Tips for fishing the San Diego area from shore

Hey NCKA, I'm vacationing with my wife in SoCal for a week. We will spend most of the time in Disneyland, but will have a few days at the end of the week in San Siego, specifically La Jolla Followed by downtown. I brought the tackle box and both light and heavy tackle rigs and hope to hit the beaches and or piers for anything that bites. Any advice would be much appreciated

you can launch at LJ shores, theres a ramp off to the left side of the park or you can get there really early and park in the lot and launch from there its an easy paddle to the kelpbeds from there. the inside areas are protected as is north towards scripps but if you paddle out further into the canyon its legal. look at the regs youll see it.
 
if you have a rental car there's mission bay which can get busy on the weekends with boaters. go early, its also a good place to float tube. lots of places to launch and the bait barge is nearby for live bait. fishing around the barge area will produce fish as well as most of the grass beds. 

SD bay is a lot of fun also. huge area to fish, lots of fish to be caught around the old naval dock area or out further towards point loma kelp. depends on what youre after.

have fun, look out for them red crabs.   

Mission beach jetty is pretty decent from shore. Gulp sandworms and bait work.

The piers usually have plenty of mackerel, but not too much else.  Check over at pierfishing.com for more shore fishing info.

Havent fished down there in awhile but I remember stopping and fishing a bunch of places off of Mission Blvd....One side you are fishing in the bay and the other you are in the ocean portion.  If you are fishing more in the bay, small swimbaits, drop shotting, and even spinnerbaits can do pretty well against the Spotted Bay Bass.  Another option to consider is renting a small skiff from Seaforth Boat Rentals as well and then you can fish more of the harbor.

sorry didnt see the "from shore" part.

like the previous poster wrote.

mission jetty is fun
throw swimbaits/lc's on both sides. even in towards the the overpasses. out on the jetty be careful of the waves, if any.

mission bay and SD bay have a number of small piers within them and most have fish around them.

crystal pier is a tall wood pier, use bait. theres been some nice fish caught there along with the usual surf varieties.

shelter island pier is closer to the point loma area
and can have its days.

ocean beach pier/dog beach area is fun when its on. similar to crystal but actually much closer to the kelp beds.

Mbay - quivera area, crown point holds sandies and spots, croaker ect. 

The mb, pb, ob beaches are fishable and not crowded in the early am. bonefish, yfcroakers, perch, corbina ect... youll need to gear for them.


i think thats enough spots to check out.
good luck
 

Thanks for all of the tips everyone, I'll post up if I get into anything interesting

It's too bad you can't hop on a party boat. They are catching bluefin and yellowfin tuna, dorado and yellowtail in SD and OC waters right now. I am going down in a few weeks chasing tuna.

Then again you could rent a kayak

OEX  the source for Kayakfishingsupplies.com on mission bay is a must stop for gear shopping and the do rent kayaks. Might even be able to set up a guide for you.

http://oexmissionbay.com/kayak-fishing.html

Right next door is

http://www.mbaquaticcenter.com/

You can find Sandbass in Mission Bay as well as Rays etc that can give you a sleigh ride

It's too bad you can't hop on a party boat. They are catching bluefin and yellowfin tuna, dorado and yellowtail in SD and OC waters right now. I am going down in a few weeks chasing tuna.

Decided to do just that. Thanks for the recommendations on where to charter, Dana Point and Oceanside where a bit further than I wanted to drive,  so I chartered with H and M out of San Diego harbor. $48 half day that was advertised as targeting sand bass and calico bass, thankfully the capt brought some live sardines as well, yellowfin started busting the surface all around the boat. I hooked two and landed one on a fly lined sardine. I think they said 30 lbs or so, will post the pics soon. Feeling very lucky, 45 people on the boat, with 13 fish landed by 9 anglers. Largest fish 35 lbs, smallest was 20. Also sort of cool, got to witness an 11 year old kid catch his first fish ever, a 32 lb yellowtail on a g loomis bass rod and small Calcutta reel, fish weighed half of what he did!