Date: July 17, 2008
To: Pier Fishing In California
From: Ken Jones
Subject: A trip south
Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling down to Goleta for a class with budding journalist-anglers. Along the way I managed to do a little fishing but not too much catching.
Saturday July 12—Traveled the 101 miles to the San Francisco Airport area where I met up with Mike Corden (UPSAC) and Marty Golden (NOAA). Our goal was to visit and photograph some of the piers and line bins where UPSAC had made installations this past year. Unfortunately, a good portion of the bins had been stolen, some for the second time, and the ones that remained had a variety of vandalism issues. However, the two at Candlestick Park Pier were still present as well as the two at Pier 14. Both need some work but will be repaired. The others—at Pier 2, Pier 7, South Harbor Marina, and Oyster Point will be replaced with the Port of San Francisco paying the cost of their bins. We new the bins were missing prior to the trip but still wanted to show Marty the locations and discuss the issues with him. We finished up about 3 PM and while Mike and Marty headed over to Princeton to look at the bins there, I headed down to GDude’s house in Sunnyvale to pick up some equipment needed for our class.
After picking up the equipment, I was finally on the way south down HWY 101 toward San Luis Obispo where I was spending the night. Checked into the motel and headed over to Port San Luis and Avila where I wanted to do a little twilight fishing.
Port San Luis 6:50-7:35 PM
Got to Port San Luis at 6:45 and saw a crowded pier with no one catching fish. Not a good sign! Still, I thought I could manage a few but I was wrong. Other than bullheads, the bottom—and top—seemed devoid of fish. After 45 minutes I decided to move over to Avila.
Avila Pier 8:15-10 PM
Pretty much a repeat of Port San Luis. A pretty night with no wind but also no current and basically no fish. Fished inshore which yielded up three thornbacks, a white croaker, and some more bullheads; fished at the end for sharks, which yielded zilch. Did see one angler catching small lizardfish on a Sabiki along with a few mackerel jack.
Sunday July 13—Headed down to Goleta to meet pierhead; we needed to discuss the Angling Center and prepare for Monday’s class.
Gaviota Pier 7:40-10:40 AM
Stopped along the way for some fishing but again disappointment. Had hoped to make some bait—mackerel or sardines—for Monday’s class. Instead found mostly the usual small fry at the pier—speckled sanddab, shinerperch, jacksmelt, lizardfish, and thornback ray. Did manage two nice-sized mackerel and a decent-sized fantail sole. The sole was caught using a strip squid on a slow retrieve.
Spent most of the day in discussion with Boyd and after a visit to the Stearns Wharf to check out a kiosk we returned to Goleta for a few hours to fish.
Goleta Pier 7:40-9:10 PM
Nathan joined us for some fishing but things were slow once again. Managed 5 brown rockfish in the reef and a nice-sized jacksmelt but that was it. Only other fish I saw were some mackerel being taken out at the end, some by Roy who stopped by to visit and volunteered to help out at the class.
Monday July 14—The morning was spent in final preparation for the class. Roy joined me to rig the rods, Boyd cleaned the pier, and Nathan joined us once again for the class. The kids showed up at 10:30 and we taught them how to fish. At least we taught them how to catch a few fish. Everyone caught fish but they were all small fish—jacksmelt, walleye surfperch, shinerperch, staghorn sculpin, a cabezon, and a kelpfish. The kids, under the able direction of Carrie Culver, were a delight and we look forward to seeing the newspaper they will produce. We finished sometime around 1:30 and soon thereafter I was headed back north.
Pismo Beach Pier 4:40-6:10 PM
Pismo was busy and I really didn’t expect to catch much since the reports have been poor, but I needed to check it out. Mid-pier, fishing for perch, yielded no fish. Headed out to the end where Pacific mackerel began to hit. There was a good-sized school with good-sized fish. Most of the macs were 15-17 inches long and one measured 19 inches. Caught and kept 16, some for bait and some for the dinner table.
Drove north to Morro Bay, checked into my motel, and then tried to go fishing.
Morro Bay T-Pier 7:45-8 PM
Found the entire pier surrounded with boats and though there was a small hole open out at the left corner of the pier, I only fished for a few minutes. Couldn’t get my spot and the water was thick with grass. Left in disgust. Did check out a couple of the small piers along the Embarcadero and had a nice talk with a gentleman who was leopard shark fishing from one of them. Said it had been slow and blamed it on the boat that was dredging the bottom of the bay—although he had caught some sardines earlier in the day. I wished him luck.
Tuesday, July 15—Two more piers to hit in the Middle Kingdom before I headed home.
Cayucos Pier 7-9:15 AM
I found the pier deserted which is always a bad sign but the end was covered in blood and guts so apparently the nocturnal sharkers had been out (there had been reports of dogfish showing up during the night and day). I tied on a Sabiki for the expected sardines and put on a high low for some shark fishing. I got neither. First cast with the Sabiki yielded two jacksmelt of which one fell off. The one I landed was a nice 18-inch fish, one of the largest jacksmelt I have ever caught. Next cast yielded a 16-inch smelt but that was the last of the jacksmelt. Instead the Sabiki yielded a steady diet of jack mackerel and, depending upon the retrieve, a mix of white croaker and spotfin surfperch. Nothing hit the shark pole although I tried squid, cut mackerel, live jack mackerel and live perch. Only two other anglers joined me at the pier and they managed one sardine and a few bullheads—nothing else.
However, the scene at the pier was amazing, as I will discuss at the end; it almost made up for the poor fishing.
San Simeon Pier 10:30 AM-12 Noon
Another beautiful day although the wind was starting to kick up and the air was thick with smoke from the Big Sur fire. As for the fishing, a perfect ending for one of my poorest pier trips along the coast. All I was able to manage was one mackerel and numerous bullheads. Even that was better than the dozen or so other people on the pier who I think pulled in two bullheads. Slow, slow, slow.
Headed the 272 miles back to Lodi with some mackerel in the ice chest but not much else. I did add the following to my Cayucos file when I returned:
Cayucos Pier—One of my favorite visits to the pier was a less than stellar (fish wise) visit in July of 2008. Having heard that the pier was yielding up sardines for bait, and numerous sharks (dogfish) for sport, I made an early morning visit to the pier. Unfortunately, for me, most of the shark action was occurring during the nocturnal, midnight to three hours, and I would fail to catch a shark on this visit. But there had been action as evidenced by the odor at the end of the pier: an effluvium of death. Dried blood from the previous night’s shark fest splotched the surface of the pier while blood, guts, and squid slime coated the top of the rails.
To make matters even worse, I failed in my mission to replenish my bait cooler with sardines. The sardines were there, but 300-400 yards out from the pier. That was where several pods of dolphin, hundreds of cormorants, and several phalanx of pelicans were attacking shoals of unseen fish. Most impressive were the pelicans that seemed to dive bomb almost straight down into the water after their prey. Each splash of the big birds would elicit comment from the tourists watching nature’s show and it was indeed a pretty impressive display. Numerous seals were also in attendance but the dolphins and pterodactyl-imitating pelicans stole the show. The big show lasted for the nearly three hour time I was there and became one of those just wish moments... as in just wish I had a movie camera with me.
Luckily, the anodyne scene served as a soothing balm for the somewhat desultory catch that I recorded, one made up mainly of small spotfin surfperch, mid-sized jack mackerel, and jacksmelt including one of the largest I have ever seen.
To: Pier Fishing In California
From: Ken Jones
Subject: A trip south
Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling down to Goleta for a class with budding journalist-anglers. Along the way I managed to do a little fishing but not too much catching.
Saturday July 12—Traveled the 101 miles to the San Francisco Airport area where I met up with Mike Corden (UPSAC) and Marty Golden (NOAA). Our goal was to visit and photograph some of the piers and line bins where UPSAC had made installations this past year. Unfortunately, a good portion of the bins had been stolen, some for the second time, and the ones that remained had a variety of vandalism issues. However, the two at Candlestick Park Pier were still present as well as the two at Pier 14. Both need some work but will be repaired. The others—at Pier 2, Pier 7, South Harbor Marina, and Oyster Point will be replaced with the Port of San Francisco paying the cost of their bins. We new the bins were missing prior to the trip but still wanted to show Marty the locations and discuss the issues with him. We finished up about 3 PM and while Mike and Marty headed over to Princeton to look at the bins there, I headed down to GDude’s house in Sunnyvale to pick up some equipment needed for our class.
After picking up the equipment, I was finally on the way south down HWY 101 toward San Luis Obispo where I was spending the night. Checked into the motel and headed over to Port San Luis and Avila where I wanted to do a little twilight fishing.
Port San Luis 6:50-7:35 PM
Got to Port San Luis at 6:45 and saw a crowded pier with no one catching fish. Not a good sign! Still, I thought I could manage a few but I was wrong. Other than bullheads, the bottom—and top—seemed devoid of fish. After 45 minutes I decided to move over to Avila.
Avila Pier 8:15-10 PM
Pretty much a repeat of Port San Luis. A pretty night with no wind but also no current and basically no fish. Fished inshore which yielded up three thornbacks, a white croaker, and some more bullheads; fished at the end for sharks, which yielded zilch. Did see one angler catching small lizardfish on a Sabiki along with a few mackerel jack.
Sunday July 13—Headed down to Goleta to meet pierhead; we needed to discuss the Angling Center and prepare for Monday’s class.
Gaviota Pier 7:40-10:40 AM
Stopped along the way for some fishing but again disappointment. Had hoped to make some bait—mackerel or sardines—for Monday’s class. Instead found mostly the usual small fry at the pier—speckled sanddab, shinerperch, jacksmelt, lizardfish, and thornback ray. Did manage two nice-sized mackerel and a decent-sized fantail sole. The sole was caught using a strip squid on a slow retrieve.
Spent most of the day in discussion with Boyd and after a visit to the Stearns Wharf to check out a kiosk we returned to Goleta for a few hours to fish.
Goleta Pier 7:40-9:10 PM
Nathan joined us for some fishing but things were slow once again. Managed 5 brown rockfish in the reef and a nice-sized jacksmelt but that was it. Only other fish I saw were some mackerel being taken out at the end, some by Roy who stopped by to visit and volunteered to help out at the class.
Monday July 14—The morning was spent in final preparation for the class. Roy joined me to rig the rods, Boyd cleaned the pier, and Nathan joined us once again for the class. The kids showed up at 10:30 and we taught them how to fish. At least we taught them how to catch a few fish. Everyone caught fish but they were all small fish—jacksmelt, walleye surfperch, shinerperch, staghorn sculpin, a cabezon, and a kelpfish. The kids, under the able direction of Carrie Culver, were a delight and we look forward to seeing the newspaper they will produce. We finished sometime around 1:30 and soon thereafter I was headed back north.
Pismo Beach Pier 4:40-6:10 PM
Pismo was busy and I really didn’t expect to catch much since the reports have been poor, but I needed to check it out. Mid-pier, fishing for perch, yielded no fish. Headed out to the end where Pacific mackerel began to hit. There was a good-sized school with good-sized fish. Most of the macs were 15-17 inches long and one measured 19 inches. Caught and kept 16, some for bait and some for the dinner table.
Drove north to Morro Bay, checked into my motel, and then tried to go fishing.
Morro Bay T-Pier 7:45-8 PM
Found the entire pier surrounded with boats and though there was a small hole open out at the left corner of the pier, I only fished for a few minutes. Couldn’t get my spot and the water was thick with grass. Left in disgust. Did check out a couple of the small piers along the Embarcadero and had a nice talk with a gentleman who was leopard shark fishing from one of them. Said it had been slow and blamed it on the boat that was dredging the bottom of the bay—although he had caught some sardines earlier in the day. I wished him luck.
Tuesday, July 15—Two more piers to hit in the Middle Kingdom before I headed home.
Cayucos Pier 7-9:15 AM
I found the pier deserted which is always a bad sign but the end was covered in blood and guts so apparently the nocturnal sharkers had been out (there had been reports of dogfish showing up during the night and day). I tied on a Sabiki for the expected sardines and put on a high low for some shark fishing. I got neither. First cast with the Sabiki yielded two jacksmelt of which one fell off. The one I landed was a nice 18-inch fish, one of the largest jacksmelt I have ever caught. Next cast yielded a 16-inch smelt but that was the last of the jacksmelt. Instead the Sabiki yielded a steady diet of jack mackerel and, depending upon the retrieve, a mix of white croaker and spotfin surfperch. Nothing hit the shark pole although I tried squid, cut mackerel, live jack mackerel and live perch. Only two other anglers joined me at the pier and they managed one sardine and a few bullheads—nothing else.
However, the scene at the pier was amazing, as I will discuss at the end; it almost made up for the poor fishing.
San Simeon Pier 10:30 AM-12 Noon
Another beautiful day although the wind was starting to kick up and the air was thick with smoke from the Big Sur fire. As for the fishing, a perfect ending for one of my poorest pier trips along the coast. All I was able to manage was one mackerel and numerous bullheads. Even that was better than the dozen or so other people on the pier who I think pulled in two bullheads. Slow, slow, slow.
Headed the 272 miles back to Lodi with some mackerel in the ice chest but not much else. I did add the following to my Cayucos file when I returned:
Cayucos Pier—One of my favorite visits to the pier was a less than stellar (fish wise) visit in July of 2008. Having heard that the pier was yielding up sardines for bait, and numerous sharks (dogfish) for sport, I made an early morning visit to the pier. Unfortunately, for me, most of the shark action was occurring during the nocturnal, midnight to three hours, and I would fail to catch a shark on this visit. But there had been action as evidenced by the odor at the end of the pier: an effluvium of death. Dried blood from the previous night’s shark fest splotched the surface of the pier while blood, guts, and squid slime coated the top of the rails.
To make matters even worse, I failed in my mission to replenish my bait cooler with sardines. The sardines were there, but 300-400 yards out from the pier. That was where several pods of dolphin, hundreds of cormorants, and several phalanx of pelicans were attacking shoals of unseen fish. Most impressive were the pelicans that seemed to dive bomb almost straight down into the water after their prey. Each splash of the big birds would elicit comment from the tourists watching nature’s show and it was indeed a pretty impressive display. Numerous seals were also in attendance but the dolphins and pterodactyl-imitating pelicans stole the show. The big show lasted for the nearly three hour time I was there and became one of those just wish moments... as in just wish I had a movie camera with me.
Luckily, the anodyne scene served as a soothing balm for the somewhat desultory catch that I recorded, one made up mainly of small spotfin surfperch, mid-sized jack mackerel, and jacksmelt including one of the largest I have ever seen.