When I've fished from shore at the ocean I always had the best luck fishing right at the crack of dawn, seems like the larger fish move in close to feed. Tough to drag yourself out of bed that early though, especially when you are on vacation with the family and have a busy day planned!

Just out of curiosity, did you check on how much a half day charter is? Sometimes that is negotiable as well. From my memory (and its fading), it was a set amount for the boat, so the more guys that went together the cheaper it was, but you had to spread the fish catching around.

Wow $1.50 just to walk on the pier to see what is being caught, let alone pole rental and license adds up quick.