Tackle Shops in the San Francisco Bay Area

6 shops — hours, live bait, and directions.

Updated

The San Francisco Bay Area wraps fishing water around a major city — the bay itself, the ocean outside the Golden Gate, and the open coast south to Pillar Point — so the tackle shops here serve several distinct fisheries rather than one. In San Francisco, Gus' Discount Fishing Tackle on Balboa Street is described by local press as the city's last general tackle shop, family-run for more than 60 years; Frank's Fisherman has been a Fisherman's Wharf chandlery since 1946, carrying recreational tackle and frozen bait; and J & P Bait at Pier 47 supplies live anchovies to the wharf fleet in season. Across the bay, Berkeley Marina Bait & Tackle sits at the foot of University Avenue with saltwater tackle, bait, and charter reservations for the marina's fleet. North of there in Emeryville, the tackle counter at the Fish Emeryville landing on Powell Street sells tackle, rod rentals, and licenses for its bay and ocean trips. Down the San Mateo coast at Pillar Point Harbor, Half Moon Bay Sportfishing & Tackle runs a full dockside shop with a 24-hour frozen-bait vending machine.

The fishing divides between the inner bay and the open ocean. Inside San Francisco Bay, anglers target striped bass, California halibut, white sturgeon, and leopard shark — halibut and stripers spring through fall, sturgeon in the winter and early spring. Out through the Golden Gate and along the coast from the Farallon Islands to Pillar Point, the boats chase Chinook salmon when the season is open, rockfish and lingcod under California's groundfish rules, and Dungeness crab through the winter, with albacore offshore in warm years. California's ocean salmon and Dungeness crab seasons are set each year by state and federal fishery managers and have been heavily restricted recently — check current dates with the Department of Fish and Wildlife before you go. The region's sportfishing boats run from the Fisherman's Wharf landings, Berkeley Marina, the Emeryville Marina, and Pillar Point Harbor.

Select a city or scroll the map to find the shop closest to where you'll fish.

Shops in San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area on the map

Frequently asked questions