Pine Avenue Pier #1 (Long Beach) Fishing 1893-1903
Excellent fishing may now be enjoyed from the wharf, yellowtail, halibut, bonita, rock cod and mackerel biting freely. —Los Angeles Herald, November 21, 1888The new wharf is the popular fishing resort. All sorts of the finny tribe are daily landed on it. Mr. Pickles caught a handsome young jewfish there, which is a novelty in the shore waters. —Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1893
Mackerel continues to constitute the chief catch from the wharf, whose sides fairly bristle with poles “from early morn till dewy eve.” The expert mackerel catcher lines four to six feet of his line with hooks, and practically casts three to six lines at a time. And the utility of this style of fishing has been illustrated within a day or two by a catch of no less than four good-sized fish at one time. When a school of fish are biting freely two at a time are common, three at once occasional, but four or more is rare. On Wednesday W. S. Snell, one of the regulars among line casters, introduced a new order of angling, which suddenly became very popular. He attached a can-buoy to his line and cast it much further out than the poles can reach. A fat basket rewarded the innovation, and now buoy-baiting is entirely the proper thing. An empty beer bottle, well corked, answers the purpose of a float as well as anything yet devised. —Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1893
Yellowtails are running by the thousands outside the new wharf. All fishing parties come back with immense catches. —Los Angeles Herald, July 8, 1894
Mr. Al Decker caught a 50-pound yellowtail off of the southeastern end of the new [Long Beach] wharf. —Los Angeles Herald, July 9, 1894
Fish and the Fishers
Long Beach, Aug. 15.—The wharf is lined every day with men, women and children fishing, and, as fish are very plentiful, there is much fun and excitement for the fishers. Fine, large yellowtail, halibut, rockcod, mackerel, surf fish, bonita, smelt, herring and an occasional barracuda are among the fish that are caught from the pier, while there is no limit to the variety caught by those who go out a few miles on the bay in boats.
The water around the pier was alive with sardines Thursday morning, and the California Fishing Company’s boat Alpha made an immense haul when she dropped her net about 800 feet from shore.
Night fishing has its attractions, also, the long pier being well lighted by electric lights. This long pier is in much demand in the evening as a promenade. —Los Angeles Herald, August 16, 1896
Myriads of the toothsome sardines are being taken close to the wharf, at Long Beach. Big fish are driving them in, and Mr. D. W. Fletcher this week landed a 52 ½-pound yellowtail from the wharf. —Los Angeles Herald, September 19, 1896
Long Beach, Jan.23.—Since the late heavy rains the ocean in the vicinity of the wharf has become roiled, and the larger fish, such as rock bass, bonita, halibut, yellowtail, etc., have gone out from shore a short distance, where at a distance of a half mile they are as plentiful as fleas on the back of a Santa Monica dog. The smaller varieties, such as smelt, sardines, mackerel, croakers and surf fish, are, however, still with us and furnish sufficient sport for our men and women anglers, who taken the keenest delight in the fascination, prompted by the desire to excel in making the biggest catch of these toothsome beauties. —Los Angeles Herald, January 24, 1897
Fish and Fishermen Plenty
Long Beach, Jan. 30.—The water in the vicinity of the wharf is again clear and the large deep water fish have returned and are being caught in great numbers with hook and line, as before the late heavy rains. Shoals and schools of sardines hover around the wharf and the pelicans, sea gulls and other water fowl gobble up all their fill they want to eat by swooping down amongst them as they in terror rise to the surface in their efforts to escape from the big fish—porpoises, yellowtail, bonita and such like which pool their issues by forming a cordon and closing in around them, drive them into shallow water near shore, where the poor little sardines fall victim to either the birds or big fish—just as easily as do the great body of consumers to the monopolies, trusts and protected industries.
The bay is teeming with fish—large, fat and juicy fish—the sardines in the inner harbor of Wilmington being so large and fat as to be unfit for canning, ranging from a half pound to two or more pounds in weight. The larger ones, while too large to can, are an excellent table fish, and will, some time, when their edible qualities are better known, be rated among the choicest and daintiest of our food fishes.
A great many strangers who have read in the Herald about the fine fishing and other attractions of the beach come down during the week and enjoyed themselves immensely. Monday a huge yellowtail gulped down a sardine that was on the hook for bait, the pole having been carelessly stuck between the stringer and the floor of the wharf, and got away with the whole outfit, the long pole disappearing under the water like a flash and not being seen again. Live sardines in the bait generally used in fishing for yellowtail, sea bass, rock bass, bonita, and all the larger varieties of fish, and the anglers often have their bait stolen by the pelicans and hell divers which are sometimes hauled up by the anglers on the end of the line. —Los Angeles Herald, January 31, 1897
Fishing has been interfered with somewhat by the rains, as the water near shore gets rolled by the wash from the clay bluffs, the fish preferring clear water, and keeping outside of it…Wednesday a whopping big sea bass, weighing, dressed, 37 pounds, was caught from the pier. —Los Angeles Herald, February 7, 1897
Long Beach, April 15th, 1897.—Great quantities of yellowtail, barracuda and halibut being caught off yachts. Pier fishing: mackerel and croakers. —Los Angeles Herald, April 17, 1897
The pier is daily becoming a greater attraction to visitors and the favorite place of resort. Spectators never grow weary of watching the silvery little wriggling minnows drawn up in the seine and looking at the boats coming and going with sailing parties. The electric light submerged in the water at night is a point of attraction for both visitors and fishes. The fish swim around it in incredible numbers, dazzled by its brilliancy, and stay near it as long as the light remains. —Los Angeles Herald, August 9, 1897
Exciting Encounter With a Shark
Long Beach, Sept.29—A big hammerhead shark was captured near the wharf today after a long and exciting struggle. Judging from its appearance the monster must have had a fight with some denizen of the sea within the past few days, and thereafter laid itself up for temporary repairs. Then it seems to have been hungry, and its greed for food led to its undoing. The shark was first observed this morning on the east side of the wharf. It tried to swallow a bucket of sardines, bucket and all. Then it continued to assume the role of marine goat of the Harlem order, and tried to eat a piece of fish net that was hanging down in the water. These actions attracted attention from the wharf, and various kinds of tempting bait were placed at its disposal. It carried away several fish-hooks and still clamored for more. By way of diversion a hook baited with a sardine was lowered by his shark-ship’s side, and he made a turn for it. The bait was moved so as to keep it out of his reach, and he began spinning almost like a top in his efforts to reach it.
Several attempts to land a spear on the big mark from the wharf failed, and so Percy Hunsaker and John Lavelle tried it with a skiff. Lavelle took the oars and Hunsaker acted as harpooner. The spear was slightly attached to a five-foot pole, and the sixty-foot line was made fast to boat. The other end of the line was fastened in the boat. With some care the boat was rowed near to the shark, and with a strong thrust Hunsaker drove the lance home. It landed near the back of the shark’s head and went right through. The pole came loose, as it was intended to have it do, and there was no chance for the monster to free itself.
The minute the shark felt the iron it was off like a flash, and all efforts to stop it by pulling the other way on the oars were useless. A number of other boats were soon manned and some assistance was rendered by them by driving the game in the desired direction. For nearly an hour the play lasted, the wearisome pulling and hauling being hardly noticed in the excitement of the moment. Human intelligence was finally victorious over brute-instinct and the tired-out game was towed to the wharf with a line about its tail. It measured nine feet six inches.
Sharks of this kind are seldom caught here. They have a head which is very flat, and which widens out into two arms, which project about a foot to each side. The eyes are curiously situated at the outer ends of these arms. The appearance is almost as strange as would be that of a man with his eyes at his shoulders or elbows.
When the shark was pulled out of the water there dropped from it a small scale-less fish, which when placed in a bucket of water, attached itself by suction so firmly to the bottom of the bucket that all efforts to pull it loose were useless. —Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1898
The good fishing that was prevalent two years ago at this time is “again on” at the wharf, and is the principal drawing attraction at present. Yellowtail, halibut of the larger variety, and sea trout, herring, mackerel, sculpin of the smaller and the smaller varieties have been plentiful.
Of sardines there has been no end, the California Fishing Company’s boat Alpha catching more in three seines than they could take aboard, and there are others. —Los Angeles Herald, October 10, 1898
Long Beach is coming to the front with the fish stories almost as fascinating as those that came earlier in the season from Catalina and Coronado. Over one hundred yellowtail, halibut and Jewfish were caught one day last week from the Long Beach wharf with throwlines and reel. —Corona Courier, October 15, 1898
Excellent fishing may now be enjoyed from the wharf, yellowtail, halibut, bonito, rock cod and mackerel biting quite freely. —Los Angeles Herald, November 21, 1898
A shark which, measured by points on the piling, was between twelve and fifteen feet long, ran up close to shore by the pleasure wharf Friday, but efforts to spear it proved futile, —Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1900
Mr. Dougall of Riverside has been staying in Long Beach during the past five weeks, and has kept a record of his catches of fish taken with a rod and line from the pleasure wharf. He has caught in that time more than 1500 fish, among the varieties being herring, mackerel, sole, sea trout, sea bass and surf fish. —Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1900
Wharf Fishing
A new style of fishing along the pleasure wharf has resulted in good catches within the last two or three days. Baited snag hooks are let down to the bottom and allowed to remain there for a while. Lobsters take the bait voraciously, and many of them are jerked up and landed by fishermen who have patience to wait for the lobsters to get fairly planted over the hooks.
A thresher shark created a diversion while in the ocean under the middle of the pleasure pier this morning. Carl D. Hendrickson had a line snapped apart by a ferocious bite of the creature, which is said to have been about six feet long. —Los Angeles Times, August 21, 1901