Saturday, March 31, 2007

Chilly water greeted my feet this morning as I stepped into the surf to cast. This week's winds dropped the water temp to 58 but it also gave us fairly clear water and cleaned up the trash, kelp and murkyness of last week. Today's, surf was almost non existant with an occasional 2foot south swell to churn things up.

Perch fishing from high tide until two hours later was nothing less than wide open. The grub was irresistible! You would cast out and before you could put the reel into gear you were on. The fish were from 8-12inches and ravenous.

In addition, there was a nice bite on yellowfin croaker. These fish were very close to shore today--no more than 10-20 off the dry sand.

This weekend's strong tides--even into next week--will provide some great opportunities to get out there. Fish seem more spread out now but the largest fish still seem to be in pockets mixed with frys. The pea soup fog created a blanket so last night's big moon didn't have much of an effect on fishing.

The best baits have been 1 1/2inch grubs soaked in your favorite hot sauce fished on the carolina rig. Today the olive green with green flake was doing the trick with ease! You can find these slider grubs on my website www.fishthesurf.com, by cliking on STORE. Natural baits like worms and crabs will become a factor in the next couple of weeks. Look for sand crabs to show up at the beach when the water gets to about 60degrees.

Now's the time to get down there! See you at the beach!

Friday, March 23, 2007

By the time I remembered I had left my camera at home it was too late.

It seems like every time I go down to the beach I see something different--something that I have never seen before.

Looking out to sea there seemed to be disturbance in the surf. Huge boils were forming and splasing came and went. I saw a fin stick out of the water and for a second I assumed it was a sea lion. Then more boils and splashing and suddenly I saw the spray of a whale's spout.

A huge gray whale was in 8feet of water and I thought for sure it was caught in a gill net and trying to escape. It resurfaced again with a huge boil and splash but this time there were two plumes from whale spouts. The whales were interlocked and rolling in the surf toward shore. An incredible sight. I thought for sure they were wrapped in a net, when all of a sudden they broke apart after this five minute battle, and swam away in opposite directions.

Gray whale mating season must be here--and it's happening in the surf!

The water was still a bit mixed up from the recent surf and wind. The swell has dropped and the wind has begun to calm down. I went to fish at noon during the high tide and found in North Huntington that the bite was ok with an occasional 10inch perch. I fished the motor oil, olive green and olive with silver flake grub at the end of the carolina rig.

Look for better morning high tides to return next week. In the meantime, try areas where rocks meet sand for your best lowtide chances. Some good areas are near the marinas, El Segundo/El Porto Jetties, Topaz Jetty, Huntington Jetty and the RAT beach area, just to name a few. Also, we have an upcoming grunion run (no take run) at the end of next week that will provide some opportunities for halibut fishing--As the butts invade the beach looking to eat any unsuspecting grunion.

Went out, one more time before the season was over and caught a few bugs. As you can see we used a boat and nets--no surf fishing here!

Thanks Ed and Warren for your expertise!

Today we were greeted by a heavy fog, a light breeze and two to four foot surf.

I first fished HB's dog beach, and although there was a nice trough, no bites. I worked my way up to the new Huntington Beach jetties. Fishing was very slow and I didn't see even one of the seven guys on the rocks catch a fish.

There have been some good reports from the jetties and the conditions looked good. There is so much new rock there that once the mussels and crabs get established it will be incredible.

I fished the jetties today at high tide going low. It seems that it might be best from low tide to high tide--thus pushing the fish into the tidal basin to feed. But fishing is mere speculation and a lot of luck.

I then moved to about seven miles south and had a steady pick on the ten inch perch. The green grub with flake or the motor oil were working the best.

This weekend and early next week look like great times to go surf fishing. The swell is dropping, there have been light winds and the tide is high in the morning and evening.

I think we should see crabs in the next couple of weeks. Until then we'll keep using the small plastics and having fun.

Thanks to my friends for helping at the Fred Hall Show and THANKS to you for stopping by. We had a good time at the seminars and taught hundreds of folks how to enjoy the light-line setup. I heard so many great stories and learned some new stuff to help us catch more fish--I'll be posting it soon!

Thanks again!