Sweated off heat exhaustion in order to find some sidewinders and clams this week. Made my way down to Huntington early April fools morning and was pleased to see sunshine and small waves.
First few casts produced a bunch of small perch on the clams.
Switched to the sidewinder and was immediately hammered by this nice size yellowfin croaker.
Spent the next hour locked in battle with micro perch and tiny nibbles until I reached my 2nd to last clam. Seems sidewinders are coming to the end of their season as the sand crabs are now starting to show in big numbers in the OC. Pinned on my second to last clam—and it was a big one so I tossed it out. Seconds later, game on with a fight from the beach and up to the rocks. A beefy spotfin about two feet long slid to shore.
Put on my last clam, tossed her out and bam on again. This time it took me right to the rocks so I climbed over a few and tried to get it to shore. Came right up to the edge but the waves were pounding. Tried to lift it to the rocks but the line broke and off she went. It was a heavy one maybe about 6lbs.
A fellow fisherman, Jim came running with a net but just a second too late! I told him I was going to let it go anyway but he knew me too well. “Oh, I know you would let it go, but I’m sure you wanted a picture first!” Ouch, he was sooooo right.
Better luck tomorrow and thanks again Jim for your help/almost help!
Great news! Went down today and found large numbers of perfect soft shelled sand crabs. The water is over 60degrees now and with the crabs on the beach it won't be long before the corbina are here to stay!
This upcoming week has some average tides and possible showers. Unless we get a really big storm look for fishing to improve each day as the water warms and we get closer to summer.
Keep your eye on our front page at http://www.fishthesurf.com/ because we should have the details for this summer's on-the-beach seminars up soon.
Check out my new 2nd Edition in our store...
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