Friday, January 16, 2009


Work was busy this week and I had to devote some time to getting ready for a Colonet cod trip--But I did managed to squeeze in a few hours on Wed and Thurs for some surf fishing. The water was flat calm with a small southwest swell.

On Tuesday I went down and collected some bait. There were plenty of sidewinder crabs and a few clams and mussel to be had. I was planning on fishing from the rocks so I picked up my 9’ rod and matched it with a spinner filled with 6lb stren red. My Carolina rig had a very light 1/3rd ounce egg sinker so I hopefully wouldn’t get stuck too many times in the rocks!

On my first few casts I had some great luck with nice slab perch using a clam/mussel combo.

After a few more casts a nice walleye.

The tide and current were just right and created a river of cloudy sand just off the rocks. I’ve always had good luck using the sidewinder for perch. Small fish don’t like the crab (uh, might be the claws!) so I’ve always caught my biggest fish on them. Today was no exception. I cast into the up coast current and my bait went bouncing along. Suddenly my line went tight, not a nibble or hard pull, but a solid connection. I reeled down and I was on. After several tense minutes we rounded the rocks and headed for shore. A nice spotfin with bright spawning colors slide ashore. She was 24” and ready to be released back to the spawning grounds.

Day two. I returned on Thursday to some of the same conditions with the exception of a bit larger surf. In no time I was hooked up with a few perch. I loved it how two guys came out to the area that I was fishing and stood right next to me. After bumping elbows a few times I moved down a couple of rocks.

Then it happened again.

Another, yet smaller spotfin. Held by my friend Huan, who’s new to fishing and was stoked beyond belief—Thanks Huan for the help!

Just another great week of fishing in the OC. Even though, it gets a bit close sometimes!

The weather report for this weekend looks great with the chance of some rain later next week. Our only "fly in the ointment" would be the huge swell that's coming this way and expected to get here on Saturday through Monday. Because it's coming from the Southwest there will be almost no protection from the waves. This may make fishing a bit problematic. In cases like this I try to find a breakwater/jetty areas where I can fish on the downward side, opposite the waves. I look for an eddy circulation with some churned cloudy water. This seems to be the place fish hide in big surf.

Have a great week out there fishing and keep sending in reports and pics--we love to see them!

Home of the All-in-One Surf Tackle Kit




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