Get to Know the Surf

Last week, I mentioned that Leopard sharks have been here in great numbers since late April. I also mentioned that right about now (mid-June), is when Corbina arrive, or feed actively in great numbers. Both of those remained true this past week. Most impressively, after calling out the transition to a heavy Corbina bite last week, they have been everywhere. We’ve even had some solid fish well over that 18” mark with some absolute tankers.

And if you had high hopes for the new content on bowfishing, you’ll have to wait for atleast one more week. Clients filled my schedule this last week and I had an awesome experience with all of you! So thanks for using my services!

Let’s start with our second session of the week. My first session was just a two hour lesson and I’ll give a quick shout out to Tad and Teagan for being really responsive and quick learners. Great job on hitting another corbina hole the other day. I’m really glad you enjoyed the session as well as my recipes.

If you’re looking to book a guided session of your own. click the link.

Day 2: Light Tackle Bite

We fished an early morning rising tide from about 6 am-10 am. The time slot was looking good with the swells being so minimal and the tide being a decent rise. To put the cherry on top, we arrived to a weedless beach with minimal/medium current.

There were two really good looking spots with lots of structure so we set up and rigged up. As soon as we gathered our bait, Hans and Elisabeth got right on the bite. Well, Elisabeth was on it a little earlier (sorry Hans). The morning bite was comprised of a mix of mostly corbina, some yellowfin croaker and guitarfish.

They were hitting one trough while I tested out a trough maybe 60 or 70 yards North. As I arrive at the foot of the trough, I see a massive corbina cruising around, in and out of sight. Since the bite was good, where they were, I didn’t bother taking them off the bite just to attempt some site-casting. So… I figured I’d do it. I cast my line out maybe 15 feet in front of me just inside the trough. “Tap…….Tap-Tap…Tap-Tap-Tap” I set the hook at a sideways angle and this thing took off! This was the best light tackle fight I’ve had all season. And that’s saying a lot with how many Spotfin Croaker have been around thus far.

I worked this guy out and back in and back out again from a trough multiple times as he pulled drag out 4 or 5 different runs. The fight was one I’ll remember for a while… and so was the fish. At 23″ this was my second largest corbina I’ve caught all my life. My largest was caught in my first year of surf fishing. At 28″ it would have tied the IGFA record if I had only realized how big a fish it really was. But, sadly, I was very uneducated at the time and I thought it was just “a pretty big fish”. Looking back though, the experience was still memorable.

To finish the day, both Hans and Elisabeth caught a good number of fish and from my perspective atleast, it was a very enjoyable experience. Thanks for reaching out to me and I hope your fishing experiences only get better from here on out guys!

For all your light tackle necessities to get on fish just like this one, here’s what you need.

Light Tackle Necessities

Day 3: I was out-fished by a 7-year-old

Ben and Marco had some surf fishing experience in other geographical locations, but they were looking to fine-tune their methods to have success locally. So they reached out and we arranged a date.

So this is how the day went.

I look forward to all my guiding sessions, but when I guide for sharks, it’s always a pleasure and a joy to witness a person’s first shark and to watch their reactions. What’s even more exciting is watching a 7-year-old reel in his first shark. Without completely spoiling the story, here it is.

Early Morning Bite

We begin our session fishing a similar set of tides as we fished the same 6 am- 10 am session the next day. As I set them up with their rods and reels and enough bait, I begin rigging my own rod. Before I get a chance to get rigged up however, I see Marco on a fish! It was a nice little corbina but it’s always awesome to hook up on your first cast.

I might not be remembering 100% correctly, but I believe Marco had two fish and Ben had one before I could even get rigged up! So that was pretty cool. Again, the day comprised of mostly corbina, with some yellowfin croaker and guitar fish… as well as a sting ray.

The light tackle bite was awesome, and once again, corbina have made their way in to the shallows for their summertime feeding. But, I knew Marco was pretty set on catching a “big shark”. So, for nearly all 4 hours we had a shark rod up. My buddy Kyle landed a good leopard earlier but I wanted to get Marco on a good one for himself.

Let’s Get On a Shark!

So, even with a decent light tackle bite, we moved around trying to get on a shark bite. After setting up again we continued on. Meanwhile, Marco kept nailing fish after fish. Ben was definitely on the bite too, but Marco… the dude was on fire!

Not to fast forward through anything, but basically between Ben and myself, Marco had us beat by maybe 12-15 fish. All morning, the bite was great. We had a couple little lulls for maybe 15 minutes but it always picked up again.

It finally came to the point in which we were just about ready to call it. Before we could do so, I notice my line in my peripherals moving more sporadically than usual and I hear what sounds to be drag coming off a spool. I turn around and we’re in full bend! I scream, Marco!, and he runs his way over and fights this fish for a solid 15 minutes.

Drag screamer after drag screamer, he finally beaches her. A 55.5” leopard and a beauty at that.

With that, our session expired and it couldn’t have ended any better. I had a blast with all of you this past week and I look forward to running into you guys on the beach one way or another sometime soon.

Shark Set-Up necessities

More Leopards and Some Dinner

I decided to fish a little while longer that morning. While the light tackle bite was absolutely on fire during low tide and into the rising tide, the shark bite picked up towards the later end of the rising tide. With two more leopard sharks and a 42” Guitarfish, I had myself some awesome fights and an awesome dinner to come.

Yes, I’m talking about cooking and eating Shovelnose Guitarfish. Believe it or not, Shovelnose Guitarfish tastes great and it’s a fun fillet too. In the opinions of those that I’ve cooked for (as well as my own) it rivals the taste and quality of Corbina.

If you’re curious to try it out and need some information on how to cook and clean them, here’s a quick video I made on how to fillet a Guitarfish. Along with that, here’s my page on Shovelnose Guitarfish.

Bottom line, the bite is on here in So Cal. Corbina are taking over and leopards are still here. In case you’re worried, I doubt Spotfin are going to disappear any time soon. So get out there guys! There might be a lull Tuesday and Wednesday with some patchy weather and a slight rise in surf, but overall we should remain in a steady summertime bite for the next two months atleast.

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