California Pier Report
October 2024 Fishing Report, Southern California (#298)
Lobster season is now open!
San Diego County Piers
Imperial Beach Pier – No report, need a reporter. Traditionally the pier should be fairly good for lobster. Expect some croaker inshore, halibut mid-pier, and a variety of sharays 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 stay closed until a new pier is built. 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 and no one seems to know when the work on repairs will start. Given that we were initially told that repairs would start before the summer season, someone in the City of San Diego (overseeing the repairs) really blew it. 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 soft plastic 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 — No report, need a reporter. 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 says the fishing was great until last Thursday when the sardines moved in and covered the water from the end of the pier up to the beach. He said before the sardines the fishing was good for bonito, croakers, and herring (queenfish) but all of that action stopped. He did report that a croaker fisherman fishing relatively shallow water decided to put a whole sardine on his line and caught a six-foot thresher shark (unusual for the area of water). He said the water temperature also dropped and masses of red seaweed cover the water and beach making it hard to fish. He said some people are out at night lobstering but he hasn’t had any reports. On a side note they are starting the reconstruction of the outer end, a 17.5 million dollar reconstruction. He has no idea how long it will take but it could be years. 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 hasn’t had any reports from the pier. 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 most of the attention has been on lobsters and it’s been a good lobster opener to date. Meanwhile a few small bonito continue to be caught and one barracuda was reported. Mackerel have slowed. Inshore some perch and croaker continue to be caught; use worms or mussels. Not too many shark fishermen are showing up although one thresher was reported. 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 some bass should be available to those using lures with both spotties and calicos (kelp bass) being caught. She says one of her regulars baited up with small pieces of shrimp, slivers of squid, and light tackle, and caught some spotfin croaker and perch. 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 bait situation is great or maybe not great because they are not biting. They are full! We have not caught anything much for almost two weeks. Today I caught two small halibut on smelt and had a good strike on a sardine. I also caught a very small white seabass. He was a piggy. None of the others I fish with caught anything.
Angler67 reported on 10/9, “11a-2p - Water stabilized for a few days 64-65. On incoming Loooooog 14 hr single tide shift, sunny with light SSW winds. Heavy smelt mass from surf to end of pier, both sides. Water looked clear-ish with light bands of red-tide, nothing was corralling the smelt they were spread out away from the pier, started throwing surface feather for no looks, but then BIG boil on smelt about 75yds out off end. Started getting feather strikes but nothing sticking. Then the school started strafing the pier packing all the smelt into the pier. Close full school boils started busting up, not even a pass on surface, very frustrating those fish grrrrrrr. Then a big boil started right under my feathers 40yds out moving in direction of my retrieve so I was right over the exploding bonito looking straight into their eyes LOL still ignoring my smelt looking feathers, then finally a strike with followers trying to grab the 2nd feather, hook, drop, hook, drop, HOOK got the double 13"-14" fish over the rail. Then nothing! Boils continued so started throwing kroc and stickbait. ZERO looks on the kroc, but 2 or 3 takedowns on the stick bait, none stayed hooked. Full boils stopped but Single blowups continued straight down in the thick smelt, but nothing but a few shallow passes on the feather. Saw near zero sardines in the water and only 1 mackerel caught. Interesting I talked to Snookie as I was headed home and she asked if I saw any anchovies, in fact I saw 2 spit up by the bonito and when I cleaned the 2 fish later at home they had 3 more anchovies and 1 micro-smelt in their bellies, so each fish had 3 fresh fish in their bellies and still attacked my lure. I did not see any dolphin on my watch but one gentleman that was there before me (earlier than 11) said there was a pod feed in the bonito boils Tough bite but a beautiful afternoon fishing.”
Ladygoose reported on 10/7, “Today quick trip to balboa pier with my son. He was hoping for his first guitarfish but no dice on smelt. Instead of smelt we were surprised with baby barracudas. Caught 3 total over 2 hours on a size 3 Sabiki. One smelt was the only other catch. Fished 10:30 to 1:00 p.m. Water temp: 63. High tide: 11:14 a.m.”
Angler67b reported on 10/3, “Wow the water started turning over on entire LA/OC coastline last week closing the door the the warming up bite on Bonito. Thu 9/26 - 10a-1p - Water 65F (brrr down from 70 prev week) On outgoing tide, overcast to sunny, mild wind. Plenty of clusters of micro-smelt and sardine balls still passing through regularly, unfortunately also bands of red tide passing through. NOTHING was chasing all the bait other than 2 or 3 cormorants. Only a few people fishing on the end. Fished several normal artificials all around the end, not one flash, pass, bite. The 5-8 degree water temp drop probably pushed the fish to look for warmer water. Only sardines and some small lizard fish being caught on end. Thu 10/3 - 11a-1p - Water 63F (brrr down from 65 last week) for several days now hoping the fish stabilized on the new temps. On outgoing tide but maximum fish activity zone for this day, lightly foggy still at 11a and big wind from the EAST. Too dark to see bait in the water but I could see the sardine balls still passing through regularly, with a few being caught by 2 o3 regulars populating the pier's end. Water looked clear but no bites on surface feather for 45min on S side, tried the end casting S and after a few casts saw several small Bonito boils on micro-smelt and nothing for several casts over the boil zone, then finally 1 strike close to the pier, a nice 12" Bonito, then nothing else for the rest of the session. Saw no boils, got no passes or strikes on Kroc or splasher.Tough bite, even Snookie and crew left early! Looks like city is prepping for some big surf!” 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; need a reporter although action typically is about the same as at Balboa. 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 — No report; need a reporter. 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 — Nan, at Big Fish Bait & Tackle. 1780-C. Pacific Coast Hwy. says things are a little slow and many anglers have switched to lobsters. Some bugs are reported but it doesn’t sound like big numbers. A few perch and croakers are available inshore while a few mackerel and a possible small bonito are possible out toward the end of the pier. 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 — No report, need a reporter. 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. Not sure if anyone is trying for lobster. 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 and/or bonito. 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) — No report; need a reporter. 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 Sky tuna on 10/4 said, “Made my way out to the mole on 9/22/24 for a couple days of fun on the island with my lovely girlfriend, most of which wasn't fishing. Smooth Ferry ride over from Newport with 3' swells at 16 seconds. After a day of exploring I was lucky enough to hit the mole, but no luck after maybe 100 casts of tossing a bubble and feather. Although a fisherman already had his limit of bonito next to me ( tossing a popper and trailing feather). I guess I missed the bight that day. My girlfriend managed to get a wrasse and garibaldi off of cut squid, however. On 9/23 I got to the pier before sunrise and noticed lots of life in the water. Even saw a couple small schools of yellowtail swim by. I started working the bubble and feather again, and after a couple hours of casts I finally got tight on a nice bonito. I ended up getting 3 total that morning until 9:00AM. Then things seemed to shut off. tried again around noon and landed 2 out of 3 bonito off a lucky craft lure (white seabass pattern). Caught the 4:30PM ferry back home but had a bit of a breezy ride back with a little wind chop. All in all a very nice Sunday/Monday with warm weather, calm seas and clear skies. All fish were released except for one bonito that Mr. Pelican was adamant about eating.”.” 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 — No report, need a reporter. 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 — Ladygoose reported on 10/6, “Hit Manhattan Beach Pier with my coworkers after work. First time at that pier. Typically we hit Redondo but honestly enjoyed Manhattan Pier. Plus easier to get to the 405 to head home afterwards. Anyways, not much bait in the water. Fished from 3pm till 6:30pm. Caught a couple smelt to toss out on Carolina rigs and fish finders. Also gave a few to the gang of local kids that had no bait amongst themselves. One of the kids hooked up on a smelt I donated but got broke off on the pylon by a decent guitarfish. My buddy had a good clicker scream but didn’t get the hook set. Then as soon as I got back from the head my Penn 501, that I had just finished rebuilding this last weekend, started screaming. Good little fight and after a few minutes saw the culprit. Guitarfish made a b-line for the pylon but got some leverage on her and flipped her onto her back. Quick net job, measure, and some pets and got her released. She was 40” on the dot. Other fish caught were some walleye surfperch and one fat thornback. Water temp: 66. Low tide: 5:08 PM.” 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) — waiting for report. 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, —waiting for the report. 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 is a little slow at the pier. Perch are available but they are small and mackerel fishing is slow. However a few sheephead have been showing up for those fishing on the bottom. Most attention has been on the lobsters and action has been good. Many 7-8 pound lobsters have been reported and even one ten-pound lobster. 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 most of the local attention has been on lobsters and they are getting some really big-sized lobsters. Meanwhile there are some red tide conditions and fishing has been somewhat slow. Perch are available but most have been small while not much is happening on top action — no bonito and few mackerel. She did say one guy caught a large striped bass but it was a lone fish. 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 continues to kick out limits of crabs but now they’ve been joined by lobsters are people are doing good on the bugs. The sharkers are absent so no reports on sharks while anglers to continue to pull in some sardines and mackerel but it’s not fast action. No report on bottom fish. 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 the biggest news lately was a huge 7-gill shark that measured 9 ½-feet with an estimated weight of 300 pounds. It was caught on half of a bonito-the head end. The other big news is an excellent lobster opener with many lobster being caught and some are good-sized bugs. He did say that regulars using fresh bait (especially bonito and mackerel) seem to be doing the best. As for the bonito, they are still getting some fish but most are small, 10-16-inch fish being caught on Sabiki rigs with shiny lures being used instead of regular sinkers on the bottom. Some mackerel are also available but not in big numbers. Most are taken on Sabikis. Not too many are fishing for sharks and thus not too many sharks are being caught. Meanwhile, the pipe reef continues to kick out bottom fish—small rockfish including brown and grass rockfish, calico (kelp) bass and sand bass. He said one boy also caught a relatively huge jacksmelt measuring 21-22 inches. One final warning. They are resurfacing the parking lot around the pier one section n at a time so parking may be messed up for the next month or so. 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.
October 2024 Fishing Report, Southern California (#298)
Lobster season is now open!
San Diego County Piers
Imperial Beach Pier – No report, need a reporter. Traditionally the pier should be fairly good for lobster. Expect some croaker inshore, halibut mid-pier, and a variety of sharays 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 stay closed until a new pier is built. 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 and no one seems to know when the work on repairs will start. Given that we were initially told that repairs would start before the summer season, someone in the City of San Diego (overseeing the repairs) really blew it. 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 soft plastic 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 — No report, need a reporter. 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 says the fishing was great until last Thursday when the sardines moved in and covered the water from the end of the pier up to the beach. He said before the sardines the fishing was good for bonito, croakers, and herring (queenfish) but all of that action stopped. He did report that a croaker fisherman fishing relatively shallow water decided to put a whole sardine on his line and caught a six-foot thresher shark (unusual for the area of water). He said the water temperature also dropped and masses of red seaweed cover the water and beach making it hard to fish. He said some people are out at night lobstering but he hasn’t had any reports. On a side note they are starting the reconstruction of the outer end, a 17.5 million dollar reconstruction. He has no idea how long it will take but it could be years. 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 hasn’t had any reports from the pier. 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 most of the attention has been on lobsters and it’s been a good lobster opener to date. Meanwhile a few small bonito continue to be caught and one barracuda was reported. Mackerel have slowed. Inshore some perch and croaker continue to be caught; use worms or mussels. Not too many shark fishermen are showing up although one thresher was reported. 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 some bass should be available to those using lures with both spotties and calicos (kelp bass) being caught. She says one of her regulars baited up with small pieces of shrimp, slivers of squid, and light tackle, and caught some spotfin croaker and perch. 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 bait situation is great or maybe not great because they are not biting. They are full! We have not caught anything much for almost two weeks. Today I caught two small halibut on smelt and had a good strike on a sardine. I also caught a very small white seabass. He was a piggy. None of the others I fish with caught anything.
Angler67 reported on 10/9, “11a-2p - Water stabilized for a few days 64-65. On incoming Loooooog 14 hr single tide shift, sunny with light SSW winds. Heavy smelt mass from surf to end of pier, both sides. Water looked clear-ish with light bands of red-tide, nothing was corralling the smelt they were spread out away from the pier, started throwing surface feather for no looks, but then BIG boil on smelt about 75yds out off end. Started getting feather strikes but nothing sticking. Then the school started strafing the pier packing all the smelt into the pier. Close full school boils started busting up, not even a pass on surface, very frustrating those fish grrrrrrr. Then a big boil started right under my feathers 40yds out moving in direction of my retrieve so I was right over the exploding bonito looking straight into their eyes LOL still ignoring my smelt looking feathers, then finally a strike with followers trying to grab the 2nd feather, hook, drop, hook, drop, HOOK got the double 13"-14" fish over the rail. Then nothing! Boils continued so started throwing kroc and stickbait. ZERO looks on the kroc, but 2 or 3 takedowns on the stick bait, none stayed hooked. Full boils stopped but Single blowups continued straight down in the thick smelt, but nothing but a few shallow passes on the feather. Saw near zero sardines in the water and only 1 mackerel caught. Interesting I talked to Snookie as I was headed home and she asked if I saw any anchovies, in fact I saw 2 spit up by the bonito and when I cleaned the 2 fish later at home they had 3 more anchovies and 1 micro-smelt in their bellies, so each fish had 3 fresh fish in their bellies and still attacked my lure. I did not see any dolphin on my watch but one gentleman that was there before me (earlier than 11) said there was a pod feed in the bonito boils Tough bite but a beautiful afternoon fishing.”
Ladygoose reported on 10/7, “Today quick trip to balboa pier with my son. He was hoping for his first guitarfish but no dice on smelt. Instead of smelt we were surprised with baby barracudas. Caught 3 total over 2 hours on a size 3 Sabiki. One smelt was the only other catch. Fished 10:30 to 1:00 p.m. Water temp: 63. High tide: 11:14 a.m.”
Angler67b reported on 10/3, “Wow the water started turning over on entire LA/OC coastline last week closing the door the the warming up bite on Bonito. Thu 9/26 - 10a-1p - Water 65F (brrr down from 70 prev week) On outgoing tide, overcast to sunny, mild wind. Plenty of clusters of micro-smelt and sardine balls still passing through regularly, unfortunately also bands of red tide passing through. NOTHING was chasing all the bait other than 2 or 3 cormorants. Only a few people fishing on the end. Fished several normal artificials all around the end, not one flash, pass, bite. The 5-8 degree water temp drop probably pushed the fish to look for warmer water. Only sardines and some small lizard fish being caught on end. Thu 10/3 - 11a-1p - Water 63F (brrr down from 65 last week) for several days now hoping the fish stabilized on the new temps. On outgoing tide but maximum fish activity zone for this day, lightly foggy still at 11a and big wind from the EAST. Too dark to see bait in the water but I could see the sardine balls still passing through regularly, with a few being caught by 2 o3 regulars populating the pier's end. Water looked clear but no bites on surface feather for 45min on S side, tried the end casting S and after a few casts saw several small Bonito boils on micro-smelt and nothing for several casts over the boil zone, then finally 1 strike close to the pier, a nice 12" Bonito, then nothing else for the rest of the session. Saw no boils, got no passes or strikes on Kroc or splasher.Tough bite, even Snookie and crew left early! Looks like city is prepping for some big surf!” 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; need a reporter although action typically is about the same as at Balboa. 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 — No report; need a reporter. 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 — Nan, at Big Fish Bait & Tackle. 1780-C. Pacific Coast Hwy. says things are a little slow and many anglers have switched to lobsters. Some bugs are reported but it doesn’t sound like big numbers. A few perch and croakers are available inshore while a few mackerel and a possible small bonito are possible out toward the end of the pier. 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 — No report, need a reporter. 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. Not sure if anyone is trying for lobster. 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 and/or bonito. 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) — No report; need a reporter. 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 Sky tuna on 10/4 said, “Made my way out to the mole on 9/22/24 for a couple days of fun on the island with my lovely girlfriend, most of which wasn't fishing. Smooth Ferry ride over from Newport with 3' swells at 16 seconds. After a day of exploring I was lucky enough to hit the mole, but no luck after maybe 100 casts of tossing a bubble and feather. Although a fisherman already had his limit of bonito next to me ( tossing a popper and trailing feather). I guess I missed the bight that day. My girlfriend managed to get a wrasse and garibaldi off of cut squid, however. On 9/23 I got to the pier before sunrise and noticed lots of life in the water. Even saw a couple small schools of yellowtail swim by. I started working the bubble and feather again, and after a couple hours of casts I finally got tight on a nice bonito. I ended up getting 3 total that morning until 9:00AM. Then things seemed to shut off. tried again around noon and landed 2 out of 3 bonito off a lucky craft lure (white seabass pattern). Caught the 4:30PM ferry back home but had a bit of a breezy ride back with a little wind chop. All in all a very nice Sunday/Monday with warm weather, calm seas and clear skies. All fish were released except for one bonito that Mr. Pelican was adamant about eating.”.” 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 — No report, need a reporter. 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 — Ladygoose reported on 10/6, “Hit Manhattan Beach Pier with my coworkers after work. First time at that pier. Typically we hit Redondo but honestly enjoyed Manhattan Pier. Plus easier to get to the 405 to head home afterwards. Anyways, not much bait in the water. Fished from 3pm till 6:30pm. Caught a couple smelt to toss out on Carolina rigs and fish finders. Also gave a few to the gang of local kids that had no bait amongst themselves. One of the kids hooked up on a smelt I donated but got broke off on the pylon by a decent guitarfish. My buddy had a good clicker scream but didn’t get the hook set. Then as soon as I got back from the head my Penn 501, that I had just finished rebuilding this last weekend, started screaming. Good little fight and after a few minutes saw the culprit. Guitarfish made a b-line for the pylon but got some leverage on her and flipped her onto her back. Quick net job, measure, and some pets and got her released. She was 40” on the dot. Other fish caught were some walleye surfperch and one fat thornback. Water temp: 66. Low tide: 5:08 PM.” 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) — waiting for report. 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, —waiting for the report. 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 is a little slow at the pier. Perch are available but they are small and mackerel fishing is slow. However a few sheephead have been showing up for those fishing on the bottom. Most attention has been on the lobsters and action has been good. Many 7-8 pound lobsters have been reported and even one ten-pound lobster. 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 most of the local attention has been on lobsters and they are getting some really big-sized lobsters. Meanwhile there are some red tide conditions and fishing has been somewhat slow. Perch are available but most have been small while not much is happening on top action — no bonito and few mackerel. She did say one guy caught a large striped bass but it was a lone fish. 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 continues to kick out limits of crabs but now they’ve been joined by lobsters are people are doing good on the bugs. The sharkers are absent so no reports on sharks while anglers to continue to pull in some sardines and mackerel but it’s not fast action. No report on bottom fish. 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 the biggest news lately was a huge 7-gill shark that measured 9 ½-feet with an estimated weight of 300 pounds. It was caught on half of a bonito-the head end. The other big news is an excellent lobster opener with many lobster being caught and some are good-sized bugs. He did say that regulars using fresh bait (especially bonito and mackerel) seem to be doing the best. As for the bonito, they are still getting some fish but most are small, 10-16-inch fish being caught on Sabiki rigs with shiny lures being used instead of regular sinkers on the bottom. Some mackerel are also available but not in big numbers. Most are taken on Sabikis. Not too many are fishing for sharks and thus not too many sharks are being caught. Meanwhile, the pipe reef continues to kick out bottom fish—small rockfish including brown and grass rockfish, calico (kelp) bass and sand bass. He said one boy also caught a relatively huge jacksmelt measuring 21-22 inches. One final warning. They are resurfacing the parking lot around the pier one section n at a time so parking may be messed up for the next month or so. 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.
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