Fishing off the piers

[Jharstad7182]

Courious if anybody has any experience fishing the salt water off the piers and can give me some pointers, like what to expect, gear you like to use, and how to rig them up looks like different ball game than fresh water. Every year I go to west port and catchfish and get the combo trip. I'm a avid fisherman for trout and salmon but only in lakes and rivers and streams but never fished the piers I live pretty close to dash point and redondo and my 11 year old really wants to go fishing off the peirs. Who I'm I kidding I kinda do to. Hopefully I'm not crossing any lines asking this question. Any help will be appreciated

[Okanagan]

I used to fish off of piers during a spell when I was miserably sick and legally blind.  My wife would drive me to the pier and leave me for an hour or three because it hurt less to be doing something outside than staying home.   Had to have other fishermen help me tie up sometimes.  I caught a few Coho and Chinook from piers in the Sound, and got to know the regulars at one place. 

I used Dungeness Stinger lures, 2-4 ounce (? can't remember the size for sure)  and would cast and retrieve like everyone else.  Coho closer to the surface and kings as deep as practical on the retrieve.  Mostly we used bait caster level wind reels and fairly light rods at least 9 feet long.  I experimented with a 10 foot rod and an Australian Alvey reel that would cast a mile, and caught one Chinook with that rig.  Line twist is bad with the Alvey, though there are a couple of ways to combat the twist.  Netting the fish is hard solo, and the usual was to have a partner net and lift the fish in a ring type crab net.  People were always good about netting fish for one another if a man didn't have his own net. 
 
One young man would stop after work most days and fish for a half hour or less.  He usually caught one Chinook, then went on home.  Nobody else was anywhere near as consistent at catching salmon.  I watched him closely and never did figure out what he was doing differently from the rest of the better fishermen, except that he was confident.

It

[Jharstad7182]

Thanks for the input I'm ok with catching anything that ll bite honestly

[highside74]

Years ago we used to fish off the pier on the Tacoma Waterfront. I think the memories are better than the fishing was but we did catch some fish (more Flounder and Dog Fish than Salmon) and meet a lot of interesting people.

[Sneaky]

remember its barbless hooks required for all species in marine areas 5-13

[wadu1]

Try Buzz Bombs off the dock or over at the Light House at Browns Point. The dock can be good for squid later in the year another fun thing for kids.

[Alchase]

OOPs wrong thread

[Crunchy]

I would get a good spinning rod and reel that can cast 2-3 oz of weight.  fill the reel with 20 pd braid.  You will outcast everyone at the pier.  As far as set ups, it depends on what you want to fish for.  Stick with buzz bombs or point Wilson darts in the 2-3 oz range for salmon.

[jackmaster]

Back in the day we use to get like worms off the docks and use them to hammer pile perch and they were super  good  Eatin

[Lingcod]

We used to look under rocks for smalls crabs for bait. Worked really well just hooking them whole.

[Fl0und3rz]

Tag.

[Roundhead]

remember its barbless hooks required for all species in marine areas 5-13

Really?

[gaddy]

We used to get mussels off the pilings, break them open with a rock and use them for bait. We used our trout gear. Never know what you will catch.
We would ride our bikes down with our poles tied across the handle bars and only the tackle that would fit in our pockets. Great fun.

[Alchase]

What are you fishing for?

If you are going for perch, flounder, etc...
As others have said, mussles, clam necks (stay on the hook the best) or Pile worms. You can even cut up just about any fish and use that as bait as well. Everything likes these, including the garbage fish.

This is a great way to introduce kids to fishing, they are almost guaranteed to catch something.

Skate and lingcod
Squid on a pyramid drop weight setup.

Salmon:
Buzzbombs, Kastmasters, Point Wilson Darts, you can bobber a hearing fillet (works well in areas with a little current or tide flow and keeps it of the bottom away from most of the dogfish) The old timers at the Annapolis pier, use to use a tennis ball as a bobber drifting hearing or sardines.

I had more luck with Buzzbombs catching blackmouth and Kastmasters catching silvers.

[Buckewe]

I used to fish the Edmonds pier a lot and we would use a small grub on a jig head and catch rockfish all night long casting on the rocks and dragging it along the bottom.

[Sneaky]

remember its barbless hooks required for all species in marine areas 5-13

Really?

yeah, really

[Jake Dogfish]

Pile worms, sand worms and small crabs are all illegal now, due to the all encompassing "unclassified invertebrates" rule.
Yeah, really.

[Stein]

If you just want to catch a fish, go for either pile perch or flounder.  For the latter, put a piece of squid or clam neck on a hook (or 2 hooks 12" apart), attach one or two ounces on the bottom and flip it out.  Slowly reeling or jigging works better than leaving it sit.  Just make sure the bottom is sandy and not rocky - you'll know after the first cast.

[Taco280AI]

Used to fish the Edmonds pier. Cast out, let it get to bottom, then jig it back in. Caught quite a few kings that way