Orange County Conditions...

Another day of wind is pushing onto the coast and wreaking havoc on the surf fishing.

Strong winds have lowered water temps this week and made for some tough fishing. But all the news is not bad. There have been some reports this week that the sand crabs are starting to show up at our local beaches. I had the chance to see some big-toe sized crabs being used by fisherman on the Huntington Beach pier. Although they wouldn't tell me exactly where they caught them they did say it was in the Seal Beach area.

Once the wind calms down, which should be by Sunday ( check out "Swell Watch" on my website) we should have the water temp come up a bit. By later next week we'll have some great morning high tides and next weekend should be fantastic.

We're planning a trip south and will report back from south OC and north SD county next weekend. A team member is prefishing south OC today and I'll have a report later this weekend. I'll also be on the lookout for sand crabs this week during the evening high tides--I'll let you know where and when they are available.

Remember, this weekend there is a no-take grunion run which means look for the halibut to come into shallow water to feed. A great lure to use for halibut is the motor oil grub, the krocadile lure, the kastmaster and rapala style lures. If you're inclined to use bait try a live smelt (you can catch them from most docks) or a frozen anchovy. Once you are allowed to take and keep grunion they are great frozen and used on the carolina rig for halibut bait. One last thing, if you're looking for halibut try Cherry Beach in Long Beach between the Belmont pier and the jetty--this has always been a productive area this time of year.