Bait traps

Brock Norris

Well-Known Member
#1
hi all was fishing off the belmont pier friday i was trying for halibut no luck people were catching mackerel and a few sculpin some what rare for that pier . couple of people were using small wire traps to catch anchovies for bait my question is are those legal to use i don't thing they are but not sure thanks brock
 

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#2
You can not use throw nets in SoCal but you can use drop nets aka unbrella drop nets. Not sure about wire traps although I think they are OK. My dad used to fish from the shore in Mission Bay and would set up traps he had made that were square with an opening in the top. He would set them in a couple of feet of water while he was fishing and bait them with bread. Baitfish, mainly small smelt, would make their ways into the traps. They could swim out but he seemed to manage to have live bait most of the time. Since he fished the bay almost every day he frequently spoke with the local wardens and they never said anything about the traps.