M Street Dock and Balboa Pier 3/17

[EgoNonBaptizo]

Short report:

Started off fishing the M street dock at 4 pm, at the start of incoming tide. There was a lot of small smelt in the water with some larger bait-sized ones mixed in. I caught a couple and some shiner perch to use as live bait. I got 4 bites on live bait in quick succession, all of which either dropped the bait or ran me into structure. Fishing slowed from 5-7 pm, after which I caught a short calico, a short barracuda, and a large chub mackerel. I left at 7:30 to try the pier. I fished the pier from 7:40-9 pm for a decent mackerel bite on cut bait behind a glowstick.

 

[Mahigeer]

Glow stick rig is always fun to use.

I wonder if we will have some mackerel at the Mole?

 

[Ken Jones]

Always hard to predict when the mackerel will show at Avalon. My records show the following:

Years mackerel caught during visits: 2003, 2010 (one fish), 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2021 — 7 years

Years mackerel not caught during visits: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2016, and 2017 — 10 years

Conclusion, surprisingly not that common a fish at Avalon although it must be remembered that most of our Get Togethers were in April so perhaps they simply showed up later in the year.