Shinerperch Archives - Pier Fishing in California

Nick’s Cove Pier — Marshall, Tomales Bay

Public Access Area — Private Pier — Fishing License Required Although many small piers dot the shoreline of Tomales Bay, few allow access to the public. One that did was the private pier at Lawson’s Landing, just south of Sand Point and the mouth of …

Seal Beach Pier

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required I’ve known several people over the years that considered themselves experts at everything. In common vernacular they were know-it-alls. Rarely did their knowledge actually match their egos. However, I have also known a couple of people whose knowledge…

Cabrillo Pier — San Pedro

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required Late that night the steamer got to San Pedro, and you may be sure Tom and Retta were up early the next morning. As they came off the boat, there was a crowd of people on the wharf…

Green Pleasure Pier — Avalon, Catalina Island

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required If anyone could be called the “father” of an island, it might be Frederick Holder who wrote numerous books and articles about California and the fishing to be found in its waters. The offshore islands, specifically Catalina Island,…

Capitola Wharf

Due to damage from the winter storms in 2023, the wharf is currently closed. No date has been set for reopening. Public Pier — No Fishing License Required While some piers along the coast (such as Seacliff) have characteristics that help define and give identity…

San Clemente Pier

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required Sit back and imagine, if you will, the following scenes: Scene One — The hooking of a giant (black) sea bass was not that unusual given that the San Clemente Pier is one of the main piers that…

Johnson Pier — Pillar Point Harbor — Half Moon Bay

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required There are two public piers in the Half Moon Bay/Princeton area and both are located in Pillar Point Harbor. For many years the larger pier, the Johnson Pier, was open to fisherman and heavily used. Then, with the…

Shoreline Aquatic Park Piers — Long Beach

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required The term Long Beach is not a misnomer, for here is a beach of hard white sand as level as a floor extending many miles each way. This beach is a perfect natural race course, and during the…

Fort Baker Pier — Sausalito

Public Pier — No Fishing License Required Like its counterpart across the bay, the Fort Point Pier, this pier offers not only decent fishing but one of the world’s most interesting and beautiful views. Look up to your right and you are looking into the…

Moss Landing Pier aka Sandholdt Pier — Gone But Not Forgotten

Most of the earth’s continents are girded by shallow shelves that slope gently away from the land for many miles, their depths seldom greater than a few hundred feet. On the East Coast of the United States, the shelf stretches for more than one hundred…