Full Bend Fishing

Before we get into this week’s fishing report and forecast, I’ll be introducing an exciting new attachment to Surf Fishing In So Cal. I’ve teamed up with my good friend Kyle and my brother Johnny to create a line of So Cal specific and surf fishing specific apparel from Full Bend Fishing. We’re doing our best to be as creative as we can, and so far we’ve come up with just a few designs that I think are really cool. Below are a few designs and more are on the way so be sure to check out the shop at fullbendfishing.com.

About Full Bend Fishing

“Every angler’s dream come true. Upon departure for a session, the one thing every fisherman hopes for is that a big fish will swoop on by and send his/her rod into a full bend. That feeling right there, that’s what Full Bend Fishing is all about. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to portray that feeling through wearable art. There are some feelings that are better illustrated visually art and that full bend feeling is simply one of them.

The moment that started it all for me: My buddy (Greg) showed me the reigns one day and introduced me to light tackle surf fishing. I caught my first barred surfperch that day, and watched him reel in a massive guitarfish! From that moment on, I was hooked, but hadn’t yet experienced my first full bend fishing moment…”- Read More.

Surf Fishing Report

More hints of summertime surf fishing rolled in this week as spring has officially commenced. The water temp is still a major factor as we’ve yet to see any sort of up-trend yet, but don’t worry, we will soon. Regardless, some seasonal species like the California corbina and the yellowfin croaker have had a slight up-tick in their bite as of late.

I fished twice this past week and both sessions yielded at least one of the two species. In the first session of the week, barred surfperch were still the most abundant catch. Yellowfin croaker made for 2 of the 8 fish caught, and both were extremely healthy in length and girth. The second session was actually this morning (Sunday 3/21) and it resulted in 3 barred surfperch and 2 corbina for myself, and another 2 barred surfperch, a corbina, and a solid bat ray for a client. Two of the three corbina were of the 17-inch variety and they all put up refreshingly strong fights.

What’s Being Caught Locally?

All around the So Cal surf fishing community, we’re seeing more yellowfin croaker and corbina being caught with some spotfin here and there. It seems we’ve also seen an up-tick in the halibut bite as well as guitarfish. Whatever lull was around in prior weeks seems to be wearing off.

No signs of leopard sharks yet, but when I get on the bite, you’ll know. I think that will largely correlate with the water temp as it makes its way over the 63 mark.

Surf Fishing Report 3/22

I’d expect from here on out to be a steady increase in the croaker and corbina bite. I think the halibut bite is really starting to pick up (even though I haven’t had much success in quantity), and I’m expecting sand crabs to arrive in numbers by late April.

The Week Ahead

The upcoming week looks like it should offer some friendly conditions. The surf is predicted to be relatively mild and it should further taper as we approach the weekend and especially as we enter the week of 3/29. The first grunion run of the season was a good one as many anglers took advantage of the free bait and exceptional fishing. The next run will begin on Sunday, March 28th, and will go through the 31st (but the 31st’s run is predicted for 12 am April 1st and I wouldn’t risk going that day. If you want to catch some grunion for bait, make sure to take advantage of this next run because April and May are observational only. Either way, the grunion runs will continue and the night fishing should be solid during all of them.

A reminder that I’ll be continuing my San Diego Beaches Series on YouTube. So far, we’re three beaches in and we’re slightly out of order from south to north, but I’m shooting to cover as many as I can.