We've hit that time of the year when the salmon and rockcod seasons are closed, stripers have moved into San Pablo Bay and the Delta and sturgeon are biting around the Mothball Fleet. If you want to go saltwater fishing, one good bet is to try piers or wharfs for tasty surfperch along the northern and central California coast.

To make sure the trip is a productive one, Hippo Lau of Hi's Tackle Box in San Francisco offers some tips and general know-how on the art of perch fishing. First, look for rocky areas and docks or piers with live pilings. "The live pilings are the best indication next to catching fish that that particular spot is a good one," he tipped.

Things to look for include barnacles, mussels, seaweed, starfish or soft shell crab that the perch would feed on. "If there isn't anything growing around the docks or piers, then it's time to move on because there will be no fish around since they feed on those live pilings," said Lau.

One reason why there may be no barnacles or other aquatic life on the pilings is because the wood on some piers and wharfs is treated with a poison called creosote that stops the growth of barnacles and other live pilings that may erode the wood.

Now that you have found a good fishing hole, there are several techniques that will work in different conditions. One popular way to fish is to drop-shot a grass shrimp on a live bait hook with a buck shot weight about 1 foot above the hook. "Instead of hooking the shrimp thru the entire body, try hooking it cross wise to get a different action out of the bait," he tipped.

For fishing off docks or piers, the easiest and most common way to catch perch is jigging shrimp or pile worms up and down, right off the pier. "While fishing off the rocks, a good bet is to split-shot with the bait and cast and retrieve it like you would a worm for black bass," said Lau.

Just because perch are close to shore, it's not only productive from the bank; anglers in boats can take part in the action too. For example, vertical jigging a gold or chrome Kastmaster is deadly. "Try adding a shrimp to one of the treble hooks to increase the shot at fish," he offered.

"However, only use this technique while fishing vertically and in murky water conditions. It's all in the flash of the lure that makes this work so well."

Some of the top areas to catch surfperch include Fort Point, around the docks near Tiburon on the Marin side of the bay and on the San Francisco side along accessible piers around Embarcadero. The Berkeley Pier, Alameda Rockwall and the Showboat are other good areas to fish.

Perch fishing can also be excellent off the Pacifica Pier, the Pillar Point Breakwater in Half Moon Bay, and Santa Cruz and Capitola wharves in Monterey Bay.

Although it is not a strict rule of thumb, some of the more common areas where one might find rainbow or rubberlipped perch are areas of open water where the sand meets the rocks. Other species like silvers and walleye are more typically caught under docks with live pilings, according to Lau. The only surfperch that currently has a size limit is the red tail perch that must be a minimum of 10-1/2 inches long.

I would highly recommend review of the Ocean Sport Fishing California Marine Regulations handbook for restrictions and bag limits, as regulations change frequently.

For further information on surfperch fishing, contact Hippo Lau at Hi's Tackle Box in San Francisco at (415) 221-3825.