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following article was clipped from
Pierfishing in California. The author, Ken Jones, is considered to be the acknowledged authority on the subject of public fishing piers in California. |
www.pierfishing.com |
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Pier of the Month - April 1999
Goleta Pier
On one visit to this pier, I casually mentioned to a fellow angler that
I considered this one of the best piers in California. He nodded in agreement,
said he had recently moved from the Los Angeles area, and mentioned that
he had never seen the consistent action he had gotten at Goleta. Usually
something is biting at this pier and, more often than not, there is an
opportunity to catch good quality fish. My own records show a nearly 20
fish per trip average and one halibut every six trips. When combined with
easy access and good facilities, there is every reason to include it in
a list of the state's best piers.
Environment
This 1,450-foot-long pier sits on a wide, sandy beach and is part of
the Goleta Beach County Park. Just south is the outlet from Atascadero
Creek and Goleta Slough, and many days you can see surf anglers wading
out from the outlet in pursuit of bass and halibut. Look to the west, and
you'll see the nearby buildings of the University of California-Santa Barbara
as well as Goleta Point. The bottom here is mostly sand but the pier is
often surrounded by a lush kelp bed and the pier's pilings are heavily
encrusted with mussels. In addition, a pipeline runs parallel to the pier
on the right, or west side, and it is usually covered by kelp. Inshore,
the pier is one of the best for barred surfperch, guitarfish, thornback
rays, and halibut, as well as quite a few corbina. Further out, halibut
are again a main quarry but there is also usually a steady catch of white
croakers, jacksmelt, small perch and, depending on the season, pelagics
including mackerel, bonito, barracuda and even a few yellowtail (some years).
The kelp area by the pipeline is frequently home to hungry calico bass
(kelp bass) and kelp rockfish, but a lot are lost as they wrap the angler's
lines around the kelp. As usual, the regulars are the ones who best know
the proper techniques and baits, and they tend to catch most of the big
fish. However, this is one pier where both expert and novice can usually
catch some fish.
Fishing Tips
Bring two poles here; use the light one to catch small live bait and a
larger pole to catch your dinner. Most regulars here try to catch brown
bait, a small queenfish or white croaker, then fish these as bait on the
bottom for halibut and shovelnose sharks (guitarfish). If brown bait isn't
available, the regulars will switch to small shinerperch or smelt. Use
a slider leader or a sliding sinker with a three-foot leader and bait attached
to the end of the line.
To catch brown bait, or if you simply wish to catch a few small fish, do the following. For queenfish, use a Lucky Lura or similar type snag line and simply jig, with a slow up-and-down motion, straight down from the pier being careful not to tangle in the pilings. Generally the best area for the queenfish is between the shallow surf line and the mid-pier area. For white croaker (tom cod), use a high/low leader baited with number 6-2 hooks and a small piece of anchovy. Cast the bait out and start to reel in as soon as the sinker hits bottom. The small croakers will usually hit just as the bait nears the bottom or on the retrieve. Of course, you may latch on to a larger fish with this light outfit but if you do, that's a bonus. The majority of halibut are also taken in this fairly shallow area, because of the queenfish and other morsels of food they see inhabiting their territory. However, halibut will be landed from almost every section of the pier each year.
For large barred surfperch, and some really large corbina, fish the surf area on the bottom using live sand crabs, fresh mussels, or bloodworms. Quite often the fish will be in the shallowest water imaginable but you've got to put your bait where the fish are holding.
For some good sized calico bass (kelp bass) try by the pipeline on the right side. It sits about thirty feet out from the pier and is usually covered by kelp. Regulars tell me that there are a lot of bass by the pipeline and that they will often hit the bait just as soon as it begins to drop through the kelp canopy (which can often mean a quickly tangled line around the kelp). In addition to the kelp bass, anglers will pull in a sizable number of kelp rockfish together with a few sand bass and California scorpionfish. Two spots favored by locals are (1) mid-pier, across from the restrooms and (2) at the three-quarter point just past the light. Both of these primarily sandy-bottom areas seem to offer good sport for guitarfish. Another spot, near the crane, is reported to be good for large perch but be sure to fish down around the pilings.
The end area, just like on most piers, seems to receive the heaviest pressure from anglers. When the mackerel are running almost anything may work, especially a small spoon or a number 4 Lucky Lura rigging. Most bonito seem to be caught on feather jigs, as do most yellowtail, but live bait (small Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel, or anchovies) fished on a sliding leader, works best for the larger yellowtail. Barracuda, when they're around, are usually caught on cut anchovies or cut squid but Kastmasters or Krocodile lures can also be good, especially at night.
Many regulars will be out each night to fish for sharks and the end area is generally the hot spot. Fresh mackerel or smelt seems the most common bait for the sharks, but squid is usually better for the large bat rays and occasional big skate that show up (one regular recorded a 4-foot by 4-foot big skate that broke the hand scale that he tried to weigh it on). Bat rays are common and fish over a hundred pounds are seen each year. The guitarfish are also often big here; one local recorded a 6-foot shovelnose guitarfish which would have approached the state record fish.
Do not, repeat, do not, simply cast out your line and let the bait sit on the bottom. Not only is this not the best way to catch fish, but this is also an area which sometimes sees heavy infestations of starfish. The interesting creatures (and here they're typically the small purple colored starfish) like to grab hold of baits sitting on the bottom. Check your bait often and make sure your hook isn't encircled by the probing purple foot of a starfish.
History Note
When Juan Cabrillo discovered this spot in 1542, it was the largest
city in California. It had a population of over 1,000 Canalino Indians
who lived on Mescalitan Island (which today sits under the road leading
to UCSB). The term "Goleta" by the way, means "schooner" in Spanish and
was used as a name for a land grant in 1846. No one is quite sure however
if it is so named because of a wreck here of an American schooner or because
a vessel was built here in 1829.
The Goleta Slough and Estuary was used as a deep-water port until the floods of 1860-1861 brought down more than fourteen feet of silt; later a whaling station operated on the beach in the 1880s. Records from 1883 designate More's Landing as the name for the wharf at Goleta. It was 900-foot-long, 35-foot-wide, and reached out into water that was about 11 feet deep at low tide. Shallow, but sufficient for the boats which used it as a port (mostly for shipping livestock to the islands and farm produce to San Francisco). In addition, over 2,000 tons of asphaltum were sent from the nearby mines (located under today's UCSB) to San Francisco, as well as to New Orleans' Vieux Carre (the famous French Quarter). Still later, in the 1890s, it's recorded as the site of a railroad wharf. Little remains of those early ventures.
No one seems to know when the current pier was actually built but it predates 1954 since that was the year of a major repair (as happened in the 1980s).
Goleta Pier Facts
Hours: Open 24 hours a day.
Facilities: Lights and fish-cleaning facilities are located
on the pier as is a launch sling for small boats. At the foot of the pier,
restrooms, a small restaurant and snack bar, and, in some years, a bait
and tackle shop are located. Free parking is found near the front of the
pier.
Handicapped Facilities: Handicapped parking and restrooms. The
pier surface is wood and the rail height is 42 inches. Posted for handicapped.
How To Get There: From Highway 101 take the Hwy. 217/Airport
exit. Follow it to Sandspit Rd. and the Goleta Beach Park turnoff. Follow
this to the park and the pier.
Management: County Parks Department -- Santa Barbara County.