California Pier Report
August 2024 Fishing Report, Southern California (#296)
Lobster season is now closed!
San Diego County Piers
Imperial Beach Pier – No report, need a reporter. Traditionally the pier should be good for mackerel and possibly sardines by this time of the year. Expect some croaker inshore, halibut mid-pier, and a variety of sharks and rays on the bottom. How To Get There: From I-5 take the Palm Ave. (Hwy. 75) exit and follow it to where Palm Ave. and Hwy. 75 divide. Follow Palm Ave. to Seacoast Dr., turn left and it will take you right to the pier.
Ocean Beach Pier — The pier is closed and apparently will remain closed this year. How To Get There: From the north, take I-5 to the Sea World Dr. exit and follow it until it turns off to Sunset Cliffs Blvd. From the south, take I- 5 to the Nimitz Blvd. exit, then follow that road to Sunset Cliffs Blvd. Follow Sunset Cliffs Blvd. to Newport Ave., turn right and follow the road to the pier parking lot.
Crystal Pier – The pier remains closed (although repairs were supposed to be finished by now). How To get There: Take I-5 to Garnet Ave. then take Garnet west to the foot of the pier.
Pepper Park Pier — No report. We need a reporter! Traditionally some mackerel on top and kelp bass on the bottom should be available. How To Get There: From I-5 take the 24th Street off-ramp west to Tidelands Avenue and go left (south) on Tidelands to the end.
Bayside Park Pier — No report. We need a reporter. How To Get There: From I-5 take the J Street off ramp and go west. Take J Street to Tidelands Ave.; turn right. Take Tidelands to Sandpiper Way; turn right. Take Sandpiper to Bayside Parkway, turn left and follow the road to the park.
Embarcadero Marina Pier — No report. We need a reporter. Expect some bass, croaker and sharays (sharks and rays) on the bottom as well as halibut (most caught on artificial lures). How To Get There: From the I-5 south, take the Front Street exit south to Market (just stay on Front Street, it runs into Market), take Market west to Harbor Dr. Turn left on Harbor Dr. and take it to 8th Ave., turn right onto Convention Way (formerly Harbor St.). Follow it a short block to 5th Ave. and the pier. It seems that with the new Convention Center the city is constantly working on these streets near the pier and renaming them; if you get confused remember that the park and pier are immediately to the southwest of the Convention Center. From I-5 North, approaching from the south, take the J Street exit, then go straight, three blocks up to Market, turn left and take it from there.
Ferry Landing Pier (Coronado) — Need a reporter although the pier continues to kick out a lot of sharays (mainly round stingrays or bat rays) and an occasional halibut. Bass fishing (kelp, sand and spotted) as well as mackerel action should start picking up. How To Get There: From San Diego, take the Coronado Bay Bridge (Highway 75) to Coronado. Once over the bridge you are on Third Street. Simply follow it to B Avenue, turn right, and follow it to the front of The Old Ferry Landing — the intersection of First Street and B Avenue. The pier sits behind the shops in the complex.
Shelter Island Pier — We need a reporter but one report said mackerel action is good some days slow others. Some halibut and miscellaneous fish are found on the bottom. How To Get There: Take I-5 or I-8 to Rosecrans (Hwy. 209) and go west, turn left at Shelter Island Dr. and follow the road until you see the pier and the entrance to the parking lot.
Oceanside Pier —Bill Litchfield at the Oceanside Pier gave me the latest news. Fishing had been decent but when the water temperature dropped from 72 degrees down to 65 it slowed the action. Croaker anglers continue to pull in spotfin and yellowfin inshore along with a few corbina but crowding has been a problem. Mid-pier continues to kick out some bass and halibut including one 29 ½-inch fish. Bottom fish have included a few leopard sharks, guitarfish, and thresher sharks with the latter causing some problems. Thresher anglers come down on Friday nights and seem to take over the area where the fence blocks off access to the burned end of the pier down to the sink. They set up tents and stay there until Sunday meanwhile not allowing other anglers access to the area (a bad recipe). They thresher guys aren’t catching a lot of threshers but enough to keep them coming to the pier. As for mackerel and bonito, mackerel are absent during the day but seem to come in around sundown and they provide some nighttime action; only one bonito has been caught, a small fish caught on a Sabiki. However, herring (queenfish) do seem to be available under the pier. As for the pier itself, things seem to have gone down hill. In combination with the end being closed, and no restaurant, there are also less traditional amenities. As example the bait shop once provided small tables for long time (old) regulars to rest, have a cup of coffee, and solve the world’s problems. When the bait shop changed hands the tables were removed, the price of coffee shot up, and most of the old regulars do not even visit the pier any longer. A bad sign in my book. Of course I am told the bait shop itself is closed much of the time. Things have changed—at least for the angling public, which no longer feels welcome. How To Get There: From I-5 take Mission Blvd. west to Pacific, turn left and follow it to the pier.
Oceanside Harbor Pier — Bill Litchfield said he’s not getting much information on the pier. Apparently there’s little action during the day but nighttime sees more action both with croakers and sharays (and some big bat rays have been caught). No report on it but I imagine some barracuda should also be available at night. How To Get There: From I-5 take the Harbor Dr. exit off the freeway, follow it and it will wind down to the harbor; where the road splits stay to the right on North Harbor Dr., and follow it to the pier.
Orange County Piers
San Clemente Pier — Stephanie at Hogan's Bait and Tackle (34320 Pacific Coast Hwy. said it’s pretty much the same species and action. Inshore croaker and perch are being caught on natural bait—fresh mussels, lugworms and Pismo clams (a recent addition to the shop’s list of baits) while further out on the pier some bass are showing up, mostly on the right side. No mention of sharks and rays. A report from Fishman Fishman on July 31 reported trips on July 29 and 31st. He said, “Beautiful morning at the pier. Fished both morning sessions with the tide rising. On Monday managed to land a nice Spotfin croaker on mussel. Lost two other Spotfins after brief hook ups. Landed a 27-inch Bat ray on squid/anchovy combination. Other fisherman in the area caught some Spanish mackerel, a Black perch, a short Sand bass, and a Spotfin. Fishing was kind of slow. Wednesday was a little better. Landed a Spotfin Croaker on mussel, a Scorpionfish on shrimp, a White Sea Perch and Spanish mackerel on mussel. Used a live smelt for bait in hopes of tempting a Sand bass or Halibut. Instead a Bat ray picked it up and almost spooled me. Made the decision to clamp down on the spool when I saw metal and almost no line. The expected break off occurred where the main line (20 lb.) and leader was tied. Luckily, most of the line was retrieved... Always happens, something large hits the rod with the lighter gear set up! That's the excitement of fishing. I saw one regular catching Spanish mackerel. Overall it was slow. Maybe a fish every 45 minutes. Talked to a few regulars. They commented that the overall fish bite had slowed since the last full moon.
Good luck everyone.” How to Get There: From I-5 take any of several exit streets west to El Camino Real, follow it to the center of town, and from there take Del Mar down to the pier.
Dana Harbor Pier — Stephanie at Hogan's Bait and Tackle (34320 Pacific Coast Hwy. said she’s getting reports on croaker and bass at the pier. Sounds like there should also be some small barracuda around at night. How To Get There: The pier is located in the Dana Cove Park area of Dana Point Harbor. From the Pacific Coast Highway take Green Lantern Road south to the harbor, turn left on Cove Road, and follow it to the pier.
Balboa Pier — Our reporter Snookie said: “The catching is getting better. We have been getting halibut, small white seabass, calicos, sand bass, shovelnose guitarfish, yellowfin croakers and small bonitos plus the usual mackerel. The bait has been great with sardines a lot of the time and smelt plus queenfish and small perch. The Jr. Lifeguards have their last day of the season tomorrow, but this year they haven't been quite as bothersome. Oh, by the way yesterday there were quite a few small market-size squid (great to eat or use for bait). Remember that the squid are only available if it is foggy or overcast.” Can't wait to see what the fall has to offer. How To Get There: From the Pacific Coast Highway take Newport Blvd. which will turn into Balboa Blvd., follow it west to Palm Street. Turn right and follow it to the pier and the adjacent parking lot (which is very expensive).
Newport Pier — No report this month but given the good action at Balboa I imagine it’s the same at Newport. The action is usually similar to Balboa although it’s generally far more crowded. How To Get There: From the Pacific Coast Highway take the Newport Blvd. turn off and precede west watching for signs directing traffic to the pier. The pier sits at the foot of McFadden Place. Metered parking is available but all the lots fill early and are full much of the day. Basically you almost have to wait until someone else leaves and there’s an empty spot.
Huntington Beach Pier — We need a reporter. Expect spotfin and yellowfin croaker inshore, some halibut and smaller croaker mid-pier, mackerel mid-pier to the end, and sharays (sharks and rays) primarily mid-pier to the end with the larger thresher sharks at the end. How To Get There: Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) to Huntington Beach and the pier.” How To Get There: Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) to Huntington Beach and the pier.”
Seal Beach Pier — Liz, at Big Fish Bait & Tackle. 1780-C. Pacific Coast Hwy. says she’s still not getting a lot of reports but apparently there’s the usual perch, croakers and occasional corbina inshore while further out on the pier anglers are getting some mackerel along with a few small sand sharks (guitarfish?). How To Get There: From the Pacific Coast Highway simply take Main St. west and follow it to the pier.
Los Angeles County Piers
Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier — Liz, at Big Fish Bait & Tackle. 1780-C. Pacific Coast Hwy. says not too many reports but anglers were getting a few halibut. I imagine some croakers should also be showing up in the inshore area. Makairaa also reported hearing that an angler had caught 16 or 17 butterfish at the pier. How To Get There: From the north take I-405 to the Lakewood Boulevard turnoff, and then go south to 7th Street, turn west (right) until you come to Ximeno Ave. and then turn left. Follow it to Livingston Dr. and go west. You will see signs by Ocean Ave. and Termino Ave. indicating the pier. From the south take the Pacific Coast Highway to 2nd. Street (Westminister becomes 2nd. Street when it crosses PCH), go west, follow to Livingston Dr. Follow it to signs by Ocean Ave. and Termino Ave. indicating the pier and parking lot.
Shoreline Aquatic Park Piers (Long Beach) — The normal fish should be available—white croaker casting out from the pier, sargo and perch when fishing the inshore waters. How to Get There: From downtown Long Beach, take Pine Avenue south to Shoreline Drive. For the northernmost pier #1 follow Shoreline Avenue west and follow it around the lagoon to where the street ends. For the southernmost piers #2-#5 follow Shoreline Drive east to the markings for Shoreline Village, continue past the shopping complex, and follow the road out to near the end of the peninsula. You will see the piers.
Pier J Piers (Long Beach) — The normal fish should be available—white croaker, queenfish, perch and perhaps some mackerel. How To Get There: From I-710 follow the signs saying S. Harbor Scenic Drive. From downtown Long Beach follow Queens Way past the Catalina Landing and on to the Queens Way Bridge over the water and take the S. Harbor Scenic Drive.
Cabrillo Beach Pier (San Pedro) — Alex at the Rusty Hook, 245 N Gaffey St., San Pedro said the reports he’s getting are somewhat the same, mainly short halibut with an occasional bottom fish—some sand bass, white croaker and a few sculpin (scorpionfish). He says there was a decent run of mackerel taking place but he thinks they’ve moved on. He attributes it to a drop in water temperature from 68 down to 62 (which greatly affects fish bite). Hopefully it will go back up. Kevin Fimple, Jr., a regular at the pier (and hopefully a new reporter) said the action at the pier is extremely slow with no jacksmelt or mackerel. He said there is some action at the beginning of the pier on small halibut but very few legal-size fish. How To Get There: Take the Harbor Freeway (I-110) south; it will turn into Gaffey St. Follow it to 22nd Street and turn left. Follow 22nd St. to Pacific Ave. and turn right. Follow Pacific Ave. to 36th Street and the entrance to Cabrillo Park.
Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon, Catalina Island) – Expect the normal species—kelp bass, rock wrasse, senorita, opaleye, halfmoon, and sheephead. How To Get There: The trick here is to get to Catalina. Ships and helicopters make the journey several times a day from the Port of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newport Beach (near the Balboa Pier) and Dana Harbor. Information is available on all of these by calling the Avalon Chamber of Commerce on the Pleasure Pier (213) 510-1520 or the Visitor's Information & Service Center (213) 510-2500. Once in Avalon there should be no problem in finding the pier, which is located at the foot of Catalina Avenue.
Cabrillo Mole (Avalon, Catalina Island) — Expect the normal species—kelp bass, rock wrasse, senorita, opaleye, halfmoon, sheephead, and ocean whitefish. Some bonito and barracuda may also show up. A report from fish-ninja on July 25 said, “I finally got around to meet up with some old boys at Avalon. This turned out to be a nice mini get together with Mahigeer and Jellyfish. It was great time of sharing our stories and respective presence with some great shore anglers. Fishing wise, it was very interesting too. My plan was to do night fishing for sharks and calico bass. So instead of leaving Long Beach in a wee hour like I usually do, I left home around noon and arrived at Avalon around 3pm. Joining Mahigeer san who were already there, I was to fish evening bites, all night for sharks then morning bites before I take off the island around noon next day. I liked this idea fishing wise but the traffic I had to suffer during my returning leg plus tiredness I had due to lack of sleep lasting a couple of days were some hefty price I had to pay for. In any case, it was a nice and fun trip. So after I arrived at the mole, I found the weather was nice and water very fishy. Knowing that barracuda was around from some boat fishing reports, I rigged a metal jig with my shore jigging rod and tossed it far. A big hit was had on the first cast. What came was indeed a nice keeper barracuda! I thought it would be a giddy fishing day but it turned out to be pretty slow after the initial hit. Occasional small Spanish mackerels that was all. Only after sunset, I managed to land another keeper barracuda. 2 hits 2 fish was a good tiding I say. Night fishing was mostly slow fare too. Earlier the evening, I managed to land some short calico bass like this one. I was using cut fillets of the Spanish mackerel I caught earlier on hi-lo rig with only low loop used. Another heavy rig with wire leader was tossed with cut barracuda chunk. But mostly silent thing for the entire night. Both Mahigeer san and I dozed off until we heard one strong hit on the shark rig, making the clicker sounded crazy for about 2 seconds. This woke both up and I ran to the rod but it was too late. Both fish and bait was gone. That was only event that was worth to mention for the night. Despite that, I have to say I love the night at the pier. There were no one else fishing, having the entire mole to ourselves. The sound of baitfish jumping around in dark sounded like a heavy rain. Moon lights dancing in reflection on the black water surface.... They certainly have totally different look in the night. I woke up 5am and started to fish for morning bites. No barracuda is to be seen. No bonito either for the entire trip. It seems that when barracuda shows up, bonito seems to disappear. When I was thinking like that sort of fishing things, something took my metal jig and dashed into kelp. It was rather large fish I could feel on my hand holding my reel. An idea of yellowtail flashed in me as I heard that some locals landed two large yellowtails a day before. But what came up after playing with kelp, the usual bale out and on and out and on and out ... a nice 18inch calico bass came out! After the sun rise, I switched to a bait tackle borrowing Mahigeer san's rig and found some halfmoon and opaleye.” How to Get There: The trick here is to get to Catalina. Ships and helicopters make the journey several times a day from the Port of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newport Beach (near the Balboa Pier) and Dana Harbor. Information is available on all of these by calling the Avalon Chamber of Commerce on the Pleasure Pier (213) 510-1520 or the Visitor's Information & Service Center (213) 510-2500. Once in Avalon when you walk off the ferry onto the landing you are at the Mole.
Redondo Beach Pier — Hond (or maybe Han) at Redondo Beach Tackle near the end of the pier (by the restaurant) said about all he’s been seeing are mackerel. How To Get There: From the Pacific Coast Highway, take Torrance Blvd. west to the foot of the pier and the parking lot.
Manhattan Beach Pier — No report this month. Need a reporter. How To Get There: From Sepulveda Boulevard, turn west on Manhattan Beach Drive and follow it to the pier.
Hermosa Beach Pier — No report this month. Need a reporter. How To Get There: Take the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy 1) to Pier Avenue and follow Pier Avenue west to the pier.
Venice Pier — No report this month. Need a reporter. How Get There: Highway 1 to Washington St., turn west and follow Washington St. to the pier.
Santa Monica Pier — No report this month. Need a reporter. How to Get There: From I-405 take Santa Monica Blvd. west to Ocean Ave. Turn left, go to Colorado Ave., and turn right onto the pier.
Malibu Pier — Ginny at Wylie’s Bait & Tackle (18757 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu) says the action has picked up. She says during the grunion runs a LOT of halibut were being caught but day-to-day it’s been slower. A lot of sargo are showing up, a few corbina, and some yellowfin croaker. Meanwhile, those using Sabikis are pulling in small perch and some mackerel. Do be aware that a lot of cars are being broken into all along the highway. She also mentioned that it’s almost impossible to get in merchandise (rods and reels) that is not broken. Reels are missing pieces, rod tips are broken, etc. She says almost any merchandise coming in from China is just a mess. She complains but gets little response. At least anglers are catching fish. How To Get There: The pier fronts on the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy 1) so just drive until you see it.
Paradise Cove Pier — Ginny at Wylie’s Bait & Tackle (18757 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu), Ginny said reports indicate fishing is still fairly good with, as usual, a lot of big bat rays being caught. How To Get There: Take Highway 1 to Paradise Cove Dr., turn west, and follow the road back into the parking lot. Parking is very expensive unless you buy an expensive meal at the restaurant and then you are allowed to fish for, I think, three hours.
Ventura & Santa Barbara County Piers
Port Hueneme Pier —Ludia at Hyun’s Tackle, 3695 E Harbor Blvd., Ventura, said fishing has been decent led by good mackerel action and some halibut. Perch are available inshore but she says they are all too small (anglers are complaining about the size). Although some sharays (sharks and rays) are being caught it is much slower action than that seen at Ventura. How To Get There: From Highway 1 take Hueneme Rd. west until it turns into Port. At Ventura Rd turn left and follow it to Surfside Dr. Turn left again and follow it to the park.
Ventura Pier — Ludia at Hyun’s Tackle, 3695 E Harbor Blvd., Ventura, said since the pier reopened the fishing has been very good. Inshore expect to find good croaker and perch action while further out on the pier good numbers of mackerel are being caught along with some halibut. As for the shark fishermen, they are getting good numbers of thresher sharks using live mackerel for bait. How To Get There: From Highway 101 take the Seaward Drive exit west to Harbor Drive, turn right and follow it to the pier.
Stearns Wharf (Santa Barbara) — Ben at Hook Line & Sinker, 4010-5 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, says Stearns has “gone off” on the threshers. Thresher sharks are being caught daily (one 16 hour period saw seven landed) but, as usual, they are small, immature threshers ranging from 3 ½ to 7 feet (body and tail) total length. Of course no one returns them to the water. As a consequence, Ben says several Goleta shark anglers have moved over to Stearns. Just hope they are not trying to take over the pier from the non-shark anglers (as sometimes happens). Ben says there is a ton of bait in the water —Pacific mackerel, Spanish mackerel (jack mackerel), sardines, smelt, anchovies and shinerperch. The abundance of baitfish (food) answers why the threshers are there. Ben said there are other fish there besides the threshers including some leopard sharks (one measuring nearly 5-feet in length), a few halibut, and the usual small croakers and perch. It sounds like the time to be at Stearns. How To Get There: From Highway 101 take Castillo St. or State St. west to the beach and follow signs to the pier.
Goleta Pier —Ben at Hook Line & Sinker, 4010-5 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, said it’s been a mixed bag this month. The county got some money to make repairs and they’ve been replacing some of the wood atop the pier as well as replacing some pilings. The result is that the county has tended to open the pier Friday through Sunday while keeping it closed on weekdays (much to anglers chagrin). As for the fish it is the usual, mainly bass (and probably small rockfish) by the pilings and pipe reef while a variety of sharays (bat rays, shovelnose sharks, thornback rays, and even an angel shark) are caught on the bottom. The mackerel (both Pacific and Spanish) move in during the afternoon and bite well right into the evening hours, especially in the shadows of the lights. No bonito to date but a school of barracuda was around for a couple of days (and seemingly moved on) and both sardines and jacksmelt are making an appearance. No report on halibut. How To Get There: From Highway 101 take the Hwy. 217/Airport exit. Follow it to Sandspit Rd. and the Goleta Beach Park turnoff. Follow this to the park and the pier.
Gaviota Pier — Ongoing report—The pier has now been closed for a decade and the rumors of repair and reopening continue. It’s interesting reading the various reports on the pier on the Internet. How To Get There: From Highway 101 simply take the Gaviota State Park turnoff down to the beach and pier.
August 2024 Fishing Report, Southern California (#296)
Lobster season is now closed!
San Diego County Piers
Imperial Beach Pier – No report, need a reporter. Traditionally the pier should be good for mackerel and possibly sardines by this time of the year. Expect some croaker inshore, halibut mid-pier, and a variety of sharks and rays on the bottom. How To Get There: From I-5 take the Palm Ave. (Hwy. 75) exit and follow it to where Palm Ave. and Hwy. 75 divide. Follow Palm Ave. to Seacoast Dr., turn left and it will take you right to the pier.
Ocean Beach Pier — The pier is closed and apparently will remain closed this year. How To Get There: From the north, take I-5 to the Sea World Dr. exit and follow it until it turns off to Sunset Cliffs Blvd. From the south, take I- 5 to the Nimitz Blvd. exit, then follow that road to Sunset Cliffs Blvd. Follow Sunset Cliffs Blvd. to Newport Ave., turn right and follow the road to the pier parking lot.
Crystal Pier – The pier remains closed (although repairs were supposed to be finished by now). How To get There: Take I-5 to Garnet Ave. then take Garnet west to the foot of the pier.
Pepper Park Pier — No report. We need a reporter! Traditionally some mackerel on top and kelp bass on the bottom should be available. How To Get There: From I-5 take the 24th Street off-ramp west to Tidelands Avenue and go left (south) on Tidelands to the end.
Bayside Park Pier — No report. We need a reporter. How To Get There: From I-5 take the J Street off ramp and go west. Take J Street to Tidelands Ave.; turn right. Take Tidelands to Sandpiper Way; turn right. Take Sandpiper to Bayside Parkway, turn left and follow the road to the park.
Embarcadero Marina Pier — No report. We need a reporter. Expect some bass, croaker and sharays (sharks and rays) on the bottom as well as halibut (most caught on artificial lures). How To Get There: From the I-5 south, take the Front Street exit south to Market (just stay on Front Street, it runs into Market), take Market west to Harbor Dr. Turn left on Harbor Dr. and take it to 8th Ave., turn right onto Convention Way (formerly Harbor St.). Follow it a short block to 5th Ave. and the pier. It seems that with the new Convention Center the city is constantly working on these streets near the pier and renaming them; if you get confused remember that the park and pier are immediately to the southwest of the Convention Center. From I-5 North, approaching from the south, take the J Street exit, then go straight, three blocks up to Market, turn left and take it from there.
Ferry Landing Pier (Coronado) — Need a reporter although the pier continues to kick out a lot of sharays (mainly round stingrays or bat rays) and an occasional halibut. Bass fishing (kelp, sand and spotted) as well as mackerel action should start picking up. How To Get There: From San Diego, take the Coronado Bay Bridge (Highway 75) to Coronado. Once over the bridge you are on Third Street. Simply follow it to B Avenue, turn right, and follow it to the front of The Old Ferry Landing — the intersection of First Street and B Avenue. The pier sits behind the shops in the complex.
Shelter Island Pier — We need a reporter but one report said mackerel action is good some days slow others. Some halibut and miscellaneous fish are found on the bottom. How To Get There: Take I-5 or I-8 to Rosecrans (Hwy. 209) and go west, turn left at Shelter Island Dr. and follow the road until you see the pier and the entrance to the parking lot.
Oceanside Pier —Bill Litchfield at the Oceanside Pier gave me the latest news. Fishing had been decent but when the water temperature dropped from 72 degrees down to 65 it slowed the action. Croaker anglers continue to pull in spotfin and yellowfin inshore along with a few corbina but crowding has been a problem. Mid-pier continues to kick out some bass and halibut including one 29 ½-inch fish. Bottom fish have included a few leopard sharks, guitarfish, and thresher sharks with the latter causing some problems. Thresher anglers come down on Friday nights and seem to take over the area where the fence blocks off access to the burned end of the pier down to the sink. They set up tents and stay there until Sunday meanwhile not allowing other anglers access to the area (a bad recipe). They thresher guys aren’t catching a lot of threshers but enough to keep them coming to the pier. As for mackerel and bonito, mackerel are absent during the day but seem to come in around sundown and they provide some nighttime action; only one bonito has been caught, a small fish caught on a Sabiki. However, herring (queenfish) do seem to be available under the pier. As for the pier itself, things seem to have gone down hill. In combination with the end being closed, and no restaurant, there are also less traditional amenities. As example the bait shop once provided small tables for long time (old) regulars to rest, have a cup of coffee, and solve the world’s problems. When the bait shop changed hands the tables were removed, the price of coffee shot up, and most of the old regulars do not even visit the pier any longer. A bad sign in my book. Of course I am told the bait shop itself is closed much of the time. Things have changed—at least for the angling public, which no longer feels welcome. How To Get There: From I-5 take Mission Blvd. west to Pacific, turn left and follow it to the pier.
Oceanside Harbor Pier — Bill Litchfield said he’s not getting much information on the pier. Apparently there’s little action during the day but nighttime sees more action both with croakers and sharays (and some big bat rays have been caught). No report on it but I imagine some barracuda should also be available at night. How To Get There: From I-5 take the Harbor Dr. exit off the freeway, follow it and it will wind down to the harbor; where the road splits stay to the right on North Harbor Dr., and follow it to the pier.
Orange County Piers
San Clemente Pier — Stephanie at Hogan's Bait and Tackle (34320 Pacific Coast Hwy. said it’s pretty much the same species and action. Inshore croaker and perch are being caught on natural bait—fresh mussels, lugworms and Pismo clams (a recent addition to the shop’s list of baits) while further out on the pier some bass are showing up, mostly on the right side. No mention of sharks and rays. A report from Fishman Fishman on July 31 reported trips on July 29 and 31st. He said, “Beautiful morning at the pier. Fished both morning sessions with the tide rising. On Monday managed to land a nice Spotfin croaker on mussel. Lost two other Spotfins after brief hook ups. Landed a 27-inch Bat ray on squid/anchovy combination. Other fisherman in the area caught some Spanish mackerel, a Black perch, a short Sand bass, and a Spotfin. Fishing was kind of slow. Wednesday was a little better. Landed a Spotfin Croaker on mussel, a Scorpionfish on shrimp, a White Sea Perch and Spanish mackerel on mussel. Used a live smelt for bait in hopes of tempting a Sand bass or Halibut. Instead a Bat ray picked it up and almost spooled me. Made the decision to clamp down on the spool when I saw metal and almost no line. The expected break off occurred where the main line (20 lb.) and leader was tied. Luckily, most of the line was retrieved... Always happens, something large hits the rod with the lighter gear set up! That's the excitement of fishing. I saw one regular catching Spanish mackerel. Overall it was slow. Maybe a fish every 45 minutes. Talked to a few regulars. They commented that the overall fish bite had slowed since the last full moon.
Good luck everyone.” How to Get There: From I-5 take any of several exit streets west to El Camino Real, follow it to the center of town, and from there take Del Mar down to the pier.
Dana Harbor Pier — Stephanie at Hogan's Bait and Tackle (34320 Pacific Coast Hwy. said she’s getting reports on croaker and bass at the pier. Sounds like there should also be some small barracuda around at night. How To Get There: The pier is located in the Dana Cove Park area of Dana Point Harbor. From the Pacific Coast Highway take Green Lantern Road south to the harbor, turn left on Cove Road, and follow it to the pier.
Balboa Pier — Our reporter Snookie said: “The catching is getting better. We have been getting halibut, small white seabass, calicos, sand bass, shovelnose guitarfish, yellowfin croakers and small bonitos plus the usual mackerel. The bait has been great with sardines a lot of the time and smelt plus queenfish and small perch. The Jr. Lifeguards have their last day of the season tomorrow, but this year they haven't been quite as bothersome. Oh, by the way yesterday there were quite a few small market-size squid (great to eat or use for bait). Remember that the squid are only available if it is foggy or overcast.” Can't wait to see what the fall has to offer. How To Get There: From the Pacific Coast Highway take Newport Blvd. which will turn into Balboa Blvd., follow it west to Palm Street. Turn right and follow it to the pier and the adjacent parking lot (which is very expensive).
Newport Pier — No report this month but given the good action at Balboa I imagine it’s the same at Newport. The action is usually similar to Balboa although it’s generally far more crowded. How To Get There: From the Pacific Coast Highway take the Newport Blvd. turn off and precede west watching for signs directing traffic to the pier. The pier sits at the foot of McFadden Place. Metered parking is available but all the lots fill early and are full much of the day. Basically you almost have to wait until someone else leaves and there’s an empty spot.
Huntington Beach Pier — We need a reporter. Expect spotfin and yellowfin croaker inshore, some halibut and smaller croaker mid-pier, mackerel mid-pier to the end, and sharays (sharks and rays) primarily mid-pier to the end with the larger thresher sharks at the end. How To Get There: Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) to Huntington Beach and the pier.” How To Get There: Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) to Huntington Beach and the pier.”
Seal Beach Pier — Liz, at Big Fish Bait & Tackle. 1780-C. Pacific Coast Hwy. says she’s still not getting a lot of reports but apparently there’s the usual perch, croakers and occasional corbina inshore while further out on the pier anglers are getting some mackerel along with a few small sand sharks (guitarfish?). How To Get There: From the Pacific Coast Highway simply take Main St. west and follow it to the pier.
Los Angeles County Piers
Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier — Liz, at Big Fish Bait & Tackle. 1780-C. Pacific Coast Hwy. says not too many reports but anglers were getting a few halibut. I imagine some croakers should also be showing up in the inshore area. Makairaa also reported hearing that an angler had caught 16 or 17 butterfish at the pier. How To Get There: From the north take I-405 to the Lakewood Boulevard turnoff, and then go south to 7th Street, turn west (right) until you come to Ximeno Ave. and then turn left. Follow it to Livingston Dr. and go west. You will see signs by Ocean Ave. and Termino Ave. indicating the pier. From the south take the Pacific Coast Highway to 2nd. Street (Westminister becomes 2nd. Street when it crosses PCH), go west, follow to Livingston Dr. Follow it to signs by Ocean Ave. and Termino Ave. indicating the pier and parking lot.
Shoreline Aquatic Park Piers (Long Beach) — The normal fish should be available—white croaker casting out from the pier, sargo and perch when fishing the inshore waters. How to Get There: From downtown Long Beach, take Pine Avenue south to Shoreline Drive. For the northernmost pier #1 follow Shoreline Avenue west and follow it around the lagoon to where the street ends. For the southernmost piers #2-#5 follow Shoreline Drive east to the markings for Shoreline Village, continue past the shopping complex, and follow the road out to near the end of the peninsula. You will see the piers.
Pier J Piers (Long Beach) — The normal fish should be available—white croaker, queenfish, perch and perhaps some mackerel. How To Get There: From I-710 follow the signs saying S. Harbor Scenic Drive. From downtown Long Beach follow Queens Way past the Catalina Landing and on to the Queens Way Bridge over the water and take the S. Harbor Scenic Drive.
Cabrillo Beach Pier (San Pedro) — Alex at the Rusty Hook, 245 N Gaffey St., San Pedro said the reports he’s getting are somewhat the same, mainly short halibut with an occasional bottom fish—some sand bass, white croaker and a few sculpin (scorpionfish). He says there was a decent run of mackerel taking place but he thinks they’ve moved on. He attributes it to a drop in water temperature from 68 down to 62 (which greatly affects fish bite). Hopefully it will go back up. Kevin Fimple, Jr., a regular at the pier (and hopefully a new reporter) said the action at the pier is extremely slow with no jacksmelt or mackerel. He said there is some action at the beginning of the pier on small halibut but very few legal-size fish. How To Get There: Take the Harbor Freeway (I-110) south; it will turn into Gaffey St. Follow it to 22nd Street and turn left. Follow 22nd St. to Pacific Ave. and turn right. Follow Pacific Ave. to 36th Street and the entrance to Cabrillo Park.
Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon, Catalina Island) – Expect the normal species—kelp bass, rock wrasse, senorita, opaleye, halfmoon, and sheephead. How To Get There: The trick here is to get to Catalina. Ships and helicopters make the journey several times a day from the Port of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newport Beach (near the Balboa Pier) and Dana Harbor. Information is available on all of these by calling the Avalon Chamber of Commerce on the Pleasure Pier (213) 510-1520 or the Visitor's Information & Service Center (213) 510-2500. Once in Avalon there should be no problem in finding the pier, which is located at the foot of Catalina Avenue.
Cabrillo Mole (Avalon, Catalina Island) — Expect the normal species—kelp bass, rock wrasse, senorita, opaleye, halfmoon, sheephead, and ocean whitefish. Some bonito and barracuda may also show up. A report from fish-ninja on July 25 said, “I finally got around to meet up with some old boys at Avalon. This turned out to be a nice mini get together with Mahigeer and Jellyfish. It was great time of sharing our stories and respective presence with some great shore anglers. Fishing wise, it was very interesting too. My plan was to do night fishing for sharks and calico bass. So instead of leaving Long Beach in a wee hour like I usually do, I left home around noon and arrived at Avalon around 3pm. Joining Mahigeer san who were already there, I was to fish evening bites, all night for sharks then morning bites before I take off the island around noon next day. I liked this idea fishing wise but the traffic I had to suffer during my returning leg plus tiredness I had due to lack of sleep lasting a couple of days were some hefty price I had to pay for. In any case, it was a nice and fun trip. So after I arrived at the mole, I found the weather was nice and water very fishy. Knowing that barracuda was around from some boat fishing reports, I rigged a metal jig with my shore jigging rod and tossed it far. A big hit was had on the first cast. What came was indeed a nice keeper barracuda! I thought it would be a giddy fishing day but it turned out to be pretty slow after the initial hit. Occasional small Spanish mackerels that was all. Only after sunset, I managed to land another keeper barracuda. 2 hits 2 fish was a good tiding I say. Night fishing was mostly slow fare too. Earlier the evening, I managed to land some short calico bass like this one. I was using cut fillets of the Spanish mackerel I caught earlier on hi-lo rig with only low loop used. Another heavy rig with wire leader was tossed with cut barracuda chunk. But mostly silent thing for the entire night. Both Mahigeer san and I dozed off until we heard one strong hit on the shark rig, making the clicker sounded crazy for about 2 seconds. This woke both up and I ran to the rod but it was too late. Both fish and bait was gone. That was only event that was worth to mention for the night. Despite that, I have to say I love the night at the pier. There were no one else fishing, having the entire mole to ourselves. The sound of baitfish jumping around in dark sounded like a heavy rain. Moon lights dancing in reflection on the black water surface.... They certainly have totally different look in the night. I woke up 5am and started to fish for morning bites. No barracuda is to be seen. No bonito either for the entire trip. It seems that when barracuda shows up, bonito seems to disappear. When I was thinking like that sort of fishing things, something took my metal jig and dashed into kelp. It was rather large fish I could feel on my hand holding my reel. An idea of yellowtail flashed in me as I heard that some locals landed two large yellowtails a day before. But what came up after playing with kelp, the usual bale out and on and out and on and out ... a nice 18inch calico bass came out! After the sun rise, I switched to a bait tackle borrowing Mahigeer san's rig and found some halfmoon and opaleye.” How to Get There: The trick here is to get to Catalina. Ships and helicopters make the journey several times a day from the Port of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newport Beach (near the Balboa Pier) and Dana Harbor. Information is available on all of these by calling the Avalon Chamber of Commerce on the Pleasure Pier (213) 510-1520 or the Visitor's Information & Service Center (213) 510-2500. Once in Avalon when you walk off the ferry onto the landing you are at the Mole.
Redondo Beach Pier — Hond (or maybe Han) at Redondo Beach Tackle near the end of the pier (by the restaurant) said about all he’s been seeing are mackerel. How To Get There: From the Pacific Coast Highway, take Torrance Blvd. west to the foot of the pier and the parking lot.
Manhattan Beach Pier — No report this month. Need a reporter. How To Get There: From Sepulveda Boulevard, turn west on Manhattan Beach Drive and follow it to the pier.
Hermosa Beach Pier — No report this month. Need a reporter. How To Get There: Take the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy 1) to Pier Avenue and follow Pier Avenue west to the pier.
Venice Pier — No report this month. Need a reporter. How Get There: Highway 1 to Washington St., turn west and follow Washington St. to the pier.
Santa Monica Pier — No report this month. Need a reporter. How to Get There: From I-405 take Santa Monica Blvd. west to Ocean Ave. Turn left, go to Colorado Ave., and turn right onto the pier.
Malibu Pier — Ginny at Wylie’s Bait & Tackle (18757 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu) says the action has picked up. She says during the grunion runs a LOT of halibut were being caught but day-to-day it’s been slower. A lot of sargo are showing up, a few corbina, and some yellowfin croaker. Meanwhile, those using Sabikis are pulling in small perch and some mackerel. Do be aware that a lot of cars are being broken into all along the highway. She also mentioned that it’s almost impossible to get in merchandise (rods and reels) that is not broken. Reels are missing pieces, rod tips are broken, etc. She says almost any merchandise coming in from China is just a mess. She complains but gets little response. At least anglers are catching fish. How To Get There: The pier fronts on the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy 1) so just drive until you see it.
Paradise Cove Pier — Ginny at Wylie’s Bait & Tackle (18757 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu), Ginny said reports indicate fishing is still fairly good with, as usual, a lot of big bat rays being caught. How To Get There: Take Highway 1 to Paradise Cove Dr., turn west, and follow the road back into the parking lot. Parking is very expensive unless you buy an expensive meal at the restaurant and then you are allowed to fish for, I think, three hours.
Ventura & Santa Barbara County Piers
Port Hueneme Pier —Ludia at Hyun’s Tackle, 3695 E Harbor Blvd., Ventura, said fishing has been decent led by good mackerel action and some halibut. Perch are available inshore but she says they are all too small (anglers are complaining about the size). Although some sharays (sharks and rays) are being caught it is much slower action than that seen at Ventura. How To Get There: From Highway 1 take Hueneme Rd. west until it turns into Port. At Ventura Rd turn left and follow it to Surfside Dr. Turn left again and follow it to the park.
Ventura Pier — Ludia at Hyun’s Tackle, 3695 E Harbor Blvd., Ventura, said since the pier reopened the fishing has been very good. Inshore expect to find good croaker and perch action while further out on the pier good numbers of mackerel are being caught along with some halibut. As for the shark fishermen, they are getting good numbers of thresher sharks using live mackerel for bait. How To Get There: From Highway 101 take the Seaward Drive exit west to Harbor Drive, turn right and follow it to the pier.
Stearns Wharf (Santa Barbara) — Ben at Hook Line & Sinker, 4010-5 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, says Stearns has “gone off” on the threshers. Thresher sharks are being caught daily (one 16 hour period saw seven landed) but, as usual, they are small, immature threshers ranging from 3 ½ to 7 feet (body and tail) total length. Of course no one returns them to the water. As a consequence, Ben says several Goleta shark anglers have moved over to Stearns. Just hope they are not trying to take over the pier from the non-shark anglers (as sometimes happens). Ben says there is a ton of bait in the water —Pacific mackerel, Spanish mackerel (jack mackerel), sardines, smelt, anchovies and shinerperch. The abundance of baitfish (food) answers why the threshers are there. Ben said there are other fish there besides the threshers including some leopard sharks (one measuring nearly 5-feet in length), a few halibut, and the usual small croakers and perch. It sounds like the time to be at Stearns. How To Get There: From Highway 101 take Castillo St. or State St. west to the beach and follow signs to the pier.
Goleta Pier —Ben at Hook Line & Sinker, 4010-5 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, said it’s been a mixed bag this month. The county got some money to make repairs and they’ve been replacing some of the wood atop the pier as well as replacing some pilings. The result is that the county has tended to open the pier Friday through Sunday while keeping it closed on weekdays (much to anglers chagrin). As for the fish it is the usual, mainly bass (and probably small rockfish) by the pilings and pipe reef while a variety of sharays (bat rays, shovelnose sharks, thornback rays, and even an angel shark) are caught on the bottom. The mackerel (both Pacific and Spanish) move in during the afternoon and bite well right into the evening hours, especially in the shadows of the lights. No bonito to date but a school of barracuda was around for a couple of days (and seemingly moved on) and both sardines and jacksmelt are making an appearance. No report on halibut. How To Get There: From Highway 101 take the Hwy. 217/Airport exit. Follow it to Sandspit Rd. and the Goleta Beach Park turnoff. Follow this to the park and the pier.
Gaviota Pier — Ongoing report—The pier has now been closed for a decade and the rumors of repair and reopening continue. It’s interesting reading the various reports on the pier on the Internet. How To Get There: From Highway 101 simply take the Gaviota State Park turnoff down to the beach and pier.