Pier— Length — Comments

1. San Mateo Pier — 4,135 feet — Part of the old San Mateo Bridge — now closed
2. Berkeley Pier — 3,000 feet — An old pier originally used by cars to reach the Berkeley- San Francisco Ferry— now closed

3. Santa Cruz Wharf — 2,745 feet —Large old commercial wharf; shops, restaurants and fishing

4. Santa Monica Pier — 2,000 feet — Much of the shore end is over beach instead of water; used mainly for recreation

5. Ravenswood Pier — 2,000 feet — west end of old Dumbarton Bridge — now closed
6. Dumbarton Pier — 2,000 feet— east end of old Dumbarton Bridge

7. Ocean Beach Pier — 1,971 feet — Supposedly the longest concrete pier in the world

8. Ventura Pier — 1,958 feet — Supposedly the longest wooden pier in California

9. Stearns Wharf — 1,950 feet — Large commercial wharf; shops, restaurants and fishing

10. Oceanside Pier — 1,942 feet— Some sources say 1,950 feet
11. Seal Beach Pier — 1,865 feet — End section under reconstruction
12. San Francisco Muni — 1,850 feet — Could use some help (repair)

13. Huntington Beach Pier — 1,830 feet

14. Avila Pier — 1,685 feet — Closed for indefinite time, may need to be totally rebuilt

15. Monterey Wharf #2 — 1,636 feet — Large commercial wharf; used by commercial fishing boats at the end, recreational anglers inshore.

Species: Menticirrhus undulates (Girard, 1854); from the Latin words menticirrhus (chin barbel) and undulatus (waved, referring to the wavy lines on its sides).

Alternate Names: Whiting or California whiting, king croaker, corbie, corvina, bagre and the favorites of many—bean and beanie. In Mexico called berrugata californiana. In the late 1880s and early 1900s corbina were simply called surf in most SoCal newspapers although at times they were called surf fish; small corbina were often called nippers.

Identification:  California corbina have a long, slender, cylindrical-shaped body with a barbel on the tip of the lower jaw. Dorsal fin appears divided by a deep notch but remains connected by the membrane. Their coloring is a dark metallic blue or sooty gray on the back fading to lighter sides, with wavy diagonal lines, and a whitish belly.

Corbina from the Goleta Pier in 2003

Size: Up to 28 inches and 7 pounds, 4 ounces (although an unverified 8 1/2 pound fish was reported); most off piers are 16-24 inches in length. The California record fish weighed 7 lb 1 oz and was taken from Newport Harbor in May of 2005.

Range: Bahia Magdalena, southern Baja California and the Gulf of California to Point Conception.

Habitat: Prefers shallow-water, oceanfront surf in groups of two or three or small schools; sometimes found in bays.  Found down to 45 feet but usually in water 3-18 feet deep.

Corbina from the Seal Beach Pier in 2001

Piers: Common at sandy beach piers in southern California with best fishing occurring during the summer months, July to September. Best bets: Crystal Pier, Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Manhattan Beach Pier, Malibu Pier, and Goleta Pier.

Shoreline: One of the main catches by sandy shore anglers in southern California. All sandy beaches between San Diego and San Pedro are considered good corbina beaches; San Onofre is considered one of the best.

Boats: Rarely taken from boats.

Corbina from the Oceanside Pier in 2015

Bait and Tackle: Corbina dine almost exclusively on sand crabs so this is by far the best bait—especially soft-shelled sand crabs. Many, however, are also caught on bloodworms, lugworms, clams, fresh mussels, and even small pieces of shrimp.  If you can find them, innkeeper worms are also considered one of the best baits for corbina. Light to medium tackle is best with a high/low leader and size 6 or 4 hooks. The bait and hook should be totally covered by the bait, and the bait should be slowly reeled in, a foot or so at a time. Corbina like to eat in very shallow water (at times the back will nearly be out of the water), so fish as close to shore as possible. (This is one fish in which pier fishermen are at a disadvantage: because of the angle and wave action it is sometimes hard to hold a spot without using too large a sinker). Corbina are another croaker that often bites far better at night.

Food Value: A very good, mild-flavored fish suited to almost any type of cooking. Unfortunately, due to its bottom eating nature, it may ingest toxic creatures like worms and thus develop low levels of toxicity itself. In some areas, people are warned to restrict their intake of food from corbina. Such is life in modern day southern California.

Comments: Many fishermen consider corbina the number one surf fish in Southern California because they reach a good size, are good eating, and they’re one of the hardest fish to catch without the proper know-how. Corbina have been illegal to take by net since 1909 and illegal to buy or sell since 1915. Corbina caught by Mrs. June at the Goleta Pier in 2006

Pretty interesting story I ran aross while researching fishing at the Redondo Beach Pier given that the state record fish is 7 Lb. 1 oz. and they’re generally considered to reach a size a little over 7 pounds.

 Boss Corbina Breaks Record—

Eleven-Pounder Is Caught By A Redondo Angler

At last the great, great grand-daddy of the Corbina tribe has been gathered to his fathers and a nine days’ sensation among fishermen ended. After long years of piscatorial vicissitudes in which more than once he had formed temporary but entangling alliances with the leaders of briefly lucky bait butchers; after countless sessions of intermittent chase of the succulent sand-crab varied by occasional séances with the secretive clam, this silver-scaled giant last week fell a victim to the wiles of A. White of Redondo in the still waters of the night and under the seductive light of the full moon.

His weight at capture was eleven pounds and two ounces, which is by far in excess of all known records for corbina in this vicinity.

The Sunday preceding Harry Slotterbeck perceived a huge fish of some sort groveling slowly on the bottom; searching for food after the manner of corbina. From its excessive length which he estimated to be three feet, at least, Slotterbeck fancied he was watching a shark, but a white flash from the side caused him to look closer and hardly believing his eyes, he recognized a corbina of most phenomenal proportions. Calling a friend, he too pronounced it a grand “surf” fish. The pair tried to catch the prize but he was wary and cared nothing bait. They quit in vain.

The moonlight and the quiet night helped Mr. White two days later, and in triumph, he carried away the huge fish after a prolonged, nerve-racking tussle in the breakers. The big fellow put up the tremendous fight that might be expected from a seasoned veteran, strong and well schooled by time in all the arts and wiles that make corbina popular with fishermen. Mr. White had a twenty-minute tussle with his prize and nearly fell off the wharf when he got to look at it. He describes the catch as having a head the size of a man’s and bearing all the evidences of extreme age, though it was strong enough in the water. How old a fish of such extreme size must be left to conjecture.

Corbina of small size and ravenous appetites were plentiful Sunday at all points from Del Rey and Redondo to Huntington Beach. F. Seeberg caught nearly a dozen fine sized ones off the beach in Santa Monica the largest weighing 4 ½ pounds. At Redondo Harry Slotterbeck caught nearly two dozen “nippers.”

—Los Angeles Times, August 30, 1904

Corbina from the Oceanside Pier in 2012

 Cusk-Eels—Family Ophidiidae

Cusk-eel (Photo courtesy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science)

Species: Ophidion scrippsae  (Hubbs, 1916); from the words otophidium (referring to the large sacklike inner ear) and scrippsae  (in honor of Ellen Browning Scripps who helped establish the Scripps Institution of Oceanography).

Alternate Names: Eel or California cusk-eel. In Mexico they’re called congriperlass or congriperla canastera, while in far off Denmark (where they could only go as tourists, they are called skæflettet slangekvabbe).

Identification: Typical elongated eel-like shape that tapers toward the rear (one identification chart says it resembles a letter opener). The head contains large eyes and a large mouth with a pair of chin whiskers. Dorsal and anal fins are pale with black margins and continuous, joining the pointed caudal fin. Adults are brown to olive above and tan below. The body is plain with no spots but the small scales on the side present a criss-cross pattern similar to a basket weave.

Size: To 10 3/4 inches although most seen at piers are less than 8 inches.

Range: From Guaymas, Mexico, in the Gulf of Mexico, to Point Arguello, Central California. Found on the Pacific coast of Baja, Mexico from Todas Santos north.

Habitat: A bethnic (bottom dwelling) species typically found in nearshore, shallow-water areas, both sandy and muddy, as well as some estuarine areas. Found to a depth of about 360 feet.

Basketweave cusk-eel taken at the Newport Pier in 2003

Piers: Caught infrequently at southern California piers. Best bets: Oceanside Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Seal Beach Pier, Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier and Santa Monica Pier.

Shoreline: Rarely seen by shore anglers.

Boats: An inshore species rarely taken from boats.

Bait and Tackle: Cusk-eels are an incidental catch by anglers fishing on the bottom for other species. An angler has to have some luck to catch one of these fish. Generally during the day they hide in caves or crevices so most are caught at night or on overcast days. In addition, they typically will bury themselves in the sand and strike out at a passing meal. Their typical foods are small crustaceans, small clams, polychaete worms, and other invertebrates. Thus a small hook baited with worms, pieces of shrimp, or small pieces of clams will offer the best chance for these small fish.

Food Value: Not sure of their food value. Most I have seen were really too small to offer up much of a meal. The only two I have caught now reside in bottles of formaldehyde. However, the kingclip, a cusk-eel that reaches five feet in length in southern and eastern Pacific waters is considered a commercial species and its flesh is considered excellent.

Cusk-eel (Photo courtesy of Mex-Fish)

Comments: I caught my first cusk-eel when I was a neophyte angler fishing from the Newport Pier in the fall of 1962. Since I already fancied myself an amateur ichthyologist, I was determined to identify what this strange fish was, especially since no one I asked had a clue as to its identity. After an exhaustive search through antiquated reference books, I identified the fish. According to Marine Fishes of Southern California by Percy Spencer Barnhart (University of Californiua Press, 1936) it was a Southern California Cusk Eel (Otophidium Scrippsi) [Common and scientific names since changed]. Next, the fish was pickled in formaldehyde for my biology class at Newport Harbor High School. It may, for all I know, still be there. In December of 2002, I caught another of these little cusk-eels out at the end of the Newport Pier and it too was destined for preservation. However, it resides with the Fish and Game Department and is used by them to train game wardens in fish identification. By the way, the fish now has a new common name—basketweave cusk-eel. This fish has a closely related relative called the spotted cusk-eel (Chilara taylori). It is similar in shape to the basketweave cusk-eel but covered with dark blotches on its upper body. It is slightly larger, ranges all the way to Oregon, and is actually more common in California than the basketweave cusk-eel. But, it is also more of a deep-water fish and encountered less often at piers. However, I have seen several caught at the Balboa Pier and Newport Pier, piers that are located near deep-water canyons.

Round Stingray from the Ferry Landing Pier in Coronado, 2013

Species: Urobatis halleri (Cooper, 1863); Urobatis comes from two Greek words meaning tail and ray; halleri is from George Haller (1852-1889).

Alternate Names: Stingray, stingaree or stinger. Called raya de espina, raya redonda común, or raya redonda de aguijón in Mexico. Called stingrocka in Sweden, which seems appropriate because a sting will certainly rock ya.

Identification:  Round stingrays have an almost circular disk with the tail being shorter than the disk; there’s a long, sharp, venomous spine mid-length on top of the tail. Their coloring is light to dark brown on top with a whitish yellow bottom.  Beware of the stinger.

Mike Granat and a Round Stingray from Crystal Pier in San Diego (Top View)

Size: To 22 inches and about 2 pounds; most caught off piers are 12 to 15 inches.

Range: From Panama Bay to Humboldt Bay, but few are seen north of Point Conception.

Habitat: Found in bays and shallow water, sandy-beach areas along the coast. Typically found at depths of 3 to 50 feet; most common around 15 feet. Main foods are worms, small crustaceans, and mollusks.

Piers: Round stingray are found at most southern California piers located over sandy beaches. Best bets: Imperial Beach Pier, Crystal Pier, Ferry Landing Pier, Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Huntington Beach Pier and Seal Beach Pier.

Shoreline: A frequent catch of southern California surf fishermen.

Boats: An inshore species rarely taken from boats.

Mike Granat and a Round Stingray from Crystal Pier in San Diego (Bottom View)

Bait and Tackle: Most round stingrays are caught incidentally by anglers fishing on the bottom near the surfline for other types of fish. These fish will hit almost any natural bait. Tackle need only be of medium size and most of these fish should be released. Studies show a positive correlation between water temperature and round stingray; the higher the water temperature in the surf, the more stingrays will be present.

Food Value: None, due to their small size.

Round Stingray taken by Frenchy at the Hermosa Beach Pier in 2002

Comments: Extreme caution should be taken when handling these stingrays; the best method is to grip the tail with a pair of pliers and flip the fish over to keep the fish on its back while removing the hook. If absolutely necessary, clip or cut the stinger off  (it will grow back in about a month). They are then harmless. (Because the caudal spine is a modified dermal denticle, lacking innervation, the spine can be easily clipped without causing pain or injury to the ray—Johansson et al. 2004).  But, Do NOT cut the whole tail off! Since these fish offer little in the way of food they should be returned to the water.

“Stingray Central” appears to be the beach in Seal Beach. One fourth to one third of the nation’s estimated 1,500 annual wounds from stingrays occur in Seal Beach. Reputedly the lifeguards at the beach even keep buckets filled with hot water to help people soak their wounds. It’s a little amazing when you think of it. The United States has 12,383 general coastline miles (88,633 tidal miles) yet the one-mile-long beach at Seal Beach accounts for one quarter to one third of the stingray wounds in the United States. Why Seal Beach? Apparently it’s a combination of the warm water from the nearby San Gabriel River and the fine silt on the bottom that the stingrays like. Apparently breakwaters tame the surf, which in turn prevents the waves from flushing away the silt.

 Needlefishes—Family Belonidae

Needlefish caught from the Hermosa Beach Pier by Frenchy in 2002

Species: Strongylura exilis (Girard, 1854); from strongylura (meaning round tail) and exilis (meaning slender).

Alternate Names:  Garfish, pike needlefish, billfish. Called agujón bravo de California or agujón Californiano in Mexico.

Identification:  Jaws form a long, pointed needle-like beak with many sharp teeth; body very slender and rounded; dorsal and anal fins situated far back on the body. Greenish-blue above, silver on sides and belly, bluish band along side; teeth green.

Needlefish caught by my dad in Mission Bay in 1984.

Size: Length to 3 1/2 feet.

Range: Cabo San Lucas, southern Baja California, and the Gulf of California to San Francisco. Also found south to Peru and the Islas Galapagos. Uncommon north of Point Conception.

Habitat: Shallow waters to 300 feet; generally found near the surface. Common to San Diego Bay and Newport Harbor as well as the Long Beach-San Pedro Harbor.

Needlefish caught by my dad in Mission Bay in 1984

Piers: Coronado Ferry Landing Pier, Pep Pepper Park Pier, Embarcadero Marina Pier, Oceanside Harbor Pier, Dana Harbor Pier, Seal Beach Pier, and Belmont Veteran’s Memorial Pier.

Shoreline: Often seen by southern California shore fishermen, especially those fishing in bays.

Needlefish caught by my dad in Mission Bay in 1984

Boats: Rarely seen by boaters unless fishing in SoCal bays.

Bait and Tackle:  Very difficult to hook. Usually landed when either using a live (small) smelt under a float or on lures like Krocodiles or Kastmasters. The same bobber/float rig baited with a strip of mackerel or squid will also sometimes attract them. They are often hooked on bait rigs like Sabikis but will often jump and roll on the leader resulting in an impossibly tangled up and generally no longer usable bait rig.

Food Value:  Good, mild-flavored meat. The light blue or green colored flesh will turn white upon cooking.

Comments:  A good fighting little fish that will often jump when hooked. Often mistaken for barracuda when seen from a pier.

Needlefish caught at Seal Beach in 2009 by  DompfaZack

In Baja California needlefish are quite common but also one of the most disliked fish. Once I was fishing with the Pirate fleet out La Paz, we were fishing the famous Esppirito Island, and we were catching an interesting variety of fish—dorado, roosterfish, jack crevelle, weird-looking trunphetfish and various varieties of cabrilla. We also caught needlefish, big needlefish, and almost invarably when the needlefish would show up the skipper would move. Two days later we were fishing the East Cape area on a boat out of the Rancho Buena Vista Resort. We were concentrating on roosterfish, slowly trolling the inshore waters, and every so often would pick up a roosterfish or two. However, often when we would stop at a spot for the roosterfish we would see schools of needlefish headed toward the boat and the sardina bait. Hopefully a roosterfish would hit the bait before the needlefish but sometimes not and then the hated needlefish would be pulled aboard as quickly as possible (or simply jerked off the hook). They actually put up an interesting fight (including sometimes jumping out of the water) but their habit of twisting the line and their needle-sharp teeth were hated by the boatmen who were looking for larger game fish.

 

 Blackperch from the Ferry Point Pier in Richmond

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.

Blackperch from the Elephant Rock Pier in Tiburon

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 from piers are under a foot. The California record fish weighed 2 Lbs 9 oz and was taken by Zachery Mitchell at Pacific Grove in 2011.

Blackperch caught by Minnowmagnet at the Berkeley Pier

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. ]

Blackperch taken by madsteelhead from the Monterey Wharf #2

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.

Shoreline: One of the main fish for rocky shore anglers in southern and central California.

Blackperch from the Capitola Wharf

Boats: An inshore species rarely taken by boaters unless fishing in bays.

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.

Blackperch taken by  Thomas Orosco at the Berkeley Pier

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.

Blackperch taken by KJ from the Seal Beach Pier

Grandson Adam and a blackperch from the North T-Pier in Morro Bay — 2018

Strange white-colored Blackperch from the Ventura Pier

A brightly colored blackperch from the Cabrillo Pier in San Pedro

Blackperch from the Green Pleasure Pier in Avalon, Catalina Island

Blackperch from the North T-Pier in Morro Bay

Blackperch from the Stillwater Cove Pier at Pebble Beach

Gravid female blackperch from the Long Beach Finger Piers

Blackperch from the Cayucos Pier, 1997

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