San Diego Surf Fishing Report: June 2024

The summertime bite has begun in San Diego! Today, I’ll be giving a surf fishing report and summarizing what’s been happening in the San Diego surf fishing scene. We’ll talk about the overall conditions, what’s been biting, and what we should likely expect going forward for the next month.

Overall Conditions

Overall conditions so far have been fair to good. take a look below for the details.

Red Tide Update

The red tide has been a hot topic this year. Whether this red tide was as bad as the on in 2020 or not, it has been brutal. Good news however, the red tide is dying off rapidly now. From La Jolla, north, waters are now mostly blue and clean. South San Diego remains affected but I would guess for only another week or so.

Seaweed Situation

As expected, the seaweed at most local beaches has been milder this year than last. Since water temperatures never dipped too low this winter, the shoreline and offshore kelp didn’t experience nearly as rapid growth as the past year, so the kelp has been quite manageable.

Still, at certain beaches and for certain periods of time, kelp has come and gone and made some days unfishable, but generally, seaweed has not been much of an issue.

Surf and Water Temp

For how beautiful our weather has been in San Diego this spring, I would have expected warmer water temps by now. Instead, we’re still in the low to mid 60’s. I’m betting this has been contributing to another slow start for corbina.

The surf has been fairly standard to start the season. A couple rough patches here and there but plenty of very fishable windows.

Sand Crabs

Sand crabs have been here for quite some time, and while I don’t claim to be an expert, I feel as though they’ve been a little slow to grow in size show up in size. By my standards, I’m very content with smaller sand crabs and using 2 to 4 crabs per hook, but those perfect “single hook sized” crabs aren”t nearly as easy to come by than compared to years past.

They’re certainly around, it just takes a few scoops to gather enough of them for the day whereas the small to medium ones make up the bulk.

What’s Been Biting?

Guitarfish in the Shallows

One of my favorite phenomenons has been taking its course through spring this year. Shovelnose guitarfish are extremely active in the shallows yet again this year. So much so, I’ve been able to catch two more by hand this year.

Pick a local beach with a gradual shoreline and spend some time fishing the early mornings. Watch the waves wash ashore and keep your eyes scanning the skinny water. When the water begins to recede, look at the water that’s fading from about 6 inches down to zero as it exposes the wet sand where sand crabs burrow.

This area is where guitars as well as corbina and spotfin have been extremely active. Some, so bold, they end up beaching themselves and are forced to squirm back to the water or wait until the next wave brings them back.

Surfperch

Barred surfperch have been the most common catch by a landslide this spring. In my opinion, this is slightly disappointing, but the ease of success is nice. A typical session for me fishing light tackle only right now yields between 10-20 surfperch. Average expectations for clients at the moment is around 7 or 8 fish for the first-timers out there.

Tip: Further casts will get you more surfperch right now while shallower casts will yield more big guitarfish and potentially spotfin croaker and corbina.

Leopard Sharks, Soupfin Sharks and Bat Rays

Sharking from the beach has been very productive to start the season. Since beginning in March, every session we’ve gone out to target sharks and rays, we’ve caught at least one. Sometimes current and swell has been tough, but if it comes down to it, holding the rod and walking with you bait will eventually catch if you give it a long enough soak.

Yellowfin Croaker, Spotfin Croaker and Corbina

Yellowfin croaker have surprised me the most this year in that surfperch still heavily outnumber them. Usually June is when yellowfin croaker become the most common catch on sand crabs so continue looking for that switch ahead.

Spotfin croaker have showed up a bit with a couple here and there caught. When it comes to corbina, I’ve been spotting them in the shallows along with guitarfish, but they haven’t completely showed up in good size and quantities yet.

Look for all three of these species to increase in numbers and size as the season progresses.

Lure Fishing Update: Halis and White Seabass

Halibut had an incredible start to the season back in late winter / early spring. The size and numbers yielded by so cal anglers was the best I’ve seen in a long time. They’re still out there and will be generally good fishing for the next few months, but the peak for the year seems to be behind us. Not at all to say the halibut fishing won’t continue to be stellar.

White seabass also had a decent start with a number of legals being caught so far. The red tide has seemed to have an effect stunting the catches in recent weeks, but the start was again, a very nice start.

What Should We Expect Next?

No one knows what’s to come, but with my experience, I would expect the following as we continue in June and approach July.

Surfperch will become outnumbered by aggressively feeding yellowfin croaker. Sand crabs will become increasingly easy to find at that “one crab per hook” size. Corbina will begin to show up in good size and numbers. Spotfin will closely follow corbina but likely in less numbers. Sharks will continue to be easy picking. Halibut and seabass… I don’t quite know what to expect.

I hope you guys found the surf fishing report enjoyable and valuable. Tight lines until next time!