Why have Fishing Catch Numbers Declined?

[tbae]

Hi all - this is totally anecdotal but I've been fishing for 4 years now and noticed a steady decline in quantity and quality of fish during my outings (I usually try to fish weekly at south Orange County piers (Dana Point, San Clemente).

I recall catching sheephead, legal-sized bass, and sargo in the past. Also, jack smelt and mackeral seemed to be readily available from spring through fall to the extent that I would just use them as bait without having to buy anything significant from the grocery market/bait shops. Nowadays (really comparing from my first year to my fourth year), it seems at best I see some other folks catching a few here and there (I realize that places like Redondo Beach may produce more mackeral than others but even that pier seems like mackeral catch has been on decline) and at worst I don't even see any being caught from anyone (aka - I only saw 1 sheephead caught at San Clemente during fall).

I hope this is just my individual experience, but wondering if you all are experiencing something similar and if so, what do you think is contributing to this decline? I don't think it's the change in the number of recreational fisherpeople making a material difference since my guess is that this population is also in long-term decline.

Anyway would appreciate your thoughts - thanks in advance!

Ps - My fishing skills aren't the best but also would think not the worst (my biggest "skill" would be consistency on the location and frequency of times I fish ) so take that for what it's worth (I basically follow what I've learned on this website) - thanks!

 

[MisterT]

I've been telling myself that I just suck at fishing or I just don't go fishing enough.

I've been in San Diego for a few years now and have found it rather challenging. I've come to believe bait fishing works better in San Diego than lure fishing.

 

[Bendopolo]

I’m surprised the stories haven’t shown up for us guys with 60+ years on the Pier. Huge schools of WSB, Yellowtail, Barracuda, Bonito. They would swim by for hours. Huge Halibut that would come up and hit out Bonito Flys behind homemade our Shovel Handle Splashers. Threshers spooling you in seconds. So many Perch and Corbina in the white water. In my area, the old men speared the Corbina and had bucketfuls. Lots of interesting Shells, Lobster were easy to catch if you wanted to eat Bugs.(We did) I still visit the Piers on my Bicycle rides. A travesty what passes for Fishing now. Even those that would have slayed barely get any live bait fish. There are flashes of the past but it is sad and I blame pollution. Our inner waters are dreadful now. A bright spot is it is cleaner than 10 years ago so the trend has seemed to reverse. Maybe we will have a comeback. Suddenly Newport Harbor is awash in Oysters, a good sign. Last year I saw huge Bluefin puddling less than a mile from the end of Newport Pier. It took a Kayak to catch one.

 

[TheFrood]

It's not your imagination.

 

[bassfanatick]

The global human population reached 8.0 billion in mid-November 2022 from an estimated 2.5 billion people in 1950
A lot more mouths to feed.

 

[Ken Jones]

Overall I do not doubt there has been a drop-off in the number of fish, especially certain species. At the same time there is a huge difference between the cold El Nina water and warm El Nino waters. Many times our memories of the great fishing are based upon those warm water years where the affect of the warm water, especially in SoCal, can produce big differences in species and catch. In turn, up north there is litrtle doubt that the state's policies, especially its water policies have greatly affected some species, i.e..salmon.

I did go back and just check a few of my pier records given I have kept track of every pier trip since 1962.I selected four piers where I did much of my fishing in the '60s and '70s.

Shelter Island Pier (San Diego) — '60s/'70s - 2.21 fish per hour and 3.72 points per hour (an adjustment for size).
'60s-2024 - 3.46 fish per hour and 5.80 points per hour.

Ocean Beach Pier (San Diego) - '60s-'70s - 2.37 fish per hour and 4.42 points per hour
'60s-2024 - 4.07 fish per hour and 8.18 points per hour

Crystal Pier (San Diego) - '60s-'70s - 4.33 fish per hour and 9.30 points per hour
'60s-2024 - 4.45 fish per hour - 9.88 points per hour

Newport Pier - '60s-70s - 2.24 fish per hour - 4.06 points per hour
'60s-2024 - 2.86 fish per hour - 5.12 points per hour

Pismo Beach Pier - '60s-'70s - 7.41 fish per hour - 12.0 points per hour
'60s-2024 - 5.05 fish per hour - 9.01 points per hour

Santa Cruz Pier - '60s-'70s - 4.97 fish per hour - 6.91 points per hour
'60s-2024 - 8.40 fish per hour - 10.94 points per hour

Pacifica Pier - '70s - 6.33 fish per hour - 10.4 points per hour
'70s-2024 - 6.32 fish per hour - 10.1 points per hour

Fort Baker Pier - '70s - 3.35 fish per hour - 5.65 points per hour
'70s-2024 - 4.76 fish per hour - 7.53 points per hour.

Point Arena Pier - '70s-'80s - 4.05 fish per hour - 7.04 points per hour
'70s-2024 - 3.34 fish per hour - 8.94 points per hour

The figures overall reflect improved numbers during the past 50 years. However, it also reflects a little more skill on my part, a better understanding of what fish are caught in what part of pier (and the correct bait for those areas), and a difference in species (since in those early year, at least in SoCal I was often primarily fishing for halibut). When fishing for mackerel, croaker and other species you will get quite different figures than concentrating on halibut. The change at Pismo shows a drop due to the drop in catch of the small bocaccio (usually called rockfish or tomcod) that were once a featured summer species at the pier. The figures at Santa Cruz show more small species. Pacifica numbers are skewed due to the overwhelming number of trips I made to the pier in the '70s.

There is absolutely no doubt that the fishing on piers is far different from 100 years ago but at least for the past 50 years I don't think we've seen the sharp decrease that were previously seen. However, I do think the size of fish being caught has overall become smaller and that certain species have seen definite declines (white croaker, starry flounder, and sturgeon). However, species like bonito, a favorite species in the '60s that saw big fish, has seen up and down years depending on water temperatures and some species, i.e., sardines, were rarely even seen from the '50s until the '90s when they reappeared. However, some pelagic species like salmon that depend upon better water policies in the rivers show a definite decline. So, it's a very mixed bag even though this year in particular saw considerable stretches of poor fishing, in part due to large red tide conditions.