Half Moon Bay is the sportfishing hub of the San Mateo coast, 25 miles south of San Francisco. The fishing story runs through Pillar Point Harbor at the north end of the bay — seven active sportfishing operations work out of the harbor today, running salmon, rockfish, lingcod, halibut, and dungeness crab depending on the season.
The harbor
Pillar Point Harbor sits between Princeton-by-the-Sea and El Granada. The Army Corps of Engineers built the original breakwater between 1959 and 1961, extended the western arm 1,050 feet in 1967, and added an inner breakwater in 1982. The San Mateo County Harbor District has run the Harbor Master's Office since 1970. The Mavericks big-wave break sits roughly half a mile offshore — close enough that several operators run viewing trips when the swell is up.
Grounds
Named grounds work in tiers from the harbor mouth:
- Farallon Islands — open-party rockfish and lingcod runs work the Farallons; the Queen of Hearts has returned limit counts from Farallon trips.
- Pioneer Canyon — closer offshore structure holding chili pepper rockfish and other Sebastes.
- Moss Beach kelp line and the harbor jetties — inshore rockfish, lingcod, halibut, and dungeness crab in season.
The seasonal calendar: rockfish opens March through year-end, chinook fishes April–May and late June–October, and dungeness crab opens November/December through roughly June.
Regulations
Two MPAs sit on the way out. The Montara State Marine Reserve covers 11.76 square miles and prohibits all take. The adjoining Pillar Point State Marine Conservation Area covers 6.66 square miles and limits recreational take to pelagic finfish by trolling, dungeness crab by trap, and market squid by dip net or round haul net. Combined, the two cover 18.42 square miles. Charter work sits outside those boundaries.
Getting there
Highway 1 runs the coast and Highway 92 climbs east to San Mateo. The climate is mild year-round — highs run 58–67°F with January averaging 58.4°F and September peaking near 66.8°F; annual rainfall totals roughly 26 inches concentrated November through April.
