Ran across these and found them interesting.
Date: May 4, 1999
To: Ken Jones
From: Gary Higgins
Subject: OB Pier
OB is still in the winter doldrums with queenfish and an occasional lima perch (salema) being taken on small strips of jacksmelt. Also landed an undersized calico bass on a piece of anchovy. Best bets are gangions of 5 or 6 hooks (Aberdeen are preferred) with a terminal sinker of no more than one ounce bounced off the bottom.
Date: May 24, 1999
To: Ken Jones
From: buckwhip
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier Report
Been out there about five times this month, caught a bunch of mackerel, of course using mackerel and anchovies. At the end I also caught about eight sand bass one day and six the other using anchovies. Some were nice size. Saw a guy using shrimp at the end of the pier and he caught like 10 nice size perch in about two hours. He also caught a huge red looking fish (not sure what it was). [KJ-sounds like a sheephead] Of course the lobsters are always biting but they aren’t in season. Haven’t seen anyone catching sharks or rays at night like usual.
Date: September 12, 2000
To: Pier Fishing in California Message Board
From: prettyboy
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier Yellowtail
I'm from here in the South Bay. So the piers I fish the most are the Redondo Piers and occasionally Belmont Pier. As you might expect my usual quarry consists of mostly mackerel and some bonito. Anyway, my uncle calls me up and tells me to come down to San Diego again for some pier fishing (I was just there the previous week). So we went down to Ocean Beach Pier. Everyone was catching small mackerel and queenfish. So we decided to target the same species. The water was full of bait! We were there casually catching queenfish and small macs till they swam by—small yellowtail—the same ones I saw the previous week! Yes, YELLOWTAIL, not bonito, not barracuda, YELLOWTAIL. I point them out to my uncle and he casually says, “Looks like yellowtail.” What I really find mind-boggling was why wasn't anyone trying fishing for them! As they swam by, the anglers made comments to each other. Everyone was so intent on catching queenfish. Queenfish is delicious, but it's no yellowtail. Coming from the Redondo Piers I was blown away by what I had witnessed two weeks in a row, yellowtail visiting piers. Anyway, I decided to try for them. A pier caught yellowtail of any size is a trophy fish. I tied on a Kroc on ten-pound line with medium tackle. I casted it out a few times and caught a few macs. Then something viciously hits it and breaks it off. I don't think it was a Mac. However, whether it was one of the yellowtail I had seen cruising the pier I don't know. But whatever hit it killed that Kroc.
Posted by asegoria
A word of advice about yellowtail. My smallest one was 5 lbs, very small for a yellow, that I landed on 20-lb Spider Wire (the drag was set to about 12 lb. test). If I wasn’t in a boat I would never have landed it. We actually had to back down the boat after making no progress for about 10 minutes and almost being spooled 3 times. I would bring a minimum of 15-lb test next time. You have little room for error when fishing from a pier. It would be awesome if you could land one from a pier of any size, good luck!! Tomba
Posted by Kyle
What size Kroc were u using and what color?
Posted by asegoria
It was a Blue Mackerel Krocodile (medium size).
Posted by Mola Joe
Yellowtail here in Santa Monica Bay frequently come in tight to shore, and it's not too uncommon during the years that their here to see them swim past the local piers. Getting them to eat a bait and then landing them is a whole different story. Back in the early '70s, we had several good summers on Hermosa Pier catching yellows in the 10 to 15 pound range. It took a lot of lost fish to figure out the best way to hook and land these guys. A few were caught on jigs, but the absolute best way to get bit was a small Spanish or green mackerel, fished on a slider, with at least 25 to 30 pound line. Almost every yellow hooked would shoot for the pilings if you didn't give it a lot of line when you first hooked them. You had to let them get tired out away from the pier before they were brought in close or it was in the pilings before you could do anything. That's the same way we fished threshers and had great success with this method. Another thing most of the hookups on yellowtail had in common was getting the bait out away from the pier. Most of us fished at least a 10 to 12 foot rod so when we slide the mack down, you can keep the angle of the line high and not have the bait fall right in front of you. For some reason, the baits that were the farthest out would get bit 9 out of 10 times. Also keep in mind that mullet look very much like small yellowtail when they travel in schools. Sometimes half the people on the pier would chase a school of mullet down the side, throwing lures and bait trying to get them to eat. Try a small mack on a slider, and when that 15-pound yellow eats it and wraps you 10 times around the piling, you'll know for sure that was no mullet!!!!
Posted by Snookie
Good info! Another important piece of info for using the sliders is to cast WITH the wind. Otherwise the bait will ride back up the line and get close to the pier which is what you don't want. Good luck. Catching yellowtail off the pier is really fun and a challenge. Five pounds is not as small as yellowtail come. I have caught them on a snagline from my boat while fishing under a kelp patty. They were only about 8 inches long, and there were lots of them. They come in all sizes. Snookie
Date: July 18, 2002
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Bryan_Tucker
Subject: Ocean Beach... San Diego lifeguards are rude!
I took my family to our first pier fishing experience at Ocean Beach yesterday. We fished 10am to 3pm. I only caught smelt (8-9) on a bait rig. I did manage to chum a school of about 500 baitfish...too bad I don't yet own a dip net. I watched a shovelnose shark swim by around noon (a tourist spotted it not me). Most people were only catching bait. The bait shop guy says it's mostly been bait, a few macks and corbina, and a halibut last week.
The San Diego lifeguards were doing some sort of training for jr. life guards, and were extremely inconsiderate of people fishing.
They pulled a boat up to the pier, had about 100 kids paddle out, and another 80 or so up on the pier to jump. They started by the bait shop right next to people fishing! I told my wife I was glad we went to the end. Then they came to us. With most of the end of the pier empty, they came up 10 feet away from us. They had people crowding our lines and gear, and I even had to move chairs! Then the boat backed up to the pilings and even ran into my line. They could have reached out and grabbed it if they wanted. The whole time they completely ignored our presence, never apologized, or anything. They repeated the whole thing a few hours later.
I expressed my disgust to one observer who came with them and started a conversation by laughingly saying this must be great for the fishing, and he replied they should have closed the pier to fishing.
Posted 2pac
I agree at Crystal pier the lifeguards will come right up to the pier and run right into your lines and not say anything.
Posted by SD Fisherman
Luckily they don't have those trainings very often. Were people still catching fish despite all the activity? Also, I'm assuming that they waive that “no jumping off the pier” rule for these Junior Lifeguard trainings?
-Don aka SDF
Posted by Pierhead
Contact the San Diego Lifeguard Dept:
Brant Bass (Public Information Officer)
email: bbass@cts.com
Phone: (619) 221-8874
Let him know that his department is receiving some ‘bad press’... if he isn't responsive then go over his head. These are public employees here to serve us all and sometimes they need a gentle reminder
PierHead
Posted by Bryan_Tucker
Mr. Bass, I was given your name as the PR contact with the SD Lifeguard Department, and am writing to inform you of unacceptable treatment of Ocean Beach pier goers. On Wednesday July 17 I took my family to go fishing at the pier. Around 10 or 11 am, a swarm of nearly 100 lifeguards and junior lifeguards paddled out to the base of the pier while a boat and inflatable craft pulled alongside. Another large group, roughly 80 large, approached the rail by the bait shop to jump into the water. They had a large amount of empty rail space to choose, but they chose to jump from where people were fishing.
After part of them had jumped, the rest went to the end of the pier where my family and I were fishing. At the time, we were the only people fishing past the bait shop, and there was much space for them to choose. Instead, they chose to mount the rail a mere ten feet from my fishing poles, and crowded around my family’s gear. I had to move chairs to keep them from being pushed over by the crowd, and the crowd actually pushed within a foot of my three year old son. In the water, the patrol boat backed up to the base of the pier and actually ran into my fishing line.
Never did any of the leaders apologize for the inconvenience, or much less direct their followers to be considerate of the other pier users. In fact, they completely ignored our presence. One of the leaders did ask the people on the boat if there were any fishing lines directly under the jumpers, but no one even considered the appropriateness of their treatment of my family or other fishermen. They repeated the spectacle in the afternoon as my family was leaving.
I can appreciate the need to train lifeguards, and the value of their exercises from the pier. Safe beaches depend upon your department’s staff. However, the arrogance and lack of consideration displayed by the participants in yesterday’s events can give the department a bad reputation within the same community it seeks to serve and protect. According to other pier fishermen at other piers (Crystal, for example), they have experienced similar rudeness by department staff running into their lines without apology.
I would appreciate it if department management would remind involved staff of common courtesies, and bring the inappropriateness of their actions to their attention.
Sincerely, Bryan Tucker
Posted by 2pac
Thank you 4 sending in this information about the lifeguard department, let's just keep on fishing and see if they get the letter. I Used To Be In Junior Lifeguards!
Posted by Corbinaman1
Many years ago in San Clemente...fun jumping off that pier! They now have it at Salt Creek and sometimes, they mess up the surf fishing there. They can be annoying, but unfortunately, crowds and Junior Lifeguards are part of summer in California. Fish early AM or later PM if you really want to avoid the crowds. It only goes on for about another month and then they should be gone.
Posted by Sinker
Just My Two Cents. I know last summer when I was at Balboa they sure were an annoyance. I later thought about it, I was there visiting my parents and talked my Dad into going fishing with me. We had not fished together for probably 10 years and it sure was nice, until the Jr. Life Guards showed up that is. I was being selfish looking at it only from my perspective, my father and I finally after 10 years get out to fish together only to have it ruined by these folks.
A good point is made that they are not constantly out there and we do need their services and if they are dragging my butt out of the drink I sure want them to know what they are doing. So I will accept the inconvenience of this training.
I do however agree that they could show some common courtesy to the visitors to the pier. Pushing folks out of the way, using an area right by them when they have a mostly empty pier and to run their boats into our fishing lines is uncalled for and should be addressed.
So I am in agreement with all of you but do ask that each of us look at it realistically and understand, hey what if it was one of your kids that needed to be rescued. You too would want these folks properly trained.
Posted by Vryan_Tucker
I completely agree with the need for the training the lifeguards were conducting, and appreciate their service to provide safe beaches. I made sure to state that in my letter to the department. My beef is their complete lack of consideration... to the point of crowding so much they almost knocked my three year old over (fortunately he started moving out of the way and I got him out of there before anyone physically made contact with him). Much needed lifeguard training can be conducted without the rudeness we encountered.
Posted by Sinker
Don't misunderstand, I hear where you are coming from and agree that what happened to you was wrong just as it was with my father and I. This subject has come up before (tells you it is a reoccurring problem) and I was one of the first to jump on the bashing band wagon. Just giving another perspective is all. What happened to you, especially your son is unconscionable. These are the same folks that are to be assuring our safety, not putting us into a dangerous situation, like what happened to your son.
Posted by namhoang
I don't know about California, but in Florida, its illegal for boats to get within a specified distance from piers. Possibly lifeguard boats are allowed to bypass this rule for emergency purposes, but I'm not so sure about training purposes. I wonder if you could call the marine patrol on them.
Nam
Posted by Snookie
Dear Bryan, What you are talking about has been a problem at Balboa Pier for about 12 years or more now. It is better. This is how to approach it. I took pictures of the kids swimming in amongst the fishing lines and under the pier. Instead of showing the city how angry I was, I sent the pictures and explained the safety issues involved with what the so-called leaders were having or letting them do. I sent the letters and pictures to all the city council members, the city attorney, the police department, the mayor, and of course the marine department. They saw that there was a liability issue involved with the safety of the kids so they issued new orders for the Jr. Lifeguard instructors. The pier was for fishing, and the rest of the area away from us was for their training. There last jump is still a problem, but more so because of their parents. The parents are even more rude than the leaders.
Try your pen. Snookie
Date: August 13, 2002
To: PFIC Message Board
From: OB Pier Rat
Subject: The OB Space Man
Back in the late 60s and early 70s there was this older guy in OB called the Space Man. He claimed to be in touch with aliens who would arrive in a spaceship and rescue anyone he assigned a “Space Number” to, when California broke off the mainland and sank into the ocean. Anyway, he ran around downtown OB and out on the pier assigning “Space Numbers.” I'll never forget the day I got mine, I was about 10 years old, fishing on the OB pier, and he walked up to me, put his hand on my head, stared at me with wild glaring eyes and hair sticking up and said “You are Pink 99!!” I think I covered the length of the OB pier in record time getting the heck out of there and ran home bawling my head off. My Dad explained to me what the deal was, apparently he was an ex-UCLA professor who partook of the 60's a bit too much... What a character...
Date: September 25, 2003
To: PFIC Message Board
From: churros
Subject: Bugs off OB Pier?
Just wondering if its good for lobster there, or whether sunset cliffs or windandsea might be spots to try. Any experience amongst y’all? I think Ken recommends OB pier
Posted by baitfish
I think Ken recommends OB pier...One of best in San Diego area...
Posted by Ken Jones
I do although Oceanside and San Clemente probably see more bugs if you don’t mind driving a little.
Posted by OB Pier Rat
Lotsa bugs off the ol’ pier. Some winter weekend nights the place is packed with nets. I plan on hitting it a few Friday nights myself, my wife's been after me to get some homegrown lobsters-since I sure catch and release a whole lot of ‘em on rod & reel every year, why not net some and bring a few home?
Posted by Ken Jones
While going to college in the ‘60s I worked at Jack in the Box and for a time I was the assistant manager at the Pacific Beach Jack in the Box on the corner of Mission and Grand (or was it Garnet?). Anyway, I got the chance to eat a lot of lobsters. How you may ask, on my meager salary?
(1) Every Friday there used to be a fish buffet at the Torrey Pines Inn. One thing they had was all you can eat Eastern Maine lobster. And, they almost always had lobster left over Saturday morning and would give it away for free (or at a nominal fee) to the Rainbow (?) bun/bread driver. His two biggest accounts were the Inn and the JIB and he came down the hill to us right after leaving the Inn. Just about every Saturday he would sell us anywhere from 6-12 lobsters for, if my memory is correct, about 50 cents each. We would change the shortening in the fryers every Saturday morning and would drop the lobster meat in the brand new hot grease just long enough to cook it up. The lobsters were delicious.
(2) We also, and I hate to admit this now, would be visited by lobster poachers a couple of times a week. We weren't sure where they got the lobsters but they probably stole them from the commercial traps set out by San Diego fishermen. To make a long story short we would buy live spiny lobsters from them (they would haul them to us in 5-gallon buckets full of saltwater) and then we would continue our epicurean feasts at the JIB or sometimes take them home for lobster dinners. I wouldn't do that now but was young and dumb then; that's how you learn.
So, lobster was a regular part of the menu for us even though we were living on fast food wages that even then were not too high. Never worried about catching them although I pulled up a lot on my lines from the Crystal Pier. It was kind of nice to work a block from a pier.
Date: July 5, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: pkjoe
Subject: SD Ocean Beach Report 7/5/04
I didn't go fishing but I walked the pier with my family and some friends around 11:00am. There was plenty of bait in the water. I saw people catching both anchovies and smelts on their Sabiki rigs. As usual, plenty of queenfish were being caught in the section before the restroom on the north side. Many of the buckets I looked into held at least 1 mackerel. Apparently, around 8:00am the mackerel bite was wide open. I saw several people with a 1 to 2 dozen plus buckets. Some of the macks were large and fat! I'd estimate 18”. In addition to mackerel, I saw several nice sized YFC's also being caught. I was at the south side of the T when one gentleman began reeling furiously. I looked down and saw a nice sized bass. However, the fish wasn't coming up. I looked at the guy and he didn't seems to know what to do. I told him to tighten the drag. He looked at me questioningly. So, I went over and tightened the drag for him. The fish began to come up but still kept pulling drag. The guy then hands the pole to me and tells me to bring it up. Tighten the drag and up it comes. It's a nice 17+” calico. I don't think I've ever seen a calico that size caught from OB. He was using a small swimbait with a spinner. A newbie by the looks of it but a happy one. OB was a pretty happening place today!
Date: July 17, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: reefisher
Subject: OB BSB
Saw my first ever black sea bass caught from a pier yesterday... When the lucky guy hooked up, we all thought he had a large bat ray. Hardly any runs and a slow hard steady tug. It was taking awhile so I went back to catching the mighty smelt (sarcasm mood on). I totally missed how they got it up on the pier and only saw it as it hit the deck with a big cheer from the gathered crowd. Some say it was 50plus lbs. but to me it looked more like 25-30 lbs; maybe 36- 40 inches long. To their credit the fisherman and the folks helping him wasted no time getting it back in the water. BUT NO PICTURE!!! As far as I could tell he was using 30-lb mono on a Shimano Baitrunner 4500 or 6500(?) with a quality pole, baited with a whole squid.
Date: September 6, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: OB Pier Rat
Subject: OB Pier Labor Day Bonies
Met up with Rod (fishingrod) at 6 AM for a day at OB. We went after live bait with the Sabikis about halfway out first, and were successful at getting a number of small queenfish, sardines, smelt and chovies; of note was that quite a few of the ‘chovies were the deepbody variety. We set up past the bait shop on the south side and were into instant action on the bonito, they were hungry and loved the deepbody ‘chovies we had. We released most of the boneys, but I kept a couple for supper that were deep hooked. Boney action slowed down around noon so we headed inshore. Rod tried his luck with some squid and had quite a few hits. I kept tossing out anchovies under a bobber hoping to hook up with some marauding large fish that appeared to be WSB or yellowtail, but they wanted nothing to do with my dead offerings. We went to assist a fellow who had hooked a large bat ray with my hoop net, but once that Mud Marlin saw that net he lunged for the bottom and snapped off, The guy was using fairly light tackle and did a heck of a job just getting the beast up. Once again the left T was packed with anglers hoping for yellowtail that never showed up, in fact the action was very poor out there, save for a few giant kelpfish. A fun day and great meeting up with ya again Rod!
Date: September 25, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: dig
Subject: Ocean beach pier friday 24th
My last three trips to shelter island have been skunks, so i thought I would head out to ocean beach and see what was hitting over there. it was the best trip ive had all year. everyone was pullin bonitos and maks I mean lots and lots. the water was full of bait fish on my Sabiki (size 12 hooks) I was getting ‘choves dines and smelt all perfect bait size, my friend and I both hit out limits(10) on good hefty bonito in about 2 hours using size 2 live bait hooks with dines/choves/smelt and a bobber with about two feet of line out. We both caught and insane amount of maks using Sabikis(size 5 hooks) with no bait! they would hit anything when I threw dead bait fish out they would eat them in seconds. we fished the left side down about 20 feet from the bathrooms I highly recommend getting out there soon
Date: October 2, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: ob pierrat
Subject: OB Pier glo-lite mack attack & hoopin'
Fishingrod and I met up about 7 PM at OB Pier last night. The pier was full of anglers armed with hoops for the lobster opener. This was my first attempt ever at hooping the bugs. (Gordo, Bob worked hard last night hehe) But first, we headed to the left T and found a nice spot just as the sun went down. Rod broke out some glo-lites and taught me the finer points of mackin' with them. What a blast! We fly-lined strips of squid about 3-4 ft below the glo-lites and the macks went ballistic! For a solid 4.5 hours it was mack attack mode...Rod introduced a number of curious anglers to his method and soon we had an army of darting and dashing glo-lites and macks coming over the side for everyone. At 11:30 we headed in-shore to the rocky area and got set-up for the midnight lobster opening. Curiously, the mack bite died just after we left. Our first 6 pulls on the hoops netted 5 bugs, all were short although Rod had one nice one just 1/4 inch shy on the gauge, and he also had what appeared to be a legal one flip off the side of the net at the surface. It appeared to be a slow night for lobster after talking to other anglers. As we left at 4:30 AM DFG was set up at the entrance with 2 officers, we were thoroughly checked. They had a guy off to the side who tried to leave with 2 short sculpin, 2 short bugs, and a short WSB and were writing him up. As we walked away I heard the guy ask the DFG officers "Can I still keep the fish and lobsters?" To which the officer replied “You can keep all your mackeral, but we will give you reciepts for the other fish and lobster-pink reciepts!” hehehe. BTW, Ben thanks for the tip on using cable ties to secure the bait to the net-it worked great!!! Everything was released save some macks for the next hooping trip. It was a fun evening and morning full of laughs and good times!
Posted by fishingrod
I Just wanted to add that the guy who got busted by the DFG actually had 2 legal lobster and 5 short ones. It was a fun time with the mack attack. There were 2 legal leopards and a legal scuplin caught on the pier. It was a good time last night.......err this morning. Here is a pic of Mike's first ever bug.
Date: July 22, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: reefisher
Subject: OB Pier (San Diego) report
I've been fishing OB pier late afternoons to sunset lately. Mackerel have, for the most part, have been providing regular action. Schools of anchovy have been in the area for the last three weeks, sometimes roaming under the pier. Yesterday I put on a jointed hardbait and worked it under the school. This got me a short (21 inch) barracuda. During that that maybe 10 minute period I saw a short WSB, a fat YFC, and a just legal calico, brought up to the pier. Last week I landed a very scrappy short fin corvina. The best news though is that the bonito have been showing up. Yesterday I talked to a guy that had some big 5-pounder types in his bucket. He was fishing a big 9-11 inch hardbait. Also I saw quite a few cruising. I could not get any to bite my Megabait jigs, but a guy next to me landed a smaller 16 inch type using a small metal jig. If you decide to go, expect very large, rude crowds that for some reason bring trash to leave on the pier. I guess the piers like the highways are equally useful as trash depositories. Conserve limpio Ocean Beach Pier.
Posted by clariontuna10
Thanks for the tip. OB / SD was a mess last Sat. I did not see any skinnies or bonito then but the wife got a lot of y/f crocker &a mack attack at lunch.
Posted by Ulysses
A friend of mine confirmed that the fish were there yesterday. He said they were catching bonito, barries and big macks. He also confirmed that the overly huge crowd was there. Said it was hard to find a spot to fish, it was so crowded. The thing I hate when it gets like this is that most of these people don't know how to fish and don't have any respect for anyone else. They will cross your line on purpose or they will let there line drift until it crosses your line and they don't care.
Date: September 22, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Trogdor
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier 9-21/22-06
A couple buddies and I went fishing after work tonight from midnight to 330am (it's 4am as I write this). I've never been mad after any day of fishing, even if skunked, until tonight. About an hour in, a guy overheard that I was using some frozen mackerel that I had caught weeks ago. He offered to buy it but when I refused he offered to trade a LOBSTER for it. 1) It was waaay undersized and 2) seasons closed buddy. I told him he could get a fat fine or worse. I brushed it off as a clown trying to get rid of a by-catch lobster. I decided to take a stroll and what do I find: BAITED hoop nets. These clowns were targeting them out of season. I had had it. Of course, CalTip isn't open at 2am so I called the SDPD non emergency. The dispatcher said she couldn't do anything but would notify the lifeguards (who were probably sleeping). Well 2 hours later nothing and the guys left. They had a whole bunch of lobster with them. What made me made is that I was powerless to do anything because my hands were tied in the wee hours. My question is, was there anything else I could have done? I'm going to call DFG tomorrow to request more patrols as the season approaches. On to a better note, the report: Jacksmelt and a few Mackerel. I floated a whole Mac out on 40# line with a 6/0 but got no hits of my favorite fish. More bait added to the freezer for bugs
Posted by Ulysses
Unfortunately, I have seen that a lot at OB. The DFG will not do anything because they don't have enough people. The only time I had seen them really out there in force was during the regular season when most of the people hooping for lobster were legit. I'm not saying that you should stop calling, but I sure am getting frustrated with the whole situation out there.
Posted by Trogdor
Well I called and retroactively reported. I hope the warden does something but I'm not holding my breath. Those guys are too overworked. I feel for them but I wish they were always where I personally needed them.
Posted by Dab Man
Trogdor, Next time if you can get the license number of the vehicle they are in and give that to Cal-Tip also. This will give the warden a place to watch in the future.
Posted by Trogdor
Well out of all this, at least I got one of my local warden's personal cell # and permission to call him! He even told me to give him a ring when I go out so he can be ready to pounce
Date: September 30, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: PierRat4Life
Subject: Every now and then you have one of those good days
9/22/06 Went fishing for Bonita on the Ocean Beach Pier, some of my friends were on the end chasing sharks (a 120-lb SevenGill was caught a few days earlier) and the Bonita weren’t biting so I ran back to the car and got another stick. They were using a Sabiki to make Macks for shark bait and were catching a few Jacksmelt in the process. And they said I wouldn't catch anything on a smelt... The halibut went 44” and about 35lbs; Hooked up on 20-lb test, came up on a pier gaff; I worked on that pier for two years and have caught a few nice halibut, but I never saw one even close to this guy. (Picture)
Posted by dompfapops
Wow! You sure you weren’t in Alaska? wtg
Posted by skyhook
That's a monster! Congrats. But I am also interested in the gear your using. Hard to tell but looks like you didn't go cheap on your gear. Is that a Seeker rod? And is the reel a Trinidad? Also is that the usual set up you use for the pier?
Posted by PierRat4Life
Its Actually a Calstar and yes a Trinidad 14. I try to use the best I can any time I go fishing. No reason to loose the fish of a lifetime because of less than adequate gear. Is it overkill? Probably. But why not? Not to mention I work at a tackle shop, so that makes things a little easier.
Posted by skyhook
I understand Rat. I feel about the same way. You can't go wrong with quality gear. I also wanted to know how your Trinidad performed. Since the reel has a 6.2:1 gear ration, did it feel awkard playing the fish, especially when more power was needed instead of the speed?
Posted by PierRat4Life
Trinidads have a really nice gearing, that big box shape sticking out on the right side plate is a big oversized gear. Even though its retrieve is fast the reel still has a lot of torque, I used my Torium 20 with the same gearing in Benitos and slayed some huge yellows. I love my Trinidad but I think there Toriums are just as nice for a hell of a lot cheaper. I just wish they made more sizes.
Date: September 30, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Trogdor
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier 9-30-06 Bug Skunk
Fished from 9pm to midnight with a bunch of buddies. I caught one YFC on squid and one Mac. Several smelt were pulled in as well. At 12:01 AM the hoop nets were heaved over the side. Lots of boats were in the water and the pier was soooo crowded. Some people even set up tents. My first pull was a BIG one, but just shy of legal. Dang! A few more small ones came in then I got another big one. But again, just shy of legal. By the end of the night we had hooped several lobster but no legals. Had a lot of fun though. Saw only two legals brought in but sadly, lots and lots of shorts were kept. Had a chat with one of the wardens on the pier, assisted in catching a poacher before midnight and reported several others. MAN, it was bad tonight. People just don't care. They covertly shove the 6" (total) lobster into their backpack like no one saw. Pffft. The best time is right around sunset but since we couldn't start till midnight, I think that's why the action was slow. Can't wait to go out later this week right at sundown. Happy hooping!
Posted by Ulysses
Trogodor, I got there at 3AM. I got there just as the warden was busting 3 dudes for taking shorts and hiding them in the trash can next to the cafe. I talked to the warden and he said he was taking all their gear. Good on them. They did a great job. Sorry I ,missed you. I was there until 7AM and only got a few shorts. There were opnsie twosie legals, but not for me.
Posted by Trogdor
SWEEEEEET! That's where my buddies and I were hooping and there was a lot of punk poachers by the cafe. I called CalTip right before I left to try to get a warden to do a walkthrough. I'll just think it was me that got him out there and not a scheduled trip.
Date: October 3, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Trogdor
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier 10-2-06
Fished OB pier this morning with a buddy from 830-10AM. Conditions were sunny, small swells, and beautiful. Inshore the water was cloudy but it cleared up the farther out we went. Very little grass/kelp was in the water which was a welcome change. As we were walking out we saw some big fish cruising in groups where the green wire box thing is. Threw some feathers and metals but got no bites or even followers. So we moved on. As we walked we heard reports of Bonito limits at the end of the pier so we quickened our step. We went out the left side of the T and put out our lines. The second my Sabiki rig hit the water WHAM fish on! The Mac Attack was on!!! I pulled in several mackerel and smelt on my ultralight. Man was that fun; they bent it so much it made it feel like the fish was 5x as big. While I was soaking my sabiki and pulling in a fish every min or so I was throwing a feather behind a cast-a-bubble. My friend was as well and hooked up on 3 mackerel but lost them as he was reeling them up the pier. I got a few chasers but only one hookup. The sabiki seemed to be the magic for the Macs. Some gents next to us landed 2 Bonito on small metals and we saw a small school of them running around in front of us. Unfortunately, just as the bite was getting good, we had to leave to go to work! We are definately going to go tomorrow and stay longer/go earlier. In total: 5 mackerel and 3 smelt caught on size 10 sabiki with squid 1 mackerel on a 1/8oz white feather behind a bubble. Threw them in my freezer for bug bait. Cheers!
Date: May 23, 2007
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Ken Jones
Subject: Giant squid at Ocean Beach
Got a call last night from a very excited Billy Burns at the OB Pier Bait Shop. Seems several anglers hooked into giant squid, had them on long enough to see them, but lost them due to light lines. Didn't really sound like a run as much as a few passing through the water but several dead squid were also found on the beach. Billy said it was the first time he's seen them at the fairly shallow-water pier. They're almost to be expected at Newport, Balboa, or Redondo, all piers that sit next to submarine canyons, but they're rare at OB.
Date: August 5, 2007
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Trogdor
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier 8-3-07
Went to OB pier from ~9:30am until noon. I met with John, a PFIC forum reader and his son, and his son's son. They had been having an off and on morning with some Calico bass and Mackeral before I got there. To start: Weather- Gorgeous; sunny and clear with little wind; Water- Clear except for a few marauding kelp fronds that quickly cleared out; Tide- Middle of an incoming with light swells; Where- Left side of the OB Pier 'T' all the way at the end; Tackle- 8'6" Black Widow rod with an Abu 6600 spooled with 12#; I wanted to have a little fun that morning instead of just soaking some bait so I threw on some swimbaits. It was very quiet that morning; the usually busy end of the pier was pretty barren so I was happy to move around and throw all over the place. Everyone was fishing the bottom. After a little while with no luck I switched to my favorite topwater rig: golfball trailed by two WalMart feathers on tiny dropper loops. The entire rig is about 5' long. Threw this bad boy out for a period while conversing with Jerry, a very nice fellow who was drinking his coffee and taking in the pier. As I'm talking to him *WHAM* fish on! I pull it up and low and behold 2 Bonito! I finally nailed the fish I've been targeting all summer and it was a 2-fer to boot! Snapped a quick pic (Thanks to John's grandson, David?) and back in the water they went. As you can see, they're not too impressive, but at least these ones were bigger than my hand. The reports of them are getting bigger so I'm still hopeful for this summer. Started throwing again in the same spot and again, fish on! This went on for about 20 minutes with bonito and sizeable Mackeral hitting the feathers. The Bonito were all in the 9"-12" range. In the end I got 5 Bonito and 3 large Macs, all released to get bigger for another day. The bite cooled down for me after that but not for John. He and his boys kept getting progressively larger Calico and lots of Macs. Unfortunately, I had to go to work but they stayed on. It was a great morning that made me irritated that I had to go to work.
Date: May 27, 2008
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Ken Jones
Subject: Another huge 7-gill shark reported from OB Pier
From the latest issue of Fish Rap (as reported by yours truly: Several BIG fish have recently been taken at the Ocean Beach Pier with the largest being a lost-at-the-gaff 7-gill shark estimated to be between 10-10 ½ feet long. Only problem is that 7-gills are only supposed to reach about 9 feet in length. Wonder if it could have been a 6-gill (they’ve been reported to 15 feet in length). Two giant sea bass were also taken and released. The fish were both estimated at 80-pounds with one hitting a chunk of mackerel and one a live queenfish. A 160-pound bat ray was taken on 5/24. All of the large fish seem to have been taken around the evening setting of the sun, a time that coincides with the appearance of the mackerel each night. Add in a good showing of barracuda, some calico bass, and some nice opaleye near the front of the pier and it sounds like a good time to visit OB. This 7-gill follows the capture of a 7'9" 7-gill in May of 2006. What gives with the capture of these normally deep-water sharks (in SC) at OB? Never heard of one being captured at Newport, Balboa or Redondo, the deep-water piers where I would expect these big boys to show up.
Date: May 4, 1999
To: Ken Jones
From: Gary Higgins
Subject: OB Pier
OB is still in the winter doldrums with queenfish and an occasional lima perch (salema) being taken on small strips of jacksmelt. Also landed an undersized calico bass on a piece of anchovy. Best bets are gangions of 5 or 6 hooks (Aberdeen are preferred) with a terminal sinker of no more than one ounce bounced off the bottom.
Date: May 24, 1999
To: Ken Jones
From: buckwhip
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier Report
Been out there about five times this month, caught a bunch of mackerel, of course using mackerel and anchovies. At the end I also caught about eight sand bass one day and six the other using anchovies. Some were nice size. Saw a guy using shrimp at the end of the pier and he caught like 10 nice size perch in about two hours. He also caught a huge red looking fish (not sure what it was). [KJ-sounds like a sheephead] Of course the lobsters are always biting but they aren’t in season. Haven’t seen anyone catching sharks or rays at night like usual.
Date: September 12, 2000
To: Pier Fishing in California Message Board
From: prettyboy
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier Yellowtail
I'm from here in the South Bay. So the piers I fish the most are the Redondo Piers and occasionally Belmont Pier. As you might expect my usual quarry consists of mostly mackerel and some bonito. Anyway, my uncle calls me up and tells me to come down to San Diego again for some pier fishing (I was just there the previous week). So we went down to Ocean Beach Pier. Everyone was catching small mackerel and queenfish. So we decided to target the same species. The water was full of bait! We were there casually catching queenfish and small macs till they swam by—small yellowtail—the same ones I saw the previous week! Yes, YELLOWTAIL, not bonito, not barracuda, YELLOWTAIL. I point them out to my uncle and he casually says, “Looks like yellowtail.” What I really find mind-boggling was why wasn't anyone trying fishing for them! As they swam by, the anglers made comments to each other. Everyone was so intent on catching queenfish. Queenfish is delicious, but it's no yellowtail. Coming from the Redondo Piers I was blown away by what I had witnessed two weeks in a row, yellowtail visiting piers. Anyway, I decided to try for them. A pier caught yellowtail of any size is a trophy fish. I tied on a Kroc on ten-pound line with medium tackle. I casted it out a few times and caught a few macs. Then something viciously hits it and breaks it off. I don't think it was a Mac. However, whether it was one of the yellowtail I had seen cruising the pier I don't know. But whatever hit it killed that Kroc.
Posted by asegoria
A word of advice about yellowtail. My smallest one was 5 lbs, very small for a yellow, that I landed on 20-lb Spider Wire (the drag was set to about 12 lb. test). If I wasn’t in a boat I would never have landed it. We actually had to back down the boat after making no progress for about 10 minutes and almost being spooled 3 times. I would bring a minimum of 15-lb test next time. You have little room for error when fishing from a pier. It would be awesome if you could land one from a pier of any size, good luck!! Tomba
Posted by Kyle
What size Kroc were u using and what color?
Posted by asegoria
It was a Blue Mackerel Krocodile (medium size).
Posted by Mola Joe
Yellowtail here in Santa Monica Bay frequently come in tight to shore, and it's not too uncommon during the years that their here to see them swim past the local piers. Getting them to eat a bait and then landing them is a whole different story. Back in the early '70s, we had several good summers on Hermosa Pier catching yellows in the 10 to 15 pound range. It took a lot of lost fish to figure out the best way to hook and land these guys. A few were caught on jigs, but the absolute best way to get bit was a small Spanish or green mackerel, fished on a slider, with at least 25 to 30 pound line. Almost every yellow hooked would shoot for the pilings if you didn't give it a lot of line when you first hooked them. You had to let them get tired out away from the pier before they were brought in close or it was in the pilings before you could do anything. That's the same way we fished threshers and had great success with this method. Another thing most of the hookups on yellowtail had in common was getting the bait out away from the pier. Most of us fished at least a 10 to 12 foot rod so when we slide the mack down, you can keep the angle of the line high and not have the bait fall right in front of you. For some reason, the baits that were the farthest out would get bit 9 out of 10 times. Also keep in mind that mullet look very much like small yellowtail when they travel in schools. Sometimes half the people on the pier would chase a school of mullet down the side, throwing lures and bait trying to get them to eat. Try a small mack on a slider, and when that 15-pound yellow eats it and wraps you 10 times around the piling, you'll know for sure that was no mullet!!!!
Posted by Snookie
Good info! Another important piece of info for using the sliders is to cast WITH the wind. Otherwise the bait will ride back up the line and get close to the pier which is what you don't want. Good luck. Catching yellowtail off the pier is really fun and a challenge. Five pounds is not as small as yellowtail come. I have caught them on a snagline from my boat while fishing under a kelp patty. They were only about 8 inches long, and there were lots of them. They come in all sizes. Snookie
Date: July 18, 2002
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Bryan_Tucker
Subject: Ocean Beach... San Diego lifeguards are rude!
I took my family to our first pier fishing experience at Ocean Beach yesterday. We fished 10am to 3pm. I only caught smelt (8-9) on a bait rig. I did manage to chum a school of about 500 baitfish...too bad I don't yet own a dip net. I watched a shovelnose shark swim by around noon (a tourist spotted it not me). Most people were only catching bait. The bait shop guy says it's mostly been bait, a few macks and corbina, and a halibut last week.
The San Diego lifeguards were doing some sort of training for jr. life guards, and were extremely inconsiderate of people fishing.
They pulled a boat up to the pier, had about 100 kids paddle out, and another 80 or so up on the pier to jump. They started by the bait shop right next to people fishing! I told my wife I was glad we went to the end. Then they came to us. With most of the end of the pier empty, they came up 10 feet away from us. They had people crowding our lines and gear, and I even had to move chairs! Then the boat backed up to the pilings and even ran into my line. They could have reached out and grabbed it if they wanted. The whole time they completely ignored our presence, never apologized, or anything. They repeated the whole thing a few hours later.
I expressed my disgust to one observer who came with them and started a conversation by laughingly saying this must be great for the fishing, and he replied they should have closed the pier to fishing.
Posted 2pac
I agree at Crystal pier the lifeguards will come right up to the pier and run right into your lines and not say anything.
Posted by SD Fisherman
Luckily they don't have those trainings very often. Were people still catching fish despite all the activity? Also, I'm assuming that they waive that “no jumping off the pier” rule for these Junior Lifeguard trainings?
-Don aka SDF
Posted by Pierhead
Contact the San Diego Lifeguard Dept:
Brant Bass (Public Information Officer)
email: bbass@cts.com
Phone: (619) 221-8874
Let him know that his department is receiving some ‘bad press’... if he isn't responsive then go over his head. These are public employees here to serve us all and sometimes they need a gentle reminder
PierHead
Posted by Bryan_Tucker
Mr. Bass, I was given your name as the PR contact with the SD Lifeguard Department, and am writing to inform you of unacceptable treatment of Ocean Beach pier goers. On Wednesday July 17 I took my family to go fishing at the pier. Around 10 or 11 am, a swarm of nearly 100 lifeguards and junior lifeguards paddled out to the base of the pier while a boat and inflatable craft pulled alongside. Another large group, roughly 80 large, approached the rail by the bait shop to jump into the water. They had a large amount of empty rail space to choose, but they chose to jump from where people were fishing.
After part of them had jumped, the rest went to the end of the pier where my family and I were fishing. At the time, we were the only people fishing past the bait shop, and there was much space for them to choose. Instead, they chose to mount the rail a mere ten feet from my fishing poles, and crowded around my family’s gear. I had to move chairs to keep them from being pushed over by the crowd, and the crowd actually pushed within a foot of my three year old son. In the water, the patrol boat backed up to the base of the pier and actually ran into my fishing line.
Never did any of the leaders apologize for the inconvenience, or much less direct their followers to be considerate of the other pier users. In fact, they completely ignored our presence. One of the leaders did ask the people on the boat if there were any fishing lines directly under the jumpers, but no one even considered the appropriateness of their treatment of my family or other fishermen. They repeated the spectacle in the afternoon as my family was leaving.
I can appreciate the need to train lifeguards, and the value of their exercises from the pier. Safe beaches depend upon your department’s staff. However, the arrogance and lack of consideration displayed by the participants in yesterday’s events can give the department a bad reputation within the same community it seeks to serve and protect. According to other pier fishermen at other piers (Crystal, for example), they have experienced similar rudeness by department staff running into their lines without apology.
I would appreciate it if department management would remind involved staff of common courtesies, and bring the inappropriateness of their actions to their attention.
Sincerely, Bryan Tucker
Posted by 2pac
Thank you 4 sending in this information about the lifeguard department, let's just keep on fishing and see if they get the letter. I Used To Be In Junior Lifeguards!
Posted by Corbinaman1
Many years ago in San Clemente...fun jumping off that pier! They now have it at Salt Creek and sometimes, they mess up the surf fishing there. They can be annoying, but unfortunately, crowds and Junior Lifeguards are part of summer in California. Fish early AM or later PM if you really want to avoid the crowds. It only goes on for about another month and then they should be gone.
Posted by Sinker
Just My Two Cents. I know last summer when I was at Balboa they sure were an annoyance. I later thought about it, I was there visiting my parents and talked my Dad into going fishing with me. We had not fished together for probably 10 years and it sure was nice, until the Jr. Life Guards showed up that is. I was being selfish looking at it only from my perspective, my father and I finally after 10 years get out to fish together only to have it ruined by these folks.
A good point is made that they are not constantly out there and we do need their services and if they are dragging my butt out of the drink I sure want them to know what they are doing. So I will accept the inconvenience of this training.
I do however agree that they could show some common courtesy to the visitors to the pier. Pushing folks out of the way, using an area right by them when they have a mostly empty pier and to run their boats into our fishing lines is uncalled for and should be addressed.
So I am in agreement with all of you but do ask that each of us look at it realistically and understand, hey what if it was one of your kids that needed to be rescued. You too would want these folks properly trained.
Posted by Vryan_Tucker
I completely agree with the need for the training the lifeguards were conducting, and appreciate their service to provide safe beaches. I made sure to state that in my letter to the department. My beef is their complete lack of consideration... to the point of crowding so much they almost knocked my three year old over (fortunately he started moving out of the way and I got him out of there before anyone physically made contact with him). Much needed lifeguard training can be conducted without the rudeness we encountered.
Posted by Sinker
Don't misunderstand, I hear where you are coming from and agree that what happened to you was wrong just as it was with my father and I. This subject has come up before (tells you it is a reoccurring problem) and I was one of the first to jump on the bashing band wagon. Just giving another perspective is all. What happened to you, especially your son is unconscionable. These are the same folks that are to be assuring our safety, not putting us into a dangerous situation, like what happened to your son.
Posted by namhoang
I don't know about California, but in Florida, its illegal for boats to get within a specified distance from piers. Possibly lifeguard boats are allowed to bypass this rule for emergency purposes, but I'm not so sure about training purposes. I wonder if you could call the marine patrol on them.
Nam
Posted by Snookie
Dear Bryan, What you are talking about has been a problem at Balboa Pier for about 12 years or more now. It is better. This is how to approach it. I took pictures of the kids swimming in amongst the fishing lines and under the pier. Instead of showing the city how angry I was, I sent the pictures and explained the safety issues involved with what the so-called leaders were having or letting them do. I sent the letters and pictures to all the city council members, the city attorney, the police department, the mayor, and of course the marine department. They saw that there was a liability issue involved with the safety of the kids so they issued new orders for the Jr. Lifeguard instructors. The pier was for fishing, and the rest of the area away from us was for their training. There last jump is still a problem, but more so because of their parents. The parents are even more rude than the leaders.
Try your pen. Snookie
Date: August 13, 2002
To: PFIC Message Board
From: OB Pier Rat
Subject: The OB Space Man
Back in the late 60s and early 70s there was this older guy in OB called the Space Man. He claimed to be in touch with aliens who would arrive in a spaceship and rescue anyone he assigned a “Space Number” to, when California broke off the mainland and sank into the ocean. Anyway, he ran around downtown OB and out on the pier assigning “Space Numbers.” I'll never forget the day I got mine, I was about 10 years old, fishing on the OB pier, and he walked up to me, put his hand on my head, stared at me with wild glaring eyes and hair sticking up and said “You are Pink 99!!” I think I covered the length of the OB pier in record time getting the heck out of there and ran home bawling my head off. My Dad explained to me what the deal was, apparently he was an ex-UCLA professor who partook of the 60's a bit too much... What a character...
Date: September 25, 2003
To: PFIC Message Board
From: churros
Subject: Bugs off OB Pier?
Just wondering if its good for lobster there, or whether sunset cliffs or windandsea might be spots to try. Any experience amongst y’all? I think Ken recommends OB pier
Posted by baitfish
I think Ken recommends OB pier...One of best in San Diego area...
Posted by Ken Jones
I do although Oceanside and San Clemente probably see more bugs if you don’t mind driving a little.
Posted by OB Pier Rat
Lotsa bugs off the ol’ pier. Some winter weekend nights the place is packed with nets. I plan on hitting it a few Friday nights myself, my wife's been after me to get some homegrown lobsters-since I sure catch and release a whole lot of ‘em on rod & reel every year, why not net some and bring a few home?
Posted by Ken Jones
While going to college in the ‘60s I worked at Jack in the Box and for a time I was the assistant manager at the Pacific Beach Jack in the Box on the corner of Mission and Grand (or was it Garnet?). Anyway, I got the chance to eat a lot of lobsters. How you may ask, on my meager salary?
(1) Every Friday there used to be a fish buffet at the Torrey Pines Inn. One thing they had was all you can eat Eastern Maine lobster. And, they almost always had lobster left over Saturday morning and would give it away for free (or at a nominal fee) to the Rainbow (?) bun/bread driver. His two biggest accounts were the Inn and the JIB and he came down the hill to us right after leaving the Inn. Just about every Saturday he would sell us anywhere from 6-12 lobsters for, if my memory is correct, about 50 cents each. We would change the shortening in the fryers every Saturday morning and would drop the lobster meat in the brand new hot grease just long enough to cook it up. The lobsters were delicious.
(2) We also, and I hate to admit this now, would be visited by lobster poachers a couple of times a week. We weren't sure where they got the lobsters but they probably stole them from the commercial traps set out by San Diego fishermen. To make a long story short we would buy live spiny lobsters from them (they would haul them to us in 5-gallon buckets full of saltwater) and then we would continue our epicurean feasts at the JIB or sometimes take them home for lobster dinners. I wouldn't do that now but was young and dumb then; that's how you learn.
So, lobster was a regular part of the menu for us even though we were living on fast food wages that even then were not too high. Never worried about catching them although I pulled up a lot on my lines from the Crystal Pier. It was kind of nice to work a block from a pier.
Date: July 5, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: pkjoe
Subject: SD Ocean Beach Report 7/5/04
I didn't go fishing but I walked the pier with my family and some friends around 11:00am. There was plenty of bait in the water. I saw people catching both anchovies and smelts on their Sabiki rigs. As usual, plenty of queenfish were being caught in the section before the restroom on the north side. Many of the buckets I looked into held at least 1 mackerel. Apparently, around 8:00am the mackerel bite was wide open. I saw several people with a 1 to 2 dozen plus buckets. Some of the macks were large and fat! I'd estimate 18”. In addition to mackerel, I saw several nice sized YFC's also being caught. I was at the south side of the T when one gentleman began reeling furiously. I looked down and saw a nice sized bass. However, the fish wasn't coming up. I looked at the guy and he didn't seems to know what to do. I told him to tighten the drag. He looked at me questioningly. So, I went over and tightened the drag for him. The fish began to come up but still kept pulling drag. The guy then hands the pole to me and tells me to bring it up. Tighten the drag and up it comes. It's a nice 17+” calico. I don't think I've ever seen a calico that size caught from OB. He was using a small swimbait with a spinner. A newbie by the looks of it but a happy one. OB was a pretty happening place today!
Date: July 17, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: reefisher
Subject: OB BSB
Saw my first ever black sea bass caught from a pier yesterday... When the lucky guy hooked up, we all thought he had a large bat ray. Hardly any runs and a slow hard steady tug. It was taking awhile so I went back to catching the mighty smelt (sarcasm mood on). I totally missed how they got it up on the pier and only saw it as it hit the deck with a big cheer from the gathered crowd. Some say it was 50plus lbs. but to me it looked more like 25-30 lbs; maybe 36- 40 inches long. To their credit the fisherman and the folks helping him wasted no time getting it back in the water. BUT NO PICTURE!!! As far as I could tell he was using 30-lb mono on a Shimano Baitrunner 4500 or 6500(?) with a quality pole, baited with a whole squid.
Date: September 6, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: OB Pier Rat
Subject: OB Pier Labor Day Bonies
Met up with Rod (fishingrod) at 6 AM for a day at OB. We went after live bait with the Sabikis about halfway out first, and were successful at getting a number of small queenfish, sardines, smelt and chovies; of note was that quite a few of the ‘chovies were the deepbody variety. We set up past the bait shop on the south side and were into instant action on the bonito, they were hungry and loved the deepbody ‘chovies we had. We released most of the boneys, but I kept a couple for supper that were deep hooked. Boney action slowed down around noon so we headed inshore. Rod tried his luck with some squid and had quite a few hits. I kept tossing out anchovies under a bobber hoping to hook up with some marauding large fish that appeared to be WSB or yellowtail, but they wanted nothing to do with my dead offerings. We went to assist a fellow who had hooked a large bat ray with my hoop net, but once that Mud Marlin saw that net he lunged for the bottom and snapped off, The guy was using fairly light tackle and did a heck of a job just getting the beast up. Once again the left T was packed with anglers hoping for yellowtail that never showed up, in fact the action was very poor out there, save for a few giant kelpfish. A fun day and great meeting up with ya again Rod!
Date: September 25, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: dig
Subject: Ocean beach pier friday 24th
My last three trips to shelter island have been skunks, so i thought I would head out to ocean beach and see what was hitting over there. it was the best trip ive had all year. everyone was pullin bonitos and maks I mean lots and lots. the water was full of bait fish on my Sabiki (size 12 hooks) I was getting ‘choves dines and smelt all perfect bait size, my friend and I both hit out limits(10) on good hefty bonito in about 2 hours using size 2 live bait hooks with dines/choves/smelt and a bobber with about two feet of line out. We both caught and insane amount of maks using Sabikis(size 5 hooks) with no bait! they would hit anything when I threw dead bait fish out they would eat them in seconds. we fished the left side down about 20 feet from the bathrooms I highly recommend getting out there soon
Date: October 2, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
From: ob pierrat
Subject: OB Pier glo-lite mack attack & hoopin'
Fishingrod and I met up about 7 PM at OB Pier last night. The pier was full of anglers armed with hoops for the lobster opener. This was my first attempt ever at hooping the bugs. (Gordo, Bob worked hard last night hehe) But first, we headed to the left T and found a nice spot just as the sun went down. Rod broke out some glo-lites and taught me the finer points of mackin' with them. What a blast! We fly-lined strips of squid about 3-4 ft below the glo-lites and the macks went ballistic! For a solid 4.5 hours it was mack attack mode...Rod introduced a number of curious anglers to his method and soon we had an army of darting and dashing glo-lites and macks coming over the side for everyone. At 11:30 we headed in-shore to the rocky area and got set-up for the midnight lobster opening. Curiously, the mack bite died just after we left. Our first 6 pulls on the hoops netted 5 bugs, all were short although Rod had one nice one just 1/4 inch shy on the gauge, and he also had what appeared to be a legal one flip off the side of the net at the surface. It appeared to be a slow night for lobster after talking to other anglers. As we left at 4:30 AM DFG was set up at the entrance with 2 officers, we were thoroughly checked. They had a guy off to the side who tried to leave with 2 short sculpin, 2 short bugs, and a short WSB and were writing him up. As we walked away I heard the guy ask the DFG officers "Can I still keep the fish and lobsters?" To which the officer replied “You can keep all your mackeral, but we will give you reciepts for the other fish and lobster-pink reciepts!” hehehe. BTW, Ben thanks for the tip on using cable ties to secure the bait to the net-it worked great!!! Everything was released save some macks for the next hooping trip. It was a fun evening and morning full of laughs and good times!
Posted by fishingrod
I Just wanted to add that the guy who got busted by the DFG actually had 2 legal lobster and 5 short ones. It was a fun time with the mack attack. There were 2 legal leopards and a legal scuplin caught on the pier. It was a good time last night.......err this morning. Here is a pic of Mike's first ever bug.
Date: July 22, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: reefisher
Subject: OB Pier (San Diego) report
I've been fishing OB pier late afternoons to sunset lately. Mackerel have, for the most part, have been providing regular action. Schools of anchovy have been in the area for the last three weeks, sometimes roaming under the pier. Yesterday I put on a jointed hardbait and worked it under the school. This got me a short (21 inch) barracuda. During that that maybe 10 minute period I saw a short WSB, a fat YFC, and a just legal calico, brought up to the pier. Last week I landed a very scrappy short fin corvina. The best news though is that the bonito have been showing up. Yesterday I talked to a guy that had some big 5-pounder types in his bucket. He was fishing a big 9-11 inch hardbait. Also I saw quite a few cruising. I could not get any to bite my Megabait jigs, but a guy next to me landed a smaller 16 inch type using a small metal jig. If you decide to go, expect very large, rude crowds that for some reason bring trash to leave on the pier. I guess the piers like the highways are equally useful as trash depositories. Conserve limpio Ocean Beach Pier.
Posted by clariontuna10
Thanks for the tip. OB / SD was a mess last Sat. I did not see any skinnies or bonito then but the wife got a lot of y/f crocker &a mack attack at lunch.
Posted by Ulysses
A friend of mine confirmed that the fish were there yesterday. He said they were catching bonito, barries and big macks. He also confirmed that the overly huge crowd was there. Said it was hard to find a spot to fish, it was so crowded. The thing I hate when it gets like this is that most of these people don't know how to fish and don't have any respect for anyone else. They will cross your line on purpose or they will let there line drift until it crosses your line and they don't care.
Date: September 22, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Trogdor
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier 9-21/22-06
A couple buddies and I went fishing after work tonight from midnight to 330am (it's 4am as I write this). I've never been mad after any day of fishing, even if skunked, until tonight. About an hour in, a guy overheard that I was using some frozen mackerel that I had caught weeks ago. He offered to buy it but when I refused he offered to trade a LOBSTER for it. 1) It was waaay undersized and 2) seasons closed buddy. I told him he could get a fat fine or worse. I brushed it off as a clown trying to get rid of a by-catch lobster. I decided to take a stroll and what do I find: BAITED hoop nets. These clowns were targeting them out of season. I had had it. Of course, CalTip isn't open at 2am so I called the SDPD non emergency. The dispatcher said she couldn't do anything but would notify the lifeguards (who were probably sleeping). Well 2 hours later nothing and the guys left. They had a whole bunch of lobster with them. What made me made is that I was powerless to do anything because my hands were tied in the wee hours. My question is, was there anything else I could have done? I'm going to call DFG tomorrow to request more patrols as the season approaches. On to a better note, the report: Jacksmelt and a few Mackerel. I floated a whole Mac out on 40# line with a 6/0 but got no hits of my favorite fish. More bait added to the freezer for bugs
Posted by Ulysses
Unfortunately, I have seen that a lot at OB. The DFG will not do anything because they don't have enough people. The only time I had seen them really out there in force was during the regular season when most of the people hooping for lobster were legit. I'm not saying that you should stop calling, but I sure am getting frustrated with the whole situation out there.
Posted by Trogdor
Well I called and retroactively reported. I hope the warden does something but I'm not holding my breath. Those guys are too overworked. I feel for them but I wish they were always where I personally needed them.
Posted by Dab Man
Trogdor, Next time if you can get the license number of the vehicle they are in and give that to Cal-Tip also. This will give the warden a place to watch in the future.
Posted by Trogdor
Well out of all this, at least I got one of my local warden's personal cell # and permission to call him! He even told me to give him a ring when I go out so he can be ready to pounce
Date: September 30, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: PierRat4Life
Subject: Every now and then you have one of those good days
9/22/06 Went fishing for Bonita on the Ocean Beach Pier, some of my friends were on the end chasing sharks (a 120-lb SevenGill was caught a few days earlier) and the Bonita weren’t biting so I ran back to the car and got another stick. They were using a Sabiki to make Macks for shark bait and were catching a few Jacksmelt in the process. And they said I wouldn't catch anything on a smelt... The halibut went 44” and about 35lbs; Hooked up on 20-lb test, came up on a pier gaff; I worked on that pier for two years and have caught a few nice halibut, but I never saw one even close to this guy. (Picture)
Posted by dompfapops
Wow! You sure you weren’t in Alaska? wtg
Posted by skyhook
That's a monster! Congrats. But I am also interested in the gear your using. Hard to tell but looks like you didn't go cheap on your gear. Is that a Seeker rod? And is the reel a Trinidad? Also is that the usual set up you use for the pier?
Posted by PierRat4Life
Its Actually a Calstar and yes a Trinidad 14. I try to use the best I can any time I go fishing. No reason to loose the fish of a lifetime because of less than adequate gear. Is it overkill? Probably. But why not? Not to mention I work at a tackle shop, so that makes things a little easier.
Posted by skyhook
I understand Rat. I feel about the same way. You can't go wrong with quality gear. I also wanted to know how your Trinidad performed. Since the reel has a 6.2:1 gear ration, did it feel awkard playing the fish, especially when more power was needed instead of the speed?
Posted by PierRat4Life
Trinidads have a really nice gearing, that big box shape sticking out on the right side plate is a big oversized gear. Even though its retrieve is fast the reel still has a lot of torque, I used my Torium 20 with the same gearing in Benitos and slayed some huge yellows. I love my Trinidad but I think there Toriums are just as nice for a hell of a lot cheaper. I just wish they made more sizes.
Date: September 30, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Trogdor
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier 9-30-06 Bug Skunk
Fished from 9pm to midnight with a bunch of buddies. I caught one YFC on squid and one Mac. Several smelt were pulled in as well. At 12:01 AM the hoop nets were heaved over the side. Lots of boats were in the water and the pier was soooo crowded. Some people even set up tents. My first pull was a BIG one, but just shy of legal. Dang! A few more small ones came in then I got another big one. But again, just shy of legal. By the end of the night we had hooped several lobster but no legals. Had a lot of fun though. Saw only two legals brought in but sadly, lots and lots of shorts were kept. Had a chat with one of the wardens on the pier, assisted in catching a poacher before midnight and reported several others. MAN, it was bad tonight. People just don't care. They covertly shove the 6" (total) lobster into their backpack like no one saw. Pffft. The best time is right around sunset but since we couldn't start till midnight, I think that's why the action was slow. Can't wait to go out later this week right at sundown. Happy hooping!
Posted by Ulysses
Trogodor, I got there at 3AM. I got there just as the warden was busting 3 dudes for taking shorts and hiding them in the trash can next to the cafe. I talked to the warden and he said he was taking all their gear. Good on them. They did a great job. Sorry I ,missed you. I was there until 7AM and only got a few shorts. There were opnsie twosie legals, but not for me.
Posted by Trogdor
SWEEEEEET! That's where my buddies and I were hooping and there was a lot of punk poachers by the cafe. I called CalTip right before I left to try to get a warden to do a walkthrough. I'll just think it was me that got him out there and not a scheduled trip.
Date: October 3, 2006
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Trogdor
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier 10-2-06
Fished OB pier this morning with a buddy from 830-10AM. Conditions were sunny, small swells, and beautiful. Inshore the water was cloudy but it cleared up the farther out we went. Very little grass/kelp was in the water which was a welcome change. As we were walking out we saw some big fish cruising in groups where the green wire box thing is. Threw some feathers and metals but got no bites or even followers. So we moved on. As we walked we heard reports of Bonito limits at the end of the pier so we quickened our step. We went out the left side of the T and put out our lines. The second my Sabiki rig hit the water WHAM fish on! The Mac Attack was on!!! I pulled in several mackerel and smelt on my ultralight. Man was that fun; they bent it so much it made it feel like the fish was 5x as big. While I was soaking my sabiki and pulling in a fish every min or so I was throwing a feather behind a cast-a-bubble. My friend was as well and hooked up on 3 mackerel but lost them as he was reeling them up the pier. I got a few chasers but only one hookup. The sabiki seemed to be the magic for the Macs. Some gents next to us landed 2 Bonito on small metals and we saw a small school of them running around in front of us. Unfortunately, just as the bite was getting good, we had to leave to go to work! We are definately going to go tomorrow and stay longer/go earlier. In total: 5 mackerel and 3 smelt caught on size 10 sabiki with squid 1 mackerel on a 1/8oz white feather behind a bubble. Threw them in my freezer for bug bait. Cheers!
Date: May 23, 2007
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Ken Jones
Subject: Giant squid at Ocean Beach
Got a call last night from a very excited Billy Burns at the OB Pier Bait Shop. Seems several anglers hooked into giant squid, had them on long enough to see them, but lost them due to light lines. Didn't really sound like a run as much as a few passing through the water but several dead squid were also found on the beach. Billy said it was the first time he's seen them at the fairly shallow-water pier. They're almost to be expected at Newport, Balboa, or Redondo, all piers that sit next to submarine canyons, but they're rare at OB.
Date: August 5, 2007
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Trogdor
Subject: Ocean Beach Pier 8-3-07
Went to OB pier from ~9:30am until noon. I met with John, a PFIC forum reader and his son, and his son's son
. They had been having an off and on morning with some Calico bass and Mackeral before I got there. To start: Weather- Gorgeous; sunny and clear with little wind; Water- Clear except for a few marauding kelp fronds that quickly cleared out; Tide- Middle of an incoming with light swells; Where- Left side of the OB Pier 'T' all the way at the end; Tackle- 8'6" Black Widow rod with an Abu 6600 spooled with 12#; I wanted to have a little fun that morning instead of just soaking some bait so I threw on some swimbaits. It was very quiet that morning; the usually busy end of the pier was pretty barren so I was happy to move around and throw all over the place. Everyone was fishing the bottom. After a little while with no luck I switched to my favorite topwater rig: golfball trailed by two WalMart feathers on tiny dropper loops. The entire rig is about 5' long. Threw this bad boy out for a period while conversing with Jerry, a very nice fellow who was drinking his coffee and taking in the pier. As I'm talking to him *WHAM* fish on! I pull it up and low and behold 2 Bonito! I finally nailed the fish I've been targeting all summer and it was a 2-fer to boot! Snapped a quick pic (Thanks to John's grandson, David?) and back in the water they went. As you can see, they're not too impressive, but at least these ones were bigger than my hand. The reports of them are getting bigger so I'm still hopeful for this summer. Started throwing again in the same spot and again, fish on! This went on for about 20 minutes with bonito and sizeable Mackeral hitting the feathers. The Bonito were all in the 9"-12" range. In the end I got 5 Bonito and 3 large Macs, all released to get bigger for another day. The bite cooled down for me after that but not for John. He and his boys kept getting progressively larger Calico and lots of Macs. Unfortunately, I had to go to work but they stayed on. It was a great morning that made me irritated that I had to go to work.Date: May 27, 2008
To: PFIC Message Board
From: Ken Jones
Subject: Another huge 7-gill shark reported from OB Pier
From the latest issue of Fish Rap (as reported by yours truly: Several BIG fish have recently been taken at the Ocean Beach Pier with the largest being a lost-at-the-gaff 7-gill shark estimated to be between 10-10 ½ feet long. Only problem is that 7-gills are only supposed to reach about 9 feet in length. Wonder if it could have been a 6-gill (they’ve been reported to 15 feet in length). Two giant sea bass were also taken and released. The fish were both estimated at 80-pounds with one hitting a chunk of mackerel and one a live queenfish. A 160-pound bat ray was taken on 5/24. All of the large fish seem to have been taken around the evening setting of the sun, a time that coincides with the appearance of the mackerel each night. Add in a good showing of barracuda, some calico bass, and some nice opaleye near the front of the pier and it sounds like a good time to visit OB. This 7-gill follows the capture of a 7'9" 7-gill in May of 2006. What gives with the capture of these normally deep-water sharks (in SC) at OB? Never heard of one being captured at Newport, Balboa or Redondo, the deep-water piers where I would expect these big boys to show up.