Pier Fishing Report

Written by: Dan Schuster.

October, 2025

Striped Bass and California Halibut are Anglers on our pier that caught lots of rays in September with 36 landed. Just 34 Bass and 31 Halibut came over the rail, about 1/3 of what we caught last month. There were 21 sharks and 16 perch along with a whopping 69 smelt. That’s a total of 207 fish for 151 angler trips or about 1.4 fish a trip.

The water is still salty and warm, about the same as last month around 67F and around 2.7% salt. This attracts salt loving fish like sharks and rays which explains why all those rays were caught.

Rays mate in spring or summer and their eggs hatch and develop inside the female’s body. The baby rays are nourished by a yolk sack as well as uterine fluid secreted by the mother. Pups are born after a 9-12 month gestation and emerge as fully formed rays. To protect the mom, babies are born with their wings folded and a soft stinger covered with a sheath. The wings unfold, the sheath comes off and stinger hardens to become functional after a few days.

Baby sting rays eat similar food as adults, just smaller. They flap their little wings in the mud to expose small worms, crab, snails or shrimp. Then use their snout to dig tiny trenches to find prey buried deeper. They have electrical sensing organs on their head to sense electrical currents produced by their prey’s muscles. So rays can find lunch in the dark, a skill we sometimes wish we had when trying to find a midnight snack in our kitchen!

Come on out on the pier and see what exotic species you can catch!

Dan Schuster

dan@danism.org

~end of report.