Southern California Pier Report: Bonito the No. 1 Gamefish and the occasional surprise white seabass

BY KEN JONES

Special to Western Outdoor News

The spectacular catches of bonito continue to dominate the news with the numbers indicating the best pier action on the boneheads in several decades (perhaps since the ’60s). The warm water is still producing good numbers of the typical late-summer species — croakers, mackerel, and a few corbina — but they’re being joined by the aforementioned bonito and quite a few white seabass. In addition, a few species uncommon to piers are making an appearance.

Yellowtail are being seen at San Diego piers, squid at several Orange County piers, and hammerhead sharks are showing up along the Malibu shoreline. It looks like a great ending for an already productive summer. Next up is the Oct. 2 lobster opening with the predicted hot piers for the bugs being Ocean Beach, Oceanside, San Clemente, Hermosa Beach, and Santa Monica along with the state’s best lobster pier, the Green Pleasure Pier in Avalon.

San Diego County—

Imperial Beach Pier — Matt at Cox Bait & Tackle (on Palm Ave.), says the bonito action remains good and recommends spoons such as Krocodiles as being best. Inshore anglers are pulling in some yellowfin and spotfin croakers as well as a few corbina (use fresh mussels, ghost shrimp, worms or sand crabs). Further out on the pier good numbers of shovelnose sharks, rays and leopard sharks are being caught.

Ocean Beach Pier — Paul at the Ocean Beach Pier tackle shop reports decent numbers of yellowtail taken from the pier, as many as half a dozen a day, (although it’s beginning to slow). Most are the small 5-pound or so firecracker-size fish and most were taken on Cast-a-Bubbles, Krocodiles or Broken Back Rapalas. More common are mackerel, bonito and the smaller species — croakers, perch, small bass and salema.

Crystal Pier — A 42-pound yellowtail was reported but so far no one has provided a picture. The pier is seeing the usual summertime action — yellowfin and spotfin croakers inshore, queenfish and halibut mid-pier, and some mackerel and bonito at the end. Quite a few shovelnose guitarfish are showing up as are a few leopard sharks and gray smoothhounds.

Shelter Island Pier — Miguel, at the Shelter Island Pier Bait & Tackle Shop (on the pier), says the story continues to be the bonito (1-11⁄2 pounders) that are running most of the daylight hours. Most of the boneheads are falling to MegaBaits, Rapalas, or plastics. He’s also seeing quite a few sand bass, some mackerel, small halibut and some yellowfin croaker; anglers are also getting a few barracuda, mainly on Krocodiles. Rod Mina reported “I got to the pier around 6:30 a.m. Early on there were a couple of bonito caught on the far right side of the pier on Krocs. On the left side I saw one guy catch 2 barracudas on a Kroc. The bite was inconsistent for the better part of the morning. There were plenty of baby sardines all around the pier. Towards the middle, a guy caught a 10-inch sculpin on cut sardines. I managed to catch a limit of 5 bonito by fly-lining live sardines close to the pier. Many people on the pier were using Krocs to catch the bonito. Most of these were caught between 10 am-noon. I left about 12:30 p.m. as the bite slowed and I was already at my limit. Very few Macks were caught.”

Embarcadero Marina Pier — Miguel, at the Shelter Island Pier Bait & Tackle Shop, says that anglers have been catching a few mackerel, sand bass, yellowfin croakers and many, many small, illegal halibut. He’s also seen a couple of very small bonito.

Bayside Park Pier — Things have quieted down after the recent kid’s fishing derby but the same mix of fish are showing up — yellowfin croakers, sand and spotted bay bass, leopard and gray smoothhound sharks, rays and guitarfish.

Coronado Ferry Landing Pier — Most action has been on mackerel, small bass, lots of rays — both small and large — together with some sharks and a rare shortfin corvina.

Oceanside Pier — Carl, at the Oceanside Pier Bait & Tackle (on the pier), reports continued good action on bonito and mackerel with tons of bait in the water. One angler, Romeo, landed a 40-pound or so halibut using live bait. Many white seabass are also showing up but most are small, illegal fish (usually called sea trout). It’s been a little slow on the inshore croakers. It’s small bass, perch along the rocks, a few croakers, and quite a few rays including some nice sized butterfly rays.

Orange County—

San Clemente Pier — Several pier rats report that good action on 2- to 4-pound bonito continues at the pier. Mix in croakers (yellowfins and spotfins) inshore, baitfish (sardines, smelt and queenfish) mid-pier, and pelagics (mackerel and bonito) out at the end, and it’s a pretty full menu on tap. BalboaDude reported his favorite bonito lure as being the Yo-Zuri Hydrometal lure, while Domfa Ben said all of his fish were caught on Krocs (Krocodiles), with the blue mackerel being the hot color, and the green mackerel a close second. Domph Ben also reported that his cousin Andy “hooked up with a monster bat ray that took him around the pier. Zach did the same thing a few moments later. A short sculpin kept it interesting, especially when I poked my middle finger trying to release it.”

Dana Harbor Pier — The pier is still yielding a few halibut, bass and croakers during the day together with some mackerel, barracuda and jumbo squid at night. Corbinaman reported catching14 of the tasty calamari the night of Sept 19.

Balboa Pier — Our reporter Snookie says “What a warm month this has been in Balboa. The fishing has been great if you are after bonitos. As to the bait there has been an abundance of everything including sardines of various sizes, small mackerel, smelt of various sizes, queenfish occasionally, walleyed perch, and lots of grunion about 8 to 10 inches long and Spanish jacks. The bonitos have been hitting almost anything that moves. They are all the way into the surf all day long. This makes it difficult to get the halibut to strike. They don’t like those juvenile acting fish bothering them. There have been quite a few shovelnose guitarfish and thornbacks caught. For a few nights there were Humboldt squid caught. One person caught as many as 14.”

Newport Pier — Snookie noted that “sardines hit the beach again for the second time this year. They were between 13th and 24th street. The city had to remove “tons” of the sardines with 3 people, two mechanical beach cleaners and a dump truck to cart them to the county landfill. The fish covered a 20-foot-wide band along the beach.” Snookie speculated that the sardines may have been chased inshore by the squid that have begun to show up at the pier. The squid, 15-20 inches long, are only showing up some nights but bring some squid jigs and something to keep the ink off your clothing in case they do make an appearance

Huntington Beach Pier — Marion, at Let’s Go Fishing (on the pier), says there are still a ton of bonito and they’re falling to feathers, Krocodiles and almost anything that’s shiny. There are massive amounts of sardines to provide food for the bonito. Inshore, yellowfins and spotfins are still showing up. Some nice halibut have been landed recently including 32, 29, 28, and 26-inch fish. Barracuda are making a showing (up to 29 inches) and gray smoothhound sharks are around.

Seal Beach Pier — Sky at Big Fish Bait & Tackle says anglers are still getting bonito on feathers, poppers and Krocodiles. Sargo are available near the lifeguard station to those using ghost shrimp as bait. Further out on the pier some small halibut are showing up (use live bait) as well as lots of shovelnose sharks.

Los Angeles County—

Belmont Pier — It’s been fairly slow with the usual croakers showing up inshore, a few halibut mid-pier, and some bass, bonito and mackerel out at the end.

Shoreline Aquatic Park Piers — The story is mostly small croakers, some mackerel, a few halibut, and sharks and rays at night. Big Hammers and similar-type plastics are yielding up a few bass to those fishing inshore by the rocks.

Cabrillo Pier — It’s the typical summertime fare — small croakers, perch, mackerel, lots of jacksmelt, and some sharks and rays on the bottom — together with some bonito. GonzosStudios reported over 50 smelt during a mid-month visit.

Green Pleasure Pier at Avalon — 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, reports good runs of mackerel and bonito together with an occasional halibut. Bonitolover reported that anglers using bright fluorescent green flies (with a cast-a-bubble) are catching a lot of bonies off the Redondo Pier.

Redondo Sportfishing Pier — Frankythefish has been reporting decent catches of sargo, calico bass (kelp bass), small opaleye and senorita on most visits. The opaleye are being caught on peas. Bonito are also thick in the harbor.

Hermosa Beach Pier — Pete, at Just Fishing By Pete, says some halibut are being taken during the day by the regulars using live bait. In the evening some sharks and rays are also showing up. Toejamb reported on a mid-month trip to the pier “I hooked into my first bat ray. It was a little guy, little larger than a dinner plate, but he put up a hell of a fight. I can see what the fuss is all about. Brought him up with the net, unhooked him and lowered him back into water with the net (to the relief of some onlookers). Also hooked up two decent size white seabass, about 18 to 20 inches, both released and a short halibut, also released. As for the rest of the pier, there was the usual assortment of mackerel, bonito and tons of sardines. One of the pier regulars managed to land a legal hali as well.”

Manhattan Beach Pier — A few halibut are still being caught just past the surf line along with some jacksmelt, mackerel and bonito.

Venice Pier — Dick at Purfield’s Pro Tackle, says the sardines, jacksmelt and mackerel are still thick. Try Sabikis for the live bait. Inshore waters continue to kick out corbina to shore anglers. The bonito are still around! Dizzyg reported on a trip to the pier — “glanced over and saw a bonehead being pulled out so I decided to take a stroll and check the rig. Sliding bubble float with anchor weight below, and a lengthy flyline sent out to it. So of course I immediately rigged both my poles the same. 25–pound rod, 15-pound leader of 5 feet, big hook, and a live sardine through the braincase. Next thing I know, I’m putting the entire pier to shame. Pulled out 6 bonito, the biggest was 17 inches. Nice improvement over the 10 inchers of a little over a month ago.”

Santa Monica Pier — John, at the Santa Monica Pier Bait & Tackle Company, says there’s a little bit of everything showing up: sardines, mackerel, short white seabass, short and keeper-size halibut, sargo, yellowfin and spotfin croaker. Use live sardines to catch the white seabass and halibut, use fresh mussels to nab the sargo (fish up to 3/4 pound size), use mussels, sand crabs and worms inshore for the croakers.

Malibu Pier — Ginny at Wylies Bait & Tackle reports that there is lots of bait around the pier — smelt, mackerel and sardines. The result is lots of short white seabass and halibut, especially for those using live bait. Inshore, anglers continue to pick up barred surfperch and corbina.

Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties—

Port Hueneme Pier — The pier has been fairly slow during the day (with the exception of jacksmelt) but in the evening there has been some good action on sardines and mackerel together with a few bonito.

Ventura Pier — It’s seeing some fair action on croakers and halibut along with a few mackerel and a stray bonito or two. Also some decent nighttime action on sharks and rays (smoothounds, guitarfish, dogfish and thornbacks).

Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara — Angel, at Angel’s Bait on the wharf, reports good action continues on mackerel and sardines along with lesser numbers of halibut (mostly shorts) and bonito. Angel did nab himself a 100+pound bat ray the week of the 20th and has seen quite a few gray smoothhounds showing up.

Goleta Pier — The pipeline continues to yield up good numbers of small brown rockfish, some kelp rockfish, and a few kelp bass. Sandy areas are producing mostly small croakers and an occasional halibut. The inshore area continues to kick out too many corbina to snaggers while bonito and assorted baitfish seem to make an early evening, inshore run each night.

Gaviota Pier — The mackerel and bonito are at the pier with early morning seeming the best time. Perch are also available but you have to get through the numerous small shinerperch to get to the bigger blackperch, rainbow perch and rubberlip perch. Inshore, expect a few barred surfperch.          Pismo Beach Pier — Joe, from Sheldon’s Clam Stand (on the pier), reports continued good action on jacksmelt and surf