Wild wacky winds whip windwaves













I guess that says it all for this week at Orange County's beaches. Tuesday and Friday were highlighted by strong Westerly winds that churned up the water and put a damper on this week's fishing.

But still, there was some good surf fishing to be done. I started with some "field research" on Mother's day. Can you believe that! My wife asked for me to take her to the beach Sunday morning so she could have a picnic and watch me fish! Man, I love mother's day!!


It was low tide and overcast. As I looked up and down the beach there were no fisherman but hundreds of surfers. That's when I knew that fishermen were more respectful of their mothers. While the surfers were down here having a great time (paddling through cool water, breathing in fresh air, keeping an eye out for the Solano Beach white shark)--fishermen were home letting their mothers know that they were more important than surf--now that's saying something about us. Something good I think...



Anyway, I was fishing alone. And fishing was good. Had a great bite on 8-10" perch, both barred and walleye. There were two distinctive inshore troughs and both produced fish. In the outer trough was a big school of walleye and inside a nice group of perch.






You know it's windy when a kite surfer almost cuts you off!

As the week progressed the wind became a big part of the picture. Blowing hard out of the West meant the water was going to rool over--and it did. Yesterday's water was much greener than earlier in the week, but now with calm warm conditions the water will clear up and warm to around 60. Fishing was still good yesterday with a nice pick on 10-14" barred perch. The carolina rig with a small 1/4th ounce sinker and a sand crab worked the best.


This weekend and next week offer some great fishing. Try fishing the high tides in both the morning and evening. Also, get you hands dirty and dig up some crabs for bait. They have been plentiful in recent weeks with some of the best soft crabs I've seen in years.



Check out my new Surf Tackle Kit @www.fishthesurf.com