Half Moon Bay (Pillar Point) Boats
Pillar Point Harbor, Princeton · near Half Moon Bay · SF Bay Area
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best season
- Salmon spring–summer (quota) · rockfish year-round · crab Nov–spring
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) required; sold aboard. Pillar Point Harbor operators run salmon (season permitting), rockfish, and hugely popular rockfish-crab combos. Salmon is quota-managed in 2026 — verify dates with CDFW.
What is here
- Features
- Bay Area's convenient ocean access · Salmon & rockfish grounds · Famous Dungeness crab combos · Mavericks big-wave harbor
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Fishing detail
- Water type
- ocean-boat
- Water
- salt
- Methods
- Trolling · Jigging · Mooching
- Boat
- boat
- Target species
- King salmon (when open) · Rockfish & lingcod · Dungeness crab (combos) · Halibut (bay)
- Intl tip
- Pillar Point Harbor (Princeton-by-the-Sea) operators run salmon (check CDFW status), rockfish, and crab combos. The winter crab-combo trips are a Bay Area favorite. Combine with the Half Moon Bay coast and the Mavericks overlook. Licenses aboard.
The guide
Pillar Point Harbor at Half Moon Bay is the Bay Area's most convenient ocean-fishing port — a half-hour from the Peninsula, lau…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Half Moon Bay (Pillar Point) Boats — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.502, -122.482