San Francisco Municipal Pier aka “The Muni”

Fringehead — 2007

Special Recommendation. Bring a jacket as the wind comes up almost every afternoon.

The Pier Rats Speak 

Date: March 28, 1999; To: Ken Jones; From: James Pan; Subject: Fishing report

Hi Ken, Went fishing yesterday at the SF Muni. Pier. The weather was beautiful, albeit somewhat cold and breezy. Caught one tiny bullhead (4″) and one giant sea anemone attached to a piece of rock weighing over 3 LB! My bait must have just landed right above its mouth. Managed to catch one small kingfish in the afternoon, and an unknown fish. The fish is about 6″ long, looks like an eel, has a very slimy body, and disproportionately large mouth with very sharp teeth. I will let you know the name of the fish once it’s identified. There were some twenty anglers scattered over the entire pier. Neighbors caught a few kingfish, bullheads and perch. Many were also crabbing. I am no exception. Caught ten crabs while fishing. Take care and have fun fishing.

James, Thanks for the very interesting report. Sounds like you might have caught a fringehead which are really mean little critters with mouths full of sharp teeth. But you never know what you’ll catch on a visit to the Muni Pier. Best wishes, Ken

The following is undoubtedly the most negative report I have ever received regarding a pier and unfortunately some of the thoughts are right on the mark. The message engendered quite a bit of discussion on the Message Board after I listed it and led to (I believe) a considerable number of letters to the authorities. Improvements? Still waiting.

Date: October 29, 2000; To: Ken Jones; From: Harukan; Subject: Monthly Reports

Well, here’s a report for Muni Pier that you can use this month, next month, and forever: MUNI PIER SUCKS. I’ve been reading fishing reports from various piers all over California for months now, and it sounds as though every pier in the state has better fishing than Muni Pier, whose fishing sucks because the sea-lions at Pier 39 gobble up every decent fish in the entire area.

Aside from the fishing being pathetic, Muni Pier sucks in every other respect. The pier receives no maintenance or repair and is crumbling away—there are lots of places where big chunks of concrete have broken away and never been repaired. The pier used to have lights all along it, but the lights were removed at some point, leaving only the useless lamp-posts sticking up like concrete stumps. The bait shop/snack bar at the foot of the pier has been closed for a good ten or fifteen years or more. There are no fish-cleaning facilities or water, although there used to be—you can see water pipes in places where the concrete curbing has broken (and, of course, not been repaired). Restroom facilities are completely inadequate, especially in view of the fact that hundreds of people come onto the pier each day—joggers, tourists, etc., in addition to crabbers and fishermen.

The pier is also filthy. Since the pier is open at night (but not lit or attended), it acts as a magnet for drunks and derelicts who go out there at night to drink and party and leave trash all over the place, including broken beer bottles. People also use the areas behind the concrete benches as urinals, and the areas around the benches generally reek so strongly of urine that they’re stomach-turning and you can’t go near the benches, much less sit on them. It also isn’t unusual to find a pile of human crap lying about.

All things considered, there’s NO reason to go to Muni Pier, at all, ever, and every reason NOT to. The only reason I’ve been going there now and then is that it’s close to where I live and since I don’t have a car, going anywhere else is very inconvenient and time-consuming (if not completely unfeasible), but I’m not going there any more. The decrepitude and dirt and lack of amenities might be bearable if the fishing were good, but it isn’t. If there were a contest for “worst pier in California,” Muni Pier would be the winner.

Quite naturally, the post engendered a lively thread of follow-up posts.

Posted by Scooterfish

Is there anything we can do? Just wondering if there is something we can do about the situation/conditions at this pier. Is there somewhere we can write? who manages (or -DOESN’T- manage) the piers in SF? Just curious, because it does seem like Muni is just fading away.

My opinion on Muni and SF pier fishing (from the POV of a current city dweller and former country boy who like his space) I tried Muni for while and ended up at least as frustrated as Harukan, for many reasons. I work days, like most folks, and fish weekdays in the afternoons. Muni is one of the most exposed and unpleasant piers I’ve ever spent an evening at. Extremely windy (3-4pm on), dark, dirty, smelly, cold and miserable. A disgrace. The fishing is not so hot either, although I agree with Ken that I have had a few oddball OK days there. I do own a car, but anyone who lives here in SF knows you can’t move a car after everyone’s off work because there is NO PARKING (I’ve spent up to two hours trying to park in my neighborhood before giving up and parking illegally on a sidewalk). Unless you are one of those rare and lucky souls in SF that has a garage, this situation limits most of us to Public Transportation, and that SEVERELY limits the piers that are within a reasonable distance. I regularly (1-2 times a week) get on a standing-room-only Muni bus with my 2-piece 11-ft surf pole, a 6-ft one piece casting rod, a bucket and a duffel with all my gear. People look at me like I’m some kind of freak or something. The only piers I can really get to and back from in a reasonable amount of time are Pier 2 and Pier 7. I guess I’m a bit frustrated too. Hey Harukan… lets hooks up at a pier and fish/gripe for a while! Maybe we’ll get lucky and catch a few fish.. haha   Scooterfish

Posted by stinkyfingers

Now let’s see what happens… Ken, I was seriously put out by what I read here about this pier. I have copied and pasted the report into an Email that I have sent it to Willie Brown, asking him for comment and intentions. I have also copied Holly Bundock of the National Park Services with my transmittion. Now let’s wait for a response…

 Posted by harukan

Nothing—wrong target. Complaining to Silly Willy won’t do any good, because the City of San Francisco, oddly enough, has nothing to do with Muni Pier. Muni Pier is under the aegis of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which, like all national parks, is suffering from shortages of both funding and staff, which no doubt accounts for the deplorable condition of the pier.

If you want to complain about the pier, complaints should be directed to:

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Fort Mason Center, Building 201

San Francisco, CA 94123

Attention: Brian O’Neill

The phone number is: (415) 561-4720

In complaining, do keep in mind that funds and staff are already stretched to the max, and that the REAL fault lies with the politicians who throw money at entitlement programs and the moronic “war on drugs” while letting everything else go to hell.

Posted by harukan

San Francisco Municipal Pier. I sent in that report because I wanted people to know how bad Muni Pier is so they wouldn’t waste their time going there. I’ve heard lots of stories about how good the fishing USED to be at Muni Pier, but invariably, when I ask the person WHEN he/she experienced this great fishing, the answer is that it was years ago, before the sea-lions moved in and set up permanent camp at Pier 39. Yeah, maybe once in awhile somebody has a sort-of good day at Muni Pier, but in my experience, it’s about as rare as the proverbial blue moon. About 99.999% of the time, the fishing sucks. That being the case, I haven’t bothered to complain to Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) about the poor maintenance and other problems with the pier. Even if GGNRA could spare the funds and manpower to fix and clean up the pier, they still couldn’t do anything about the rotten fishing.

Posted by Mike. C

Hey Ken! Harukan is right on the money in regards to this pier. It sucks. The only reason I go ever go there is to catch anchovies for bait during the summer. Among his legitimate gripes he left out the all the damn swimmers in the morning that scare off all the ‘chovies making it take longer to catch sufficient amounts of bait thus prolonging an already miserable experience. I won’t even bring my dog out on the pier with me when I go (By the way Ken the dog’s name is Raider) since he’s so much closer to the ground I fear he’ll pick up some kind of bacteria or viral infection from all the urine and fecal waste. It’s truly a shame because I have fond memories of this pier when I was a kid. Getting hamburgers, fries and coke with my dad and grandfather while taking a lunch break from fishing and crabbing for huge Dungeness, it was legal to take them out of the bay back then. I caught my first striper when I was about 7 or 8 out there on Muni Pier. He was a beauty, or at least I think he was, when you’re that small fish look bigger. Between Muni and Berkeley Pier I learned all my fishing basics before I was ten. It’s truly sad to see that pier in the condition that it’s in now.

Posted by Kyle

Why don’t they build some type of underwater reef below muni pier? And for the wind, build some kind of windbreaker, blocking the wind that hits the pier. Maybe just a huge tarp can do the job

Posted by Ken Jones

Although I agree overall on the conditions, I really have had several excellent fishing days at the pier. Last year on my birthday I went fishing and caught one big perch after another (rubberlip perch, striped perch, rainbow perch and blackperch) as well as some small cabezon. There has also been some good action on kingfish, jacksmelt, small perch (primarily silvers), sharks and small rockfish. And although I imagine the fishing was better back then, whenever “back then” was, my first trip to the pier, on July 6, 1966, was not really that great—just a few silver surfperch. So although there is a tremendous job to do for the right agencies on cleaning up and repairing the pier, I do believe you can still catch some good fish from the pier. Oh, and I do agree the wind in the afternoon can be murder while the parking is almost always terrible unless you get there really early in the morning).

Date: December 3, 2000; To: PFIC Message Board; From: cchiou; Subject: Piers in the city (SF)

 Hey guys — I’ve been reading your posts and they’re all very helpful, however there seems to be pretty sparse info on people who fish off of the Fort Mason and Municipal Piers. Unfortunately, I don’t have a car so those are the only ones I have access to. I have a general idea as to what kind of fish are in the bay and what types of bait, etc. I should use. However, it seems like these piers aren’t very heavily fished — or I’ve missed the posts. In any case, I’ll be heading down there next weekend, but thought I’d troll for any help or advice that people might have. Thanks! Carl

Posted by Ken Jones

A lot of people fish from both of those piers although the Muni Pier, because of its size and shape, can really handle more anglers.

Fort Mason is a good place to go when the wind comes up because you can find some spots where most of the wind is blocked. You can also generally find a spot to park unlike the Muni Pier which, at times, has no parking available. Most of the fish I have caught at Fort Mason were perch, kingfish, bullheads and sharks. Crabbing can be good at times but the problem at Fort Mason is that on most of the pier (really two piers) the railing is quite a way from the edge of the pier making it hard to crab or to pull in larger fish (like sharks or rays). It’s also easy to tangle your line on the pilings if you are fishing straight down for perch. But, as said, at times it is preferable to the Muni Pier or Fort Point. For info on the Muni Pier consult the Pier Archives.

 Posted by cchiou

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I live 5 minutes away and have been going all the way to the Delta to fish without knowing I could fish so close to home. Great site. Carl