California Pier Report: Wintertime is Perch Time
BY KEN JONES
Special to Western Outdoor News
Rain, rain go away and come again some other day. It’s the refrain of the sunshine-starved pier rats whose meletonian is running a little low. They need to be outside and, by the way, wouldn’t it be grand if a few fish were available. Well, ladies and gentlemen, a few fish are available the emphasis being on “few” which is still a whole lot better than no fish being available. So here we go.
Since wintertime is perch time it should be no surprise that the barreds are starting to show up and some are reaching pretty impressive size. Amazingly, a few bonito are still around, and a smattering of reports continue to offer clues as to where some croakers and halibut can still be found. It’s not as hot as three months ago but some fish are available for the taking.
Imperial Beach Pier — Matt at Cox Bait & Tackle (on Palm Ave)., says that the bad weather has slowed things both for the number of fishermen and for the fish (and, good readers, you are going to hear this refrain a few times. Some barred surfperch are showing up inshore and a few anglers continue to fish the mid-pier and end of the pier for others species but bonito, mackerel and the other species that normally get the goose bumps bumping are few and far between. It’s slow and you just have to hit it right to have a good day.
Ocean Beach Pier — It sounds like things have slowed although a few mackerel, bonito and small croakers are still around. Inshore, a few anglers are trying by the rocks and apparently some good sized zebraperch have been found. Best bait has been moss.
Crystal Pier — Barred surfperch along with some walleye surfperch are making a showing in between the storms. Bonito action is hit and miss.
Embarcadero Marina Pier — Miguel, at the Shelter Island Pier Bait & Tackle Shop, says he’s still getting some reports of mackerel and an occasional bonito but the dredging taking place by the pier is really stirring up the water.
Shelter Island Pier — Miguel, at the Shelter Island Pier Bait & Tackle Shop, says people are still seeking out the bonito although the bite has slowed. He has seen a few sand bass lately along with a couple of sheephead.
Oceanside Pier — Carl, at the Oceanside Pier Bait & Tackle (on the pier), reports a slowdown in the fishing due to the weather which has been, shall we say, less than perfect. Less fishermen and less fish. An interesting post was made by gbeastmasterno: “Did anyone hear about the DFG making a huge bust at Oceanside Pier on the 22nd or 23rd of December? I only heard part of the story…apparently a DFG officer caught 5 people poaching EVERYTHING…in all they had over 700 fish and the DFG officer had all the fish laid out all over the parking lot as evidence. I heard that the people had their cars towed as evidence too.” Interesting if he was right (and they do make raids at the pier.
Oceanside Harbor Pier — Reported by Garth on January 2 “Short: Nothin’ doin’. Long: got out relatively early, no one else out on our little pier. It was a bit overcast and windy at first, and pretty cold. We had squid, ‘chovy chunks and live smelt on hi/lo’s and sliders, in various and predictable configurations. As the day wore on it got nicer and nicer, the sun came out, and a lot of people were walking and talking. Spoke with a nice older fellow and his wife who were visiting from AZ and a boatload of others… A group of three guys showed up and set up with small chunks of squid on small hooks. They nailed smelt pretty impressively, several times one particular guy had two 15″ or so smelt on at the same time, on ultra-light gear too.
San Clemente Pier — Dompfa Ben made an interesting report “Ventured pier-ward yesterday afternoon with brother Dan, cousins Bryan and Capt. Ross, and virtual family-member Rob, and, after a brief 7-Eleven stop, we set up at the end of the pier. My thinking was that with the dropping tide and the recent swell, the end would be the best bet for catching bugs and other critters. Using squid strips and chunks of India mackerel (so labeled at the Asian supermarket), we managed a few short sand bass, two borderline sculpin, and a handful of white croaker. Only tiny swimming crabs found their way into my hoops. Around 9:30, we decided to head back closer to shore, so down the pier we went. Back near the surf, we managed a few more small sand bass, a thornback, a needlefish, a few more croakers, and a few mystery runs that came unbuttoned. We also caught one short lobster in a hoop that proved to be difficult to remove from the net! She had climbed up inside the bait pouch, and was holding on for dear life. I considered soaking her out of there, but wanted to get her out of the hoop. Overall, an interesting night at the pier. There was some guy standing near Schleppy’s, his face completely covered by bandanas and a knit cap, that did dance and kung fu moves for over 3 hours. He seemed to be a little disturbed (a little?!?!) but he didn’t bother anyone. The outdoor speakers at Schleppy’s were still playing music when I walked by, so maybe the guy just couldn’t help but groove. I’ve never seen him before. Weather was cold but pleasant, partly cloudy, light winds out of the SE. Take your pick: bonito, sculpin (scorpionfish), jacksmelt, sardines, sand bass, thronbacks, leopard sharks and smoothounds. Dompfa Ben also reported a good-sized moray eel one night. Mix in a few lobsters and you’ve got the mixings for a good meal.
Dana Harbor Pier — olcanepole reported “First time to fish this pier. Fished with my brother and his son, from 8 am till 2:30 with not a lot of action, using shrimp squid and mackerel as bait. Managed to catch a couple of small perch, one under sized barracuda and one fishing rod. One other angler caught an average size bonito. The weather was great. The bigger croaker was deeply hooked, so I cut the line and left the hook in to rust out.”
Balboa Pier — Our reporter Snookie says “the bonito have dwindled down to just a few, but the bait is still plentiful. There have been some nice halibut caught in the surf area and some very small ones too. The various sharks are in the surf too plus when the bonitos were plentiful they bit all the way to the sand. The jacksmelt have been an off and on thing. We’ve gotten some very big jacksmelt on live sardines. There’s been an occasional small white seabass caught. The sea lions have been pests as well as the various birds such as the double crested cormorants and the brandts cormorant plus the loons and grebes. As the fishing slows at least we have the possibility of visits from the whales heading south so all is not lost.” We also had a nice post from Angie a ten year old who has joined the loyal fraternity of pier rats “Hello, my name is Angie. I am ten years old and I am a 5th grader. Every night I read this site’s message with my Dad (hoozdragging). I like to report myself today because I caught the bait fish and the big fish (Bonitos). When I got out of Barnes & Nobles, the sky was cleared. It was blue with white clouds. So I asked my Dad to go bonito fishing. I arrived at the pier at 1:30 PM. No bait fish. Just a few smelt near the sand. After spending sometime I got two little sardines. Right after I wetted the sardine, I got hooked-up. Suddenly, KABOOM! Out of the blue my fishing rod bended big. I started to reel it in very, very carefully because I use a circle hook. Just below the pier the bonito swam around the piling. I relaxed the line and the fish turned around. While I was reeling up the fish, it was flipping in the air and it felt very heavy. I thought it was monster! But on the pier it was measured 18″. About an hour later I got another bonito bite. This one was 17″. This time it was easy. Later in the afternoon until sundown I caught lot’s of mackerels which I cut up and fed to seagulls. Lot’s of travelers saw my bonitos and asked a lot of questions to me. If it does not rain tomorrow, I would like to try again. Happy New Year and Happy fishing, Angie.”
Newport Pier— — Got a report from John714 “In an attempt to catch some sculpin, I headed over to Newport Pier at around 7pm last night with a couple of friends and my younger brothers. Set up near the end of the pier and we loaded up our poles with sliding sinker rigs and hi-lo’s as well and used cut pieces of squid and leftover mackerel from our last trip. Right away one of my friends catches a mackerel that we kept. I wanted to try hooping for lobster, so I got one of the macks and used a couple of zip ties to secure him to the bottom of the net, one through the gills and the other around the end of the tail, felt secure enough. Dropped the net down and waited about 15 minutes and pulled up my net to find that my entire mackerel was gone except for a small chunk, had to be the work of a seal. Dropped the net down again with the small mack chuck still attached and 10 minutes later I pulled it up and inside the net was a small crab still clinging to the leftover chunk of mackerel, He was released of course. Tied another mackerel on my net the same way as the first one EXCEPT for this time, the mack was on the other end of the bottom. I thought maybe if the net was covering the mackerel when it landed on the bottom, it would make whatever stole it last time harder to steal THIS time. Well, I dropped the net down and after waiting about 8 minutes, I pulled it up with the same result, stolen mackerel. I stopped hooping after that and will wait until I find a bait cage before I try again. My friend caught a small bat ray an hour before we left that we brought up with my net and released right away. After that, nothing else was caught for the night and we left around 11pm. So, unless you count that small crab a “catch”, I personally was SKUNKED for the night. Caught: four mackerel on hi-lo rigs with cut squid for bait. (All used for bait); one small crab (rock crab I think) from hooping with a small piece of mackerel. (released); one bat ray (14 inches guesstimate) on a sliding sinker rig with squid for bait. (Released).
Huntington Beach Pier — Got a post by cliffv “Made it out to Huntington Beach Pier from 2pm to 6pm. Not a lot of anglers there at all and all seemed quiet for a Monday afternoon. Set up at the end of the pier with some leftover squid as bait. Fished the end of the pier for a couple of mini-macks and a couple of white croakers. I then moved to the surf line area for a couple more small macks. All fish returned to grow up, with the exception of one mack that will be used for bait on my next trip.”
Seal Beach Pier — Juan at Big Fish Bait & Tackle says anglers are still getting a few bonito and halibut at the pier although perch are now the number one fish. He said there are some barred surfperch inshore as well as the small walleyes.
Belmont Pier — Lowell, at Paul’s Bait and Tackle in San Pedro, reports things have slowed although a number of halibut, mostly shorts, are still showing up at the pier.
Shoreline Aquatic Park Piers — Lowell, at Paul’s Bait and Tackle in San Pedro, reports good fishing for yellowfin croakers at the finger piers. The good-sized fish, some up to 4 pounds are mainly hitting on ghost shrimp. A few mackerel are also around.
Cabrillo Pier — Lowell, at Paul’s Bait and Tackle in San Pedro, says things have slowed somewhat although jacksmelt and halibut are still around. He said one of the regulars reported that for the year he had taken over 40 legal-size halibut with the biggest registering in at a good sized 24 pounds. So yes, that pier does yield some halibut.
Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon, Catalina Island) — It’s like a broken record as the pier continues to yield up its usual numbers of sub-legal kelp bass, halfmoon, senorita, rock wrasse, blacksmith and opaleye.
Redondo Beach Pier — Sunny, at the Bait Shop on the pier, says things have slowed but some mackerel and bonito are still around. One report also mentioned catching some market-size squid during the nighttime hours.
Redondo Sportfishing Pier — Paul, at Redondo Sportfishing, says the pier is still yielding up some bonito and mackerel along with lots of sardines and micro-sized Spanish jacks (jackmackerel). He says there’s also been a decent bite on sargo for anglers using ghost shrimp.
Hermosa Beach Pier – venom242 posted “Went to Hermosa pier at about 11 AM. The action was real slow for a couple hours, only smelt were hitting. Then a school of sardines came by and hung around till we left at about 4 PM. I thought the sardine schools were totally gone but today proved me wrong. Only caught one mackerel, I thought that was a little odd for this pier. Someone a few feet away got a nice bass, caught on mussel. Also heard a small bat ray was caught off the end. Lots of people walking on the pier, it seems like every other person was asking us what we were catching. I always enjoy talking to these people, it’s nice to spread good word about fishing. I feel like I do a better job of educating the public than PETA.”
Manhattan Beach Pier — A few surfperch are showing up in the surf and mid-pier areas. Mackerel and bonito have slowed.
Venice Pier — David, at Purfield’s Pro Tackle, says the stormy weather has slowed things down. Mainly what he’s hearing are reports of barred surfperch and yellowfin croaker, all inshore.
Santa Monica Pier — mentat posted “I haven’t gone fishing in over a month (because of the weather) but got the itch, so I took an extended lunch and drove to SM pier. It was extremely windy and quite cold, and the waves were very choppy. Threw hi-lo with shrimp for an hour and nada. Talked to a couple guys who had been there for several hours, they said they only managed two mackerels on mussels. They said the only other catch they saw was a guy who caught a perch. Oh well, I expected this result with the weather and season.”
Malibu Pier — Ginny, at Wylies Bait & Tackle, reports that the weather has slowed the fishing. There is still some live bait available, some sharks and even a few halibut but not a great many. Lots of perch are making an appearance and they’re really dark. She wonders if they’ve been hiding in the rocks.
Ventura Pier — Surfperch and small croakers are available if you can get to the pier.
Stearns Wharf — Angel, at Angel’s Bait on the wharf, reports people are concentrating on the crabs and that the red rock crabs have been plentiful. About the only thing the fishermen are getting are sardines.Goleta Pier — Got a post from cayucosjack who said “Fished Goleta Pier Noon-2pm. Set-up just before the elbow and fished the west side. Slow day there. Only a couple of SBRF (small brown rockfish), a sanddab, a couple of decent walleyes, a few smelt, and a bunch more shiner perch. All released. The gulls were worse here than at Gaviota; it was very annoying to say the least. I can’t stand seeing people train the birds by feeding them. They were very aggressive and were trying to get our fish on the way up as well as grabbing bait that didn’t sink through the kelp fast enough.”
Gaviota Pier — Not sure it’s still open but got a post from cayucosjack who said “Fished Gaviota Pier 7:30 am-11 am. Results for 3 of us were: two way short cabezon (squid & mussels), one SBRF (squid), six small BSP (mussels & mackerel), four big walleye perch (mussel & squid), ~25 shiners (any bait was working), two short halibut (8 &10″ on mackerel and anchovies) and lots of small smelt. Did see a small leopard shark feeding in the surf zone but couldn’t get it to eat my bait. Gulls were bad here (imagine that) and I had to release one that got tangled. He was the calmest I’ve ever seen one, acted as though he’d been through it before (didn’t even peck me). The only other person fishing was the lady that is always there fishing mid-pier. She is such a nice lady, always a pleasure. She shared some of her special home-prepared sugar cured mack and it did the trick. She was catching numerous perch using that bait. Weather was windy (again, what a surprise!) and cold. All fish released except a few smelt and shiners used for live bait (untouched).
Pismo Beach Pier — Boyer, from Sheldon’s Clam Stand (on the pier), reports good action on barred surfperch when the weather cooperates. This is one of the best piers if your goal is big barred surfperch.
Avila Pier — Cayucosjack reported “Fished Avila Pier Wednesday with EddieE for a few hours around high tide. Fished the end for a bunch of white croakers on squid strips. That was the action. No smelt or bait around. The only fish were the croakers that were schooled up thick about as far as you can cast from the end of the pier. I fished there last week too and the only thing biting was an occasional jacksmelt and sanddab.
Port San Luis (Harford) Pier — Mike, at Patriot Sportfishing (on the pier), says there are good numbers of jacksmelt and sardines around the pier. They’re also attracting in some salmon but the salmon are now illegal.
Morro Bay Wharf — Cayucosjack reported “Morro Bay has been tough to fish with all the major tide flux lately. Black perch are starting their congregations (use mussels or shrimp). Bait schools are still around just not very thick. Haven’t heard of much shark or ray action either.
Cayucos Pier – Glenda, at the Tidepool (near the front of the wharf), said no fishermen and no fish; too windy and cold. Cayucosjack reports “Cayucos Pier is dead slow as well. Some jacksmelt on certain days. Still slow on the perch and no big fish to be seen. Steelhead have been around. Sanddabs and bullheads are the only constants lately being taken along with jacksmelt and a few sharks.
San Simeon Pier – The pier is seeing some surfperch—barred, calico, walleye and silvers in-between the storms.
Redondo Sportfishing Pier — Paul, at Redondo Sportfishing, says the pier is still yielding up some bonito and mackerel along with lots of sardines and micro-sized Spanish jacks (jackmackerel). He says there’s also been a decent bite on sargo for anglers using ghost shrimp.
Hermosa Beach Pier – venom242 posted “Went to Hermosa pier at about 11 AM. The action was real slow for a couple hours, only smelt were hitting. Then a school of sardines came by and hung around till we left at about 4 PM. I thought the sardine schools were totally gone but today proved me wrong. Only caught one mackerel, I thought that was a little odd for this pier. Someone a few feet away got a nice bass, caught on mussel. Also heard a small bat ray was caught off the end. Lots of people walking on the pier, it seems like every other person was asking us what we were catching. I always enjoy talking to these people, it’s nice to spread good word about fishing. I feel like I do a better job of educating the public than PETA.”
Manhattan Beach Pier — A few surfperch are showing up in the surf and mid-pier areas. Mackerel and bonito have slowed.
Venice Pier — David, at Purfield’s Pro Tackle, says the stormy weather has slowed things down. Mainly what he’s hearing are reports of barred surfperch and yellowfin croaker, all inshore.
Santa Monica Pier — mentat posted “I haven’t gone fishing in over a month (because of the weather) but got the itch, so I took an extended lunch and drove to SM pier. It was extremely windy and quite cold, and the waves were very choppy. Threw hi-lo with shrimp for an hour and nada. Talked to a couple guys who had been there for several hours, they said they only managed two mackerels on mussels. They said the only other catch they saw was a guy who caught a perch. Oh well, I expected this result with the weather and season.”
Malibu Pier — Ginny, at Wylies Bait & Tackle, reports that the weather has slowed the fishing. There is still some live bait available, some sharks and even a few halibut but not a great many. Lots of perch are making an appearance and they’re really dark. She wonders if they’ve been hiding in the rocks.
Ventura Pier — Surfperch and small croakers are available if you can get to the pier.
Stearns Wharf — Angel, at Angel’s Bait on the wharf, reports people are concentrating on the crabs and that the red rock crabs have been plentiful. About the only thing the fishermen are getting are sardines.
Goleta Pier — Got a post from cayucosjack who said “Fished Goleta Pier Noon-2pm. Set-up just before the elbow and fished the west side. Slow day there. Only a couple of SBRF (small brown rockfish), a sanddab, a couple of decent walleyes, a few smelt, and a bunch more shiner perch. All released. The gulls were worse here than at Gaviota; it was very annoying to say the least. I can’t stand seeing people train the birds by feeding them. They were very aggressive and were trying to get our fish on the way up as well as grabbing bait that didn’t sink through the kelp fast enough.”
Gaviota Pier — Not sure it’s still open but got a post from cayucosjack who said “Fished Gaviota Pier 7:30 am-11 am. Results for 3 of us were: two way short cabezon (squid & mussels), one SBRF (squid), six small BSP (mussels & mackerel), four big walleye perch (mussel & squid), ~25 shiners (any bait was working), two short halibut (8 &10″ on mackerel and anchovies) and lots of small smelt. Did see a small leopard shark feeding in the surf zone but couldn’t get it to eat my bait. Gulls were bad here (imagine that) and I had to release one that got tangled. He was the calmest I’ve ever seen one, acted as though he’d been through it before (didn’t even peck me). The only other person fishing was the lady that is always there fishing mid-pier. She is such a nice lady, always a pleasure. She shared some of her special home-prepared sugar cured mack and it did the trick. She was catching numerous perch using that bait. Weather was windy (again, what a surprise!) and cold. All fish released except a few smelt and shiners used for live bait (untouched).
Pismo Beach Pier — Boyer, from Sheldon’s Clam Stand (on the pier), reports good action on barred surfperch when the weather cooperates. This is one of the best piers if your goal is big barred surfperch.
Avila Pier — Cayucosjack reported “Fished Avila Pier Wednesday with EddieE for a few hours around high tide. Fished the end for a bunch of white croakers on squid strips. That was the action. No smelt or bait around. The only fish were the croakers that were schooled up thick about as far as you can cast from the end of the pier. I fished there last week too and the only thing biting was an occasional jacksmelt and sanddab.
Port San Luis (Harford) Pier — Mike, at Patriot Sportfishing (on the pier), says there are good numbers of jacksmelt and sardines around the pier. They’re also attracting in some salmon but the salmon are now illegal.
Morro Bay Wharf — Cayucosjack reported “Morro Bay has been tough to fish with all the major tide flux lately. Black perch are starting their congregations (use mussels or shrimp). Bait schools are still around just not very thick. Haven’t heard of much shark or ray action either.
Cayucos Pier – Glenda, at the Tidepool (near the front of the wharf), said no fishermen and no fish; too windy and cold. Cayucosjack reports “Cayucos Pier is dead slow as well. Some jacksmelt on certain days. Still slow on the perch and no big fish to be seen. Steelhead have been around. Sanddabs and bullheads are the only constants lately being taken along with jacksmelt and a few sharks.
San Simeon Pier – The pier is seeing some surfperch—barred, calico, walleye and silvers in-between the storms.
