What's the best bait for pier fishing in saltwater?

Question

I live in Southern part of San Diego near Imperial Beach, I've gone fishing to that pier and haven't caught anything yet. I've tried muscles, squid and lures. I know it's close to the winter season. So I don't know what to do or what to use. I'm just a beginer.

Answer 1

IB and the south bay usually dont have a good bite. Try Embarcadero pier, its off of harbor drive first light after you pass the convention center. If you search online for joes crab shack in embarcadero, the pier is right next to it. Thats a good pier for bass (spotties and sandies), macks, jacksmelt, sometimes bonito, stingrays, and the occasional shark. I use either salted anchovies or squid, available at the pier tackle shop. Cut the head off the chovie and use the rest, you should get 3 pieces from them, 2 if they are small. Squid also works, just cut the head off, cut open the squid and scrape the guts out, then cut the body into strips and stick those on the hooks. At embarcadero the current is usually fast, you will need 3-5 ounce sinkers. They have sinkers for pretty cheap at the tackle store as well. Then there is Shelter Island pier, take the 5 north to rosecrans street, follow rosecrans for about 4-5 miles and make a left on shelter island drive, its the light right after bank of america. When you get to the roundabout take the right turn, go for about 500 yards and the pier is to your left. At Shelter there are fewer bass but more macks and more bonito. Sharks and stingrays are more prevelant here as well. I use the same setups at both piers. 6-12 lb test, double dropper loop with 2-4 ounce sinkers. For lures i use 10-20 lb test, usually a chrome colored krocodile or a megabait sardine. Swimbaits on a lead head work great too, i usually use orange and red with a chartreuse lead head. 3/4 oz. I dont like mackerel but if you do, shelter will be better, if you prefer bass go to embarc. Keep in mind, at embarc there is metered parking from monday-saturday till 6 pm. $1 an hour, the tackle shop wont give you change. At shelter if you drop your bait around the pier, sometimes you well get small bites, those are the shiner perch, they are bait thieves but if you can snag one of em, use it as bait. They're yellowish silverish whitish, size of your palm or smaller, bonito will tear em up. Of course live anchovies will do better than the cut bait but its not that easy to catch chovies. I have never been but i heard crystal pier in Pacific Beach has nice halibut, friend caught a 32incher there a month ago. Take 5 to garnet, take garnet all the way to the end and thats the pier, they close at 6-7 to the public though. In Mission bay there are some pretty good shore fishing spots. Take the 5 to the 8 west, make a right when you get to the end. After you go over the first or second bridge make a left on vacation drive (where paradise point hotel is), just keep following the small road till you get to the water, this is a good spot for spotties and sandies, heavy seaweed though, i would recommend using no less than 10# line here due to snags. Fish are abundant if you are willing to put up with hang ups. I use salted anchovies here. If you turn right onto vacation (away from the paradise point hotel) and go near the bridge you can cast off of the rocks and catch some sandies and spotties, sometimes stingrays and sharks. there is some seaweed close to shore here too so use at least 8#. Another spot is by Seaforth Landing and the Hyatt Islandia. Take 5 to 8 west, right at the end (ingraham street) then take the offramp to W. Mission Bay Drive, then on your first light (quivira) make a left. Follow that road to the roundabout and then make a right. You can fish on the lifeguard station side or the jetty side. Or if you dont give a damn, go around the fence that says no trespassing, danger and go out on the rocks, be very careful though, one slip and your f'd up. The rocks are covered with dried bird scat. I went there one night, ended up catchin 3 spotties all over 1.5 pound in 15 minutes. its also a good idea to rent a skiff at seaforth landing, www.seaforthboatrental.com .... i think its 80 bux for 8 hours, 40 for 4 hours. 5 passenger max. so you and a couple buddies could just take that out and stock up your freezers. People talk about not eating fish out of mission bay, i dont care. As long as the mission bass population isnt making up the majority of your diet, a little chemicals here and there didnt do anybody harm. Those sandies are good for tacos. If you rent a skiff make sure to have a couple rods setup for trolling or drifting for halibut, those bad boys are biting at mission this time of year. Anyways, hope this helps, you should become a member at www.sdfish.com ... the guys there will help out.


Forgot to mention, for sharks and stingrays, use 20 # test, and do it at night time with squid strips. You can also try the saltwater gulps, just dont use minnows, they have been useless for me. And remember, on saltwater you can use as many rods as you want.

Answer 2

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1 - 6 1/2 foot medium heavy / heavy action pitching stick 1 - 27 SH levelwind by Daiwa 12 pound green big game trilene black or green metal double tie on swivels (about an inch long) small octopus (live bait) hooks 1 ought baitholder hooks leaders out of 15 pound fluorocarbon about 20 - 24 inches long. use 3/4 of an ounce of weight per foot of wave height fish in the clear water right behind the waves breaking with the octopus hooks and frozen mussels cut in half and woven onto the hook. (if you can leave the half shell on the half mussel is even better) you will catch surf fish as close to under and under the pier and as close to in the waves as you can get. Fish the mussels working out a ways into the deeper water especially after the sun is blaring down use the big baitholder hook and the frozen anchovy under the pier in the shade for flounder. cut the anchovy in half making a long cut angled back so the tail has a pointed front and the head has a pointed tail and make sure you put the hook through the vertebrae 2 times bringing the hooks tip out of the body closest to the exposed flesh (where you cut it) bounce the bait on the bottom by lifting and dropping the rod tip to give the bottom a vibration that the bottom lying fish will just have to swim over to find out what is causing the noise.(and vibration it will feel from 20 feet away) bounce it irregularly staggering the cadence.

Answer 3

Pier Fishing Tips

Answer 4

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Answer 5

An answer from someone who actually fishes in the Pacific ocean: Anchovies. (All those baits mentioned above are from the other ocean.) If there are no live anchovies available, get frozen ones and cut them into chunks about 3/4 inch long, fish them on the bottom, cast out a ways from the pier.

Little strips of squid will sometimes work, as will little bits of shrimp; you'll generally do better with these near the pilings; same with mussel.

But, as you mentioned, it's close to winter, the water's cold, and there's not much biting. If the water's all muddy after a storm, that'll cut down on bites as well.

Answer 6

Ask around and see what bait is running through the area i.e. Herring,Sardines,Pilchards etc. You can use that live or dead. Squid is a good bait. The most universal bait is Shrimp. I prefer live, but you can use frozen. When your fishing off the pier try just dropping a live shrimp straight down next to a piling. Many fish hide under the cover of the pier so it isn't necessary to cast your bait out all that far. Use a weight that will get your bait to the bottom just make sure to take note of the currents and winds and waves. When fishing off a pier I like to use more than one rod and at 2 or 3 different baits on each one.

Answer 7

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RE:
What's the best bait for pier fishing in saltwater?
I live in Southern part of San Diego near Imperial Beach, I've gone fishing to that pier and haven't caught anything yet. I've tried muscles, squid and lures. I know it's close to the winter season. So I don't know what to do or what to use. I'm just a beginer.

Answer 8

Squid and shrimp. You need to keep your eyes open when fishing on a pier. If you see someone catch a fish, you should walk over, admire the fish, then ask what type of bait did the fish bite on.

Answer 9

I use anchovies and cut strips of squid and have pretty good results. I also use chunks of cut squid to surf fish from the beaches at night with excellent results, especially so at low tide and not bad at high tide.

Answer 10

Mostly shrimp, dead or alive, sand fleas and mullet. I haven't had good luck with squid.

Answer 11

Live shrimp, is a hard bait to beat