Just moved to LA from Ohio. I have a lot of freshwater experience and saltwater flyfishing experience in the Bahamas but, no experience with the kind of fishing here. I'm sure I'll pick it up as I go but I want to make sure that I don't make any enemies along the way. Please let me know of any major do's and don'ts for pier fishing and surf casting or places to find same. Also any hot spots for a newbie like myself would be appreciated.

Thanks, Deaner

Welcome....
Just a couple of pointers.......

Read this website, and others like www.sport-fish-info.com
http://www.localfish.com/
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/georgescorner.htm
http://www.westcoastangler.com/

There are also some great flyfishing online resources. I will let you know when I find them.

http://www.sbflyfishers.com/

Read these sites, frequent the message boards... be aware that some are 'harsher' than others, containing a lot of sarcasm. I have a salt shaker near my computer, always ready with a grain of salt.....: ) These sites have a lot of tips about what to do and what not to do. Read the reports, see what people are using, what is working and what is not.

Try to go out on trips that others from the sites you are frequenting are going on. Try charter trips, they tend to be a little more condusive to learning than regular cattle trips.

If if is flyfishing you want to do, contact some guys from some of the fly pages, ask to go fishing with one of them... whenever you are out fishing, watch what others are doing. 10-20% of the guys fishing tend to catch much more than the others, what are they doing differently? What are they using, if they are catching, do what they are doing, it must be working. For example, on tuna trips, sometimes once you catch a fish, you can immediatly get another hookup.... why? the guys that have just landed a fish, have a new bait on their hooks, and are not dragging a dead or near dead bait, 200 yards from the boat. Change your baits frequently. Take the extra 30 seconds at the bait tank, looking for the greenest meanest anchovie. It will be the one to get bit. I would rather have a mean bait in the water, for less time, than a pinhead anchovie for the whole trip.

You are on the right track. Ask ask ask. Listen listen listen.

When I used to work on the boats as a deckhand, I much prefered a couple of new women fishermen than a couple of new football sized new fishermen on the boat.... well aside from the obvious asthetic reason ; ) The women were more likely to listen, and learn, than the big guys, who 'knew' how to fish, and would mess up the rotation, or fish wrong, not follow lines, tangle people and lose fish......

Enough for now, gotta get back to work.... more to come.

MoonDoggie

As far as pier fishing, unless you cause somebody to lose a fish, or kick a rod in the water, you probably won't have to worry too much about do's and don'ts. Pier and surf fishing are good places to start, just to get a feel for the west coast fish, and whatnot (don't take it to heart too much, as you'd learn a lot more valuable info on a 1/2 day or 3/4 day boat). I'd suggest maybe fishing piers for a month or so, or even less, and then jumping on the stardust or seahawk, and see how it's really done. I'm not trying to put any pier fishermen down or anything, but IMO there is a higher percentage of experienced fishermen who can tell you things you need to know, on a 1/2 day than on the pier. One of the main don'ts is not to cost anybody a fish!!! Some guys get really pissed when that new guy gets his mackerel wrapped around his line, just as he gets bit by a halibut. I'd say, introduce yourself to some of the guys with shiny reels and calstar rods, and tell em you're from ohio, don't have much west coast experience, yada yada. They'd probably be a lot more willing to help you out than if you were just some guy off the street whose never held a rod before, and probably won't ever again. It's a lot easier to work with somebody who's at least got a background in fishing, and then just help them to adapt, instead of starting from scratch. Baitcast reels are very popular on the west coast. You can pretty much forget about spinning reels, unless you wanna have some fun with mackerel on 2lb. test or something. Other than that, baitcast reels are used for basically every application out here (in saltwater at least...). Like marco said, watch and learn. You'll be able to tell right away on the boat, whose got experience and who doesn't. One thing to look for is deckboots. It the guy's wearing deckboots, most of the time it means he's on the boat a lot. Of course there are guys who don't own deckboots and still frequent the boats, so don't get too hung up on that. Just basically look for the guys who know what they're doing. Those guys with the progears or calcuttas or internationals or newells or whatever. You can tell a lot about how serious the guy is by how much he's willing to spend on his tackle (these people are known as tackle ho's on allcoast...). Unfortunately, the sportfishing season is pretty much winding down right now. During the winter, the boats get serviced and stuff, and most of the fish shut down, and it doesn't really pick up until spring.
-Brian