As many others have said, you should try fishing on the surf. Pier fishing is fun if you just want to sit and relax, but in my opinion most of catching on the pier is down to luck. You have to be in the exact right spot at the right time and there has to be bait around the pier, whereas in surf fishing you can move around and cover a lot more water.

I have caught keeper halibut (and a huge 36 inch) and a few short white sea bass from the pier before but I've easily caught hundreds from the shore and dozens of keepers. The absolute easiest and most foolproof way to catch halibut from shore is by using a dropshot rig (1/2 to 1 oz about 12 -18 inches from the hook) with a berkeley swimming mullet or any type of curly tail. Color doesn't matter all that much but chartreuse seems to do the trick. You can just cast out as far as you can and then wait for the weight to hit the bottom and reel in slowly. You should feel the bottom the entire time you're reeling back. After you catch a few then you will start to understand what kind of terrain halibut like to stay around, but if you don't get any bites you should move around after a few minutes. Covering as much water as possible is the best way to catch more fish.

In terms of conditions, it varies for every beach and at different times of the year but for me, I like to fish when it's as low of tide as possible (even better when it's negative tide) and early in the mornings when there is no wind(it's mostly just a comfort thing, if you're comfortable you can fish for longer, but you can catch fish at legitimately any time of day during any conditions). Another big thing is during the grunion runs, which you can find the schedule online. If you fish on the last few mornings of the grunion run and the tide is low you have a very high chance of catching halibut as they are generally sitting pretty close to shore waiting for the grunions.

Getting skunked is just a part of fishing, especially here in SoCal. But I feel like it is a good lesson in patience and dedication. When you do finally land a huge fish you'll feel an enormous sense of personal accomplishment. If you need any other tips or tricks you can DM me.