Anyone fished Ventura, Stearns Wharf or Goleta recently?

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#1
Heading down there tomorrow. Plan to stop at Pismo Beach and fish for a few hours tomorrow afternoon before driving to Ventura. Hope to hit Ventura and Stearns Wharf on Friday. Will hit Goleta on Saturday. Sunday I will head back to Fresno.
 
#2
Sorry to say I have not fished any of those since October, but Monday I was grubbing at Tar Pits Park in Carpinteria and kept getting hit in the ankles by sticks, logs, and stones due to recent storms and pounding surf. Fished for 3 1/2 hours for not even a bite. The perch weren't home. That said, the upcoming weekend marine weather is supposed to be nicer and water temps have been still hovering in high 50s, so you might have a shot at fair fishing. I myself will be road tripping to the bay area and going to bring a cast net and light rod to see if I can get into some herring. Good luck!
 
#3
Fished the Goleta Pier two weeks ago. Used squid only, mid pier, 1400-1700. Got two small calicos and more than a dozen ronkies. Didn’t see anyone else getting anything different.

Walked the pier yesterday (Tuesday) and saw few fishing. No one caught anything in the half hour (1530-1600) I spent there.
 

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#4
Well, hope springs eternal. I don't have high expectations given the recent high surf that may have stirred up the beach but we'll see.
 
#5
You’ll notice a cosmetic difference at Goleta Pier. They just finished replacing the top boards and rails. The boards haven’t even gotten many notches carved yet. Looks like the finish on the boards will allow for easier cleaning.
 

SC McCarty

Well-Known Member
#6
Have the rains cleaned up Goleta at all. The gulls seem to love the section past the boat lift, leaving plenty of evidence of their presence.

Steve
 
#7
The new top boards make the droppings more obvious, but they’ll be easier to clean...depending on how often they’ll do it.
 

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#8
I fished Goleta for a couple of hours Saturday morning. The fishing was slow but I did manage to catch two sheephead and a brown rockfish from the pipe reef. The pier was pretty clean but as you mention from the boat lift out the boards were covered with gull droppings. Met some of the locals and obtained the name of someone who will give me reports from the pier. Beautiful day.
 

SC McCarty

Well-Known Member
#9
What setup were you using when you caught the sheephead?

A friend and I went to Stearn's Wharf midmorning on Saturday. Fishing is limited to the end of the main wharf and the end of the y. The wharf is mainly a tourist attraction. Fishing was slow, with only a few small mackerel and a few jacksmelt in the 1 ft range being caught. I even tried casting between the pilings in the well, but only got one good nibble. It may be because we were too late in the day, or because a sea lion was hanging around, looking for handouts from the tourists.

My friend did catch a few small whelks, both with the crab net, and with hook and line.

Steve
 

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#10
Both sheephead were caught on my normal high/low rig and both caught on frozen mussels. Stearns was dead for me — no fish.

See my report on more details.