12-31-2006

Happy New Year!

One day in fishing can be like a lifetime. Yesterday the surf was as flat as a lake. In fact, many people today remarked at how small it was. Today was another story!

The surf was 4-6feet and rising with the fall in tide. Check out the surf at Huntington Pier.

A strong West swell is wrapping around Palos Verdes and pounding the south OC coast. A good plan when the surf is up this time of year is to move to Sunset Beach, Seal Beach, Long Beach and Cabrillo. These beaches are protected by the penninsula so the swell is much smaller.

Because of the surf and surge fishing was slow with only a few nice barred perch.

This week through next Sunday you'll find some of the best tides of the year. Great morning high tides all week and some very low-low tides--good for fishing near edges where rock meets sand using 1 1/2" curley tailed grubs like the one in the picture above.

Have a great New Year and we'll see you at the beach!

12/26/2006

Cloudy skies and big surf were waiting for us at the beach today. The largest Pacific Storm of the season will be pushing through the beach cities over the next two days. Look for high winds from the Northwest to fill in behind the low on Thursday and Friday. Once we make it to Saturday we're looking for moderate Santa Ana winds and glassy seas!

Tides will be great next weekend as we get our last days in before having to buy next year's fishing license! Watch for the great tide swings beginning New Year's Eve. These are extreme tides and offer all kinds of opportunity at both high and low tide for good surf fishing.

Take a moment to check out the surf at: Huntington Beach Pier

12-21-2006

It was no less than freezing cold at sunrise today. With the cold air and the cool winds blowing offshore don't forget to bundle up if you're heading down.

While everyone is busy with their holiday shopping and parties the surf fishing still remains great. The water has cooled a bit into the high 50's and is slightly murky from the recent storm. But with that said, there is still a great bit on perch in the surf. Now that the water is cooler the larger spawning perch will be filling in the inshore holes.

A good bait now is the small 1 1/2 grub, lug worms and if you froze any last summer, sand crabs. Today the fishing was very good with bites almost every cast. This weekend we'll have some good morning tides. It will be high tide early with a receding tide toward mid day. These are great tides for perch and yellowfin croaker as the outgoing tide helps to put your bait right in their holes. The swell is small and forcasted to stay that way. Take some time to go down and surf fish this weekend. Early next week, mon and tues, we'll have some OK tides, with the best tides returning over the New Year weekend and into the first week of January.

Watch out for sharks!

A quick report came in this morning from the Venice and Santa Monica beaches. Fishing has been a bit slow in those areas due to large amounts of sea weed. Fish don't like sea weed and trash in their water. I will usually move to another area or look for some structure like a rock jetty that will provide some protection from these nuances. Check out the leeward side of a jetty (the side opposite the swell direction) for an eddy area. This area maybe free from kelp and the moving water will attract fish as an area to hide and feed.

Good fishing and I'll see you at the beach...

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