Food Tour in San Francisco, California: DIY Seafood With Sea Forager

Believe it or not, the thing I really love to talk about isn't myself. It's the big blue sea, and all the wonderful things in it.

Note: You will find and release. You will not be able to take any fish home with you, as this is an eco friendly tour! You will, however, gain the skills you need to do it on your own if you choose to.

A two and a half hour presentation that combines history, ecology, gastronomy, and sustainability. Kids age 9 and older welcome. Dress for potential cold winds and/or rain, wear comfortable walking shoes. This walking tour starts at the stone light house on the St Francis Jetty, near 1 Yacht Road in the Marina District (about a hundred yards due west of the famous "wave organ") and ends about 1 mile away, near the Marina Green Wall, in the vicinity of Fort Mason.

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$40

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for 3 hours

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Kirk L.

My name is Kirk Lombard and I am many things: writer, teacher, musician…actor, inveterate blogger, raconteur…commercial fisherman, puppet master…tenor, baseball historian, and…champion eel fisherman. In addition to all these, I am deeply passionate about our California marine resources. I worked for 7 years as a fisheries observer for the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. In that capacity it became my professional duty to find out what the local citizenry was fishing for. Onboard rockfish boats off the Farallones I counted rockfish; on the piers I checked herring, jacksmelt, stripers, pile perch; on the beaches I saw how surf and night smelt were captured; in the hidden coves I checked in on goose barnacle poachers, (not because I had to, because I wanted to); in downtown San Francisco I watched homeless, drop-line-wielding grandmothers, pull rockfish after rockfish out of storm drains. You want to get deep with this stuff? Talk to me. I also spent 14 years as an art teacher and counselor for severely emotionally disturbed kids in the Bay Area. My band Rube Waddell, for which I sing, play the tuba, the harmonica, and pluck my own hand-made junkyard diddley bows (one-string slide guitars), has toured Europe and the United States. Rube Waddell has been a mainstay in the underground music scene of San Francisco for 17 years, has produced 4 albums, and has appeared in virtually every venue in San Francisco — including the shoe store on the corner of 22nd and Mission (Live At Leeds, yo!) and Candlestick Park. The things I'm not telling about myself are these: 12 years as a (third generation) equity actor in NY; reciter of Robert Service Poems (just ask... or don’t); founding member of The Apocalypse Puppet Theater Co. (for whom I have written four full length puppet plays); writer of massive, unpublishable (some might say Proustian) novels; maker of gigantic papier maché faces; owner of an 83-mile-an-hour fastball in 1989. That pretty much does it. Come take my tours or buy my fish! Beyond everything else the thing I am most passionate about is the big blue sea, and all the wonderful things in it. Peruse the hundreds of posts on The Monkeyface News blog (named for the local prickleback species commonly known as a monkeyface eel, C. violaceus, for which I own the current state record) and you will see that I have a lot of interests and experiences beyond fish, all of which inform and enhance the tours I give and the fish I sell. I hope we can get fishy together! --Kirk out Full profile

9 Reviews

Rahman H.

If you’re really into retro, why not try foraging for your own seafood? Kirk will teach you how to "poke pole" for flavorful monkeyface eel, catch rock crabs, throw a Hawaiian casting net, locate the best local mussel beds, and embrace seasonal local fish. It’s the perfect activity for the foodie who’s not afraid to go a little caveman on his meal. Note: You will find and release. You will not be able to take any fish home with you, as this is an eco friendly tour! You will, however, gain the skills you need to do it on your own if you choose to. A two and a half hour presentation that combines history, ecology, gastronomy, and sustainability. Kids age 9 and older welcome. Dress for potential cold winds and/or rain, wear comfortable walking shoes. This walking tour starts at the stone light house on the St Francis Jetty, near 1 Yacht Road in the Marina District (about a hundred yards due west of the famous "wave organ") and ends about 1 mile away, near the Marina Green Wall, in the vicinity of Fort Mason.

Jason

Hi, well I actually thought we were gonna be caught in a deluge, but the sky held back its wrath, and we (me and the other 20 or so seafood tourists) were treated to a fun, super educational, passionate, fascinating and all around fantastic 3 hours of all things Nor-Cal seafood related. Kirk's passion obsessive seafood monomania and all around love of the oceanic environment make for the best class I have taken in years. If kids had teachers like this in school they would all be inspired to reach for the stars.. anyhow take and enjoy Kirk's class.. but watch out , he may have as many as 5 parallel thought processes going at once .. you better keep on your toes.. and ask questions. that makes him go off in all sorts of unexpected directions. Again the one of the best things I have done in a long time. I put good for kids.. but not if they are squeamish or afraid of a bit of "salty" language.

John G.

This is a great tour. Kirk is very smart and very funny. He even brought us bagels. You'll learn a lot and you'll really enjoy yourself. This tour is for anyone interested in sustainable fishing and eating, biology, Bay Area fishing history, and cooking seafood. Kirk teaches a few basic techniques on how catch fish, crab, and shellfish with very inexpensive equipment. He used to work for the fish and game department so he can advise you on what's legal and not.

Lorrayne L.

We journeyed to the Land of Lost Sunshine early in the morning to beat weekend traffic in, had a lovely breakfast out on the piers, then headed over to the jetty where the class took place. The fog was still thick at that hour, and the tops of the skyscrapers were shrouded in white. Even the tops of the Golden Gate were virtually invisible, and remained so as the day progressed. Kirk Lombard is a very famous man. He's known for making the State record for largest monkeyface prickleback ever caught. Kirk has also worked for California Fish and Game for 7+ years, and now consults with them. Highly knowledgeable and extremely enthusiastic, you feel the contagion spread while listening to him talk about the wildlife to be found along the coast in the intertidal zones. He shows you the best techniques to catching small fish, crabs, and harvesting mussels, seaweed and kelp. He also demonstrates first-hand how to catch the famous monkeyface prickleback, which was very entertaining to watch. In addition to all this, he shows you the easiest way to gut and debone a small fish, and how to properly cast nets to catch smelt along the water's surface. We had a grand old time with Kirk yesterday, and I highly recommend everyone to take at least one of his tours. Trust me - by the end of class, you'll be hankering to run down to Pacifica Pier to buy a crab trap, or to your favourite bait and tackle shop to stock up on fishing gear.

Ben E.

My Fiance and I had a great time on Kirk's tour. We had the chance to learn a lot about what's available in the bay (Crab/mussels/different types of fish/etc) and how to get to it. We especially enjoyed listening to Kirk, who's a fantastic source and great storyteller. His passion for the water (and especially the critter that live within it) really comes through. To top it off, Kirk landed an awesome Monkeyfaced Eel right as we were ending the tour. Super impressive!

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