays, sharks, sturgeon. The smaller hooks let you keep smallish sharks.

Check UPSAC pier survey URL for bait/species list. Ken’s pier archive has a more definitive list as does his book. I stopped bringing anchovies to Dumbarton.

Again, check out the UPSAC Pier Survey form for Dumbarton, It lists Bob’s Liquor as the closest. You can call Bob ahead of time to check his bait availability. It’s about 1 hour closer during commute hours on I-880.

Dumbarton is concrete with wood railings, even the lower end section. See photo. BTW, you don’t need to fish that section only, just near the end. Again, if folks can check the msgboard archives, this will provide more accurate information on Dumbarton.

I’d like to emphasize that information may be plenty and folks may want to be helpful, but it doesn’t serve the self-reliant angler much to get information of a debatable nature when only you know what you may or may not like. I assume you intend to actually catch fish at Dumbarton :-). Otherwise, apologies for getting you to read all this.

Sevengill Shark – 2014

Posted by Dude Where’s My Fish

Welcome to the Board—

1. Any Surf Rod that is 10ft and above gives you an advantage when fishing piers because you have more leverage over the fish when the fish gets near the piling. Boat rods rated over 50lbs is not a good choice. Freshwater rods will work if you target smaller fish. You should start out with a spinning reel, and put some mono line on there, the cheapest you can find, I recommend you don’t buy line that is rated over 30lbs. The spinning reel should at least have 75 yards of line on it.
2. Dumbarton has swift moving currents so you want weights over 5oz and you can get sinkers with tail ends that you can bend so the weight will stay on the bottom longer. For hooks 3/0 is a standard size and will accommodate almost all pier species, eagle claw snelled hooks are best when you don’t want to tie your own hooks.
3. A two-ring hoop net around 36inches in diameter with at least 25ft of rope is best for hauling up fish that are too big to pull up by hand.
4. A small towel to wipe your hands with, bar of soup to remove bait smell, and a tackle box and fill it with extra hooks, terminal tackle like swivels and a spool of extra line.
5. Anchovy is the universal bait, almost anything will bite anchovy. Frozen anchovy you can cut into chunks and stick them on your hook.
6. Walmart is an excellent place to buy gear, they have quality gear at excellent prices. If you can find what your looking for you can either shop online or go to discount tackle shops in your area, the cheapest place I know in the bay area is Fishery Supply in San Jose on Story Rd.
7. If you’re located near Dumbarton TNT in Hayward has a wide selection of frozen and live baits, if your old enough to drive a trip to Fishery Supply is well worth it.
8. Dumbarton is a very long pier so you shouldn’t have any problems getting a spot to fish from. The wooden section at the end of the pier is crowded on weekends so if you want a place at the wooden section come early or fish weekdays when people usually have to work.

Posted by pescare

Good advice here. I would suggest one change though, regarding the line. When looking at the money you’ll spend for everything you need, saving just a few dollars on line is not worth it. Get some decent stuff and give yourself some peace of mind. When you can get something like Berkeley Big Game for about $6 or less, it doesn’t make much of a dent in your budget over some crappy $2.99 stuff.  Ed

Date: October 7, 2004; To: PFIC Message Board; From: FakeFisherman; Subject: Dumbarton pier shark fishing

Fished the Dumbarton pier this morning (10/7) for a few hours. Not much action for about an hour, then I caught and released a small sevengill. 30 mins later, about an hour and a half before high tide, BOOM, my pole bends. I had the drag set tighter than normal and I could’ve sworn it was a bat ray taking off since there was no bite at all before the hook up. Well I’m reeling this thing in as it’s working my drag, still thinking it’s a big ray, but when I get it close to the pier it’s a big leopard! It tried to run under the pier and I was praying it wouldn’t wrap around a piling but I was able to get it back in front of me. Got it up with my crab net (I always bring it “just in case” I hook into that big one). Measured it at 46”, weighed it at just over 14# on my digital scale and took some pics. I was gonna release it but I asked the other guy who was there if he wanted it and he did. I’ve seen him keep leopards before and he doesn’t even bleed them, but says they still taste good on the bbq. Hmmm.

Caught and released only one more small sevengill but that big leopard made my day. My biggest one yet! I was using my cheap 9′ Alpha rod (those $19 ones), 50# braided line, a 6/0 sturgeon rig and big chunks of mackerel. Some other guys who showed up only caught a couple small sevengills. All in all it was a fun day.

Date: January 16, 2005; To: PFIC Message Board; From: tranbaby2; Subject: Dumbarton pier perching

Headed out to Dumbarton after work today. Headed to the end platform to try for some pile and grass shrimp. Hardly a handful for the hour and a half I tried and nobody was catching fish. Got a call from FakeFisherman saying he’s at the base of the pier and waiting for me. Met him there and cast out hi/lo’s w/shrimp pieces. Had a few hard bites but none stuck. A few guys already had 2-3 on stringers. One guy next to us gets a bat ray type of pull and his rod is shaking. Pulls it up and it’s a nice 12” barred perch. Fakefisherman got the next one, a good looking barred as well. Nothing for a while and then I get a nice big hit, turns out to be an 10 3/4 inch barred. Kinda chubby too. After a while of on and off bites w/ no hook-sets, I get another nice hard hit. This one is nice also, 10 ¼” and looks real shiny. Wanted to get a 3rd before I left but only managed another nibble. Left at 5 pm. Nice weather and sunset to go along with the day.

Date: October 8, 2006; To: PFIC Message Board; From: vinyl; Subject: Dumbarton Pier

Fished on Saturday from 7:40 AM to 6:00 PM. Tide was extremely low when we arrived, but there was water near the end of the pier. A large fishing event took place from 7 to 12 but of the near 80 people on the pier, not a single fish was caught. As tides started to rise, currents began to pick up. We swapped our 2 oz sinkers to 5 oz pyramids, but couldn’t keep the lines out (we fished parallel to the pier due to the crowding) The current combined with the massive flow of seaweed made fishing with hi-lo rigs near impossible and was sure to give the learners trouble as well. By noon the pier was nearly deserted, and we claimed the turret near the end of the pier. Using shrimp on a sliding rig we caught a 14-in striper (released of course) and four undersized leopards. Also fished a Bucktail/Kastmaster with steady retrieve across the pier near the pilings. I could see striper chase it to the surface then dash downwards as it neared the top–yeah there are striperw here alright. A couple anglers around us caught rays and smoothounds on cut anchovies; one guy landed a large smelt further up the pier. Lost a jig + some sinkers and came home empty-handed … but we’ll be ready next time.

Some tips:

– 2 rods per person

– There are pre-drilled rodholder holes on the sides near the end of the pier and on the turret extension of the pier

– Overhead casting OK

– Forget Sabikis, flapper rigs, boom extension rigs

– You will need a landing net if using semi-light tackle (our rods are 6″-7″ spooled with 10# line)

– Most people’s lines will be moved to face outwards from the pier when the current is strong

– Not many perch/staghorn to use as live bait, but if you throw a fine mesh net under the pier during the current you’ll find shrimp

– Careful to keep the jig off the ground when jigging near the pilings–the bottom is muddy but there’s stuff there

– Bring a sweater

Leopard Shark

Date: January 1, 2008; To: PFIC Message Board; From: red fish; Subject: Dumbarton Pier

Went to Dumbarton Pier yesterday as a ‘last-ditch-effort’ for sturgeon of 2007 before the New Year…. Sturgeon has been a difficult proposition from shore this last year. It has been more difficult than I have ever experienced since I started fishing in the winter and not just hanging up my pole in the cold as I used to do about (10) years ago around this time until spring begun. I have been hitting a (few) areas over the months since the sturgeon punch-card was put into effect this past March, and I have really one hooked and one measured 42′ for my release box. I had one shaker to start off ’07 before the card came about, and the one good one of 64.5 last Dec. 3… So, on the bright-side, fellas, I have been doing my share to preserve the fishery, LOL 😉 I was going to fish in San Pablo Bay at Pt. Pinole or at Eckley’s, but something told me to get up off my bass, and make the trip to Dumbarton where the boaters have been gettin’ ’em (a few) nearby at the train-bridge and the power-lines. I had a nice drive and a late afternoon of serenity. A couple anglers were leaving (skunked) upon my arrival at around 2:30p to get an early start on New Year’s Eve. I get to the end of the pier (the only place there was water at that time) to see a couple guys fishing. I was joined by another guy that arrived maybe 20 seconds behind me that I shared the lower right hand deck of the pier with. We all fished hard with whatever baits you can think of for sturgeon (minus herring) and traditional rigs, cast far, the whole-ball-of-wax, with a couple nibbles and a big slice of skunk for all…. I was the last to walk off before the gate closed at 6pm. Matty, I think I will try for my 7-Gill which (seems like it has got to be a whole lot easier than sturgeon at this moment). I have decided that, or 1.) take up fresh-water fishing 2.) sell my gear and take up golf 😉