Species: Damalichthys vacca (Girard, 1855); from the Greek root words racos (ragged) and cheilos (lips) and the Latin word vacca  (like a cow). Family Embiotocidae, subfamily Embiotocinae.

Alternate Names: Splittail perch, forktail perch, dusky perch, white perch, silver perch, piler perch, and porgy. In Mexico called mojarra muellera or perca.

Identification: Pile perch are distinguished by the black spot on the cheek, the very deeply forked tail, and the very tall, first soft rays on the dorsal fin that are about twice the height of the last spines. Color is dark brassy-brown, fading to silver on sides and belly; often has yellow pelvic fins. Pile perch have one dusky, vertical bar across the side at about the high point of the soft dorsal. The posterior position of the bar and the deeply forked caudal fin (tail) distinguish it from sargo.

Pileperch (and Hashem) from the Cabrillo Pier in San Pedro

Size: To 17 1/4 inches; most caught from piers are 10-14 inches. The California record fish weighed 1 lb 15 oz and was taken at Long Beach in 2007.

Range: Isla Guadalupe (and possibly Bahia Playa Maria), central Baja California to southern British Columbia. Unverified report to Port Wrangell, Alaska.

Pileperch from the Elephant Rock Pier

Habitat: Shallow-water, rocky-areas, and around piers and docks, both oceanfront and in bays. Typically they are a bottom dwelling species, called “benthic grazing carnivores” by some. Others classify them as “commuter” fish that move between different habitats in search of prey. All agree they are primarily day feeders seeking out large, hard-shelled invertebrates that they are able to crush with their well developed, fused pharyngeal tooth plates. Since other perch do not share this ability, some scientists feel pile perch should be placed in a separate genus —Danalichthys. Foods include crabs, brittle stars, sand dollars, barnacles, bean clams, (whole) mussels, limpets, dove shells, California cones, Norris top shells, and chitons.

Pileperch (and Redfish aka Robert Gardner) from the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon

Piers: Pile perch are taken at virtually every pier in California but the largest numbers are taken at Bay Area piers. Best bets: Santa Monica Pier, Stearns Wharf, Goleta Pier, North T-Pier and South T-Pier in Morro Bay, San Francisco Municipal Pier, Berkeley Pier, Point Pinole Pier and McNear Beach Pier.

Shoreline: A favored species for shore anglers fishing in bays throughout the state.

Boats: An inshore species sometimes taken by boaters fishing in bays, especially San Francisco Bay.

Pileperch from the Goleta Pier

Bait and Tackle: Pile perch can be exasperatingly difficult to catch. The large perch will often be seen placidly swimming in clear view around the mussel-covered pilings while refusing to partake of the offerings of the gods up above—anglers whose mojo is evidently on empty. Damalichthys vacca do seem a little easier to catch when in their dense schools are a’spawning. Perhaps their pea-sized brains are distracted and normal caution takes a back seat to other thoughts? The most common setup is to use a high/low leader with number 6 or 4 hooks, light line, and a light sinker. Best bait in southern California seems to be fresh mussels, rock crabs or bloodworms. In the Bay Area, grass shrimp, rock crabs, pile worms or fresh mussels are best. In Humboldt Bay, frozen tube worms or crab backs are most commonly used. Usually pile perch are nestled up next to the pilings; fish accordingly. Check out the shoreline by the pier at low tide and grab some local live bait—small crabs, mussels, worms, snails or clams; these will usually make the best bait.

Food Value: Although large sized and yielding some usable meat, the flesh is only fair in taste.

Pileperch from the North T-Pier in Morro Bay

Comments: Many years ago, at Newport Pier, I watched an old-timer show one way to catch the perch. Pile perch were doing their typical trick d’tease: big fish showing a leg but refusing to bite. The old-timer tried out a trick of his own. He took out a mass of recently pried loose mussels, at least a dozen in the clump, and in and around this mussel-mass he wound a leader that had several number 8 hooks attached. Then he attached the leader to a handline and carefully dropped it down next to the pilings. This new mini-piling soon attracted the fish and he was able to catch several of the large pile perch. Sporting? I’m not sure, but it sure was effective. Since then, I’ve seen variations of this technique at both the Santa Monica Pier and at Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara and heard stories of its use at the Goleta Pier.

Pileperch (and CayucosJack) from the North T-Pier in Morro Bay

Many thanks to Robert O’H for the help with the pictures.

 

The floating docks of Monterey Harbor and the pilings beneath Municipal Wharf II provide a rich and diverse community created largely by human activity. Such communities have imaginatively been called “accidental zoos.”… At low tide the pilings, shaded by the wharf, form an intertidal zone without algae and without herbivores. Familiar, no; informative, yes! … zonation is sharply delineated. The mussel/barnacle zone is out of water much of the time. A little lower, in a zone immersed most of the time, live aggregating anemones… Still lower and approaching the low-tide level, a flash of red reveals strawberry anemones, usually subtidal organisms that only infrequently are exposed to air. This community is spared many of the vicissitudes of rocky intertidal life—no burning sun and UV light, no pounding surf, little osmotic stress from direct rain… Subtidally, the pilings are a treasure trove of biological interactions. Huge ochre sea stars engorge themselves with mussels. Nudibranches cluster about their anemone prey. Anemone clones… do battle across strictly demarcated no-man’s-lands. And here we find unusual organisms such as phoronids, enigmatic suspension feeders that we have not seen elsewhere along Monterey’s shores. A wharf is a spooky place to dive. It’s dark, with visibility often only an arm’s length. Fishing lines threaten entanglement, and raucous sea lions flash by. But we have a strong incentive to keep returning to this distinctive habitat, where something new seems to lurk behind each piling.

—Lovell Langstroth and Libby Langstroth

A Living Bay, The Underwater World of Monterey Bay, 2000

End section of Monterey Wharf #2

There are some piers that seem to have a yin and yang disposition, if you know what I mean. The action can be hot or cold, good or bad, peaceful or hectic; moods that seem to depend upon some sort of unwritten script dictated (in romantic terms) by the gods, in realistic terms by the seasons or the whims of sometimes-unpredictable fish. Two stories, one good and one bad, show the schizoid nature of this pier.           

The first story, the good or yang, occurred in July of 1984 while I was making one of my annual trips along the coast. I had stayed the night in Morro Bay, gotten up early and fished for an hour and a half at the Cayucos Pier. The pier was crowded and everyone seemed to be catching fish. Midway out, anglers were catching bucketfuls of small bocaccio, but I had seen far too many of the small fish the night before at the Morro Bay North T-Pier. Instead, I joined a throng of anglers out near the end of the pier casting artificial lures for Pacific mackerel and jack mackerel. The result was 15 fish for my fairly short visit. Next, I stopped at the San Simeon Pier, again for an hour and a half. Mackerel were absent but small bocaccio and lingcod covered the bottom. The result was 21 fish.

However, I was running late and headed north. In just under three hours I had traveled the beautiful Big Sur coastline and was fishing at the Monterey Wharf #2. But I wasn’t alone! The wharf was lined with anglers catching Pacific mackerel while reporters and television cameras tried to capture the torrid action. The sea itself was calm but as I watched the water a dark ball would form: a school of anchovies several feet thick and solid with fish. But a second school of fish, predators by nature, was also present and the mackerel in that school were larger and faster than the anchovies. Soon the mackerel would attack and the anchovy school would disintegrate as individual anchovies literally fled for their life. It was a Roman holiday, nature at its most vivid, and showed true the old adage survival of the fittest. The anchovies seemed to be using the pier and its pilings for protection but the pier proved to be a Maginot line of defense as the mackerel shredded the school of anchovies time after time. The mackerel were after the quick little baitfish and the anglers were after the mackerel. Mixed in with the “Mac Attack” were a few jack mackerel and, if an angler dropped bait to the bottom, small bocaccio and lizardfish. Again it seemed almost too easy as an hour and a half of fishing produced 32 fish. The highlight of an already excellent day was the torrid action and excitement at this Monterey wharf.

An April visit a few years later proved entirely different, it was the yin or or counterweight to to my earlier visit. I had stayed the night in Monterey and gotten up early for a somewhat apprehensive “hour of the pearl” visit to the wharf. Why apprehensive? (1) Because of the bone chilling, 40 mile-per-hour winds that had accompanied a walk out on Fisherman’s Wharf the prior night. (2) Because of reports that said fishing was slow. Undeterred, my 6:10 A.M. arrival at Wharf #2 saw a beautiful morning sky emerge replete with a warming sun and the absence of any wind. Absolutely beautiful conditions! I was the only fisherman on the wharf, I had my pick of fishing spots, and I was soon at a spot that had proven to be successful on previous trips. I was even next to a silver fire hydrant that said “Jones 1981” on the side. Was it a harbinger of good things to come or did it portend gloom? Was I destined to have one of those unbelievable days that happen just once in a blue moon or was I in for the BIG disappointment? I wasn’t sure but I was prepared: several different kinds of bait, light and medium action poles, and a warm thermos of coffee.

As the Frankie Boy II arrived at the wharf, made fast the rope between boat and bollard, and began to unload its catch of squid, I made my first cast and began to wait. I waited and waited and then waited some more. I moved to different spots, I tried different depths, and I tried different baits and riggings. In two hours of fishing I had nary a nibble and was able to see why I was the only fisherman on the wharf—not counting the commercial guys still busy unloading their squid. To make it worse, the wind did come up, the kind of wind that required two shirts, a sweater AND a heavy jacket. Turned out that fishing had been lousy (terrible/appalling/horrible—pick your adjective) for several weeks and it didn’t intend to improve just because this famous pier fisherman was present. I was fishless in Monterey. Such is the nature of this pier.

The end section of the wharf

Environment. Most visitors to Monterey seems to wind up down at the wharf during their visit. Many do not realize there are two wharves. The more famous is Fisherman’s Wharf, built in 1870 on the site of California’s first wharf and today home to restaurants, tourist shops, and a couple of Sportfishing landings. Adjacent, to the east, is a newer wharf that was constructed in 1926 (and repaired in 1983). Here, the commercial fishermen unload their catch and sport anglers try to make a catch. Fisherman’s Wharf deserves its praise; it is a fun place to visit, and it has a certain charm when the sea lions are barking and the sea otters are drifting on top of the bay. Still, for the pier fisherman Wharf #2 is the place to go.

Wharf #2 is fairly long at 1,636 feet, and fairly wide at 86 feet, but several sections do not allow fishing. The inshore section on the south side of the wharf (to about half way out) faces the boat harbor and is marked no fishing. The far end of the wharf is primarily a working area for commercial boats and also marked no fishing. The area on the south side just past the first building (near where the pier widens) was an area that I used to like to fish for perch but it appears now to also be a no fishing zone. Bottom line: the wharf is open to anglers on probably 75% of the north side of the pier. 

The result is that the north side of the pier is heavily fished all the way from the shallow water surf area (which is generally mild) to about three quarters distance out on the wharf where water is fairly deep. At the foot of the wharf is a sandy beach area, the beginning of Monterey State Beach, a popular stretch of sand that extends from the wharf up past Seaside and beyond. (However, just to confuse things, the beach on which the wharf is located is called the Monterey Municipal Beach, just up the shore is the Window on the Bay Beach, and just up from that is the Del Monte Beach.)

Angler on the wharf — Mike Granat

Because the breakwater and the various structures in the harbor area block water currents from the south, the water north of the pier is usually very calm. For that reason it’s become a favorite place to take beginning divers and because of the divers we have a good picture of what the bottom looks like to the north of the pier. Near shore, the bottom is sand, the water is shallow, and there are extensive beds of sand dollars (that attract fish like starry flounder and wolf eels). Sand-frequenting species such as surfperch tend to dominate the catch in this area. A short distance further out sees flatfish—sanddab, C-O turbot, starry flounder and numerous California halibut. Apparently the divers also record good numbers of thornback rays, bat rays and even some big electric rays.           

              The harbor area blocks water from the south

The sand then gives way to small beds of eelgrass containing numerous juvenile fish while about 200 yards out from the beach begins a large shale reef known as the Tanker Reef or Shale Beds. Bull and giant kelp attach to the shale while crevices hold octopus and fish.

Use the information to fish the zones: in the shallowest water expect the big surfperch (barred and calico), in slightly deeper water target flatfish, batoids (rays) and a few selachians (sharks). Of course the wharf is long, so anglers can reach water depths that range from moderate to fairly deep and the deeper water is generally the area to try for pelagic species. When schools of sardines, jacksmelt, or mackerel (Spanish and Pacific) make a visit, expect the pier to be lined with anglers casting out bait rigs. Most people will catch fish but do be careful of tangles and use simple courtesy since space will be at a premium.

When the mackerel are absent many of the lines in the mid-pier area will be directed down around the pilings. The pilings are often blanketed by all manner of sea creatures but most important, for the anglers, they are sometimes heavily covered by mussels. In addition, especially during the summer and fall, there can be large buildups of kelp around the pilings. Food and shelter means small fish which usually also means larger fish. Typically schools of perch, a few rockfish (mostly juveniles), cabezon, small lingcod, and, during some years, pesky senorita hang under and around the pilings. Of course, like most piers along this section of the California coast, there can be tremendous variation from year to year (again, the yin and the yang).

Best Dive in Monterey?

What is the best dive in Monterey Bay? … Lynn May, former owner of the Silver Prince dive boat, could dive anywhere he wanted. He claimed that the best dive in Monterey Bay was underneath Wharf #2. Beneath the wharf is a three-dimensional structure that has something interesting to see, from the water line all the way down to the 30-foot bottom. From the bottom, the pilings appear as Grecian columns reaching skyward.

The pilings of the wharf provide a substrate for an army of invertebrate life to cling to and flourish, and each has its own personality. Some are covered from the water line to the bottom with a lush carpet of corynactis anemones. Individual colonies may be fluorescent red, bright orange, lavender, or even shades of pink. Members of a colony show the same color, and colonies of different colors cover some pilings in a mosaic pattern resembling a patchwork quilt.

Other pilings are covered with a lush carpet of snow-white metridium anemones. Still, other columns are covered on their upper portions with the green, aggregating anemones, and in the lower portions with red corynactis anemones. Just to add a little diversity, an occasional piling is relatively barren of growth except for a giant metridium anemone.

Among the anemones hide an assortment invertebrates and fish. Large sheep crabs hang upside down waiting to pounce on some unsuspecting prey. Among the carpet of metridium is always found a small, red octopus or two, and there are numerous shrimp and hermit crabs scurrying among the pilings. Photographers should look for colorful nudibranchs, both up on the pilings and on the mud bottom.

The calm waters provide a nursery for many of the larger fish. I have never seen so many lingcod in one place, none over about 14 inches long and many under 10 inches. Noting that these are much smaller than the allowed minimum size, this is not a hunter’s paradise. It is, however, a pretty good spot for fish portraits. Other fish such as cabezon, various species of flatfish, kelpfish, and rays may be found here in miniature versions. This is a great spot for fish photography.

Wharf #2 is also where Monterey’s commercial fishing fleet discards its incidental catch (e.g., what they can’t sell). Fish packing houses on the wharf continue to dump their waste into the water, and in season you’ll find dead blue sharks, bat rays, and sea lions. This activity is legal and the fish carcasses feed a large population of sea stars.

People always seem to drop things in the water and this place is no exception. The bottom is littered with fishing supplies, wallets, purses, pocket knives, and old bottles. If you can drop it, you will find one here. Regardless, if you search for valuables, memorabilia from the past, or that award winning photo, everyone will find something under the wharf.

— Bruce Watkins, California Diving, October 12, 2000

Pilings can be covered wit sea stars —Mike Granat

Fishing Tips. The pelagic schooling species—Jacksmelt, Pacific sardine, Spanish mackerel (jack mackerel), blue mackerel (Pacific mackerel) and northern anchovy—are the most numerous fish taken from the wharf. Schools of each, in fact vast shoals, may move in and surround the wharf for a few days, weeks or even months throughout the year. Sometimes it’s one species, sometimes it’s a mixed group with the different schools maintaining their assemblage at different water depths, and it can be an amazing sight with the synchronized twisting and turning of the entire school when they’re under attack by one of local sea wolves (sea lions). The sheer number of fish is amazing.

Crowded pier

When the waters are filled with fish the railings will be filled with anglers and they’ll normally tote away buckets filled with fish. A person can literally catch several fish every cast until the arms wear out, and fifty to sixty fish an hour is easy. But even though none of these species has a take limit, don’t overdo it. If you’re looking to stock up on some bait or food it’s the time to go but make sure you’re going to use the fish you keep. Summertime into the fall months seems the best time to see these conditions.

A blackperch caught by “madsteelhead”

Surfperch will normally be the second highest number of fish taken. The numbers will be smaller but you can often find some type of perch much of the year. As a general rule, try winter to spring for the large barred and calico surfperch. Use pile worms, sand crabs, fresh mussels, or plastic grubs and, as said, fish in the shallow water near the beach end of the pier.

A pileperch caught by “madsteelhead”

Winter to spring may also see a few starry flounder but for these flatfish fish on the bottom using cut anchovy or pile worms and fish slightly further out on the pier in a little deeper water. 

Late spring to early fall will generally see a few California halibut being caught in the same mid-shallow area. For these, the best bet is almost always live bait such as an anchovy, small shinerperch, or smelt—if you can get them. I have also heard a few reports of the larger flatties hitting on Scrounger-type lures and even on Hair Raisers, so don’t be afraid to give artificial lures a try. The same area can also offer up some tasty sand sole but for these, use a high/low rigging baited with pile worms, shrimp or cut anchovy. (And though divers report C-O turbot, most of the mid-size flatfish I have seen have been sand sole). By the way, the beach at the foot of the pier sometimes sees grunion visiting the shoreline during the summer. When the grunion run the halibut (and bat rays) often are right behind in the shallows. Target the flatties during such times.

Mid-pier to the end is the best area for the smaller surfperch and the pelagics. For walleye and silver surfperch, a small piece of anchovy or sea worm seems to work best when fished mid-depth using a size 6 hook. Jacksmelt, although often taken simply with bait rigs, sometimes prefer a baited hook and a leader made up of four to six size 8 hooks. Attach the hooks nine inches apart, bait each with a small piece of pile worm or shrimp, and fish the rig under a heavy bobber or float. The result is often several fish at a time.

Pacific mackerel

As mentioned, many years see huge schools of Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel, Pacific sardine, or all three. Best bet for all of these is a multi-hook Sabiki/Lucky Lura-type leader with size 8, 6 or 4 hooks (size depending upon the species). Simply cast out and retrieve the leader or slowly work the leader up and down in the water after you have reached a mid-depth area. All three species (along with jacksmelt) seem to hit best at dawn and dusk but some days will see non-stop action all day long. The same rigging can be used for anchovies but use smaller hooks. Pacific herring will also occasionally make visits to the pier and can be taken with the same multi-hook bait rigs; most herring runs are in the late winter or spring months.

Common, although rarely in the numbers seen at other piers in Monterey Bay, are kingfish (white croaker). Most of these are taken on cut anchovies or pile worms fished on a high/low rigging; the best area to fish is mid-pier with a cast away from the pier.

Summer and fall is the best time for small rockfish, and here the most common are small blue rockfish, brown rockfish, gopher rockfish and kelp rockfish. Fish for these under and around the pilings using pile worms and small hooks. At times, if the water is warm, you may also encounter some more southern species like blacksmith, garibaldi and kelp bass but they are not really common. However, another southern species, one that is often too common, is senorita. These pesky, cigar-shaped little wrasses will do their best to drive you crazy while stripping your hooks of bait (although you’ll catch an occasional careless fish). Unfortunately, when they’re present they are almost impossible to avoid.  

     Blue Rockfish

Fishing mid-depth around the pilings, using pile worms, fresh mussels or small (sidewinder) crabs is the best technique for the large pileperch and rubberlip seaperch. Each of these large perch is most prevalent during the winter to spring months but can show up throughout the year. Large rubberlips will also often fall for plastic grubs jigged up and down near the pilings; regulars say the root beer colored and oil colored grubs work best. Fishing on the bottom near the pilings with pile worms, fresh mussels, or small pieces of market shrimp will yield rainbow seaperch, blackperch and striped seaperch. Typically these are most common in the spring months although all may be encountered almost any month of the year.

Another perch caught here is the sharpnose seaperch, a perch common only to Monterey Bay and a fish normally found in deeper water. These perch are present in some number almost every year, but occasionally the pier will see large runs of the fish, most often in June and July. Although numerous, they can be difficult to catch. Regulars tend to use rigging that consists of a size 6 or 8 hook at the end of the light line, a splitshot sinker about two to three feet up from the hook, and a tiny bobber that keeps the hook only a few feet beneath the surface of the water. The line is watched closely and, when the bobber is submerged, a quick jerk is made to hopefully hook the perch.

Sharpnose Seaperch

A fish that is sometimes found in unbelievable numbers, especially during the summer, is that little ol’ dab—the speckled sanddab. If you mistakenly let a line rigged with small hooks (such as a multi-hook bait rig) rest on the bottom, a dab may show up on every hook. Unfortunately, the sanddab are big enough to grab your bait but too small to eat. Most days would probably yield hundreds of these small fish if anglers fished for them but we’re talking tiny sanddabs here, each 3-6 inches long and useful only as an attractant for larger fish. I have tried them as bait but with no success to date. The good news is that sometimes the larger Pacific sanddab may also show up. If they do, you’ll often catch 2-3 at a time and you’ve got some good eatin’ available to you.

Sanddabs

A trio of prized sport fish, also visit the pier. Most years will see some king salmon caught during the late summer to fall months (but primarily in the fall). The majority of the kings will fall to lures (especially 5/8 or 3/4 oz Krocodile lures with silver/blue prism colors) while a lesser number will be landed on whole frozen anchovies fished under a bobber. Regulars report that the salmon prefer the early evening hours. Most years will also see a few striped bass taken from the wharf, again during the summer months. Most of the stripers are taken using lures (such as Hair Raisers) or while fishing on the bottom with live shiners or cut bait (sardines or anchovies). Early winter (November) will often see casters trying for small steelhead along the inshore section of the wharf. Various jigs and spoons seem to be the preferred method for the 16-22 inch fish, but I would think worms might also work. There has been a problem with people snagging salmon and to a lesser degree the other fish and the city has tried to respond with some reasonable rules as seen in the following:

New Rules For Fishing Off Wharf II

For the last couple of falls when the salmon are present off of Wharf 2, there has been a frenzy of people casting overhead and standing on the railing trying to catch or snag one of these fish. Overhead casting and the jerking motion associated with trying to snag the fish, all while standing on the railing, presents dangers to anyone walking or driving behind these activities. There have been, in fact, several serious injuries directly related to this, and numerous broken car windows and dented car hoods from sinkers and hooks being cast backward. Therefore the City Council has made it illegal to stand on the railing while fishing off of Wharf 2., as well as making it illegal to overhead cast.  

—The Newsletter of the City of Monterey Waterfront, October 2003

Typical gamefish are salmon, striped bass and halibut but this yellowtail (a SoCal species) made the mistake of visiting in 2012

A less common fish, although one that grows to fairly good size, is wolf eels, and generally a few of these interesting creatures will be landed each year by anglers fishing down around the pilings. My bias is showing here but I recommend letting them go. They’re neat little (and large) creatures.

Although the pier is not really noted as a good pier for sharks, it can be, at times, fairly good for bat rays (especially in the fall). Most of these large rays are taken at night while using squid as bait. Be sure to bring a stout rope and a good-sized net if you’re after these powerful fighters. And, say a prayer—it isn’t easy keeping them away from the pilings, kelp, and remnants of the commercial fleet that sometimes litters the water. Lesser numbers of other sharks and rays are taken—leopard sharks, smoothhounds, and a few thornback rays. At least one angel shark was also reported from the wharf (1999).

Another visitor, although not as frequent now as in years past, is the common market squid (Loligo opalescens). When the squid schooled in the nearshore waters, anglers would flock to the pier at night and land buckets of the tasty little “calamari.” Generally this occurred mid-May to June, but the numbers seem to have decreased in recent years. However, TheEmptyBucket reported in May of ’06: “Squid were out again tonight at Wharf #2. Not as easy to catch as last night, though. Last night I was able to catch them on a Sabiki. Tonight I tried that for almost two hours while folks on either side of me were slaying them with squid jigs… One of the regulars took pity on me and loaned me a jig and then I started getting them almost immediately. A Sabiki with squid jig attached to the bottom was defiantly the way to go. I put about 40 3-5-inch squid in the freezer… Also had a blast.” Grammar police reported that same month: “FYI, Live squid being caught from the pier on Sabiki rigs. 5-8” range. RF candy for sure!” La mosca posted a note to the PFIC Board in July of ’08 that said: “about a month back, at sundown, I caught live squid, loads of them under and close to the wharf; could see them flashing their colors.” Sin_Coast reported in 2008, “We get ‘em [squid] off Monterey Wharf #2 consistently throughout the summer.” So the squid are still there, not just in the unbelievable numbers of past decades.

In addition, there’s the giant Humboldt squid that have become more prominent in California waters since the ‘90s. At least one giant squid was caught during March of 1998. The two-foot-long mollusk was caught on a lure by the startled angler. At the time, party boats were experiencing a good run of the 2-4-foot-long creatures out in deeper waters. Another non-fish, cephalopod species is octopus and just enough are caught to keep it interesting.

Lastly, you’ll see some people crabbing from the pier but I’ve never really noticed too many crabs being landed. Divers do report good numbers of sheep (spider) crabs hanging on the pilings but few seem to make it into the crab nets. Perhaps there are just too many sea otters in the vicinity.

Onespot fringehead taken from the wharf in 2013

Abalone Nursery  — Kelp beds help rockfish population

There’s something fishy going on under Wharf 2. Art Seavey, co-owner of the Monterey Abalone Co., isn’t just growing expensive marine gastropods in the barrels and cages hanging from the pier scaffolding. He’s also helping researchers with their fish studies.

Young rockfish find shelter in and around the red abalone barrels, and oceanographer Jerry Norton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and marine biologist George Isaac of the Department of Fish and Game are monitoring their growth.

Rockfish, sometimes called Pacific red snapper, are a type of groundfish caught by bottom-trawling fishing boats; bocaccio is one of the familiar species. Rockfish have an uncommon trait for marine fish: They give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs. The larvae swim from deeper water to nutrient-rich nearshore areas like piers, where they feed on baby shrimp, crab eggs and other small fish.

 “Down at the abalone farm they have those cages with kelp in them, and they make a very rich environment,” said Norton. “The fish take up residence around those cages.” Norton monitors the number of baby rockfish that make it from their birthplace in deeper water to the pier.

From 1970 to 1995, said Norton, the number of rockfish off the Central California coast had declined by 80 percent. “Some of them have become depleted because they haven’t found exactly the right conditions every year,” Norton said. But recent studies show rockfish might be making a comeback. “Beginning in about 1999, there’s been a turnaround in abundance, and we’ve seen much more at the abalone farm and around piers,” Norton said.

Norton thinks the recent increase in numbers of rockfish is due partly to the amount of nutrients along the Central California shore. Places like the Monterey Abalone Co. can play a part, providing the fish an endless buffet and a protected environment in which to grow. Workers at the Abalone Co. also help researchers track the number of fish that make it to shallow water each year… “Something that works out nicely is that when they pull up their cages to clean them and add food, they sometimes trap the little fish, and they save them for me,” said Norton. Isaac, of the Fish and Game Department, has also been studying rockfish collected from among the Monterey Abalone Co. barrels for the past three years. After he looked at several areas where he thought the baby fish might be abundant, he finally looked around the pier. “Sure enough, we found a lot of rockfish,” said Isaac.

Seavey has faced some criticism for his business, mainly from people who think kelp harvesting destroys sea otters’ homes. The Monterey Abalone Co. feeds its 200,000 abalone five tons of kelp from the Monterey Bay a week.

But kelp forests in the Monterey Bay are doing just fine, says one marine biologist. “If you cut the top of kelp, new fronds grow quickly to replace them,” said John O’Brien, who helps the Department of Fish and Game survey kelp forests on the California coast each year. Conditions in the Monterey Bay are highly favorable to kelp growth, he said. “You probably can’t harvest it fast enough to affect its growth.”

The abalone farm has served as a home to other marine creatures over the years. In addition to rockfish, Seavey has seen shrimp, octopuses and lobsters that are far out of their range in the abalone barrels. But Seavey sees so much abalone that he rarely even eats them anymore. “When I go home, the last thing I want to see is an abalone,” he said.

Elisabeth Nadin, Monterey Hearald, February 8, 2003

 There are always sea gulls present to keep you company

EMail Messages —

Date: March 2, 1999 — To: Pier Fishing In California Message Board — From: Calder Deyerle —Subject: Monterey Wharf #2

The things that we are catching at the wharf are a few steelhead and a few jacksmelt. I have also seen a couple of perch.

Date: April 16, 2001 — To: PFIC Message Board — From: avidangler —Subject: Monterey Wharf #2

The perch have arrived. Today I saw the first large school of perch under the wharf near the fuel dock (midsection). There were lots of silvers and pileperch, so out came the rod and away I went! The tide was coming up (it was 3:00) and I tied on a 1/3-ounce jighead with a motor oil perch grub. I caught a large rainbow, three rubberlips (one was around 2 lbs), several pileperch, and a few silvers. I had never seen pileperch so aggressively hit artificial grubs like they did today. They swarmed it. My pal James was getting them on a bubble gum pink grub, although not as many. Motor oil was the ticket. Should be many, many perch in the next few months. Those rubberlips are tricky to land on four-pound line near the pilings!

Date: September 30, 2001 — To: PFIC Message Board — From: steelhead — Subject: Monterey salmon “on fire”

Hello everyone, this message might be a little late… but I have to post it anyway. The salmon have arrived in large numbers off the Monterey pier. And I mean LARGE NUMBERS. Schools of 30-40 salmon cruising back and forth in front of the pier. Some of the regulars were catching 20-25 salmon a day in just 5 feet of water. Myself, I caught 6 in just two hours. The salmon came in right after the big thunderstorm we had last week. Since then it has been non-stop action. The bad part is that salmon season ends today… so get down there today if you can.  Steelhead

Posted by jason chin

Treble hooks with a feather does not count.  Jason “bayrunner”

Date: May 4, 2002 — To: PFIC Message Board — From: avidangler — Subject: Monterey Wharf #2

James and I fished the pier at around nine this morning for perch. We fished under the pier around midway with pile worms on a 1/32-ounce leadhead and caught and released around 35 or so rainbow seaperch and pile perch on ultra light tackle. There are many silvers also but I only landed one of those, as they were being finicky. Not much else happening pier wise save for a few small smelt here and there. -avidangler

Date: July 25, 2002 — To: PFIC Message Board — From: avidangler — Subject:  Re: Leapin, what’s “lining?”

You all know I’m from Monterey and fish the Wharf #2 regularly. I was not present on this particular day in question because I have bills to pay, so I saw no such incident of snagging with a bare hook. In notsosmart’s post, the fish was foul hooked with a bare hook. That is snagging. You must use a lure to catch a gamefish, or bait. Period. Lining is a method in which one uses a long leader and a bead or yarn to hook salmon or other fish in the mouth. Whether it is voluntary or not depends on the fish. Salmon will hit yarn, and they will also hit a bead. The majority of fish hooked on the rivers I have fished while people were using this method were involuntarily hooked, many in the mouth, some in the head, others in the back or tail. The wardens I have talked to say that if the fish swims off with your line and it is mouth hooked it is legal. Period.

Now for avidangler’s stance on “lining” and “snagging” at Wharf #2. I will NOT snag fish period! The fine is like a thousand dollars, it is hectic fishing, and frankly I will legally hook many more fish than the average snagging moron. Salmon come to Wharf #2. Why? They are planted in the harbor as fingerlings and allowed to mature to smolt size. They return to the “river” of their origin, which is the harbor. These fish turn dark in saltwater and die. They do not reproduce. We have asked the DFG to extend the season so that less of these fish will be wasted, due to the fact that the return usually peaks after ocean salmon season is closed. Our requests have fallen upon deaf ears. The DFG is fully aware of last year’s snagging problems and many anglers were issued citations as a result. This year we shall see what happens with the snaggers. So far I have seen anglers throwing spoons and lining fish so as far as notsosmart’s report of snagging I cannot confirm this. The DFG is allowing lining of these salmon. You know what I say? Why not? These fish are going to either get eaten by harborbags and sea lions (go there at night and watch the gauntlet!) or die and get picked at by seagulls and crabs. The sole purpose of these fish is to boost sport catch. I would like to see them not go to waste myself. If that means people line rub them, by all means why not. After the sea lions get them all fidgety they will not readily strike bait or artificials, although I know a few tricks (heh heh). Better that people get some sport and some dinner. If the law allows it, that’s the bottom line. The practice will continue. There will be some bad apples in every crowd. Avoid them.

Date: September 14, 2002 — To: PFIC Message Board — From: avidangler — Subject: Monterey Wharf

The salmon action has been good. My pal Frank hooked a beauty off the beach adjacent to the pier on a #6 Blue Fox spinner this morning. I just finished eating some of that fish a little while ago. Last week the same Frank got a twenty-four ponder on same said spinner, and yesterday my pal Orby nailed a 34 pound, 1 oz fish on pink yarn. No joke. He did well to land that pig!!

Date: October 26, 2006 —To: PFIC Message Board — From: pinoy —Subject: Plenty of bat rays in Monterey!

They have been catching bat rays at the wharf for a few nights now. Finally, I had a chance to try it last night. I was using an Eagle Claw “Surf Beast” 10ft rod, Okuma AV80, 80-lb spiderline (25-lb diameter), steel leaders topped with 2/0 hooks, and squid bait. I started fishing at 7pm and first 20 minutes was slow for me although everyone else seems to be catching bat rays left and right. Boredom was followed by some teasing from my pregnant wife. She said that if she’s not pregnant and have strength to fight the rays, she would have been catching after a few minutes of casting out. She said I have until this time next year to hold the family record on bat ray catch even if I catch the tiniest one in the bay. She already beat me in the MF eel department. Hehehe!

Anyway, at around 7:30 I felt a tiny tug so I set the hook. Yup! I felt a strong pull trying to peel off out to open water. After reeling a few yards back the ray came straight back and to the side, aiming to go under the wharf. Oh man, I thought I was gonna lose it. I was able to recover line fast enough to keep pressure on the ray and to coax it to follow me towards the end of the railing. With a friend’s help lifting the line hand over hand I finally landed it. It was around 30-33” wingspan. I don’t know the weight. My friend took it home for soup and I kept the tail. I caught four more (3 released) afterwards ranging from 20-35” with two of them falling into the water just a few feet from the top of the wharf when we tried to lift them up. I based the size of the two that dropped on the comparison of how they were spread between the post of the wharf while we were pulling them up. I also caught a 2′ long skate that did not fight at all.

My co-worker and PFIC member MBRat finally showed up at 9pm. We stayed with him until 11pm. He caught total of 5 bat rays, but was only able to land 1 which was about 30-34” wingspan. The others were lost while trying to lift them up onto the wharf. All in all it was a fun night. Mrs. Pinoy was happily watching and encouraging me. She already said I will be the one watching baby next year while she catches bat rays. Hahaha!

Date: October 27, 2006 — To: PFIC Message Board — From: Ken Jones — Subject: Monterey Wharf #2 — macs/jacks in force

I shot down to Monterey this morning at 4 AM to check out the mac action and the mackerel are definitely there. But what’s really there is a huge mixed school of Pacific mackerel and jack mackerel (called Spanish mackerel by many people) and they are on both the inside side of the wharf and the outside side.

The jack mackerel are small size to medium size and seem to be hanging above the Pacific mackerel. If you want the jacks use a small size hook Sabiki with a one-ounce torpedo and keep it closer to the top. The Pacific mackerel are almost all medium sized fish and, as said, seem to hang under the jacks. Use a two-ounce sinker for them and let it sink deeper in the water. For both, a slow steady retrieve seems all that is needed. Main problem is that you will get 2-5 at a time so I recommend medium tackle if you’re going to use a Sabiki for them. If you use a light outfit, and the larger mackerel hit, you’re likely to have a tangled mess. But it’s only money.

Instead of a Sabiki put a couple of size 6 hooks on your line with a one-ounce torpedo sinker and small pieces of mackerel. You’ll have a blast catching the macs. Size 6-8 hook for the jacks. You will not get as many fish as the Sabiki’s but I think it’s more fun.

Finally, the fish are really thick and it would not be hard to catch 75-100 fish an hour if you know what you’re doing. Better is to plan out what you want. I wanted a certain number of macs to save for bait and I wanted a certain number of jacks for dinner. I kept only the fish I needed and released the rest (and if they were injured they went into the keep pile). Don’t be greedy but have fun if you head down there. It wasn’t crowded this morning but I imagine it will be by this weekend if the macks/jacks hang around. PS., Saw leopard shark fins on wharf so someone was catching them the night before.

Posted by pinoy

I might have a suspect on that leopard shark. I was there Thursday night and this guy holding a leopard shark is walking up and down the wharf asking if people want to buy it. Lots of people are disgusted, and even my friend said that it is illegal for him to sell it. He just walked away. Another guy told him while he was walking away that what he did is a waste. He should have just released it instead of killing it. Again no reply and he just kept walking.

Date: October 21, 2009 — To: Ken Jones — From: ………. — Subject: Ref: Monterey Wharf #2 report  

Believe it or not, there had been a couple of massive WSB run in that area about 3 weeks ago. You would never guess that. When the stripers were pushing the bait to the shores, a big school of WSB was right behind them. One guy hooked up a 40-lb WSB with a Fish Trap from the wharf out of 50 fishing boats and tons of anglers on the wharf according to ……… There are guys snagging the stripers with 3-oz torpedo weights on treble hooks. The WSB school is still in and out of the bay there, but …….. does not want to talk about it on the public forum since he’s chasing ‘em on his kayak. I personally spotted a big school of WSB between Seacliff Pier and New Brighton beach in Capitola about a week ago. Hope it helps!

Date: July 22, 2013 — To: PFIC Message Board — From Ken Jones — Subject: A short visit to Monterey and some fish

107 degrees in Fresno and 60 degrees in Monterey; enough said. Actually no, there is quite a bit more to add. Wanting to get away from the Valley heat, and intrigued by mention in a recent post that some sharpnose perch were showing up at the wharf, I decided to make a quick weekend trip over to Monterey. The trip would prove very, very enjoyable, both for the cool marine layer of weather that required a light jacket and for the variety of fish. Nothing learned but a few observations confirmed.

I arrived at the Monterey Wharf #2 shortly after 9 AM and soon after an angler came over and said, “Are you Ken Jones?” It was Madsteelhead and he was at the pier seeking out some pileperch. He gave me a quick rundown on what was happening and asked if I could identify a fish in another angler’s ice chest. It was a small sablefish, the first one I had seen in years, and it gave even more hope that it might be an interesting visit. I was soon rigged up with my normal high/low rigging, a one ounce torpedo sinker, and pile worms strung over size 6 hooks; I was ready for some perch.

The only problem was the small fish, specifically juvenile blue rockfish and lizardfish. Those fish just didn’t seem to understand that the worms were reserved for the larger perch. Over the years pile worms have become my favorite bait (along with ghost shrimp) but the trouble with worms and small hooks is that smaller fish can also grab them, i.e. the blacksmith and senorita that can make fishing hard at Catalina when you’re trying for larger species like opaleye, the shinerperch at Gaviota when you’re seeking out the larger rubberlips and buttermouth, and on and on. Worms are great bait but can be too easily sucked in by the smaller fish when you are seeking out something a little larger. When the small fish are around it’s good to have a backup bait. Unfortunately I had brought a couple of dozen worms with me as well as some anchovies and squid but had not brought the mussels that were in a bag in my freezer—dumb!

Nevertheless, I continued to fish for my sharpnose perch and about 20 minutes after starting I caught a sharpnose, the only one I would catch during the trip. It justified the trip in my mind but there were several other interesting things that I saw.

The first were the number of lizardfish. In my monthly reports I have been reporting lizardfish from more and more piers, all the way south to San Diego. A few weeks ago during a trip to Santa Barbara they were the main fish caught by the kids in the tournament on Stearns Wharf. On the way back that weekend I had stopped at Port San Luis where they absolutely seemed to cover the bottom of the bay (as in 4-6 every time if you threw out a Sabiki). Here there was a repeat performance. People mid-pier were casting Sabikis and pulling in 4-6 fish at a time and keeping them. Hope they tasted good.

The second concerned a recent post I made on the number of baby cabezon and onespot fringehead showing up at piers. I had recently caught small cabezon at Stearns Wharf, Goleta, Gaviota, Avila, and Port San Luis and once again they were numerous here. As for the onespot fringehead it was similar, I had caught them at Stearns Wharf, Goleta, Gaviota, and Port San Luis. Soon after starting I caught one and took it over to show Madsteelhead who said he had never seen one before. What gives with this year’s explosion of lizardfish, cabezon and onespot fringehead?

As for the pileperch, there was a nice run going on and the locals who knew what they were doing (like Madsteelhead) were loading up on fish that weighed 1+ pounds. It reminded me of when I used to fish the Red Rock Pier in Richmond back in the ‘70s. The pier would be thick mid-winter with pileperch in the 1-2 pound range and you could fairly easily catch a limit using grass shrimp for bait. The Red Rock Pier is now history and it seems harder to find the larger concentrations of pileperch (although some areas still see good numbers). BTW, Madsteelhead also caught a nice blackperch.

There was also the issue of the sablefish. The only sablefish I have caught from a pier was at the Newport Pier and it was a long, long time ago. One day I caught 47 and one day I caught six; all were caught during very early hours when it was still dark and all were caught on squid (as discussed in my book). The thinking is that these deep-water fish will come to the surface at night to feed (and young sablefish will sometimes enter shallower water). I wanted a chance at the sablefish so was back at the Wharf Sunday morning at 4 AM using squid for bait. The water was really low, the sablefish did not cooperate, and I did not catch a single one, but at least I tried.

I did have a very interesting discussion with a retired commercial fishermen the next morning, one who lives on his boat in the marina. He said a state record pileperch was caught from the wharf a few days ago, a fish which after being weighed on a couple of different certified scales weighed in at an even 2 pounds. I hadn’t checked the records lately but was a little surprised that the fish would be the record since I have seen much larger fish over the years. But, most anglers never bother to have their large fish checked or submitted as a record. He also said the lizardfish only showed up about a week ago and that there was a good bocaccio hatch showing in the water.

As for the cabezon and onespot fringehead, he had no idea, in fact he didn’t know what a onespot fringehead looked like until I showed him a picture. He also mentioned that three sturgeon had been taken from the wharf this year along with several halibut. We had a nice long talk concerning California fishing and changes over the years and it proved a nice diversion since the fishing was a little slow (at least as far as large fish).

What would prove most interesting was the number of different species that I was able to catch Saturday between two different piers—Wharf #2 and the Coast Guard Pier. Eighteen different species showed up at the two piers that day and when I checked my records when I got home it was the highest total of one day, multi-pier species. Wharf #2 (morning and late afternoon/early evening) saw California Lizardfish, Blue Rockfish, Speckled Sanddab, Pacific Sanddab, Cabezon, Senorita, Pileperch, Sharpnose Seaperch, Onespot Fringehead, Kelp Greenling, Bocaccio and Shinerperch. The Coast Guard Pier (afternoon) saw Gopher Rockfish, Black & Yellow Rockfish, Painted Greenling, Striped Seaperch, Striped Kelpfish, and what I think was a Corraline Sculpin. The 18 different species in one day from the piers was a record for me. Of course the two quite different environments would see different species but still it was a good number of different species.

I headed back Sunday at noon after a quick bowl of chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf. Three hours later I was back at Fresno and unloading the car in the middle of a 107-degree day. I think I need to find a job on the coast.

Posted by calaznfisher

Lovely read, thanks for the report from one of my favorite places to fish.  Good to see you escaping the heat, and getting some productive fishing time in. I’ve actually been keeping an eye out for sablefish ever since I read about your mirabile dictu day at Newport. According to my records, I ran into an angler carrying 3-4 medium sized sablefish walking off of Newport pier in September of 2012. He said he caught them off of anchovies from the back right corner. No one else had caught any that I saw. Very interesting catch, too bad you didn’t see more of them.

Author’s Note No. 1. In 1988 papers nationwide carried a picture of a young angler holding a somewhat prehistoric looking fish, one whose most notable feature seemed to be a large mouth full of scary-looking teeth. It turned out the fish was a Longnose Lancetfish  (Alepisaurus ferox, meaning ferocious scaleless lizard), a normally deep-water fish that has been found down to a depth of 6,000 feet. The fish was caught at Wharf #2 and is a reminder that the wharf and these waters are fairly close to the Monterey Submarine Canyon and will occasionally yield deep-water fish.

Fin-tastic catch

 What a fish story lucky Christopher Burrell can tell! The 12-year-old sportsman hooked this strange-looking longnose lancet fish off Monterey’s Wharf #2 in Monterey, California. His catch weighs 35 pounds and is more than six feet long. —Weekly World News, May 17, 1988

Of interest is that lancetfish are very skinny and though recorded to 6 5/6 feet in length, the listed maximum weight is 19.84 pounds. Thus the scale used to measure the fish was wrong, it was just an estimated weight, or the weight was accurate and the boy caught himself a record fish. The boy’s catch was at least the third report of the fish along the Monterey Bay shoreline at the time of the catch. A newspaper article from November 2, 1973 (The Daily Review, Hayward, California) reported, “a lancet, the sharp-toothed deep-water fish was found in a surf here recently. Robert Lea, a State Fish and Game Department marine biologist said it was only the second time in 40 years that such a fish had been found on the Monterey Bay shoreline… Lea said the 4 1/2 foot specimen would be added to the fish collection at the California Academy of Science in San Francisco.”

Apparently longnose lancetfish are common through much of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans but typically they’re found offshore in deep-waters. They are a favored food of tuna and sharks and often captured on long-line gear used for tuna. They’re hermaphrodites containing both male and female reproductive organs, and voracious eaters that will eat just about any fish smaller than them including smaller lancetfish. Given their cannibalistic bent, they will never win a parent of the year award.

Author’s Note No. 2. Perhaps the best example of deep-water fish showing up at a California pier was a run of sablefish that took place at Wharf #2 in 1947. The numbers of both fish and anglers seems unbelievable—but the invasion was well documented!

Sablefish are uncommon to California piers but when they do show up it’s typically at piers located next to deepwater submarine canyons—those at Newport Beach, Redondo Beach, Moss Landing and Monterey. I’ve been lucky enough to catch them at the Newport Pier twice, 47 on September 10, 1962 and six more on October 27, 1962. And though I have caught many whole fishing the deep-water reefs out of Santa Cruz for rockfish, I’ve only seen one other one at a pier—July 20, 2013 at Monterey’s Wharf #2.

Sablefish Run At Monterey Bay

For the first time in history, sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) appeared in vast numbers in the vicinity of Monterey and were caught by the thousands from the municipal pier. The run was first discovered on the afternoon of July 11th; word of the bonanza spread rapidly, and the pier was soon crowded with anglers. Men, women, and children stood shoulder to shoulder, with a varied assortment of tackle, all hauling in fish as fast as they could throw in their lines. Boxes, sacks, five-gallon cans, and washtubs were rapidly filled with 12 to 20-inch fish. Slack periods occurred during the morning and again in the afternoons, but they were of short duration usually lasting only half an hour or less; then the fish would be back seemingly in greater numbers than before. Each day the pier would be jammed with crowds of from 2,000 to 3,500 fishermen and spectators, some having driven as far as 200 miles.

On July 26th, the run stopped as abruptly as it had begun, and although over 5,000 fishermen were on hand the next day, only a few fish were caught. During the 15 days of the run, the Bureau of Patrol Division of Fish and Game, estimated that over 110 tons had been landed.

—Keith W. Cox, Bureau of Marine Fisheries,California Division of Fish and Game, Sept., 1947

Sablefish from the Monterey Wharf #2 in 2013

Author’s Note No. 3. I previously mentioned the pesky, bothersome, bait stealin’ senorita and I wasn’t kidding. An early June day in 2002 saw me make a visit in pursuit of perch. I hoped to find some big perch and, if I was lucky, I hoped to run across a school of the elusive sharpnosed seaperch. I’d gotten an Email message from AvidAngler that the perch were hittin’ so traveled down on my birthday to make a visit.

But I would have to deal with the senorita first. I had my rigging set, my pile worms were fresh, and I dropped the line into the water. Many times perch are on the bottom but sharpnose perch and rubberlips, the two species I was targeting, are often found mid-depth. That’s where I dropped my line, down about eight feet or so next to a piling and I immediately began to get tap after tap.

Perch will often tap the bait but usually the second or third tap will result in a hookup. What was happening here was an assault on my bait, a quick stripping of the hooks, and a need to rebait. After this happened a few times my suspicions were confirmed as to the assailants when I hooked and pulled in an 8-inch senorita. Senorita love pile worms and find them especially easy to remove from a hook. In fact, they find any soft bait easy to steal. Nevertheless, when I did manage to pull in a sharpnose seaperch a few minutes later I felt confident as to my bait and technique. But I also knew that the small pieces of pile worms would attract the senorita along with the perch. I guess it was sort of an occupational hazard if I wanted to be a perch hunter.

Eventually the worms were gone and I switched to strips of squid (which were also attacked by the senorita) but I did manage to land two of the sharpnose perch along with two-dozen or so senorita. I also checked out the bottom and it seemed as the morning progressed, the senorita went from being primarily at a mid-depth region to covering the water from the bottom to the top (perhaps they were simply adjusting their normal pattern because of the bait I was feeding them). I did manage a good-sized rainbow seaperch using the squid on the bottom, along with a small kelp rockfish, but the senorita made me work for the “better” fish. Some say senorita are tasty but all were returned to the water. Perhaps they will get a taste test some other day?  

Author’s Note No. 4. The yin and yang, bad or good nature of the pier, really stands out in a sequence of visits that saw two 0 fish, skunk days, sandwich between two 100+ fish days. The first day (October) saw Pacific mackerel and jack mackerel running at the pier and saw a total of 150 fish caught in just two and a half hours. The next two trips, in July and November, produced no fish, in fact not even a bite. However, those fishless days were followed by a July visit when the sea’s floor seemed to be covered by lizardfish and assorted other species while mid-depth waters were saturated with small rockfish. The result was 154 fish in just under seven hours of fishing. I’ve averaged 12.2 fish per hour at the pier due to the large schools of small and medium-sized fish that sometimes visit the pier—Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel, Pacific sardines, juveile bocaccio, and lizardfish, yet if you visit the pier when schools are absent you can go fishless in Monterey. You just never know although if the pier is empty when you arrive, the fishing is probably slow. When fish are present, word seems to get out very quickly and the pier will be filled with anglers.

Author’s Note No. 5. To really get to know a pier, and to have the opportunity to experience a “big” day, it pays to fish the pier often. The following comes from the autobiography of avidangler ((Robert Ford), once a regular at this pier and a reporter for the PFIC Message Board. Most Memorable Pier Fishing Trips (and Why): “One year the stripers came to Wharf #2. They were so thick you couldn’t miss, for about a month. One evening I hooked nine in a row off Pencil Poppers, one of the best days I have had anywhere! Last year we made front-page news when salmon showed up in incredible numbers. I landed 20 one day (no kidding). Everybody was hooking fish. It was much like Pacifica. But I would have to say that my first steelhead rates as the most memorable. The 1/2-ounce Krocodile spoon has since been my favorite pier lure. It works.”

Author’s Note No. 6.  From the CA Fish and Game Dept., AdministrativReport No. 82-9, Species Composition and Catch per Unit of Effort of Monterey Bay Surf, Pier, and Skiff Anglers in 1979: “In 1979, Monterey Bay sport anglers were sampled for species composition of the catch and catch per unit of effort. A total of 4,150 surf, pier, and skiff anglers were interviewed. Fish per hour was… .58 for piers. The species composition of the pier catch was dominated by juvenile bocaccio, Sebastes paucispinis; white croaker, Genyonemus lineatus; and the walleye surfperch, Hyperprosopon argentum… Monterey Wharf No. 2 (1.55 fish per hour) was the best public fishing pier. However, a small privately operated pier inside Moss Landing Harbor had the best catch rate (2.44 fph) of all piers sampled… Santa Cruz was the poorest fishing pier with a catch rate of 0.32 fph.”

However, the report goes on to state that a DF&G study in 1968 by Miller and Odemar had almost the opposite results: Santa Cruz was the best fishing pier (1.25 fph) and Monterey Wharf #2 was one of the poorest (.50 fph).

The contradictory results reflect the nature of Central Coast piers that can have a very high or poor catch rate dependent upon the arrival of certain schooling species—sardines, jack mackerel, Pacific mackerel, jacksmelt, walleye surfperch, shinerperch, bocaccio (nobody knows for sure if these baby rockfish will ever reappear in their once substantial numbers.), and increasingly, lizardfish The DF&G results by the way differ substantially from my personal results (1975-2014): Monterey Wharf #2 (12.2 fph), Santa Cruz Wharf (8.33 fph).

Author’s Note No. 7.  Poaching is something that goes on at piers and especially at piers that see as much use at Wharf #2. A natural question that arises is when poachers should be confronted—and how. The following was sent in by one of my friends, James Liu. James was a longtime member of the United Pier and Shore Anglers Board, an excellent fisherman, a Boy Scout leader, an intellectual giant, and one of the finest men I have ever known. James was a large man with a large heart and was not hesitant to confront poachers. James was born in Taiwan and he especially objected to poachers who were Asian because, as he once explained to me, he had personally had to face discrimination so many times growing up due to the poor actions of others. He hated the perception by many that all Asians break the angling rules and he tried to teach as many people as possible the proper and legal ways to fish.  

My first exposure to his “power of persuasion” occurred one night when we were fishing at the Green Pleasure Pier in Avalon and two young (Asian) men were illegally hooking and keeping lobsters. Other people tried to get them to stop with little success while James got them to stop and got them to return the lobsters to the water. How? By explaining to them how their actions made him look bad. James was a person who was always willing to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. James died in 2013 and he will be sorely missed. 

Author’s Note No. 8. This wharf as well as the adjoining wharf—Fisherman’s Wharf—has appeared in many movies. Those specific to Wharf #2 include Captains Courageous shot in 1937. Scenes included two schooners tied up to Wharf #2. They Drive by Night was filmed in 1940. Several other movies were filmed in the harbor and at Fisherman’s Wharf and may contain scenes or shots of Wharf #2; they include A Woman of the Sea/The Sea Gull (1926); Tiger Shark (1932); I Cover the Waterfront (1933); Mutiny on the Bounty (1935); Captain January (1936): Edge of Darkness (1943); In Love and War (1958); and The Candidate (1972). Some sources say that See America First (1915) includes shots of sea gulls at Wharf #2 but considering the fact that Wharf #2 wasn’t built until 1926 that idea seems just a tad bit unreasonable, even if it is the movies. Maybe Fisherman’s Wharf?    

Author’s Note No. 9. How many young have wanted to run away and fish their life away? 

Capture Ends Boy’s Dreams of Adventure

The dream of strange cities and adventure harbored by Antonio Brown, 14, of 597 Ninety-eighth avenue, who ran away from his home several days ago, has ended with his capture in Monterey.

The boy, according to advices, has been sleeping in barns and haystacks, and has been attempting to supply himself with food by fishing at the Monterey Wharf. He was returned to Oakland today. —Oakland Tribune, August 12, 1925

Author’s Note No. 10. Variety is always one of the interesting aspects of fishing the Monterey area for me—and apparently others.

Mackerel Snared By Local Party

Hundreds of mackerel were caught at the Monterey Wharf by a group of Castro Valley friends who enjoyed a fishing and camping trip Saturday and Sunday. They were Fire Chief and Mrs. Moir, Miss Catherine Moir, Al Moir Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Max Kuhn, Miss Kuhn and Mr. and Mrs. Gilstar Christenson, Gilstar Jr., and M. Christenson.

Super on the beach and a camp fire at night were some of the enjoyable events of the trip. Mackerel were so plentiful in the surf Sunday that hundreds of people caught all they wanted to catch with a hook and line from the wharf.

Fishing off the Monterey Wharf is a pleasurable mystery. One can never tell what is at the end of his line. Sometimes it is a big salmon, sometimes a pompano, sometimes a baby shark or a tiny devil fish. —The Hayward Daily Review, September 24, 1930

Author’s Note No. 11.  The following story was sent to me by Jack Holder, one of my good friends from OWAC, the Outdoor Writers Association of California, and the author of several books, most on trout fishing in the Sierras. Jack now lives in Fresno, close to his beloved Sierras, but he grew up in Monterey and his remembrances of his youth, and the times he spent down at the local wharves, are priceless.

 Squidmen of Monterey, Wharf #2, Monterey 1959

Monterey Municipal Wharf #2 is a working wharf; just an extension of Figueroa Street out into Monterey Bay about 200 yards. There are no gift shops here, no restaurants, no candy stores, not even a fish market. A flat pier, wood rails in some places, a ship’s tie down here and there, a few wooden ramps to access boats on the Marina side, some street lights spaced randomly and all along each side a wooden curb of sorts – to warn drivers that if they don’t stop, they will soon be sinking in the Bay. Yes, Wharf #2 is kind of plain. There is, however, a large tin processing building that sits on the very end of the wharf, it collects fish and squid from the boats and packs them in ice. In fact the majority of the space inside the old building is taken up by the stacks of boxes, dripping melted ice, smelling like fish. A large MONTEREY PACKING is lettered across the side of the west wall.

I should correct myself; there is a small coffee counter near the entrance that has fish and chips, really good fish and chips. Its tin Coca Cola sign is just about rusted through and the legs of its chrome stools are looking more like pier pilings all covered with tiny pits. The old leather upholstered tops to the stools are cracked, some horse’s hair sticking out in places.

Watching the fishing boats pull up to the side of the wharf; the crew and the workers at Monterey Packing hollering to each other in Italian about how many pounds they have and getting the boat in the correct position, so that the huge round net can be lowered into the boat’s hull and filled with fish, is wild. Often the crews are excited, the plant workers are screaming directions and the swells are large enough to make it tough to bring the boat alongside smoothly. And then when the net emerges from the hull, full of fish, the electric motor that controls the hoist for the net straining and groaning, the fish on top jumping (some back into the Bay), and more hollering; chaos takes over. Yes, it is wild.

Late summer usually sees the squid, millions and millions of them, come close to the shore. They come so close that Wharf #2 jetties far into their vast schools and it is then the squidmen arrive. They are an outcast looking lot. Mostly Japanese or Filipino, wearing their oldest, most beat up clothing. Holes in baggy trousers, dark, dark stains on their jackets, shirts and hats and their shoes, well… their old leather shoes are held together with black electricians tape and stained beyond recognition of their original black or brown colors. Each carries an old towel.

The men share in that every one of them has hands that are leathered with small nicks and cuts on just about every finger. Fingernails are chipped, cracked and in some cases, totally gone. Some are wearing old gloves with the fingers cut out. And to a man, each is carrying a tin bucket and a long (say 15 feet) bamboo pole with about 15 feet of heavy braided line. The line has three large treble hooks tied about three feet apart and taped parallel to the line with white medical tape. At the end of the line is a lead weight or in some cases, a spark plug. About every third man has a gas lantern; some have the newer Coleman camp lanterns.

During the day this assortment of men would be thought of as laborers, farm workers or gardeners, but the squid only show up around Wharf #2 late at night, usually after midnight, so there is really no one to see them, except the other squidmen of course.

As they arrive; each seemingly has his own spot, kind of like your place on the pew at church; they lower their lanterns by rope down to about four feet above the water. Their buckets are placed about three feet to their left with their towels hanging on the rim and nearby will be a railing, piling or wood curb – someplace to sit.

They have been practicing this ritual since they were kids; their fathers did the same. And make no doubts about it, this is a ritual. “Basu, basu,” the Japanese holler as the squid approach, “Isda, isda,” the Filipinos. “Magaan, get the magaan,” the Filipinos scream to their buddies. “Koosen, koosen,” say the Japanese. “Fish, fish, get the lights,” It took a few nights, but I finally figured out what it was what they were hollering. And then the long bamboo poles, with their long line of treble hooks, are lowered into the schools of squid, so many in number that the deep blue water appears to turn white, and suddenly as the poles are yanked upwards and the squid impelled on the hooks, the squidmen lift their catches to the top of the wharf. “Inki! Inki!” yell the Japanese; ink shoots everywhere – on your jacket, your pants, your face, in your eyes (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they are all wearing glasses, many just safety glasses I’m sure) and all over the wood planks of the wharf. The ink is dark purple, almost black, and it is oily – where it lands, it stays…forever.

The leathery hands grab the squirming squid, unhook them and toss them in the tin buckets. The poles go over the side again and in almost perfect unison I see scores of poles dropping down, yanking up and again squid being put in buckets. This goes on for several minutes and then just as quickly as it started, it stops. The waters around Wharf #2 turn deep blue again.

The squidmen are sweating. The ever-present summer soupy fog of the bay is thick upon the Wharf, the air is cool, but the men are sweating.

“Pusit, so marami,” say the Filipinos. The chatter begins. “Isda, isda!” and suddenly the school of squid are seen approaching. The poles go out, down, a smooth fast yank upwards and three more rubbery squid are taken off the hooks and deposited in the bucket.

“Why only three hooks?” I ask, “Four does not work”, my friend Milto answers. He is Filipino and his father and grandfather have taken him squiding since he was five. As with much of this discipline, the techniques are firm and unquestioned.

Words are few while the poles are moving.

It is quiet, the poles are in unison, the buckets are nearly full, and the squidmen are practicing their tradition, their ritual. It is a fraternity, perhaps not organized or even named, but it has no less bond that any.

Again the squid retreat, and again the chatter and then the squid come back once more. As the buckets fill the men sit. They stop fishing. Even though the schools of squid are still coming, the men are sitting, speaking in Japanese and Filipino, mixed with English, they sit and talk. And laugh. The air is still, the fog has coated every exposed surface with drops of salt-ladened moisture and the men have stopped talking. It seems that calmness has enveloped the wharf or perhaps it is just a phenomenon, like so often happens with a group of people, when no one speaks and a room becomes quiet – for just a few moments, but here on Wharf #2 it happens every night at the end of this time honored ritual.

And then the men load up their buckets, lanterns, poles and ink drenched towels and start walking back to their cars. Talk begins again, good byes are said, there is more laughter and then Monterey Municipal Wharf #2 is quiet once again. The bark of an old sea lion echoes across the water; I look around. The wood planks are covered with ink.

History Note. Monterey Bay was originally discovered by Cabrillo on November 16, 1542, and given the name Bahia de los Pinos. Cermeno crossed it on December 10, 1595, and called it San Pedro (in honor of Saint Peter Martyr, whose feast day is December 9). Seven years later, on December 16, 1602, Vizcaino anchored in what today is the harbor and named it Puerto de Monterey, in honor of Conde de Monterey, then viceroy of New Spain.

Over the years several different wharves and piers have graced Monterey’s coastline providing a means of transportation, as well as commercial and recreational opportunity. Today, the railroads and the wharves they used for transportation are gone. So too are the canneries with their round the clock activity and smells that made the area famous or perhaps more appropriately infamous. Commercial fishing boats still operate from Wharf #2 but the numbers seem to decrease each decade. Recreation though remains strong for the three types of local angling—recreational party boats, private boaters, and shore-bound anglers. Luckily there are still some fishing piers—but once there were even more.

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California’s first oceanfront wharf, in fact its first wharf, was built in Monterey Bay in 1845 by Thomas Larkin. At the time, Monterey was still the Mexican capital of Alta California and most citizens agreed a wharf would be a useful improvement for the town. Larkin, one of Monterey’s leading businessmen, and one of California’s first entrepreneurs, decided to build the wharf. The wharf was built under contract with the Mexican administrator of the customhouse and though Larkin eventually asked the Mexican government to repay the $8,200 cost of building the wharf, he never received the money. Larkin would later serve as the first and only United States consul to California.

In 1846, during the war with Mexico, American forces commandeered the wharf (for use by both the Army and the Navy). The next year, after acquisition of California by the United States, Larkin sought to have the American government either buy the wharf or return it to his control. If returned, he planned to bill the government for its use of his wharf. Initially both the Army and Navy seemed to ignore his claims. After receiving what he felt was a run around from Naval personnel, he contacted the Army. General Stephen Kearny, who had assumed command of both military and civil affairs, rejected his claim and suggested he contact Naval Commodore James Biddle. Larkin’s claims that prior Navy personnel had promised to purchase the wharf seemed to fall on deaf ears when Biddle suggested he should once again contact the Army since they might want the wharf. 

Back went the case to the Army, which rejected his declared cost of $8,200.62, and the balance of $4,059 that he felt was due. The Army said they would have to determine the amount due; in the meantime, the wharf would remain public property. Finally, on May 7, 1847, an agreement was signed in which the Army agreed to both pay Larkin’s claim and to maintain the wharf. The money was to be paid from fees collected from all ships that used the wharf with the exception of United States warships. Years later, Jacob P. Leese bought Larkin’s interest in the wharf. The pier was destined to have a short life and indeed was in ill shape just a few years after having been built. William Redmond Ryan, in his book, Personal Adventures in Upper and Lower California in 1848-49, described the pier as already becoming unsteady only three years after it was built: “We landed at the foot of an abrupt rock, on the top of which stood the Custom-house, a long, whitewashed building, of ancient date, and about 20 feet in length: Our way to it lay along a pier of most unsafe appearance, and considerably so in reality, being constructed of a few logs thrown loosely across a series of half rotten posts sunk into the sand, and liable to be dislodged by the ebb and flow of the tide,” 

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           Fisherman’s Wharf, also known today as Wharf No. 1 and Old Fishermans Wharf, began its life in 1870. That was the year when the Pacific Coast Steamship Company built a 400-foot pier on the site of the original Larkin’s Wharf. The new wharf, known as the Pacific Steamship Wharf or simply as the Monterey Wharf, quickly became a center for shorefront activity. Company ships arrived four times a week bringing passengers and cargo while the wharf, now a port of call for many, became a base for a diverse group of nationalities and enterprises, especially those connected to the sea.

One group that used the wharf, at least for a period of time, was whalers who ventured out to capture a variety of whale species in the nearby waters (and eventually expanded to various areas along the coast). California’s first whaling station had been established at Monterey in 1854 by Captain J.P. Davenport (the Monterey Whaling Company). One year later a group of seventeen Portuguese whalers from the Azores led by Captain Joseph Clark (née Machado) formed what was usually called “the old company.” The Portuguese group dominated the industry although eventually there were four companies that operated in the bay. However, the numbers of whales were in decline and with the increase in the use of kerosene (instead of oil from whales) both demand and supply decreased. By the 1880s the whaling industry itself was in steep decline. 

Another group, perhaps the earliest fishermen in the area, was the Chinese fishermen who were active in the bay by 1853. A fish camp was established at Point Lobos (south of today’s) Cannery Row, Pescadero (today’s Stillwater Cove), and at Point Alones (near the center of today’s Cannery Row). Activities varied, diving the shallow inshore water for abalone and kelp while fishing the bay’s deeper waters for a variety of species—primarily squid and shark but also bottom species like rockfish and lingcod. Chinese “junks” with their large lanteen sails were a common sight in local waters. The wharf would be used to send their catch (mostly dried squid, shark fins, and abalone) via coastal schooner to more distant locales, especially San Francisco. 

A third group, arriving in the 1870s, were the Genovese Italians who used their small lateen-rigged sailboats (known as feluccas) primarily to troll for salmon and to fish for bottom species such as rockfish, lingcod and flatfish (halibut and flounder).  

Eventually competition between the Chinese and Italian fisherman, a drastic decrease in the number of abalone, and anti-Chinese laws and actions (including burning down the Chinese fishing village), would lead to most Chinese leaving the area and a change in the fishing activity in the area. The decrease in activity at the wharf, accentuated by the loss of business to railroads, led to less income at the wharf and increased neglect. This was true even though there were signs of a bludgeoning sardine industry that would soon need a seaworthy wharf.

In 1895 Frank E. Booth had opened the first cannery in Monterey (the Monterey Packing Company). The first fish to be canned were salmon but by 1900 he began to also can sardines. After disputes with his workers, and his plant being burned down, he brought in Knut Hovden, a Norwegian and graduate of Norway’s National Fisheries College, to upgrade his procedures. Hovden made several changes to the canning procedure but also in 1905 brought in Pietro Ferrante a Sicilian Italian from Black Diamond (today’s Pittsburg, California).  Ferrante brought two new ideas and technology that would revolutionize the sardine business—new boats and new nets.

Monterey Wharves — 1907

By 1906 the Genovese Italians began to be replaced by Sicilian Italians who used gasoline-powered boats that became known as Monterey Clippers (or simply putt-putts). The new boats were more powerful, more reliable (less dependent on capricious winds), and able to fish more days of the year. The Sicilians also brought in “lampara nets” that were much more efficient in capturing the sardines. Previously gill nets had been used which required removing each fish from the net by hand. The “lightning” lampara nets could encircle the sardines and then easily release them onto a boat. The combination of better boats and better nets paved the way for the sardine industry. The future for the fishing industry began to look bright and in 1913 the city assumed ownership of the wharf, established the office of wharfinger, and gave the wharf a new name—Fisherman’s Wharf. The wharf soon became headquarters for the fishing fleet with several hundred fishermen bringing in a plethora of fish species from the deep, rich, Monterey Bay waters—salmon, rockfish, albacore, and, increasingly, sardines. Non-fish species like squid, crab and abalone added to the mix (with much of the abalone being brought in now by Japanese instead of Chinese fishermen). The wharf itself was home to fish warehouses, retail and wholesale fish markets, a fuel station, restaurants, and an abalone shell grinding business. One more technological change was coming: by the 1920s the Sicilian Italians and their lampara boats (which had replaced the felaccas) began themselves to be replaced by larger and more efficient purse seiners. Sardines, fish so numerous that they were called the “Silver Tide,” increasingly began to dominate the local fisheries with new and larger canneries being built along shore  (Steinbeck’s Cannery Row).

The name “Fisherman’s Wharf” became associated with the pier around 1913 after Monterey’s first sardine cannery was built just west of the pier. The earliest concessions on the wharf also began about this time.

“Pop” Ernest’s opened in 1919 just to the right of the wharf entrance and was for many years the pier’s only restaurant. Specializing in abalone steaks and chowder served in an abalone shell, the place was presided over by the always immaculately uniformed “Pop” Ernest Doelter in his trademarks, a crisp white apron and red Turkish fez. The German native over the years was said to have entertained aviator Charles Lindbergh, writer Jack London and movie actress Claudette Colbert. Another restaurant, The Pilot, was added across the way on the left, and for years these were the wharf’s only two dining establishments. —The wharf in winter, The Weekend Pinnacle, Gavilan College, March 20, 2006

Of course the wharf suffered occasional accidents, it seems part of the life of every wharf. The worst was one that took place on March 3, 1923 when, during inclement weather the S.S. San Antonio was attempting to dock in preparation to accepting the largest load of sardines ever to be shipped from Monterey—20,000 cases (that were sitting on the wharf). The ship slammed into the wharf causing 132 feet of the pier to collapse and spilling 10,000 cases of sardines into the sea. Soon after, the city reconstructed the damaged wharf adding an additional 750 feet and attaching a finger pier that extended eastward from the wharf.

City fathers then began to discuss the need for a new wharf both to relieve the congestion on Fisherman’s Wharf and to answer the needs of the expanding commercial fishing fleet. Bonds were voted and Wharf No. 2 (often simply called the New Wharf or the Municipal Wharf) was completed in 1926, just a hop-and-a-skip north of the original wharf. Soon the new wharf would contain fish warehouses and also be adopted by local recreational anglers as a place where they could wet their lines.

By the late ’30s, when sand around Fisherman’s Wharf created shallow unsafe conditions for the fishing boats, most commercial fishing activity moved over to Wharf No. 2. Once again Fisherman’s Wharf was threatened with closure. However, preservationists won out and the wharf was saved. Then, with the start of World War II, and the influx of soldiers into nearby Fort Ord, the nature of the wharf changed. The wharf became a destination for those with weekend passes and tourist-related businesses, especially restaurants, became the main attractions on the wharf. With the collapse of the sardine fishery in the late ‘40s, the conversion to tourism proved to be a fortuitous event. By the mid-‘50s, gift shops, candy shops, an aquarium, and even a theater had been added to the life on the wharf and conversion seemed complete. Today, tourism has become one of Monterey’s leading industries and Fisherman’s Wharf continues to be one of the “don’t miss” attractions for visitors to the area. There are thirty-five businesses on the wharf, including ten restaurants and two Sportfishing landings, and the wharf is almost always busy.

The wharf’s recreational fishing landings date back more than a half century. Chris’ Fishing Trips was established in the ‘40 by Captain Chris Arcoleo and offers the boats Caroline, Tornado, Check Mate, Star of Monterey and New Holiday. Randy’s Fishing Trips dates back to 1949 when family member Salvatore (Randy) Randazzo began the operation. Randy’s offers the Chubasco, and Sur Randy. Once limited to fishing trips, both landings now offer whale watching expeditions (mostly in the wintertime) and even occasionally pinniped and sea otter viewing expeditions. Given today’s changing attitudes and prices, it simply shows that you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to stay in business.

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Wharf No. 2 doesn’t get the attention of its older sister to the south but continues to be the home to commercial fishing boats as well as recreational anglers. The wharf itself remains much as it was back when first built with the exception of the marina and sea wall that extend from Wharf #2 towards Fisherman’s Wharf. Both were constructed in the late 50s after the citizens voiced demand for a small craft harbor. When opened in 1960 the marina was able to provide 367 well protected berths. The construction did cut off the angling from that section of Wharf #2 but it seemed a fair tradeoff for recreational fishermen. In addition, money from the Wildlife Conservation Board helped fund an extension to the wharf in the early ‘60s that guaranteed additional access to anglers. A $5 million reconstruction of the marina took place in 1996 that added new concrete docks and a handicapped accessible ramp.

Fishing on Wharf #2 in 1935

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            Several other wharves and piers have graced the local beaches of Monterey Bay.

Monterey’s third wharf (chronologically) was the 1,300-foot-long “Depot Wharf” (some sources say 1,600-foot) that was built in 1874 and located not too far from today’s Wharf No. 2. It set in front of Monterey’s train depot. (Head over to the Harbormaster’s office and you’ll see a granite boulder with a marker on its face, The marker notes the site of the end point for the railroad and the site where the wharf once set.

Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad Plaque

Monterey Harbor, CA

N 36° 36.130 W 121° 53.480

10S E 599158 N 4051312

Quick Description:

Former railroad ended at a shipping pier in Monterey Harbor

The wharf was the final destination point for California’s first narrow-gauge railroad—the Monterey & Salinas Valley Railroad. Built in part to circumvent the monopolistic high prices being charged to local farmers by the Southern Pacific Railroad, the short, 19-mile-long railroad would haul produce from the farms to the ocean wharf and waiting ships.

The Articles of incorporation were drawn up on February 26, 1874 by members of the Patrons of Husbandry, also known as the Grangers, with local entrepreneurs (and members) Carlisle Abbott and David Jacks providing most of the money. Groundbreaking was held on April 20, 1874 and by October 23 of that same year the first train rolled down the tracks. The Southern Pacific immediately lowered their rates and threatened a new line from Castroville to Monterey, but with little affect.  

By the end of 1874 over 6,000 tons of grain had been transported to Monterey, the combined rail and steamship rates were averaging two dollars a ton less than those charged by the Southern Pacific, and things looked rosy for the railroad and Monterey.

Then the problems began. On January 19, 1875 a terrific storm with extremely high winds hit the Monterey Peninsula and damaged the trestle to the bridge over the Salinas River. Within a weekpart of the bridge had washed away and operations on the railroad ceased. It would take two months to fix the bridge. Business resumed but then in January of 1876 the bridge washed out again, this time taking six months to replace. As bad, the years 1776-1877 were drought years that saw much of the crop in the valley fail. A fire in the engine house on September 1, 1877 was the next culprit; it damaged both of the RR’s two engines.

Perhaps the final straw (poor choice of words) was the weather in 1878 that was not too dry but too wet. Although crops were abundant, late June rains destroyed much of the grain leading to a drop in shipping from local farms. In addition, the Southern Pacific once again dropped their rates. The combination of high repair costs, reduction in shipping, and the competition and its rates, finally led to bankrupt in 1879.

On September 4, 1879 local papers announced the purchase of the railroad at a foreclosure sale. The new owner was Charles Crocker and his Southern Pacific. Shortly thereafter his men began to rip up the tracks and turn the narrow-gauge railroad into a standard-gauge line.

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The conversion of the old narrow-gauge Monterey & Salinas Valley Railroad into the new standard gauge railroad would soon become one part of a scheme involving a grand resort—and would lead to another wharf (pier) being built along the shoreline of Monterey Bay.

In 1880 the Southern Pacific began to run the Del Monte Express, a passenger train from San Francisco to Monterey. The destination for many of the passengers was the grand Del Monte Hotel that opened in June of that year (on 7,000 acres that Charles Crocker had bought from David Jacks). The hotel was considered the world’s most elegant seaside resort in the world when it opened and among the hotel’s amenities was a pleasure pier. The pier fronted the seaside “bathing pavilion,” a huge structure that set about half a mile from the hotel. The four steam-heated tanks in the bathhouse held a total of 450,000 gallons of saltwater that was changed daily. The train would stop and drop off passengers at the opulent Del Monte Hotel and then continue a short way down the tracks to the railroad depot that still fronted the wharf originally built by the older railroad.

Hotel Del Monte

An unspeakable gem, in an umbrageous and floral setting, that baffles the descriptive powers of poesy or prose.

Would you see what is possible of achievement when art and nature cooperate? Then visit Hotel del Monte.

The hotel and all the improvements are in such artistic harmony with each other and with the matchless work of nature in which they are placed, that any approach to discord is unknown. Kings and statesmen are of record in its exaltation, and poetic measures have been offered in tribute to it. Nothing has ever been said of it that leaves not the major part unsaid. The most compressed laudation is that of one who wrote: “If the traveler has only time to see one place in California, let that be Hotel del Monte, for it is the best of its kind.” —Wayside Notes On The Sunset Route, Southern Pacific Company, 1902

The Del Monte Hotel bathhouse affords excellent bathing in warm salt water; there are here a long, sandy beach and a pleasure pier. — Wells Drury and Aubrey Drury, California Tourist Guide and Handbook, 1913

Although the hotel had to be rebuilt twice following fires (1887, 1924), it continued to expand its attractions and eventually included a journey out to Carmel via the 17-mile drive and a visit to the newly opened golf course. The railroad itself was eventually expanded down past Cannery Row and to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. The Del Monte Express would operate until 1960 while the Del Monte Hotel itself saw a new life as the Naval Postgraduate School. The path of the former Del Monte Express today has become the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail. Although the railroad had discontinued freight shipments to the wharf in the 1920s, the wharf, or at least portions of it, would be used for fishing until 1940.

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            A pier that once set just a short distance south of today’s Fisherman’s Wharf area was the Coalinga Oil and Transportation Pier. Its story and that of its replacement is told in the history of the Coast Guard Pier.

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Another very small pier was built just a few miles away on the beach adjoining Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove. Pictures from the late 1890s show a small wooden pier extending a short distance out into the water. From the end of the pier customers would board glass-bottom “swan boats” to view the underwater world. 

Those years saw an amazingly wide range of activities at Lover’s Point Beach. Attractions included a Japanese Tea Garden, band concerts, a photo gallery, a bowling alley, community bathhouses, a carousel, glass-bottom boat rides, an ice cream parlor, and a skating rink. Nearby, on the point itself, sat the Hopkin’s Seaside Laboratory, a marine research facility.

Eventually the laboratory outgrew its surroundings and relocated to the site of the old Chinese fishing village near the border of Monterey and Pacific Grove. Today it is the world famous Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. A small concrete pier (of sorts) still sits in the small cove below Lover’s Point but the old wooden pier and its “swan boats” are long gone (although the boats operated until the mid 1970s).

Lover’s Point itself was first known as Point Aulon (Spanish for abalone). Later it acquired a more religious name, Lovers of Jesus Point (Pacific Grove was initially a Methodist seaside retreat—“God’s Kingdom by the Sea.”)

In a pine forest by Monterey Bay is Pacific Grove, 2.3 m. (47 alt., 5,558 pop.) a family recreation and recreational community… The salt-water Municipal Plunge (adm. children 15¢, adults 30¢; suit rental 15¢) is near the bathing beach, fishing pier, and bathhouse. Glass-bottom boats (10-4 daily; fare 25¢) afford a view of underwater plant and animal life in the Marine Gardens offshore.

—California, A Guide To the Golden State, Federal Writers Project,Works Progress Administration, 1939

Monterey Wharf No. 2 Facts

Hours: Open 24 hours a day.

Facilities: Few! There is limited parking on the wharf—$1.50 an hour or $10.00 all day; additional parking is found at lots near the front of the wharf. Parking is required from 9AM to 9PM and you can pay by cash or credit card at the Pay Station ticket dispensers. There are a few lights but no benches. There are restrooms on the wharf (out at the end). The Monterey Fish Co is on the end of Wharf #2 and you can buy fresh fish (and sometimes abalone!). Two restaurants are located on the wharf. LouLou’s is located mid-pier and offers up breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s open 7:30AM-8:30PM but closed Tuesdays. A wide variety of good food is offered. The more upscale Sandbar & The Grill is found midway out (and under) the wharf and is open for lunch and dinner. It features good chowder, sanddabs, and crab when available.  

Handicapped Facilities: Handicapped parking (one space) but non-handicapped restrooms. The pier surface is wood planking with a rail height of 43 inches; an 8-inch curb runs along the entire length of the pier but has cutouts making access available. Not posted for handicapped.

Location: 36.60416°N 121.8928°W.

How To Get There: From Highway 1 take the central Monterey exit and follow Del Monte Avenue to Figueroa Street, turn left and follow to the wharf.

Management: City of Monterey. 

Garibaldi

Garibaldi — Species: Hypsypops rubicundus (Girard, 1854); from the Greek word hypsypops  (high area below the eye) and the Latin word rubicunda (red). Alternate Names: Golden perch, ocean sunfish and ocean goldfish. In Mexico called jaqueta garibaldi. As for the name garibaldi, it apparently was a name bestowed upon the fish by California’s Italian commercial fishermen in the 1800s. Giuseppe Garibaldi was one of the main leaders in the unification movement to create an Italian nation and his followers were known as the “Redshirts” for the bright red shirts they wore. He was considered a hero to Italians throughout the world and apparently the fish, at least to some, were reminiscent of those red shirts. Identification: Garibaldi are easily distinguished by the brilliant golden-orange coloring on the whole body and are considered by many the prettiest fish in our coastal waters. They are perch-shaped but very deep-bodied with large fins. The young (up to about 6 inches in length) are reddish orange with bright blue spots.

Garibaldi — a young fish with blue spots

Size: To 14 inches (some books say 15 inches) but most pier-caught fish are under a foot in length. Range: Bahia Magdalena, southern Baja California to Monterey Bay. Uncommon north of Santa Barbara and rare north of Point Conception. Habitat: Generally found in shallow-water, rocky-shore areas although they have been encountered down to a depth of almost 100 feet. Fitch and Lavenberg, Tidepool and Nearshore Fishes of California, report that “A wide variety of food items has been found in garibaldi stomachs, including sponges, sea anemones, bryozoans, algae, worms, crustaceans, clams and mussels, snail eggs, and their own eggs.”  No wonder it is sometimes hard to keep them off a hook even though they’re illegal to keep.

Garibaldi — Kim and a small garibaldi from the Cabrillo Mole in 2003

Piers: Often hooked at southern California piers located near kelp beds or rocky reefs. Best bets: Oceanside Harbor Pier, Dana Harbor Pier, Redondo Harbor Sportfishing Pier, and the three main piers on Catalina island—the Green Pleasure Pier and Cabrillo Mole at Avalon (where it’s hard not to hook them), and the Isthmus Pier at Two Harbors. Bait and Tackle: None—illegal to take. Food Value: None since you can’t keep them. Comments: Although pretty to look at, they are pugnacious, strong, and not the friendliest fish. They are extremely territorial and will defend fairly large areas. This is especially true during the spring-summer spawning season when males will build a nest and defend it against intruders, both fellow male garibaldi and other species (including humans). Apparently the cute little missy garibaldi are an exception and allowed to invade those spaces and deposit their eggs. It is illegal to keep these fish, but why? As related to me by a Fish and Game official, the campaign to make them illegal originated in Avalon. It seems that the glass bottom boats, a popular attraction at Avalon on Catalina Island, were worried that anglers (actually divers) were taking far too many of the beautifully colored fish and that it was bad for their business (since garibaldi are one of the most viewable fish from the boats). They got a law passed making it illegal to keep them in Avalon waters and soon after the question came up as to why not make it illegal throughout the state. Eventually the statewide law making them illegal was indeed passed by the legislature. Today, most anglers return the fish to the water if they’re mistakenly hooked. However, a number are also speared illegally. It seems colorful fish are required at the wedding dinner tables of some Pacific Islanders and garibaldi are a favorite. Once again long-time cultural tradition clashes with today’s rules. Garibaldi are one of California’s two official “state fish.” Garibaldi are the “saltwater” or marine fish while golden trout are the “freshwater” fish. Garibaldi are illegal to keep in California.

Kelp Bass  — Small, average size kelp bass from Cabrillo Mole

Kelp Bass — Species: Paralabrax clathratus (Girard, 1854); from the Greek words para (near) and labrax (a European bass), and the Latin clathratus  (latticed, referring to the coloring on the back). Alternate Names: Commonly called calico bass; also rock bass, bull bass, checkerboard bass, kelp salmon, lockee cod, cabrilla, bucket mouth (a large bass) and dinner bass. Weird name—police car, a name probably invented by an angler who watched too many episodes of Cops. Called cabrilla sargacera in Mexico. Identification: Typical bass shape. Kelp bass have a single dorsal fin notched between the sections, and the third and fourth spines are of about equal length and taller than the soft-rayed section. Their coloring is brownish or olive on the back, brownish white blotches on the uppersides, tinged with yellow on the underside, and yellow fins.

Kelp Bass — DompfaPops and a kelp bass from the Cabrillo Mole in 2008

Size: Length is to 28.5 inches and weight to 14.5 pounds. Most caught from piers are less than 12 inches in length. The California record fish weighed 14 lb 7 oz and was taken near San Clemente Island in 1958. Range: Bahia Magdalena, southern Baja California to the Columbia River, Washington. Uncommonly seen north of Monterey Bay. Habitat: Rocky areas or around kelp, from surface down to 130 feet, but common from 8 to 70 feet. Milton Love, our favorite über-marine biologist, says “kelp bass actually should be called stuff bass, because what they really like is, well, stuff. And they don’t care what the stuff is. Sewer pipes, old tires, oil platforms, chunks of sunken streetcars, it doesn’t really matter. If a kelp bass can stare at it, sort of cuddle up to it and the stuff doesn’t turn around and eat it, that’s all that counts.”

A bass from the Mole in 2015. She’s not going to kiss it, that’s for sure!

Piers: Oceanfront piers with artificial reefs or extensive summer kelp see the most kelp bass. Best bets: Embarcadero Marina Park Pier, Shelter Island Pier, Ocean Beach Pier, Oceanside Harbor Pier, Dana Harbor Pier, Redondo Harbor Sportfishing Pier, Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon), Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Stearns Wharf (Santa Barbara), Goleta Pier and Gaviota Pier. Bait and Tackle: As with their brethren bass, they are opportunistic feeders grabbing just about anything that looks palatable. They’re also carnivores subsisting mainly on small fish—anchovies, smelt, sardines, perch, queenfish—as well as squid, octopus, crabs, shrimp and worms. Most kelp bass that are caught off piers are caught while anglers are fishing on the bottom for other species. Typical gear is a high/low leader with number 4-2 hooks. Best bait is live bait—anchovies or smelt—followed by strip bait, such as anchovy, mackerel or squid. Live bloodworms, fresh mussels and ghost shrimp will also attract the calicos, as will well-presented artificial lures.

KJ and a kelp (calico) bass from the Cabrillo Mole in 2010

Food Value:If you are lucky enough to land a keeper-size fish you will have a good meal. Kelp bass have a mild-flavored meat suitable to almost any kind of cooking. They can be used as fillets, baked whole, or cut into smaller pieces for deep-frying. Comments: One of the favorite sport fish of southern California anglers but not really a leading species on piers. However, the number of small, immature, and illegal bass found at times around the Green Pleasure Pier at Avalon is almost unbelievable. An interesting discussion took place one week on the Pier Fishing in California Message Board. The question was asked as to which fish was a better fighter—kelp bass or largemouth bass? With one exception, those anglers who have caught both species gave the nod to the kelp bass. The lone dissenting vote did not rule in favor of largemouth bass. He simply said that calicos (kelp bass) fight differently in open water than they do around kelp. He felt around cover they fight incredibly strong, in the open water they fought somewhat less, likening it to the fight of a smallmouth bass which he still thought was superior to that of a largemouth.

Blacksmith

Blacksmith — Species: Chromis punctipinnis (Cooper, 1863); from the Greek word chromis (a croaker) and the Latin words punctipinnis  (spot fin). Alternate Names: Blue perch, kelp perch, rock bass and black perch. In Mexico called castañeta herrera. Identification: Perch-shaped but not so deep—compressed and somewhat elongate. Their dorsal fin is long and undivided. Their coloring is dark blue or black on the back, grayish blue on sides, yellow tones in fins; they have black spots on the posterior half of the body. Size: Length to 12 inches; most caught off piers are 6-10 inches. Range: Punta San Pablo, central Baja California, to Monterey Bay. Common in southern California. Habitat: Shallow-water, rocky-shore areas and in kelp beds; young and adults aggregate according to size. Surface to 150 feet deep although may travel down to 300 feet. Piers: Generally found only at southern California piers, and then only those located close to extensive kelp or reefs (although I have seen a few blacksmith landed at Monterey Wharf #2). Best bets: Oceanside Harbor Pier, Green Pleasure Pier and Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Redondo Harbor Sportfishing Pier, Paradise Cove Pier, and sometimes in late summer, Gaviota Pier. Bait and Tackle: Size 6 to 8 hooks fished on the bottom to mid-depth. Best bait are live bloodworms, lug worms, live crabs, fresh mussels or small pieces of shrimp. Food Value:  Too small to have much meat. Comments: Really only common at a few piers although I have seen them caught at many piers. It is reported that young blacksmith seek out cleaning fish, usually juvenile pileperch or senorita, and place themselves in positions where the cleaning fish are almost forced to remove external parasites from them. During these actions, the blacksmith may be head up, head down, on their side or even upside down. If the cleaner tries to leave, blacksmiths follow and prevent escape. Talk about bad manners.

California Sheephead

Sheephead — Species: Pimelometopon pulchrum (Ayres, 1854); from the Latin pulcher (for beautiful) and pimelometopon (meaning fat forehead). And, this may have been changed to Semicossphus pulcher. Alternate Names: Sheepie, goat, billygoats (large fish), red fish, snaggle tooth, humpy, and fathead. Early day names included California redfish. In Mexico called vieja californiana.

A female sheephead beginning to transform into a male

Identification: Easily identified by color. Adult females uniform brownish-red to rose; male with black head, red band in middle, and black in posterior portion of body; chin white on both sexes. Males have a large, fleshy lump on their forehead, which increases in size with age. Stout, protruding canine-like teeth in front of mouth; somewhat bucktoothed. Size: Length to 3 feet, and weight to 36.25 pounds although the majority of fish taken from piers are 9-14 inches in length. The California record fish weighed 30 lb 8 oz, and was taken at Newport Beach, Orange Co. in 2009. (A 29-pound sheepie was 32-inches long and 53 years old.) The largest sheephead I’ve seen reported from a pier was a 29.7-pound sheephead taken from the Redondo Sportfishing Pier in February 2008.

A young female sheephead from the Cabrillo Mole

Range: Cabo San Lucas, southern Baja California, and the Gulf of California to Monterey Bay. Common in southern California but considered uncommon north of Point Conception. An isolated population is found near the warm water discharge at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near Avila Beach and Port San Luis. Habitat: Surface to 180 feet deep, along rocky bottoms and in kelp beds.

Rita and a sheephead from the Cabrillo Mole in 2012

Piers: By far the two best piers are those located at Avalon—the Green Pleasure Pier and the Cabrillo Mole. Sheephead are an expected catch at those piers.  Coastal piers that are located near rocks or kelp beds will see a few sheephead most years but they are always an unexpected treat. Best bets: Shelter Island Pier, Ocean Beach Pier, Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Redondo Sportfishing Pier, Santa Monica Pier and Paradise Cove Pier. 

KJ and a sheephead from the Cabrillo Mole in 2012

Bait and Tackle: Medium sized tackle, hooks size 4-2/0, and a variety of baits—shrimp, ghost shrimp, bloodworms, fresh mussels, cut squid—will attract sheephead if they’re around the pier.

Corki and a small, itsy bitsy, baby sheephead from the Cabrillo Mole

Food Value: Good. Sometimes used as a lobster substitute in salads and other recipes.

KJ and a sheephead taken from the Isthmus Pier in 2012

Comments: Feeds on such delicacies as sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, snails, squid, lobsters, shrimp and crabs. It uses its canine-like teeth to pry food from rocks, which it then crushes with tooth-plates in the rear of the mouth. Can live to over 50 years and is a protogynous hermaphrodite starting life as a female and then turning into a male when about one foot in length and 4 to 5 years in age (although some appear to stay females up to fifteen years of age and some even refuse to change). Why, dear reader, do most of these fish start life as females and then turn into males? The process, by the way, seems to take less than a year. Apparently it is much more effective than that practiced by the medical establishment in California and is, I am sure, much less expensive.

Rock Wrasse (male, note bar following pectoral fin)

Rock Wrasse — Species: Halichoeres semicinctus (Ayres, 1859); from the Greek words hal (belonging to the sea) and choer (like a pig); and the Latin words semi  (half) and cinct  (banded, in reference to the color). Alternate Names: Wrasse, iodine fish and Parrot Fish. Called señorita piedrera in Mexico. Identification: Similar in shape and sometimes confused with senorita; rock wrasse have a long and slender body (but considerably deeper than a senorita) and a small mouth with protruding teeth. Their coloring is generally greenish brown with dusky vertical bars; males have a dark blue bar behind the pectoral fin. Lacks the large black spot at the base of the tail fin found in senorita. Size: Up to 15 inches although most caught from piers are less than 12 inches long. A 12-inch male weighed 1 pound and was 7 years old.

Rock Wrasse (female, no bar following pectoral fin)

Range: Isla Guadalupe, central Baja California and the Gulf of California to Diablo Cove, San Luis Obispo County. Habitat: Shallow-water, rocky-shore areas, preferring areas with small patches of coarse sand. Main foods are amphipods, small crabs, dove shells, and slipper shells. Piers:  Common at only a few piers due to their rock-loving affinity. Best bets: Green Pleasure Pier at Avalon (where they are common), Redondo Harbor Sportfishing Pier, Paradise Cove Pier, and occasionally at inner bay piers such as the Shelter Island Pier and the Oceanside Harbor Pier. Bait and Tackle: By far, the best bait is fresh mussels or sea worms, although they will bite on shrimp or small crabs. Tackle should be a size 6 or 4 hook and a light leader. Rock wrasse like to grab bait and immediately head back to their hole under a rock so be ready with a quick response. Food Value: The verdict isn’t in. Some say they’re good, some say not so good.

Rock Wrasse (unusual color phase)

Comments: This little fish invokes an interesting vocabulary and a somewhat epicene and unconventional sex life. These wrasses are protogynous hermaphrodites, which means in simple terms that they start their lives as females and become males when they reach a length of about one foot. Some sources say all rock wrasses go through this BIG, BIG change, some sources say as little as 5%. Whatever the percent, it must be a traumatic experience. They are also diurnal (another interesting word) meaning they sleep at night. Most seem to bury themselves in sand with only their head sticking out. Reports say they go to bed at twenty minutes before sunset and reappear twenty minutes before sunrise. Since I’ve never witnessed any of these critters wearing a watch, or even a tiny clock, I’m not too sure how they manage this twenty-minute routine? Perhaps the moon acts as the zeitgeber, the environmental cue triggering their strange nap-time behavior? By the way, they are not the only local fish that are hermaphrodites, California sheephead undergo a similar feat at about the same size.

Señorita

Señorita — Species: Oxyjulis californica (Gunther, 1861); from the Greek words oxy  (sharp, for sharp nosed fish) and julis (an old world genus of wrasses), and californica (from California, the location of the first fish studied). Alternate Names: Kelp fish, kelp wrasse, butterfish and iodine fish. Called pescery by 19th century fishermen. Also called Señorita in Mexico. Identification: Señorita have a very long and slender body (one guide book says they’re cigar-shaped), a small mouth and protruding buckteeth. Their coloring is reddish orange above and yellow below with brown and bluish streaks on the side of the head; they have a large black or dark brown crescent-shaped spot at the base of the caudal fin (tail). Size: To 10 inches although most caught from piers are 6-8 inches. Range: Bahia Magdalena, southern Baja California, to Salt Point, Sonoma County. Considered uncommon north of Santa Cruz. Habitat: Shallow-water, rocky-shore areas, and near kelp beds; usually found in small to dense schools. Senorita are carnivores that feed on small animals and the animals can be located on plants, other animals, in the water or on the bottom. They will pick parasites from other fish and are apparently sought out by a diverse group that includes bat rays, giant (black) sea bass, kelp bass garibaldi, halfmoon, opaleye and mola. It’s reported many fish will maintain awkward positions while being “cleaned” and that garibaldi actually hold their gill slits open for removal of parasites in the gill chamber. Considering that the “ectoparasites” removed includes bacteria, copepods, and isopods, it’s easy to see why the larger fish would be willing to maintain a weird position or two. Piers: I have only seen these caught on a few piers but where present they are the proverbial “bait stealers” for the most part. However, they can be caught at almost any southern California pier located near rocks, reefs or kelp beds. Best bets: Oceanside Harbor Pier, Green Pleasure Pier at Avalon (where they are far too common), Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Redondo Harbor Sportfishing Pier, Paradise Cove Pier, Gaviota Pier in the fall, and Monterey Wharf No. 2 (where they also are sometimes far too common). Bait and Tackle: Winner of the MNBS (Most Notorious Bait Stealer) Award. Señorita will try to grab (steal) almost any bait that is in their immediate vicinity. If you want to catch them use a small hook, size 6 or 8, and a small piece of mussel, shrimp or worm. Drop your bait to the bottom and then move it up in short increments until you find the school, or perhaps more accurately, until they find your bait—and they will. Food Value: Really too small to eat since a 9-inch señorita only weighs about three ounces. Nevertheless, some people claim to find their “different” flavor delicious and they eat them, others say they have a slight iodine taste. One angler who likes to catch and eat señorita reported that the meat was soft and flakey and tasted a lot like sheephead. Comments: As discussed in Fishes, An Introduction to Ichthyology, by Peter Moyle and Joseph Cech, señorita apparently are sometimes involved, in a complex manner, in helping to restore kelp beds: “Occasionally a severe storm will destroy a kelp forest, and regeneration may be prevented by the grazing of fishes or sea urchins on new kelp plants. Regeneration can occur, however, if rapidly growing green algae colonize the area first, providing the new kelp plants with shelter from grazing fishes (Harris et al. 1984). One of these grazers is the señorita, which is actually after a small bryozoan that encrusts the blades of plants. In order to eat the bryozoans, the señorita has to take bites from the blades; this can seriously weaken the plant if it is small, but has little effect when the plant is large. There is, however, another invertebrate, a herbivorous isopod, than can become so abundant it can destroy mature kelp plants. The señorita is the main predator on this isopod and keeps its populations small, maintaining the kelp beds in the process (Bernstein and Jung 1979).“ Señorita are attractive little fish that seem best suited for saltwater aquariums, or simply to be left alone since they seem to do quite a bit of good. Problem is they won’t leave bait alone. It is reported that they bury themselves at night in the sand with just their heads sticking out. Since they’re typically found in fairly large congregations, their nesting area must look a little strange. Perhaps like some sort of a weird colored, underwater asparagus patch. 

Ocean Whitefish — Caught by Adam (Baitfish) at the Catalina Get Together in 2011

Ocean Whitefish — Species: Caulolatilus princeps (Jenyns, 1840); from the Greek words caulo (stem) and latilus (probably a similar fish) and the Latin word princeps (leader).  Alternate Names: Blanquillo, blanka. In Mexico called pez blanco, blanquillo fino or pierna. Identification:  Elongate with a small mouth; distinguished by the very long single dorsal fin; long base of anal fin originates about middle of body; caudal peduncle rounded and slender. Brown to yellowish back, paler below; yellow or yellowish green edging on fins; blue stripe near edge of dorsal and anal fins. Size: To 40-inches, although most caught by anglers are less than 8 pounds in weight and most caught from piers are only 12-15 inches long. The California record fish weighed 13 lb 12 oz and was taken at Cortes Bank in 1988. Range: Reported from Peru, including Galapagos Islands and Gulf of California, to Vancouver Island, British Columbia; rare north of Monterey.

Hashem Nahid proved in 2006 that a kissing an ocean whitefish was a BAD idea!

Habitat: Mostly offshore rocky reefs and banks. Also found around kelp beds; shallow water in summer, deeper in winter. Typically feeds on crabs, shrimp, octopuses, squid and small fish. Piers: Although occasionally seen at southern California piers near deep water or kelp, they are only common at two piers, the Cabrillo Mole and Green Pleasure Pier, both in Avalon. Bait and Tackle: Usually caught on the bottom though reported to typically feed four to six feet off the bottom. Top bait seems to be fresh squid cut into strips about 4 inches long and half an inch wide. It’s reported that a reverse dropper loop—with the hook on the bottom and the sinker hanging from a dropper loop a couple of feet up the line—can be deadly. Other good baits include ghost shrimp, market shrimp, mussels, worms and small live bait. Light to medium tackle and a size 4 or 2 hook is all that is needed for most of the pier-caught fish. Deeper water fish require stronger tackle. Food Value: A very good, mild flavored flesh that can be prepared many ways Comments: Care should be taken when handling these fish because they have very sharp serrated edges on their gill plate covers. Their small mouths make them hard to lip latch so use a wet towel to grab and cradle their body. Due to the excellent fighting nature of these fish they are sometimes called the “poor man’s yellowtail.”

Giant Kelpfish (brown coloring)

Giant Kelpfish — Species: Heterostichus rostratus (Girard, 1854); from the Greek words heter  (different) and ost (extra bone), and the Latin word rostratus  (beaked or hooked). Alternate Names: Kelpfish, eel, iodine fish, butterfish, and kelp blenny. Called sargacero gigante in Mexico. Identification: The body is long and compressed. The dorsal fin is very long and continuous with many more spines than soft rays. The caudal fin is deeply forked (rounded in spotted kelpfish and striped kelpfish). Their coloring varies from light brown to green to purple depending on the habitat; typically those in kelp are usually kelp-colored, those in eelgrass bright green with brilliant silvery stripes.  Apparently these fish can change colors rapidly, at least juvenile fish, with browns and greens seeming to be the preferred colors. Adult females also have the ability to change from red to brown to green, however, it takes them a little longer than the kids. Alas, the adult males seem to have forgotten how to perform this party-pleasing trick. Size: To 24 inches long; most caught off piers are 10 to 14 inches. Range: Cabo San Lucas, southern Baja California to British Columbia.

Giant Kelpfish (yellow coloring)

Habitat: Shallow-water areas near rocks or kelp. Piers: Found at piers that have a heavy growth of kelp or seaweed. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Cabrillo Pier, Green Pleasure Pier and Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Redondo Sportfishing Pier, Paradise Cove Pier, and Gaviota Pier. Bait and Tackle: Light to medium tackle and small, size 8 to 6 hooks. The best bet is to tie the hooks directly onto the line. Preferred baits appear to be small crabs, pieces of shrimp, live bloodworms or pile worms, and fresh mussels (although I have caught some on small pieces of abalone). Food Value:  Reported to be fair eating although with an unusual flavor. I’ve never tried them myself but would expect them to be good fried. The flesh assumes the external color of the fish. 

Giant Kelpfish (red coloring)

Comments: Although generally considered uncommon north of Point Conception, I have caught a number of these pretty fish while fishing inshore at the Berkeley Pier. The fish were caught right in among the shoreline rocks and the usual bait was small pieces of pile worm. Two related species, striped kelpfish and crevice kelpfish are also common at Bay Area piers; both though have rounded tails and their coloring is different from giant kelpfish.

 Striped Kelpfish

Striped Kelpfish —  Species: Gibbonsai metzi (Hubbs, 1927); from Gibbonsai (William P. Gibbons, an early naturalist from Alameda), and metzi (Charles W. Metz, a student of ichthyology once interested in kelpfish). Alternate Names: Striped kelp-fish, seaweed kelpfish, weed klipfish. Called sargacero or sargacero rayado in Mexico. Identification: Reddish to light brown, usually with darker stripes or darker mottling on sides (color often matches nearby seaweed). Tail rounded (distinguishes them from a giant kelpfish); pectoral fin is short, not reaching the front of the anal fin.Size: To 9 1/2 inches long; most caught off piers are 5-8 inches. Range: Punta Rompiente, central Baja California to Maquinna Point, Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Habitat: Shallow-water areas near rocks or kelp. Piers: Found at piers that have a heavy growth of kelp or seaweed. Best bets: I’ve taken them at the Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), the Paradise Cove Pier (Malibu), Coast Guard Pier (Monterey) and the Princeton Harbor Pier. I’ve also taken them at several Bay Area piers including Agua Vista (in San Francisco), Berkeley Pier (East Bay), and Elephant Rock (North Bay). At the first two they were inshore by the rocks, at the latter the pier sits on a rock. Bait and Tackle: Light to medium tackle and small, size 8 to 6 hooks. Preferred baits appear to be pieces of worm, blood or pile, while small pieces of shrimp and mussels will also entice them. Food Value: Too small, let ‘em go.  Comments: A pretty little fish that likes to hang by the rocks, dart out to grab the bait, and then head back to the rocks.

Spotted Kelpfish

Spotted Kelpfish — Species:Gibbonsia elegans (Cooper, 1864);from Gibbonsai (William P. Gibbons, an early naturalist from Alameda), and the Latin word elegans (elegant or handsome).  Alternate Names: Called Sargacero or Sargacero manchado in Mexico. Identification:Typical kelpfish shape—pointed snout, tiny mouth, rounded caudal fin, and long dorsal fin. Color varies widely; green to brown or tan or reddish—often blotched or streaked. 1-3 (often 2) ocelli on back. Soft rays more widely spaced toward rear of dorsal fin. Scales that extend well onto the caudal fin distinguish it from other kelpfish. Size: To 6.2-inches long; most caught from piers are around 4-5 inches. Range: Bahia Magdalena, southern Baja California, including Isla Guadalupe, to Piedras Blancas Point, central California. Habitat: Shallow-water areas near rocks or kelp. Typically feeds on benthic crustaceans, small mollusks and worms, but also eats fair quantities of algae. Found from subtidal rocky areas to 56 m depth, usually in seaweed. Female lays white eggs in seaweed; male guards egg mass. Piers: Embarcadero Marina Pier, Oceanside Harbor Pier, Cabrillo Mole in Catalina, Redondo Spotfishing Pier, Malibu Pier, and Monterey Coast Guard Pier. Bait and Tackle: Light tackle and small hooks. Preferred baits appear to be sea worms—pile worms and bloodworms, pieces of shrimp, and fresh mussels. Food Value: Too small to be used for food. Comments: A small fish that is rarely caught due to their small mouth. However, they are sometimes an incidental catch by perch anglers using small hooks.

Opaleye

Opaleye — Species:  Girella nigricans (Ayres, 1860); from the French word girelle (a derivative of julis, an old word used to denote a number of small wrasse in Europe), the Latin word nigr  (dark) and the Greek word ikanos  (becoming, in reference to its pleasing appearance). Alternate Names: Blue-eye perch, green perch, opaleye perch, bluefish, blue bass, greenfish, Jack Benny, Catalina perch, button-back, button-eye, and button bass. Called chopa verde in Mexico. Identification: Opaleye are perch-shaped but heavier bodied. Their coloring is usually dark olive green, usually with two light spots at the base of the dorsal fin; occasionally pale green while some almost all white fish have been observed. Eyes are distinctive: large and an opalescent, blue-green color.

Amanda Liu and an opaleye from the Cabrillo Mole in 2013

Size: To 25.4 inches and 13 1/2 pounds (a 10-11 year old fish speared off south Laguna); most caught from piers are less than 14 inches. The California record fish weighed 6 lb 4 oz and was taken near Los Flores Creek in 1956.  Range: Cabo San Lucas, southern Baja California and the Gulf of California to Otter Rock, Oregon. Uncommon north of Point Conception. Habitat: Shallow-water, rocky areas and kelp beds. Piers: Can be caught from almost any pier in southern or central California located near rocks, reefs, or kelp, but they’re uncommon north of Cayucos and rare north of Monterey. Best bets: Shelter Island Pier, Ocean Beach Pier (inshore), Oceanside Harbor Pier, Dana Harbor Pier, Cabrillo Pier (jetty side), the Green Pleasure Pier and Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Redondo Sportfishing Pier, and the Paradise Cove Pier. Most of the fish caught at most of these piers are fairly small opaleye. The exceptions are the two piers in Avalon that almost always have good-sized fish available for opaleye-seekers.

KJ and an opaleye from the Cabrillo Mole in 2007

Bait and Tackle: Some anglers specialize in opaleye, and many of them swear that moss or frozen peas are the best bait. I’ve caught them on both, but I’ve actually caught more on ghost shrimp, fresh mussels, pile worms, bloodworm, and small rock crabs. I also managed to hook a few opaleye using garden snails during an experiment testing different baits at Catalina in 2005. Food Value:  A good eating fish that is generally fried. Comments: Primarily herbivores (vegetarians), opaleye eat a variety of plants including feather boa kelp, giant kelp, sea lettuce and coralline algae. Evidently they also grab organisms attached to seaweed as they’re making their rounds, tasty little items like tube worms and red crabs. Opaleye are a favorite of many anglers; they’re hard to hook but once hooked put up a very good fight for their size. The crystal-clear waters at Avalon present quite a challenge for the sagacious, line-shy opaleye. Big schools of 2-4 pound fish hang around the Green Pleasure Pier and the Cabrillo Mole but can be very hard to catch. Use 2-4 pound fluorocarbon line and you might get them! Of course the 1,794 ropes, tangled lines, pilings and yellow submarines that surround and hang under the GPP might also get your line. At the Mole it’s the long fronds and blades of the giant kelp that sway (tidally) in or out near the railing. If the opaleye are allowed to encircle the kelp it’s pretty much over. As soon as they are hooked apply pressure and try to keep them coming toward you while having a person ready with a net. You need to use light line but can also pay the consequences if you’re unwilling to apply enough pressure.

Halfmoon 

Halfmoon —  Species: Medialuna californiensis (Steindachner, 1876); from the Spanish word medialuna (halfmoon, referring to the shape of the tail) and californiensis  (California, where first found). Alternate Names: Catalina blue perch, island mackerel, blooper, blue wizard, blue perch or blue bass. In early days sometimes called medialuna. In Mexico called chopa medialuna. Identification: Halfmoon are perch-shaped but heavier bodied; they’re similar in many ways to opaleye. Their coloring is normally bluish-black above, bluish-gray on sides, and light blue below. Their tail is shaped like a half-moon. Size: A 19-inch fish weighed 4 pounds 12.5 ounces. Range: Gulf of California to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Habitat: Halfmoon are found in shallow-water, rocky areas and kelp beds. They’re often in small loose schools in the mid-water area and, at times, mixed in with schools with pileperch.

Halfmoon taken at the Mole by Jimbojack in 2007

Piers: Common at southern and central California piers that are located near rocks, reefs or kelp. They’re common as far north as Cayucos but occasionally taken as far north as Santa Cruz. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, the Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon), Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Hermosa Beach Pier, Redondo Harbor Sportfishing Pier, Santa Monica Pier, Gaviota Pier, and the Paradise Cove Pier. Bait and Tackle: Halfmoon will take almost any bait but they prefer fresh mussels, shrimp, or small crabs. When schools are present, a small strip of squid will often work, and you will lose far less bait. Halfmoon caught from boats seem to be less picky and will often hit pieces of anchovy, sardine, or sqiuid.  Food Value:  A good eating, mild-flavored fish. Comments:  Halfmoons are good fighters, very similar to opaleye and the larger perch. They will eat almost anything in their environment including red, green, and brown algae, sponges, bits of seaweed, green moss, shrimp, mussels, squid, and fish. Apparently they have a hard time deciding whether to be vegans or meat-eaters and that may explain their scrappy and perhaps irritable nature.

Black Seaperch or Blackperch

Black Seaperch — Species: Embiotoca jacksoni (Agassiz, 1853); from the Greek word embiotoca (bringing forth living young), and jacksoni  (in honor of A. C. Jackson of San Francisco, who first noted that these perch give birth to living young and brought it to the attention of Alexander Agassiz who described the species). Family Embiotocidae, subfamily Embiotocinae. Alternate Names: Buttermouth perch, black surfperch, black seaperch or bay perch. Often called pogie by anglers in the Bay Area. In Mexico called mojarra negra or perca negra. Identification: Typical perch shape. Although variable, their coloring is usually black or brown to reddish, and yellowish on the belly; scales often have blue flecking. Lips are orange or yellow and they have a “mustache” on the upper lip. Typically they have dark vertical bars on the side; a bluish-white line is often seen at the base of the anal fin. Easily identified by a large patch of enlarged scales between the pectoral and pelvic fins. Size: To 15.4 inches; most caught off piers are under a foot.The California record fish weighed 1 lb 11 oz and was taken from San Carlos Beach in 2006. Range: Punta Abreojos, central Baja California, and offshore Isla Gudalupe to Fort Bragg, Mendocino County. Habitat: Most common in eelgrass beds of bays and rocky-shore areas; both in bays and along the coast. Piers: Common at most piers north to Bodega Bay. Generally caught at bay piers or inshore piling areas of oceanfront piers. Best bets: Imperial Beach Pier, Shelter Island Pier, Oceanside Harbor Pier, Dana Harbor Pier, Long Beach Finger Piers, Redondo Harbor Sportfishing Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Venice Pier, Santa Monica Pier, Cabrillo Pier (jetty side), Malibu Pier, Paradise Cove Pier, Goleta Pier, Gaviota Pier, Morro Bay T-Pier, Monterey Coast Guard Pier, Capitola Wharf, Fort Point Pier, San Francisco Municipal Pier, Candlestick Pier, Berkeley Pier, Ferry Point Pier, Paradise Beach Pier, Elephant Rock Pier, Angel Island Pier, and Fort Baker Pier.Bait and Tackle: Prefers fresh mussels, bloodworms, pile worms, small pieces of shrimp or small rock crabs. Size 8 or 6 hooks fished on the bottom with a high/low leader seem to work best. Food Value: In the past this was considered a fairly good, mild-flavored fish. Today, because of our polluted waters, they are considered unfit to eat in some locales. Comments: Once a favorite spring fish for Bay Area pier fishermen; today there’s a perch closure during the spawning months.

Pile Perch — Robert Gardner and a Pile Perch from the Cabrillo Mole in 2013

Pile Perch — Species: Damalichthys vacca (Girard, 1855); from the Greek root words racos (ragged) and cheilos (lips) and the Latin word vacca  (like a cow). Family Embiotocidae, subfamily Embiotocinae. Alternate Names: Splittail perch, forktail perch, dusky perch, white perch, silver perch, piler perch, and porgy. In Mexico called mojarra muellera or perca. Identification: Pile perch are distinguished by the black spot on the cheek, the very deeply forked tail, and the very tall, first soft rays on the dorsal fin that are about twice the height of the last spines. Color is dark brassy-brown, fading to silver on sides and belly; often has yellow pelvic fins. Pile perch have one dusky, vertical bar across the side at about the high point of the soft dorsal. The posterior position of the bar and the deeply forked caudal fin (tail) distinguish it from sargo. Size: To 17 1/4 inches; most caught from piers are 10-14 inches. The California record fish weighed 1 lb 15 oz and was taken at Long Beach in 2007. Range: Isla Guadalupe (and possibly Bahia Playa Maria), central Baja California to southern British Columbia. Unverified report to Port Wrangell, Alaska. Habitat: Shallow-water, rocky-areas, and around piers and docks, both oceanfront and in bays. Typically they are a bottom dwelling species, called “benthic grazing carnivores” by some. Others classify them as “commuter” fish that move between different habitats in search of prey. All agree they are primarily day feeders seeking out large, hard-shelled invertebrates that they are able to crush with their well developed, fused pharyngeal tooth plates. Since other perch do not share this ability, some scientists feel pile perch should be placed in a separate genus—Danalichthys. Foods include crabs, brittle stars, sand dollars, barnacles, bean clams, (whole) mussels, limpets, dove shells, California cones, Norris top shells, and chitons. Piers: Pile perch are taken at virtually every pier in California but the largest numbers are taken at Bay Area piers. Best bets: Santa Monica Pier, Stearns Wharf, Goleta Pier, San Francisco Municipal Pier, Berkeley Pier, Point Pinole Pier and McNear Beach Pier. Bait and Tackle: Pile perch can be exasperatingly difficult to catch. The large perch will often be seen placidly swimming in clear view around the mussel-covered pilings while refusing to partake of the offerings of the gods up above—anglers whose mojo is evidently on empty. Damalichthys vacca do seem a little easier to catch when in their dense schools are a’spawning. Perhaps their pea-sized brains are distracted and normal caution takes a back seat to other thoughts? The most common setup is to use a high/low leader with number 6 or 4 hooks, light line, and a light sinker. Best bait in southern California seems to be fresh mussels, rock crabs or bloodworms. In the Bay Area, grass shrimp, rock crabs, pile worms or fresh mussels are best. In Humboldt Bay, frozen tube worms or crab backs are most commonly used. Usually pile perch are nestled up next to the pilings; fish accordingly. Check out the shoreline by the pier at low tide and grab some local live bait—small crabs, mussels, worms, snails or clams; these will usually make the best bait. Food Value: Although large sized and yielding some usable meat, the flesh is only fair in taste. Comments: Many years ago, at Newport Pier, I watched an old-timer show one way to catch the perch. Pile perch were doing their typical trick d’tease: big fish showing a leg but refusing to bite. The old-timer tried out a trick of his own. He took out a mass of recently pried loose mussels, at least a dozen in the clump, and in and around this mussel-mass he wound a leader that had several number 8 hooks attached. Then he attached the leader to a handline and carefully dropped it down next to the pilings. This new mini-piling soon attracted the fish and he was able to catch several of the large pile perch. Sporting? I’m not sure, but it sure was effective. Since then, I’ve seen variations of this technique at both the Santa Monica Pier and at Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara and heard stories of its use at the Goleta Pier.  

Kelp Perch

 Kelp Perch — Species: Brachyistius frenatus (Gill, 1862); from the Greek words brachys (short) and istion (sail), and the Latin word frenatus  (bridled). Family Embiotocidae, subfamily Embiotocinae. Alternate Names: Brown seaperch, brown perch and kelp seaperch. In Mexico called mojarra sargacera or perca. Identification: Typical perch shape. Kelp perch have a compressed body, long pointed snout, long dorsal fin spines and coloring that is generally golden-brown to reddish above and tan below. There is usually a pale stripe on the upper side and sometimes blue spotting. Size: To 8 1/2 inches (.3 pounds) but most caught from piers are around 6 inches in length. Range:  Bahia Tortugas, central Baja California to near Sitka, southeastern Alaska. Habitat: Typically seen around offshore kelp beds but will move in around piers which have a heavy growth of kelp. Usually a kelp-canopy, dwelling species that likes to pick small invertebrates off of plants. Piers: Seen in late summer at piers with heavy kelp. Best bets: Cabrillo Mole in Avalon, Paradise Cove Pier, Goleta Pier, Gaviota Pier and the Spud Point Marina Pier (Bodega Bay). Bait and Tackle: Use light tackle with small number 8 or 6 hooks and a small piece of bloodworm, shrimp or mussel. Food Value:  Too small so throw ‘em back. Comments: A “cleaner fish” that often picks ectoparasites off the bodies of larger fish.

California Barracuda — SteveO and a barracuda from the Cabrillo Mole in 2009

California Barracuda — Species: Sphyraena argentea (Girard, 1854); from the Greek word sphyraena (an ancient name meaning hammer fish) and the Latin word argenteum  (silvery). Alternate Names: Pacific barracuda, barry, gar, fire hose, stove pipe, skinny, scooter, scoot, snake, slime, slimestick, pencil (small fish), barelycuda (small or short fish), or log (big fish). In Mexico called barracuda plateada. Identification: Barracudas are long and slender with a sharp-pointed head and a mouth full of very sharp fang-like teeth. They have two widely separated dorsal fins. They have a distinct look from most other fish, although the young look a little like lizardfish. Size: Reported to 5 feet but recorded to 4 feet and 18 pounds; most caught from piers are under 30 inches.  Almost all large barracuda are females. The California record fish weighed 15 lb 15 oz and was caught near San Onofre in 1957. Range: Cabo San Lucas, southern Baja California, and the Gulf of California to Kodiak Island, Gulf of Alaska. Uncommon north of Morro Bay. Habitat: Pelagic, but young are often found inshore and in bays. Piers: Only common at piers north to Point Conception although fish will sometimes be caught as far north as Pismo Beach and Avila in the late summer and fall months. Best Bets: Shelter Island Pier, Ocean Beach Pier, Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Seal Beach Pier, Cabrillo Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Manhattan Beach Pier, Venice Pier and Burton Chace Park Dock.

Adam (Baitfish) and a barracuda from the Mole in 2003

Bait and Tackle: Live anchovies, when available, are by far the best bait. If using live anchovies, try a size 4 hook and a sliding leader or use a float/bobber to keep the leader at mid-depth. Small smelt can also be used for live bait although they are not as good as anchovies. Gold spoons—Krocodiles and Kastmasters—as well as Rebel Fast Tracks, have proven to be reliable artificial lures for the scooters. Food Value: Keeper size fish are good to excellent eating. Barracuda will tend to soften quickly if left in the hot sun so clean soon after capture and then keep the fillets in a cooler.

Robert Gardner (Redfish) and a barracuda from the Cabrillo Mole in 2009 

Comments: Although barracuda today are considered somewhat of a bonus fish by most pier fisherman, there was a time, in the not too distant past, when they were common to piers; however, the numbers that frequent piers seem to decrease each year. When I first moved from Newport Beach to San Diego, I was surprised at the number of barracuda caught from piers inside San Diego Bay and Mission Bay. Since then I have come to learn that bays are often the best areas for the young barracuda—small fish up to around two feet in length. In those days it was sometimes common to catch a fish on nearly every cast using a live anchovy or a small lure, especially gold or silver spoons. Today these small fish are illegal and it is best to simply not fish for them; hooks, in particular the treble hooks common to spoons, will tear up the mouths of the under-sized fish. Strange but true, the only time I ever caught a fish with my line OUT of the water was when I was fishing for barracuda one day near the Dana Marina in Mission Bay. A friend and I had rented a rowboat early one morning, and then proceeded to tie gold spoons onto our lines before heading out to the small bait barge in the cove. I left my pole at the back of the boat with the spoon dangling at least 8-10 inches away from the water. Imagine my surprise when a small barracuda jumped out of the water and grabbed the lure as we were rowing out to our spot. And yes, I did land the fish. It happened in August of 1964 on a trip where I caught 21 barracuda among others. The “out of water” fish was the highlight.

Pacific (Chub) Mackerel 

Pacific Mackerel — Species: Scomber japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782); from the Greek word scombros (an ancient name for the common mackerel of Europe) and japoniocus (of Japan). Given the name Pneumatophorus japonicus diego in the early Fish Bulletin #28. Alternate Names: Greenback, green mackerel, green racer, greenies (or candy bar greenies—small mackerel), blue mackerel, striped mackerel, zebra mackerel, right mackerel, chub mackerel, cornfed, frog, tiny tuna, mac, big mac, or mac trash. 19th century fishermen called these tinker mackerel, little mackerel or Easter mackerel. My goodness, what a plethora of diverse names. Called macarela del Pacífico in Mexico. Identification: Typical mackerel shape with am elongated body tapering at both ends; identified by the long space between the dorsal fins, 25 to 30 black to dark green bars and spots across the back, and irregular spots on the sides. Size: To 25 inches and 6 pounds. Most caught off piers are less than 18 inches. The California record fish weighed 2 lb 8 oz and was taken at Los Angeles in 1995. Range: Gulf of California (some sources say Bahia Banderas) to southeastern Kamchatka, western Gulf of Alaska. Also Panama to Chile and Islas Galápagos. Habitat: Pelagic, feeding mainly on euphausids (small, shrimp-like crustaceans, i.e., krill, usually 1/8 onch to less than an inch), squid, and young fish. Found from the surface down to about 100 feet.

Robert Gardner and a Pacific mackerel from the Cabrillo Mole in 2010

Piers: Common at most piers in California north to and including those in Monterey Bay (at more northern piers in late summer or fall). Best bets: Imperial Beach Pier, Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, Redondo Sportfishing Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Manhattan Beach Pier, Malibu Pier, Stearns Wharf, Goleta Pier, Gaviota Pier and Monterey Wharf #2. Generally uncommon at piers north of Monterey Bay although recent years have seen them enter San Francisco Bay. In 2009 they were taken at many Bay Area piers including most along the San Francisco waterfront and several in the East Bay. Bait and Tackle: Caught on a wide range of baits and artificial lures. A very simple method is also the most common; it is especially useful when fishing from a pier that sits down near the water. Simply attach a size 4-2 hook to the end of the line, put a small split-shot sinker a couple of feet above the hook, and use a small strip of squid, 2-3 inches long, or a bloody strip of mackerel, as the bait. The rigging can be used as is, or used in conjunction with a small float so that the bait stays a few feet under the surface of the water. If available, live anchovies are also excellent bait. When a school of mackerel is in one of their ravenous moods, a Sabiki/Lucky Lura-type bait rig can be deadly and will often produce a fish on every hook (which can lead to tangles and loss of the rig). The most fun can be had with a light outfit and a small artificial lure—a light bonito-type jig or even a cast-a-bubble with a bucktail fly. Generally the bait, whether live bait or cut bait, should be kept moving. A technique that often works is to cast out a high/low leader baited with cut anchovy or piece of mackerel, let it sink toward the bottom, then immediately begin a medium speed retrieve; mackerel will often hit it on the way up, usually just before it gets to the surface. At times, when a school is really hungry, the mackerel will hit on anything and everything (although I think pieces of mackerel are the best bait) and this leads to the common term: “mac attack.” It’s an appropriate title. Food Value: Mackerel are a fairly strong flavored fish, a fact that stops some people from eating them. Too often they wind up being used as bait, as fertilizer, or being thrown away. At the same time many people find them delicious. Typically the difference is due to the way they are handled and cooked. Being a fairly oily fish, the flesh can quickly deteroriate and soften. Put them on ice after capture, keep them cold, and use within a couple of days, and you will be starting with a much more palatable type of flesh. In addition, you can remove the darker (muscle) flesh from the side of the fish (the lighter the flesh the more mild). Lastly, if you want to reduce the strong flavor, cook utilizing methods that remove oil from the flesh—broiling and bar-b-que being best.  If you have a smoker they can also be made into tasty jerky. It’s recorded that in England there has been a special dispensation in existence since the seventeenth century that allows mackerel to be sold on Sunday. Thus the quickly spoiling fish are not wasted. It simply affirms the necessity of keeping them cold and eating them while fresh. The flip side is that some groups prefer the strong flavors. They know that using spices that complement the flesh produces a tasty and favorable piece of fish. Still, mackerel may not be the fish for those raised on the mild tasting, white-fleshed fish used for fish and chips (cod, halibut, rock cod, etc.). Comments: Mackerel numbers seem to go in cycles; for years they will be fairly uncommon and then there will be years when they will be at nearly every southern California pier. Recent years have seen huge catches. Unfortunately many of these mackerel go to waste. I have seen people who loaded buckets (or gunnysacks) with mackerel day after day at their favorite piers. I sincerely hope they used them. Pacific mackerel are pretty little fish and terrific fighters for their size. Seafood, A Connoiseur’s Guide and Cookbook by Alan Davidson, comments on the “attractive and flashy appearance of mackerel,” noting that the “French name maquereau also means ‘pimp’” and that “in the past mackerel was a term for dandy in England.”

Pacific Bonito

Pacific Bonito — Species: Sarda chiliensis (Cuvier, 1832); from the Greek word sarda  (an ancient name for a European species of bonito) and chiliensis (in reference to Chile, South America, where the species was first recognized). Alternate Names: Most commonly called bonehead but also given the names bone, boner, bonefish, flasher, Laguna tuna, magneto, bongo, striped tuna and little tuna. One of my favorites —from the PFIC Message Board—Mr. Bojangles. Called bonito del Pacífico oriental in Mexico. Identification: Tuna-shaped, elongated and pointed at both ends; a series of 6 to 8 finlets that follow the second dorsal fin and anal fin. Coloring dark blue above with greenish reflections and a metallic luster shading into silver below; several dark oblique lines on the back. Size: To 40 inches; most caught from piers are less than 24 inches. The California record fish weighed 22 lb 3 oz and was caught in Malibu Cove in 1978. 

James Liu and a bonito from the Cabrillo Mole in 2009

Range: Southern Baja Californa and Gulf of California to Copper River in Alaska. Also found in subtropical eastern Pacific, Peru to Chile, and off Japan. Primarily feeds on fish, occasionally on squid. As a general rule they’re only found north during El Nino, warm water conditions (and I witnessed several large bonito, all over ten pounds, being caught off of Elk in Mendocino County during the El Nino year of 1983). Habitat: Pelagic, although enters bays, especially those with warm water outlets. Piers: Common at most southland piers, both those in bays and those at oceanfront spots. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Oceanside Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Redondo Beach Pier, Redondo Harbor Sportfishing Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Stearns Wharf and Goleta Pier. Rarely seen at piers north of Point Conception excepting during warm-water years.

SteveO and a bonito from the Mole in 2014

Bait and Tackle: Taken on a variety of baits and lures. The best bait is live anchovies fished on a sliding leader or with a cast-a-bubble. The best lure is a bonito feather affixed to either a cast-a-bubble, a Styrofoam float or a golf ball—the bubble/float/golf ball causes commotion on the surface which attracts the bonito and keeps the lure near the top. Food Value:  Bonito are good flavored but require cleaning soon after capture. If bleed quickly, or even better if filleted and then put on ice, the flesh can be quite tasty. If allowed to warm up in a gunnysack on the nice hot surface of a pier the flesh can be almost inedible (which is true with many fish). However, parts of the flesh are dark colored—bloody—and strong flavored. Cut out those parts of the flesh unless you desire them for smoking. Typically the best cooking methods are broiling or bar-b-cuing the meat, although smoked bonito and pickled bonito are also good. When I was young and lived in San Diego, I would often go out on the half-day boats to catch some bonito. A couple of the cooks on the boats would cook up some of the fresh-caught fish. A favorite method was to cut thin slices of meat from the head of the bonito (up behind the eyes) and then lightly cook the slices on a grill using just a little butter. Flavored with soy sauce, it was delicious.

Rita and a bonito from the Cabrillo Mole in 2009

Comments: Many people feel that bonito are among the strongest fighting fish, pound for pound, in the sea. Sometimes during the cold-water, winter months the Redondo Sportfishing Pier in King Harbor is the best place in the state to catch bonito. Sometimes? The nearby power plant used to allow its hot water to flow into the harbor every winter, an event that usually would attract bonito and anglers. Today it’s a sometimes thing. When on, the warm water is discharged via the famous “bubble” that sits a short distance out from the pier.

California Yellowtail — Yellowtail reach a good sioze, this 48.5-pound beauty was caught by Tony Troncale at the Crystal Pier in San Diego

California Yellowtail — Species: Seriola dorsalis (Valenciennes, 1833); from the Italian word seriola (for amberjack) and dorsalis (the long dorsal fin). Some sources now use Seriola lalandi. Alternate Names: Yellowtail, amberjack, white salmon, amber fish, forktail, tails, rats (little fish), firecracker  (small fish), mossback (large fish) and cavasina. In Mexico typically called esmedregal or medregal de rabo amarillo. Identification: Typical jack shape with metallic blue to green above, a brassy horizontal band along the sides from eye to tail; silvery below; some fish are olive-brown to brown. Fins and tail are yellowish Size: To 80 pounds and over 5 feet long. Most caught off piers are less than 10 pounds. The California record fish weighed 63 lb 1 oz and was caught at Santa Barbara Island in 2000. Range: Circumglobal in warmer waters and some temperate waters. In the eastern Pacific from Chile to northern British Columbia. Unverified reports from Gulf of Alaska off Kodiak Island and Cordova. Uncommon north of Point Conceptin. Habitat: Usually found around offshore islands, rocky reefs, or kelp beds. Primarily feeds on squid and fish.

Rita Magdamo caught this firecracker-size yellowtail at the 2014 James Liu Derby

Piers: Most southern California piers located near reefs or kelp will see a few yellowtail caught during the year.  However, they are always a bonus fish and rarely caught in large numbers off of piers. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Crystal Pier, Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, and the Cabrillo Mole at Avalon.

A yellowtail taken from the Green Pleasure Pier in 2014

Bait and Tackle: If an angler wants to try for yellowtail he should have heavy enough tackle to insure a fair chance of landing the fish. Yellowtail like to head for rocks or kelp as soon as they’re hooked so line should test 20-30 pounds, hooks should be small (size 6 or 4) but strong, and the angler must make sure the fish is played out before it nears the pier and the pilings. Although lures work well on boats, almost all of the pier-caught yellowtail are taken on live bait—especially on small jack mackerel, Pacific mackerel or Pacific sardines. Food Value: A fairly good tasting fish that is usually broiled or bar-b-cued. Comments: One of the favorite southern California sport fish but much more common out in deeper water.

Jack Mackerel

Jack Mackerel — Species: Trachurus symmetricus (Ayres, 1855); from the Greek words trachus (rough) and oura (tail), and the Latin word symmetria (symmetrical or regularly shaped). A member of the jack family Carangidae. Alternate Names: Spanish mackerel, Spaniard, horse mackerel, mackerel jack, saurel, agii and jackfish. Called horse mackerel and scad by 19th century fishermen. In Mexico called charrito or charitto chicharo. Identification: Typical jack shape although slim. The second dorsal fin and the anal fin extend almost to the caudal fin. On the side, along the lateral line, there is a ridge extending almost the entire length of the fish. Their coloring is iridescent green above, sometimes with a bluish luster, often mottled with lighter and darker shades; silvery on the belly. Size: To 32 inches; most caught off piers are less than 14 inches. The California record fish weighed 5 lb 8 oz and was taken at Huntington Beach in 1988. Range: Gulf of California to the Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutian Islands and in the Gulf of Alaska. Habitat: Pelagic in nature, preferring moderately deep water although ranges from the surface down to 150 feet. Often found in schools with Pacific mackerel and sardines. Primarily feeds on large copepods, euphausids, pteropods, squid and small fish. Piers: Most common to southern California and the central coast. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Redondo Beach Pier and Hermosa Beach Pier. Some years will see large schools of these fish at the Central Coast piers—Avila, Port San Luis, Monterey Wharf #2, Seacliff State Beach Pier and the Santa Cruz Wharf. I have also had reports of good catches of jack mackerel at the “B” Street Pier in Crescent City, which is just a short distance south of the Oregon border. The fish in Crescent City seem to show up from late August to September and typically are good-sized fish, 22-28 inches long, the kind that are more commonly taken out in deep water by anglers trolling for salmon. Bait and Tackle: Usually caught near the top of the water; often found in mixed schools with Pacific mackerel (and sometimes Pacific sardines). When present, jack mackerel can be caught on a variety of tackle and baits. Light to medium tackle, a size 6 or 4 hook, and a live anchovy (especially small pinhead anchovies), can be deadly. Many are also caught on small lures, every thing from small bonito jigs, to Scampis, to small feathers. Often times bait rigs can also produce a lot of fish: simply tie several shiny size 8 hooks to your line. In central California, Sabiki/Lucky Lura-type bait leaders are the most common rigging. Many times a cast, followed by a slow retrieve, will see the jack mackerel follow the bait nearly to the surface and then strike just before the line leaves the water. Best months are usually July through September. Food Value:Fair food value but somewhat oily. The common name was changed from horse mackerel to jack mackerel by the DF&G in 1947 in order to increase the consumer appeal of the fish. In other words, it was done to (hopefully) help the fish canning companies make a little more money. Companies that had seen the sardines disappear along with cans of sardines and profits! Comments: Small jack mackerel are favorite baits for white seabass and yellowtail. A close relative and very similar looking fish, the Mexican scad, is occasionally seen in California; the scad have an orange or reddish stripe on the side. The one and only one I have caught was at the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon.

Salema

 Salema — Species: Xenistius californiensis (Steindachner, 1876); from xenitius (strange sail, in allusion to the dorsal fin) and californiensis (in reference to California as a geographic area). Alternate Names: Bass, big eye, big eye bass, striped bass and lima perch. In Mexico called salema, pajarillo or ojotón. Identification: This pretty little fish resembles a striped bass in shape and is even striped, but both color and range is different. Salema have a bass-like body, very large eyes, and 6-8 orange-brown horizontal stripes on the side. Their coloring is iridescent blue-green above, and silvery below; tail fins orange-brown. They will often also make a grunting noise when removed from the water. They are sometimes mistaken for small striped bass. Size:Up to 12 inches but most caught off piers are only 6-8 inches long. Range: Found from Peru to Monterey Bay but reportedly most common south of Dana Point. My records however show they are most commonly caught from piers between Oceanside and Santa Monica. They are uncommon north of Point Dume and rare north of Santa Barbara. Habitat: Shallow-water rocky areas and in kelp beds. Salema are usually found in schools and though primarily nocturnal feeders they also forage (and bite) during the day. The young often school with juvenile sargo and black croaker. Piers: Best bets: Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Seal Beach Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Manhattan Beach Pier, and the Henry Chace Park Pier. I have also taken quite a few from the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon but only during nighttime hours. In addition, I have seen a number taken from the Port Hueneme Pier and Ventura Pier—both supposedly in areas where salema are considered uncommon. Bait and Tackle: These fish will take most small baits on a size 6 or 8 hook, including small pinhead anchovies. Most, however, are caught on mussels, bloodworms, or a small strip of anchovy or mackerel. Fish around the pilings and fish from just off the bottom to mid-depth. Food Value: Salema are a mild-flavored fish, best suited for pan-frying. Comments: Although this is a small fish, its relative scarcity and attractive appearance make it a worthwhile catch (and they give a good, rugged little battle when caught on ultra-light tackle). I’ve always thought they would make a beautiful saltwater aquarium fish.I’m not sure where the name derives but there is a small fishing village on the coast of Portugal named Salema. Although once considered part of the “last undiscovered tourist frontier,” those days apparently are over (at least according to the esteemed travel expert Rick Steves). It’s been discovered. In 2006 Practical Fishkeeping Magazine reported: “Men hallucinate after eating fish. Two men have suffered terrifying visual and auditory hallucinations after eating a popular local seafish in Mediterranean restaurants… the men started seeing and hearing things after contracting a rare form of hallucinogenic poisoning from the Salema fish they were dining on… The effects of eating ichthyoallyeinotoxic fishes, such as certain mullet, goatfish, tangs, damsels and rabbitfish, are believed to be similar to LSD, and may include vivid and terrifying auditory and visual hallucinations. This has given rise to the collective common name for ichthyoallyeinotoxic fishes of ‘dream fish’. The poisoning can start to cause vivid hallucinations within minutes of eating a poisonous fish and may last for days, often with no other effects. There is no antidote… Indoles, with similar chemical effects to LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) are believed to be responsible and may be consumed when the fish eat algae or phytoplankton containing the chemicals. All of the species effected by ichthyoallyeinotoxism are algal grazers. Others have claimed that different species of ichthyoallyeinotoxic fishes, such as Kyphosus fuseus, contain much more potent hallucinogens, such as dimethyltryptamine or DMT, which is considered to be one of the world’s most mind-bending hallucinogenic chemicals… Sarpa salpa, the fish consumed by the men was a member of the Sparidae family and is commonly known as the Salema porgy… According to the paper, Sarpa salpa was consumed as a recreational drug in the Med during the Roman Empire.” So there you have it, the salema in California were not the culprit in this strange episode of hallucinogenic poisoning even though California, especially the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco would seem a natural place for such an occurrence.

Kelp Rockfish

Kelp Rockfish — Species: Sebastes atrovirens (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880); from the Greek word sebastes (magnificent), and the Latin word atrovirens  (black and green). Alternate Names: Confused with gopher rockfish, grass rockfish, and brown rockfish. Commonly called sugar bass, sometimes called dumb bass or grass bass. Called garupa or green rockfish in the Monterey Bay fishery of the 1880s. A favorite but still slightly weird name, one probably invented by some Internet addicted angler, is oogly googly. Called rocote de sargaso or rocote sargacero in Mexico. Identification: Typical bass-like shape. Their coloring is olive-brown to gray-brown with brown mottling; whitish or pinkish white below. Just to confuse anglers, a few kelpies also show up with reddish coloring (don’t know why). Although often mistaken for grass rockfish, they are easily differentiated during cleaning—the kelp rockfish has long and slender gill rakers on its first gill arch while the grass rockfish has very short and blunt gill rakers. Although not really a stuck up fish, they do have a definitive up-turned profile. Size: To 16 3/4 inches; most caught from piers are less than 12 inches long. Range: From Bahia San Carlos and San Benito Island, central Baja Californa (some sources say Punta San Pablo), to Albion, Mendocino County. Most commonly found from central California south. Habitat: Commonly found in kelp forests, ranging from the canopy down to the bottom where they feed on a variety of prey including small fish, crustaceans and cephalopods. During the day they will often rest in the kelp, drifting motionless within the blades of kelp (including hanging upside down). At night they come to life seeking out whatever food is near their home. Younger fish are often in intertidal areas although adults can range down to a 190-foot depth (but most common from 20-80). Kelpies are one of the most common rockfish in shallow-water rocky areas. They are also one more resident species that rarely moves more than ten feet away fom its home in an entire year. Although sharing territory with other shallow-water rockfish sich as blue, gopher, black-and-yellow, and olive rockfishes, they are apparently kept out of the bottom areas by the more aggressive (and territorial) gopher and black-and-yellow rockfishes. Piers: Kelp rockfish are primarily found at piers that have a good summertime growth of kelp around the pier. Best bets: Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Paradise Cove Pier, Stearns Wharf, Goleta Pier (along the pipe-reef), Gaviota Pier, Port San Luis Pier, Cayucos Pier, San Simeon Pier, Monterey Coast Guard Pier, Monterey Wharf No. 2, and Santa Cruz Wharf. Juvenile fish are common at the Morro Bay T-Piers, Pillar Point Harbor Pier and the San Francisco Muni Pier. Bait and Tackle: Use a high/low leader, number 6 or 4 hooks, and pile worms, small pieces of shrimp, or small strips of squid. Food Value: An excellent eating, mild-flavored fish that is best fried. Italian fishermen of the 19th century considered this to be one of the best tasting of all the rockfish. Comments: Kelp rockfish are reported to live 25 years of age although few are older than 20. Most females are first mature (and reproductive) at about 6 inches and 3 years of age, most are mature by 7 inches and 3.5 years, all are mature by 9 inches and 6 years of age (although one study found initial maturity and reproduction not starting until 8.7 inches and 5 years of age).

Brown Rockfish

Brown Rockfish — Species: Sebastes auriculatus (Girard, 1854); from the Greek word sebastes (magnificent) and the Latin word auriculatus  (eared, referring to the large spot on the gill cover). Alternate Names:  Chocolate bass is a common name as is bolina (from Bolinas Bay where they were first caught in large numbers). Sand bass, sugar bass, brown bass, cinnamon bass, brown bomber, brown rock cod, ground owl, and garrupa (grouper) are other colloquial names. Called cha menuke and chairo menuke by the Japanese; rocote moreno in Mexico. On PFIC these fish are simply designated SBRF or sbrf in deference to the appellation first applied by “pierhead” (actual name Boyd Grant, the Yoda-like Pier Master and patient teacher of youthful, local padawans on the path to “Pier Rat” enlightenment).  He recorded the daily catch at Goleta Pier from 2002-2003 and found that nearly 30% of the fish caught from the pier’s pipe-reef were small brown rockfish. If it was a “larger” small brown rockfish it became SBRF, if it was a “smaller” small brown rockfish it became sbrf. To this day most regulars on the site know what the acronyms mean and use them in their reports. Identification: Typical rockfish shape. Their coloring is light brown with darker brown mottling. A very prominent dark brown spot on the opercle (gill cover) most easily identifies brown rockfish. Sometimes confused with copper rockfish but the coppers do not have the dark spot on the opercle and are lighter colored. Up in the northern waters of Puget Sound hybridization between brownies, quillbacks and coppers can really confuse identification.Size: To 22.4 inches; most caught from piers are less than 12 inches long. The California record fish weighed 6 lb 15 oz and was caught at the Colorado Reef, north of Princeton Harbor, San Mateo Co. in 2008. Range: Bahia San Hipolito, central Baja California, to Prince William Sound, northern Gulf of Alaska. A wide-ranging rockfish that I have caught as far south as the Cabrillo Mole at Avalon and as far north as Pier 57 on the Seattle waterfront. Habitat:  Shallow subtidal areas and in bays. In shallow waters they prefer rocky areas and kelp beds; in bays they are often found around structure (especially the younger fish) although some are also found in beds of eelgrass. Adults in deeper waters tend to hang down near the rocky bottoms. San Francisco Bay is considered an important habitat for juvenile brown rockfish. Apparently all of the brownies in S.F. Bay are five years of age or younger, after that age they move offshore into deeper waters. Adults can range down to 444 feet but are only common to about 400 feet. Most are caught in waters shallower than 175 feet. Apparently they are residential, rarely moving more than a couple of miles from home (although sometimes into deeper water during the winter). Their diet includes a variety of invertebrates, especially crabs and shrimp, and they will rarely pass up the opportunity to gulp down an available, smaller fish. Piers: Most commonly caught from piers north of Monterey Bay although the pipe-reef at the Goleta Pier yields a steady number of fish throughout the year. Small brown rockfish are one of the most common fish caught at Bay Area piers. Best bets: Cabrillo Mole (Avalon) Goleta Pier, Port San Luis Pier, Morro Bay T-Piers, Piller Point Harbor Pier, San Francisco Municipal Pier, Port View Park Pier, Berkeley Pier, Paradise Beach Pier, Angel Island Pier, Elephant Rock Pier and the Fort Baker Pier. Many brownies are also caught from the piers and docks that line the Eureka waterfront, especially the Commercial Street Dock. Bait and Tackle: Small brown rockfish are commonly caught under and around the pilings of Bay Area Piers. Small hooks, size 6 or 8, baited with a small piece of pile worm is by far the best bait although strips of squid and even cut bait will take some fish. Food Value: An excellent eating, mild-flavored fish that is best fried. Comments: Brownies can live to 34 years in age although few reach 25 years, a relatively short life for members of the rockfish family. A few fish mature and reproduce at 7.4 inches and 3 years of age, most mature between 9.4-12.1 inches and 4-5 years, all are mature by 14.8 inches and 10 years of age. These fish can be a lot of fun for youngsters to catch but most caught from piers are really too small to keep. According to the California Fish and Game “the brown rockfish has been identified as a species vulnerable to severe localized depletions in other areas; in Washington state, the Puget Sound stock of brown rockfish was recommended for listing as a threatened species in 1999.”

Grass Rockfish 

Grass Rockfish — Species:  Sebastes rastrelliger (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880); from the Greek words sebastes (magnificent) and rastrelliger  (a rake, in reference to the stubby gill rakers). Alternate Names: Often called a variation of bass—grass bass, rock bass, pepper bass, sugar bass, and in the north, kelp bass. Also called rock cod, green garrupa, green rockfish, kelp rockfish, schmo, and green bomber. Called garrupa (grouper) by early day Portugese fishermen; scomoda (Italian for inconvenient or hard to catch) and gopher by Monterey fishermen; grass rockfish by San Francisco fishermen. Called rocote de olivo in Mexico. Identification: Typical bass-like shape although they have the chunkiest body shape of the shallow-water rockfish. They are a dark colored fish—dark green or olive above; mottled green, black or gray on side; whitish below; fins dark. There is also a rare light-colored variation in pigmentation that is yellowish-orange. Although often mistaken for kelp rockfish, these “husky boys” are easily differentiated during cleaning—the grass rockfish has very short and blunt gill rakers on its first gill arch. The gill rakers are nearly as wide as they are long. Size: Length to 22 inches; generally between 8 and 16 inches for those caught from piers. The California record fish weighed 5 lb 6 oz; it was caught at Trinidad in 2006.

A Grass Rockfish caught by Ken Jones at the Cabrillo Mole in 2015

Range: Bahia Playa Maria, central Baja California, to Westport, Washington. Habitat: A shallow water rockfish, found from intertidal depths to about 150 feet. Most are found in shallow-water rocky areas, especially where there is vegetation. Grassies are common to kelp beds and reefs where they often hide in the crevices. In comparison to other rockfish, their shallow water habitat most closely mimics that of the black-and-yellow rockfish. While juvenile grassies are diurnal (daytime) feeders, adult fish are nocturnal (nighttime) feeders that primarily feed near the bottom. Key prey includes crabs, shrimp, snails, isopods and small fish including perch.Piers: Although one of the most common shallow-water rockfish in California, relatively few are taken from piers south of Point Conception (although I have taken several from the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon). Needed ingredients are a rocky bottom or substantial kelp near the pier. However, juveniles are often taken from piers located in bays during the summer months. Best bets for juvenile fish include the Morro Bay T-Piers, Pillar Point Harbor Pier, San Francisco Municipal Pier, Berkeley Pier and Citizen’s Dock (Crescent City). Most years see a few adult fish taken from the Goleta Pier (near the the pipe-reef) and Gaviota Pier. Higher numbers of adults are taken from the Port San Luis Pier, Morro Bay South T-Pier, Monterey Coast Guard Pier, Capitola Wharf, Santa Cruz Wharf (in the wells at the end), Point Arena Pier (perhaps the best), Trinidad Pier and Citizen’s Dock (Crescent City). Grass rockfish are fairly common around the Point Arena Pier from June until October; fish inshore or cast straight out on the left side of the pier to the nearby reefs. Generally considered the most important rockfish for rock and jetty fishermen. Bait and Tackle: Medium to light gear is sufficient for these fish. A high/low leader equipped with size 4 or 2 hooks is common tackle. Fish on or near the bottom and be prepared for a strike at any time. Best baits appear to be shrimp, mussel, pile worms or tube worms. Food Value: An excellent eating, mild-flavored fish that is best fried. Italian fishermen of the 19th century considered this to be the best tasting of all the rockfish and apparently that opinion is still held by many. At $4.85 per pound, grass rockfish received the highest prices paid to California commercial fishermen for rockfish in 1998. There was a distinct difference in price between the shallow water rockfish kept and sold as live fish versus the deepwater species but that doesn’t detract from the grass rockfish ranking of #1. Treefish were #2 at $4.66 per pound, olive rockfish and bronzebacked rockfish tied for #3 at $3.74, gopher rockfish were #5 at $2.78, China rockfish #6 at $2.72, black-and-yellow #7 at $2.41, quillback rockfish #8 at $1.79, brown rockfish #9 at $1.61, and kelp rockfish #10 at 1.57.  Rosethorn rockfish were down at the bottom of the 31 species listed at only $.38. Comments:Grass rockfish are relatively short-lived rockfish only reaching an age of about 23 years. In southern California, some females are reproductive by 8.6 inches and 2 years of age, the majority are reproductive by 9.4 inches and 4 years, all are reproductive by 11 inches and five years. Those in central California north take longer to mature. 

Treefish

Treefish — Species: Sebastes serriceps (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880); from the Greek words sebastes (magnificent), and serriceps (formed from two Latin words meaning saw head) in reference to the large head spines. Alternate Names: Convict fish, lipstick bass, lipstick fish, barber pole and garrupa.  Called rocote presidiario in Mexico. Identification: Body short and compressed with thick spines on the head. Easily identified by the yellowish to olive (sometimes dark olive) coloring with five to six vertical black bars on the side, pink lips and two blackish bands radiate from the eye. The young have white-edged fins. Size: To 16 inches. Most caught from piers are under a foot in length. The California record fish weighed 4 lb 3 oz and was caught at Malibu in 2003. Range: From Isla Cedros, central Baja California, to San Francisco; common in southern California but rare north of Santa Barbara. Habitat: Although seen down to 100 feet in depth, they are primarily a shallow-water rockfish that likes to spend its time in caves and crevices, rocky areas, and kelp. Treefish are primarily night and twilight predators that seek out bethnic invertebrates such as shrimp, spider crabsand cancer crabs. However they will also grab small fish when they have the chance. A residential, homebody species that rarely strays far from home. Trees are also highly territorial, competing with fellow treefish and nearshore rockfish (black-and-yellows, grass, and gophers) for food and shelter habitat. Piers: Due to habitat only found at a few piers. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Cabrillo Mole (Avalon)—the best, Hermosa Beach Pier and Goleta Pier. Bait and Tackle: Will take a variety of baits including worms, fresh mussels, ghost shrimp, squid and anchovies. They will hit most bait fished on most riggings. However, a high/low leader utilizing number 4 hooks appears to work best. Food Value: An excellent eating, mild-flavored fish that is best fried. Treefish received the second highest price paid to California commercial fishermen for rockfish in 1998 at $4.66 per pound. Comments: Treefish live to 23 years of age but what’s with the Helena Rubinstein lips? Milton Love says these fish are territorial and the pink/red lips may warn off other fish. Sounds reasonable to me.

California Scorpionfish

California Scorpionfish — Species: Scorpaena guttata (Girard, 1854); from the Greek word scorpaena (scorpion, referring to the poison spines), and the Latin word guttata  (a form of small drops or spotting). Alternate Names: Commonly called sculpin although also called scorpionfish, scorpion, little poker, rattlesnake and scorpene. Early records show stingfish and spinefish as favorite appellations. In Mexico they’re called escorpión Californiano. Identification: Typical rockfish shape, heavy-bodied and with strong head and fin spines. Their coloring is red (deeper water) to brown (more shallow water) with dark spotting over the body and fins. Fin spines are venomous and can cause a very painful, although not fatal, wound. Size: To 17 inches, although most caught from piers are less than 12 inches long. The California record was for a fish weighing 3 lb 0 oz. It was caught at the Silver Strand Beach in 1997. Range: Uncle Sam Bank, central Baja California, and the Gulf of California, to Santa Cruz. They are uncommon north of Point Conception.

KJ and a scorpionfish from the Cabrillo Mole in 2010

Habitat: Most abundant in shallow rocky environments such as rocky reefs, sewer pipes and wrecks; frequently found in caves and crevices. Some are also found on sand. Found from fairly shallow water down to 620 feet. May travel over 200 miles in annual spawning migrations (spring and early summer) that see them form large spawning aggregations on or near the bottom (at a variety of depths). Piers: Although scorpionfish are most common around rocky areas and reef areas, I have seen them caught at almost every oceanfront pier in southern California. Best bets: Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, Redondo Sportfishing Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Santa Monica Pier, Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon) and the Cabrillo Mole (Avalon). Bait and Tackle: Scorpions are carnivorous, ambush predators that are primarily nocturnal, feeding at night. Their main diet consists of small crabs, octopus, shrimp, and small fish. A high/low leader with size 4 hooks baited with squid or shrimp seems to work best although they also really like ghost shrimp. Still, I’ve caught them on cut anchovies, strips of mackerel, pile worms, and one on a live queenfish that seemed almost as large as the scorpionfish; they’re not too discriminating as far as food.  Food Value:An excellent eating, mild-flavored fish that is best fried (although they are a favorite fish for sushi and command top prices when fresh fish are available). Comments: Handle with extreme care. California scorpionfish are the most venomous member of the family found in California. If handled in a careless manner and a puncture wound does occur there will usually be pain (sometimes intense) and perhaps swelling that should subside after a few hours. If possible, soak the affected area in hot water as soon as practical (since the hot water alters the toxin and makes it less harmful). Multiple punctures may require doctor’s attention or even hospitalization. The worst story I ever heard of such multiple punctures concerned a middle-aged angler fishing from a boat near Catalina. This lady had caught upwards of a dozen scorpionfish that were dutifully deposited into her gunnysack. Unfortunately, many of the long spines were protruding from her bag when a heavy wave caused her to lose her footing and to fall, bottom-first, onto the bag. The result was butt-porcupine and a helicopter trip back to a hospital. Although studies showed a decline in population before 1980, they seem to have increased and today have a healthy population.   

Cabezon — KJ and a cabezon caught from the Cabrillo Mole in 2012

Cabezon — Species: Scorpaenichthys marmoratus (Ayres, 1854); from the Greek words scorpaena (a related species) and ichthys  (fish), and the Latin word marmoratus  (marbled). Alternate Names: Commonly called bullhead; also marbled sculpin, cab, cabby, bull cod, blue cod, giant sculpin, giant marbled sculpin, scorpion, marble sculpin, salpa and scaleless sculpin. Called scorpion or biggy-head by 19th century Italian fishermen. Identification:  Cabezon have a very large head with a broad bony support from the eye across the cheek, no scales, a cirrus (fleshy flap) on the midline of the snout, and a pair of longer cirrus just behind the eyes. The coloring is brown, bronze, reddish, or greenish above, whitish or turquoise green below, with dark and light mottling on the side. The lining of the mouth is a translucent turquoise green. The color may correlate to their sex with 90% or greater red-colored cabezon being males, 90% or greater green-colored cabezon being females. The mouth is broad with many small teeth. Size: To 39 inches and 25 pounds; most caught from piers are less than two feet. The California record cabezon was a fish weighing 23 lb 4 oz; it was taken near Los Angeles in 1958. The cabezon is the largest member of the cottid (sculpin) family. Range: Punta Abreojos, central Baja California, to Samsing Cove, near Sitka in southeastern Alaska. Habitat: Typically found in shallow-water rocky areas, from intertidal pools to jetties, kelp beds and rocky reefs, any area with dense algal growth. Older fish tend to move to deeper water, as deep as 250 feet. Typically inhabits the tops of rocky ledges as contrasted with rockfish and lingcod that prefer the sheer faces of ledges. Cabezon like to sit and it doesn’t seem to matter if it’s in a hole, on the reef, or on vegetation, they sit versus actively swimming—until they see food. Piers:Cabezon are one of the premier fish for northern California pier anglers with lesser numbers taken from southern and central California piers. Best bets: Cabrillo Pier, Goleta Pier, Monterey Coast Guard Pier, Santa Cruz Pier, San Francisco Municipal Pier, Point Arena Pier, Trinidad Pier and Citizens Dock (Crescent City). Bait and Tackle: Although most of the cabezon caught from piers will be fairly small fish less than two feet in length, most years also see some larger fish in the 8-12 pound category. Because of this, you should use at least medium sized tackle; line testing at least 15 pound breaking strength and hooks around 2/0 in size. The best baits are small crabs and fresh mussels but cabezon will bite almost anything that looks like food. Their normal diet includes crabs, small lobsters, abalone, squid, octopus, small fish and fish eggs. Although they often reach good size, they can be frustrating to catch. Cabezon will often tap or mouth bait and spit it out; patience and a feel for when to set the hook is required. Also remember that cabezon like to congregate around “cabezon” holes; if you catch one, there will often be more around. Food Value: Excellent mild-flavored meat that can be prepared in almost any manner; many feel it is best fried. Although few fish are better eating, anglers should not eat the roe (eggs) of cabezon—the eggs are poisonous and can make a person violently ill. Don’t worry if the flesh is blue colored, this is a common occurrence and the flesh will turn white when cooked. Comments: A “lie-in-wait” predator. Their coloring lets them blend in with the surroundings where they lie motionless. When food passes by they use their large, powerful pectoral fins and tails to lunge after the prey engulfing it in their large mouths. In Spanish cabezon means big headed or stubborn and it well describes both their looks and temperment. Cabezon can live to about 20 years of age and I imagine an old cabezon would be a real grouch.

Finescale Triggerfish — KJ and a triggerfish caught from the Cabrillo Mole in 2010

Finescale Triggerfish — Species: Balistes polylepis (Steindachner, 1876); Balistes comes from the Latin word ballista (a device that shoots arrows—referring to the trigger-like spine) and the Greek word polylepis (many scales). Alternate Name: Triggerfish. In Mexico called cochi, puerco coche, cochito or pez puerco. Identification: The body is very compressed; they have a small mouth containing strong, protruding teeth (8 in each jaw); 3 strong, sharp spines are located in the first dorsal fin with 26-28 rays in the second dorsal; small gill slits are located in front of the pectoral fin. The skin is thick with large, rectilinear, plate-like scales. The coloring is brownish with blue speckles on head. Size: To 32 inches and perhaps as much as 16 pounds. Range: San Antonio, Chile, to Metlakatla, (southeastern) Alaska) but considered rare north of Baja California. Habitat: Generally found on the bottom, nearshore near rocky reefs, but they can range down to 1,680 feet deep. Some have arrived north during the El Niño years and it’s speculated that there are at least three established groups near Redondo Beach, Santa Monica and Catalina. They feed on a variety of bethnic-invertebrates such as snails, sponges, sea urchins, shrimp, and crabs as well as the occasional or fish and are most active during the day. Piers: Reported from the Redondo Beach Pier, Santa Monica Pier, and Cabrillo Mole in Avalon. Bait and Tackle: Will take most bait including squid, market shrimp, and ghost shrimp. Food Value: Excellent, all-white fillets that can be cooked many ways. The only problem is that the skin is like leather so you need a good, sharp fillet knife.

Rita Magdamo and son Kyle with a triggerfish she caught during the 2014 James Liu Derby

Comments: Considered a fairly rare species in California although just enough fish are caught to keep it interesting. I’ve caught three triggerfish —one in Maui, one while fishing out of Rancho Buena Vista in Baja California, and one from the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon.

Swell Shark caught by Thomas during the 2012 Catalina Get Together

Swell Shark — Species: Cephaloscyllium ventriosum (Garman, 1880); from the Greek words cephalo  (with a head) and scyllium  (like a dog or monster) and the Latin ventr  (referring to the belly).  Alternate Names: Catshark, puffer shark and balloon shark. Called tiburón inflado, pejegato globo or gato hinchado in Mexico. Identification: Swell sharks have a broad flat head with a rounded snout, and sharp, pointed little teeth. Their first dorsal is back of the middle of body and directly above pelvic fins; second dorsal above anal fin. Their skin is rough and appears flabby while coloring is yellowish-brown to creamy, with black or brownish spots and saddles; sometimes with white spots. When caught, the swell shark may inflate its belly with air or water until its circumference nearly triples in size. However, young swell sharks are not able to duplicate this neat little trick. So see, sometimes it pays to be an adult. Size: To a little over three feet in length. Range:  Acapulco, Mexico and the Gulf of California to Monterey Bay; most common in southern California.

Habitat:  Usually found near kelp beds or rocky areas that contain some kelp; likes to spend the daytime hours holed up in crevices or caves. A nocturnal feeder, they emerge at night to search for food—mainly small fish. But they seem a little lazy. Although sometimes they suck other fish into their mouth (as would a normal feeding fish), some reportedly simply open their mouths and wait for the smaller fish to swim in. It’s called yawning and perhaps explains why swell sharks have less than an athletic looking body (afterall, how much energy can be expanded in yawning for your food?). The next question becomes how often do you think bait is going to swim into their mouths, especially dead bait? Perhaps this is one reason that they are not more commonly caught. Piers: Rarely a common species although good numbers are reported from the Avila Pier, Port San Luis Pier, and the Cayucos Pier. Best Bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon), Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Hermosa Beach Pier, Santa Monica Pier, Goleta Pier, Gaviota Pier, Avila Pier, Port San Luis Pier and Cayucos Pier. Bait and Tackle: Most swell sharks that are caught from piers are around two feet in length, so medium tackle with a size 2 to 2/0 hook should work fine. Small fish, crabs, and shrimp, seem to be the best bait. Food Value: It is reported that eating a swell shark is not so swell! The flesh is slightly toxic and causes stomach cramps and nausea as well as acting as a cheap aperient (result: diarrhea) and emetic (result: vomiting). Unless you’re really into the masochistic routine I would avoid puffer stew. Nevertheless, I can see all those sadistic little eyes lighting up. Wouldn’t it be cute to give Henry some puffer steaks for his dinner? Let’s see how long it is before he heads to the head. Of course there’s always the story that’s told in the fascinating book Cod, by Mark Kurlansky. He mentions the unusual methods used by a people (Icelanders) seemingly on the verge of starvation: “They ate what the island produced, which was mainly every conceivable part of a cod-fish and a lamb. They roasted cod skin and kept cod bones until they had decomposed enough to be soft and edible. They also ate roasted sheeps’ heads, particularly praising the eyeballs. Another specialty was hákarl, the flesh of a huge Greenland shark, hunted for the commercial value of its liver oil. The flesh, which contains cyanic acid, a lethal poison, was rendered edible by leaving it buried in the groud until it rotted.” Apparently æstur hákarl (Icelandic for fermented shark) with its ammonia-rich smell and taste is still enjoyed by some of the locals. Leaving aside this strange diet, and the question of how they discovered these enriching techniques, it makes you kind of wonder if a swell shark could be made edible by burying it in the ground for a few weeks. Anyone want to give rotted swell shark a try? Perhaps the “Iron Chefs” could do a show using æstur hákarl as the featured ingredient? Comments: An unpleasant and mistaken belief in some areas, especially the central coast, is that returning a swell shark to the ocean after capture ruins the fishing. It’s a rather stupid idea, and wrong, yet you’ll often find misshapen dying or dead swell sharks littering the piers. Since you don’t want to eat swellies (see above), and since they DO NOT hurt the fishing, please return them to the water.  Of course that may not be as easy as it sounds! A puffed up shark returned to the water may simply float away to be attacked by… whatever. Best is to net them and bring them to the top of the pier as quickly as possible. Then, as carefully as possible (since they do have sharp teeth), remove the hook. Try to then keep their mouth shut while returning them to the net and lowering them back down to the water. If successful, they will have gulped as little air as possible and still be able to swim away.   

Horn Shark

 Horn Shark — Species: Heterodontus francisci (Girard, 1855); from the Greek hetero (different) and odont (tooth) and the Latin francisci (referring to San Francisco). (They have a small pointed tooth at the front of their jaw and a blunt tooth at the rear.)  Alternate Names: Bullhead Shark, Port Jackson shark, horned shark, hornback shark. Called tiburón cabeza de toro, tiburón cornudo or tiburón puerco in Mexico. Identification: Horn sharks are spotted sharks with a somewhat pig-like snout. They have a strong spine at the front of each dorsal fin (which accounts for their name) and an anal fin. Their coloring is tan to dark brown or grayish with black spots above, pale yellowish below. Size: Reported to 48 inches, but the largest verified was just over 38 inches long and 22 pounds. Most hornies caught from piers are under 30 inches in length. Range: Found from the Gulf of California to San Francisco. Habitat: Prefers rocky areas although also found near sandy areas that contain kelp. They are nocturnal, bottom-feeding foragers who prefer to spend their daylight hours resting on the bottom or in caves and crevices. At night they head out in their search for food—primarily squids, urchins, crustaceans, anemones and mollusks—but rarely are they found more than six feet from the bottom.

 Kyle Pease and a horn shark caught during the 2015 James Liu Derby

Piers: Most are caught at southern California piers but a few are caught as far north as the pier at Cayucos. Generally found near piers that are close to reefs or kelp. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, San Clemente Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon), Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Santa Monica Pier, Paradise Cove Pier, Gaviota Pier and Goleta Pier.  Bait and Tackle: Crabs, shrimp, squid and small fish are prime baits but hornies appear to take almost any natural bait. Most horn sharks taken by pier anglers are fairly small fish so light-to-medium tackle equipped with size 2 to 2/0 hooks will suffice.

Food Value:  Reported to be quite tasty, similar to most other sharks. Comments: An interesting little shark. Small horn sharks are frequently sold in aquarium shops where they command top prices. They are generally harmless but anglers should be careful of the dorsal spines and be aware that agitated fish may try to bite careless handlers. Horn sharks are in the Class Chondrichthyes and Subclass Elasmobranchii (as are all sharks and rays) but in the Superorder Galea, which only includes some of the sharks found at California piers. Many of the sharks found at piers are in the Superorder Squalea, which includes sharks as well as guitarfish and rays. Thus some of the sharks are more closely related to rays than to other sharks.

Bat Ray — Rita and a bat ray from the Green Pleasure Pier in Avalon Harbor in 2011

Bat Ray — Species: Myliobatis californica (Gill, 1865); from the Greek words myl (a tooth or molar), io (an arrow or poison), batis (a skate or ray) and the Latin word Californica  (referring to location). Apparently called aetobatus californica at one time in California: CA Fish Bulletin #28.  Alternate Names: Stingray, stingaree, bat sting ray, sea ray, eagle ray, batfish, big black, sea bird, flapper, rat tailed stingray, NASCAR, mud marlin (my favorite), and monkey face ray. Called raya murciélago or tecolote in Mexico. Identification:  Bat rays have a very heavy raised head and a dorsal fin at the base of a long whiplike tail with a stinger just behind it. Their coloring is blackish or blackish brown above and white below. Beware of the stinger. Size: Reported to reach nearly six feet across and over 200 pounds. Most bat rays caught from piers are less than fifty pounds but many in excess of a hundred pounds are caught every year. A 240-pound bat ray was reported from Newport Bay in 1957. I received a note on the Pier Fishing in California Message Board of a 246-pound fish with an 8.5-foot-wing span that was reputedly taken from the Newport Pier in the ’80s. However, the width sounds too wide leaving the weight also in doubt. I’ve seen pictures of a 176-pound bat ray taken from the Newport Pier and a 175-pound bat ray that was caught at the Aliso Beach Pier in (I believe) 1990. Another fish, this one weighing 203 pounds and measuring 54 ½ inches wide was measured and weighed on a certified scale. It was caught at the Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara on April 24, 2004. The fish struck a live smelt bait and was landed after a fight lasting one hour and twenty minutes. The fish was hooked and fought by James Elledge, and gaffed by Ron Maxell. With the help of bait shop owner Ray Angel (how appropriate) the fish was carried over to the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company to their certified scales. PFIC representative Boyd Grant was soon on the scene to witness and photograph the huge fish…one of the largest bat rays ever caught on a California pier (and possibly the largest to be weighed on a certified scale).The official California record fish was 4 feet, 9 inches wide and weighed 181 lb 0 oz; it was taken at Huntington Beach in 1978. According to the California DF&G “female bat rays reach a greater size than males, attaining a maximum disc width of 70.9 inches and weight of 210 pounds. The largest reported male is 40 inches wide and a weight of 37 pounds. Bat rays grow slowly, reach sexual maturity relatively late, have few young, and seem to be fairly long-lived. A 60-inch disc width female was estimated to be 24 years old.” So, all of the big bat rays are moms, grandmas or maybe even great grandmothers. Range: Gulf of California to Yaquina Bay, Oregon. Habitat: Prefers a flat, rocky bottom or sand among rocks although also seems to enjoy hanging around kelp beds. Most commonly caught in sandy or muddy bottom bays and the deeper water areas around piers. Bat rays basically “fly” through the water using their powerful pectoral fins and occasionally they will leap out of the water when hooked. Piers: Bat rays are caught at almost all piers in California, both oceanfront and those in bays. Best bets: Shelter Island Pier, San Clemente Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Huntington Beach Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Stearns Wharf, Cayucos Pier, Berkeley Pier, San Mateo Pier, Elephant Rock Pier, Angel Island Pier, Eureka Municipal Wharf and Del Norte Street Pier (Eureka). Bait and Tackle:  Bat rays eat a wide variety of foods with oysters, clams, crabs, shrimp, abalone, snails and worms being scarffed down on a regular basis. To be expected, they’ll also take almost any bait. However, frozen or live squid, and live bait such as anchovies, ghost shrimp, mud shrimp and grass shrimp, produce most of the fish. Frozen squid is the least expensive and easiest bait to use and is undoubtedly the number one bait for bat rays. It’s reported by the way that these strong rays use their pectoral fins to lift their body rapidly up and down to create a suction that sweeps away the sand and gives easy access to their food on the bottom. Because of the potential large size, anglers wishing to fish specifically for bat rays should use heavy tackle and have a gaff or net available to bring the fish up onto the pier. Never use a pier gaff to lift  them up to a pier unless you’re intending to keep them for food. Food Value: Very good.

Bat ray at the Cabrillo Mole

Comments: Although Ray Cannon’s book How To Fish the Pacific Coast holds a cherished spot on my library shelf, and in many ways was a model for Pier Fishing In California, I believe he was wrong in his comments on bat rays. His most egregious was that “These giant Bat Rays should be exterminated whenever possible because of their menace to crabs, lobsters, and all kinds of edible shellfish.” Although it’s true that those species may be included in a bat ray’s diet, I’m not sure why they were singled out over predators. I think it reflects the thinking of the day, in particular the opinion that bat rays were a danger to commercial oyster operations, i.e., those in Tomales Bay. We know today that they are not a danger to those operations; in fact, they may help by keeping crabs under control. I’m not sure why he made a second statement, an assertion that bat rays are “Seldom taken by anglers.” Even back in those days bat rays (usually called sting rays) were a common catch, and several shark and ray derbies were conducted along the coast, the most famous probably being that at Moss Landing. Today, many anglers concentrate on bat rays. The rays reach a very large size, they put up a strong fight, and are delicious to eat once the fight is over (although more and more people practice catch-and-release with them). Of interest are the bat ray pools found at several aquariums (including the Monterey Aquarium, The Aquarium Of the Pacific, and the Chula Vista Nature Center). The bat rays can be petted and in fact are rather pet-like; some even seem to like to have their backs stroked. Yes, their stingers have been removed! The venomous spines are cut off about once a month (before they reach a length long enough to hurt anyone). Apparently the bat rays receive no harm from these “manicures,” in fact the spines are made of keratin, the same substance found in human fingernails, and the spines grow back. However, bat rays in the wild still have their spines and can inflict a painful wound, so be very careful if you catch one (and some bat rays have two or even three stingers). For some reason Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara sees a lot of small, immature bat rays and they’re usually called monkey face rays. Scientists report that bat rays move into inshore waters to breed during the summer then tend to move offshore in the winter (so guess when they are more likely to be caught from a pier). While inshore, they are sometimes found in large concentrations. At times these bat ray gatherings contain several thousand individuals. The sea bottom holding these creatures must look a little weird and would certainly have a somewhat alien feeling; not sure if it would be more like a black-cloaked Darth Vader convention, a Raider Nation convention, or something even more outlandish (and scary), a political convention.

California Moray (Eel) caught by Martin at the 2003 Pier Fishing In California Get Together in Catalina

California Moray — Species: Gymnothorax mordax (Ayres, 1859); from the Greek words gymno and thorax (naked breast or lack of scales) and the Latin word mordax  (prone to bite).  Alternate Names: Moray or conger eel. Early-day names included marina and muraena. Called morena de California or anguila in Mexico. Identification: Typical eel-like shape with a large head tapering to a pointed tail; the only shallow-water eel lacking pectoral fins. They have very well developed teeth (to grab their prey) and the coloring is greenish-brown, greenish-yellow, or red-brown. Size: Up to five feet long and around 15 pounds. Most caught from piers are less than three feet. A 49-inch moray with an empty stomach weighed 11.2 pounds while a 47-inch fish, whose stomach contained two flying fish, weighed 14.58 pounds. Conclusions: (1) Don’t eat flying fish if you’re on a diet and (2) flying fish should stay at the top of the water and not head down to the realm of the morays. Range:  From Bahia Magdalena, southern Baja California, to Point Conception. Habitat: Considered a true bottom fish that lives in continuous contact with the substrate; morays occupy crevices in shallow reef or rocky areas, especially around the offshore islands. Primary foods are crustaceans and small fishes with small spiny lobsters, red rock shrimp, kelp bass and blacksmith considered favorites.

California Moray caught by KJ at the Catalina Get Together in 2015

Piers: Every year will see a few California moray caught by southern California pier fisherman; an event that attracts the attention of most nearby anglers. Morays are both uncommon and ferocious in nature—it is one fish that should be handled very carefully. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Dana Point Harbor Pier, San Clemente Pier, Redondo Sportfishing Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Gaviota Pier, and, by far the best, the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon. Bait and Tackle: Morays are seldom the intentional catch of anglers; instead they are caught incidentally when fishing for other rocky-shore fish. They will grab almost any bait. However, best bait would appear to be shrimp, crabs, or small live fish. The best time to fish is at night and the angler should keep the bait in motion since moray will hide in crevices waiting for prey to swim by. Tackle should be kept simple; a medium-sized outfit with at least 15-pound test line and a size 4 to 2 hook. Be prepared to strike and start reeling quickly before the moray can retreat to the rocks. Food Value:  I’ve never eaten a moray but I have been told that they are quite tasty. Comments: Moray are a favorite of skindivers and often are quite tame. However, those I have seen caught on the end of a fishing line (I’ve only caught two myself), are usually ready to do battle. Because of their mouth full of sharp teeth, be careful if you happen to inherit the unenviable job of removing a hook from a still-thrashing, nasty-tempered moray. By the way, although moray are common at Catalina it doesn’t mean you are always going to catch one. I have caught over a hundred different species of fish from California piers and though I had once caught a moray while fishing from a boat at the Coronado Islands, I had never caught one from a pier. Thus I decided around 2010 that I needed to catch a moray from a pier and I felt the Cabrillo Mole would be the place to catch it. Years went by and even though there was an annual visit to Catalina, and several friends caught moray, I never caught one until 2015. Soon after I caught my moray a friend caught one fifty feet away on the Mole and then as we were leaving the Mole we discovered a group of kids had just caught another moray. Whatever the reason for their abundance that night it will long be remembered as the “Night of the Moray.”

Just sit back and dream like you’re listening to Dean Martin. (With apologies to Jack Brooks, and Harry Warren, the writers of “That’s Amore.”)

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie

That’s a time for a moray

When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine

That’s a time for a moray

Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you’ll sing “Is it time for my moray?”

Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay
And you’ll sigh in relief with your moray