Hit the afternoon tide catching the end of the outgoing and a few hours of the incoming from noon to about 6pm. The word of the day was smelt. Jacksmelt everywhere, but only way to catch them seemed to be with super tiny hooks baited with breadballs or by snagging them. I caught one with an 18' tenkara rod with a bit of a gulp sandworm on it, but I think it was just luck as the hook was drifting through a school.
Was on decent octopus caught when it was investigating one of the aforementioned smelt being used as bait (released), and one small spiny lobster (also released) caught on hook and line. One moderately sized perch of some type. Bit large for a shiner perch but didn't have many markings. My only fish for the day was the smelt on the tenkara.
There were two very odd things seen today. One was a torpedo shaped predator fish, either a bonito or a large mackerel, that appeared and absolutely panicked the large schools of miniature jack-smelt. Was quite a sight to see pretty much the entire school of smelt jumping out of the water to get away from the fast moving predator. I have never seen a mac or bonito inside the harbor at this pier. Didn't catch it but was quite a sight to see it zipping around chasing the smaller fish. Wonder how it became separated from it's school. There was also, quite unmissable, a large Garibaldi making the rounds of the pylons (left unmolested as it made it's rounds in all its gaudy splendor).
The other oddity of the day was a 3 inch sargo that was caught on a piece of shrimp by a fisherman casting underneath the pier. I've never seen a sargo taken from this pier (and have targeted under the pier myself with various types of gear on numerous occasions to see what may be there). I later found that the sargo was what was used as the bait that caught the lobster.
Was on decent octopus caught when it was investigating one of the aforementioned smelt being used as bait (released), and one small spiny lobster (also released) caught on hook and line. One moderately sized perch of some type. Bit large for a shiner perch but didn't have many markings. My only fish for the day was the smelt on the tenkara.
There were two very odd things seen today. One was a torpedo shaped predator fish, either a bonito or a large mackerel, that appeared and absolutely panicked the large schools of miniature jack-smelt. Was quite a sight to see pretty much the entire school of smelt jumping out of the water to get away from the fast moving predator. I have never seen a mac or bonito inside the harbor at this pier. Didn't catch it but was quite a sight to see it zipping around chasing the smaller fish. Wonder how it became separated from it's school. There was also, quite unmissable, a large Garibaldi making the rounds of the pylons (left unmolested as it made it's rounds in all its gaudy splendor).
The other oddity of the day was a 3 inch sargo that was caught on a piece of shrimp by a fisherman casting underneath the pier. I've never seen a sargo taken from this pier (and have targeted under the pier myself with various types of gear on numerous occasions to see what may be there). I later found that the sargo was what was used as the bait that caught the lobster.