Black Rockfish Archives - Pier Fishing in California

Santa Cruz Wharf

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required When I first sat down to write about this pier, I almost didn’t know where to start. Should I talk about the pier itself, the municipal wharf built in 1913, the wharf which is the longest of the…

Angel Island State Park Pier

Public Access Area — Status Unclear — Fishing License May Be Required “Ellis Island of the West.” No Statue of Liberty lights up the sky although perhaps one should! The nickname recognizes the role this island played during the first half of the twentieth century.…

Commercial St. Dock — Eureka

Public Access Area — Status Unclear — Fishing License May Be Required In the mid-‘60s an interesting paper was released by the Department of Fish and Game. Fish Bulletin #130 detailed the effort and success of anglers between Oregon and Point Arguello in central California…

Morro Bay South T-Pier

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required Sitting just a few hundred yards south of the North T-Pier, the South T-Pier is slightly larger and seems to be seeing an increasing proportion of the local pier anglers choose it as home. Perhaps this is due…

Black Rockfish

Scorpionfishes and Rockfishes: Family Scorpaenidae Species: Sebastes melanops (Girard, 1856); from the Greek words sebastes (magnificent), melas (black), and ops (face). Alternate Names: Commonly called black bass, bass rockfish or black snapper; also confused with and called blue rockfish; sometimes called bluefish, Columbia River rockfish,…

“B” Street Pier aka Michael J. Scavuzzo Pier — Crescent City

Sunrise can be a beautiful time at the pier! Public Pier — No Fishing License Required Looks, whether for women, men, or piers, can be deceiving. When first built, the expectations for this pier were high. It was similar to the expectations about the Ocean…

Point Arena Pier

Point Arena Cove and Pier Public Pier — No Fishing License Required On March 26, 1987, Point Arena had a celebration. On that date, a new pier was dedicated at the picturesque cove, located just down the road from the center of town. While state,…

Citizen’s Dock — Crescent City

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required Every pier has its story and one of the most interesting here took place during a visit in 1997. I had arrived late in the afternoon, checked into the motel, and headed straight over to the dock for…

Elephant Rock Pier — Tiburon

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required When opened in the early 1960s, this pier was “dedicated to all girls and boys under 16 years of age who love to fish.” In fact, no one was supposed to fish on the pier who was over…

Trinidad Pier aka Seascape Pier — Trinidad

Private Pier — Fishing License Required My first visit to the Trinidad Pier was in August of 1976 and I was immediately struck by two thoughts. The first concerned the beautiful surroundings, both the harbor area itself and the view looking down the coast. The…