Berkeley Pier
Public Pier — No Fishing License Required The Berkeley Pier is closed for renovation and no one seems to know when or if it will be reopened. If a survey had been done over the past twenty-five years as to the most visited pier in…
San Simeon Pier
Public Pier — No Fishing License Required In 1542 Rodriguez Cabrillo, the Portuguese navigator sailed northward from Mexico to explore the coast of California. After visiting the bay of San Luis Obispo (that he called the Bay of Todos Santos, or All-Saints Bay) he visited…
McNears Beach Fishing Pier — San Rafael
Public Pier — No Fishing License Required I was fishing on the pier one mid-August day (with no luck) when a lady came up and asked how the fishing was. I said I hadn’t had a bite. She was attractive and wearing a dress that…
Ocean Beach Pier — San Diego
Public Pier — No Fishing License Required I should have been there (but I wasn’t). The date was July 2, 1966, the official opening day for the Ocean Beach Pier. Included in the 7,000 people who crowded the pier that day were local politicians, city…
Embarcadero Marina Park Pier — San Diego
Public Pier — No Fishing License Required Almost every pier in the state has a special memory for me. Some of the memories are of social gatherings, some are of great days fishing, and a couple are because of specific fish I caught at the…
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…
Pismo Beach Pier
Public Pier — No Fishing License Required This pier, together with the other piers along this stretch of coast, provides both recreational fishing and a relief from the summer heat for those who come over from the hot Central Valley (and the summertime influx of…
White Croaker
Croakers: Family Sciaenidae Species: Genyonemus lineatus (Ayres, 1855); from the Greek words genys (lower jaw) and nema (barbel) and the Latin word lineatus (striped). Alternate Names: Tomcod (southern California), roncador (Ventura and Santa Barbara area), kingfish (central and northern California), sewer trout, tommy croaker, tommy and…
Striped Bass
Striped Bass from the Fort Point Pier Temperate Sea Basses: Family Percichthyidae Species: Morone saxatilis (Walbaum, 1792); from Morone (a word of unknown origin attributed to Samuel Latham Mitchell who named it in 1814) and the Latin saxatilis (to live among rocks). CA Fish Bulletin…
California Scorpionfish
Scorpionfishes and Rockfishes: Family Scorpaenidae Species: Scorpaena guttata (Girard, 1854); from the Greek word scorpaena (scorpion, referring to the poison spines), and the Latin word guttata (a form of small drops or spotting). Alternate Names: Commonly called sculpin although also called scorpionfish, scorpion, little poker,…