A Slow Bite, A New Trend, and Lagging Water Temps
This post will be a pure report but the topic “A New Trend”, if it continues, will be touched upon in a later article. So, let’s kick things off with this past week’s fishing report.
Fishing Report February 23rd
We began the week with a morning sesh on Tuesday. Water temp was still a meager 58 degrees Fahrenheit, despite the warmer weather we’ve had. We fished a falling tide (from 5.5 feet to -0.6 feet) and the surf height was truly flat. The sky conditions were clear and as the sun rose, the air warmed nicely.
Fishing was extremely slow from the get-go. We started on LC’s and after an hour without a bite, we switched to mussel meat. Shortly after switching, we landed one small barred surfperch. Aside from that small perch… nothing.
Afternoon Bite
It wasn’t until about 11 am that things began to pick up. At this point, we had switched back to using Lucky Craft lures and the tide was getting low. With the tidal height having receded so much, we were able to fish a nice trough that hadn’t been reachable earlier in the day.
For the next hour and a half, the action was non-stop! Between the two of us, we had 14 strikes which resulted in 7 perch! A pretty poor hook-up ratio that I don’t necessarily understand, but nonetheless, we’ll take it. Of those 7 perch, 2 of them were 14-inchers and one was 15-inches.
Fishing Report February 26th
The next session began similarly. We arrived early morning to a similar but slightly later tidal set and higher surf. We began working LCs and within the first minute, I got a nice 12-inch barred surfperch. After that… nothing.
I’ve always believed there’s something special about the first cast or the first series of casts (if throwing lures) at a spot. I don’t know what it is, but I strongly believe that first casts have a better chance than those following the initial 5-minutes. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve shown up for a session, nailed something good on my first cast, and then caught nothing (or close to nothing) for the rest of the session.
Anyways, the bottom line is that the fishing was yet again, very slow. We continued fishing and it was just terribly slow. As 10:30 rolled around, the bite absolutely went off! In just 30 minutes, we each landed 3 barred surfperch and if we hadn’t had to get going by 11 am, I’m confident we would have had at least another 8 fish cumulatively. This time, we were using mussel meat when the bite turned on. A very similar day-trend to the last session and now that I come to think of it, this trend has occurred more than just a few times this winter.
Water Temp and the New Trend
The water temp has continued to hold at its low of 58 degrees for the last few weeks and although perch like the colder months, I don’t think they like it this cold.
My theory is that the water temp has remained colder than these fish prefer and as a result, the perch have remained inactive during the colder parts of the day. When the sun begins to warm the water around late-morning through early-afternoon, they start to get active and feed.
The fact that almost all of these big perch we’re catching are pregnant mammas only further supports this theory. I’ve seen plenty of new perch-fries swimming along in the surf which means many have already given birth and I’ve also already had one fish birth a few fries as I unhooked her.
Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be experimenting with the mid-day bite to see if it’s a legitimate trend and I’ll also continue practicing catch and release on these spawning fish.
Submit a Story to be Featured
Alright guys, I’ve been doing some thinking, and I wanted to introduce a new section to the website that features all of your catches. I love writing about my catches and my memorable moments, but I don’t want the focus to be on me as much as the surf fishing community.
If anybody has a catch or story that they want to be featured, I encourage you to submit a quick story to me. Ideally, the story should be between 200 and 700 words in length and if photos are applicable please send them too! The goal is for one story a week or maybe every other week to be featured. This can be a recent stort=y, one from long ago, or any time in between. And, if you simply love writing, go ahead and submit multiple stories!
Hopefully, I get enough responses to go through with the new section. Thanks for reading and tight lines to all!
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Nick, thanks for this week’s report. I like the fact that you provide details and insight into your thought process, which helps all of us in our pursuit of surf fishing success.
No doubt, it was a tough weekend for me as well. I was at Tamarack and North Ponto yesterday and today from 6:30am -11am. I had an incoming high tide at around 8:40am on Saturday, and around 9:20am today. Water temp was also 58-ish, as you have already indicated. Strong swells provided for a very robust shore break at both beaches, making it difficult to throw my Calissa, and proved to be too turbulent for my C-rigged Gulp sandworm. I ended up skunking on Saturday (first since around November ’20). Determined not to skunk 2 days in a row, I headed over to the reliable Tamarack jetty for some opaleye action. Even there, it was tough going, as the strong current flowing into Hedionda made it difficult to keep my bait still. Finally, in the midst of the slack tide, my circle hook baited with peas was swallow by a feisty opaleye, measuring in at 12 inches.
I must say, this website/forum is a breath of fresh air. I was beginning to become active on another forum which I won’t mention, (let’s just say they focus on San Diego), but then I quickly stopped. I got the feeling that the other forum is just a bunch of guys talking in code and using abbreviations for almost everything. When other posters would ask questions, including myself, often times the responses are not very welcoming, which defeats the whole purpose of a forum, which is to share ideas and common interests. Essentially, if you’re not part of the “in” crowd, then you’re left out.
Keep up the good reporting, and I’m looking forward to the new “story” section.
Thanks for all your support, Ed! And thank you so much for the detailed report. I’m hoping the bite turns up soon or the theory holds and we crack the code but until then just keep fishin’.
Good stuff..Do you just buy frozen mussel meat? Or where do you guys get it from?
https://surffishingsocalsd.com/surf-fishing-with-mussel-meat/
Here’s everything on how I use mussel meat
Was going to ask the same question 🙂 Thanks for all the great info, keep it up!
Thanks for the support! Don’t hesitate if you have any more questions too.
Hey Nick, thanks for the great info.. I met a couple people on next door and shared your post.. I have been experimenting with the fish bites and love the way they stay on.. i thought I might show you what I’ve come up with for putting it on the hook.. not sure if I can attach a pic but it’s simple enough the describe.. I trim it into the shape of a fish or bullet and cut the tail as thinly as possible into six or so shreds.. I know it’s sand crab flavor but I seem to be getting more strikes especially when I’m retrieving it to reposition..
can’t wait for the water to warm up a bit more. Keep up the good work.
That’s very interesting, Mark. Go ahead and send me a photo via email at surffishingsocalsd@gmail.com
Hi Nick, I like your idea to open this page up for new stories. Good story Ed, using peas for bait and catching opaleyes, that brought back some old memories when I used to play hooky from work and go fishing down in La Jolla. Lol
The wife and I are going to be flying too St Petersburg Florida, I’m going to bring a travel pole and Reel with me and go to one of the local tackle stores when we get there and pick up couple day license and do some shore fishing, should be fun…
Have a peaceful week my friend.
Thanks, Richard. Hope all is well.
Spent the week at Carlsbad, Betty slow here. Nothing on Wed, Thursday no hits on the lure. I switched to what I had, squid. Several bites then a 12″ perch. My PB🙂. More of the same the rest of the week, but only bites. Still had fun.
Congrats on the PB! That’s sweeet! Hopefully the bite picks back up here soon.
Hi Nick, interesting thoughts about the water temps. It sounds counter – intuitive as you suggest but you might be spot on. But then I wonder why the perch fishing north of LA . . . Ventura, Oxnard, etc. is so good in 55 – 57 degree water? In any event, some real nice perch you got into and certainly worth a shot to try a mid day after all the recent early AM skunks.
I’ve heard much of the same in the OC and LA area that it’s just been slightly slow all around. I can’t really speak on that point as I don’t have much experience up there but the best we can do is trial and error. One of the greatest things about fishing is that progress is always changing. You’re never really positive of anything, ya just keep trying out weird theories and it feels good when you’re right. When you’re wrong… it’s still fun haha.
As a fairly new Fisherwoman page has given me so much help when it comes to surf fishing which is my favorite type of fishing because of the fact that you can put everything you need in a backpack and hit the beaches. My ex is an exceptional fisherman but rarely wanted to teach me. He wanted to keep me dependent on him. I remember him showing me your page once and I’ve studied your articles since. Your tips give me the courage and confidence to get out there and enjoy the sun,sand and surf by myself. I’m getting better and better and nothing is more exciting than hooking a fish on your own. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us.
Well thank you so much for expressing your thanks and support for me. Keep at it and tight lines!