| SoCal’s Pier Round Up |
| Los Angeles County Piers -- Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu – The first four all reported similar action. Mackerel are available on top while surfperch continue to show up inshore. Add in an occasional halibut and some decent sharks and rays and there’s a reason to get out to the piers. Santa Monica reported all the action is on the bottom. Quite a few spotfin croakers and sargo are showing inshore while herring and pileperch are under the pier. In the evening, anglers are taking a mix of sharks and rays. Malibu has seen some great fishing lately. A lot of bait is around the pier, including mackerel, and the shark action in particular has been very good. Included have been some really big shovelnose sharks, leopard sharks, bat rays and a number of threshers up to 8 ft. in length. Inshore anglers are taking large yellowfin croakers and even a few corbina.
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| Orange County Piers -- Balboa and Newport continue to see good mackerel action along with some jacksmelt and sardines. A few corbina are showing inshore while sharks and rays follow the grunion. San Clemente continues its normal summertime action on perch and croakers inshore, while the end is seeing quite a few calico bass. Mix in some interesting shark/ray action and it’s a good time to fish. Huntington Beach is seeing some good action on big spotfin croakers and yellowfin croakers inshore, while a few legal halibut and leopard sharks have added to the fun. Zebra perch are apparently hanging out at the end of the pier along with some big bat rays. Seal Beach is seeing spotfins and yellowfins inshore along with a few corbina and rubberlips (by the pilings). Mackerel are abundant mid-pier to the end and quite a few halibut (mostly shorts but some legals), needlefish and sand bass are also showing up.
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| San Diego Piers -- Imperial Beach, Ocean Beach and Crystal Pier are continuing to see a nice mix of fish. Imperial Beach is seeing good numbers of mackerel and sardines on the top while a plethora of “sharay” species are hitting on the bottom – shovelnose, pinback and bat rays. A nice thresher shark was also reported from the pier this week. Ocean Beach is seeing some good-sized sargo along with some decent action on bass, barracuda and sheephead during the day. The mackerel come out at sunset and add variety to the nighttime sharks and rays. Reports also indicate a decent bite on halibut to 30 in. Crystal is seeing the usual perch and croakers along with lots of jacksmelt on top. A lot of young giant (black) sea bass have been caught recently but all (as far as those reported) were returned safely to the water.
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| Ventura & Santa Barbara County Piers -- The hot weather and perhaps the grunion have turned on the fish. Port Hueneme is seeing some jacksmelt, sardines and mackerel along with a few halibut. Some decent-sized sharks and rays are also available, mostly at night. Ventura is seeing some barred surfperch inshore, small croakers and halibut inshore to mid-pier, and some mackerel, small white seabass and sharays out at the end. Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara reported the best halibut fishing in the past three years with multiple legal-size fish being taken every day. Goleta is kicking out some nice-sized barred surfperch inshore, while decent halibut action is taking place inshore to mid-pier. Gaviota has finally taken off with some good mackerel action added to the normal perch and bass mix. Quite a few thresher sharks are also finally showing up at the pier.
If you have a pier catch you’d like to report, send it to kenjones@pierfishing.com. |
