Summertime Surf Fishing: Is the Bite Picking Up?

June has come, and it’s almost gone already. Today, we’ll be talking about my last couple outings, how the overall bite has been, what species are hot and some of the conditions that might possibly be playing a role. Here’s the rundown on my surf fishing reports for last week. You’ll see that I focus on (6/24) and I do that for a reason. I think it offers some relevant examples that correlate with how this summer’s bite has started.

Surf Fishing Report (6/21)

I was fortunate enough to hit the sand five times this week and I had a blast with everyone who fished along side me. I fished a combination of rising and falling tides with some extreme high tides and some extreme low tides. The weather is heating up nicely for sure and the water temp remains around 65-67 degrees Fahrenheit. With some luck though, I’m expecting that water temp to jump a little bit here in the week ahead.

We had a morning session this past Monday from 6:30 am to 11 am. As soon as the tide peaked around 7:30 am, the surf was pumping! High surf along with a heavy current made for some tough fishing which resulted in the least productive session of the week. Had the severe high tides not washed away most of the thick seaweed from last week, conditions might have been unfishable. Bottom line, on Monday (6/21) we only managed one nice corbina (19-20”) and a small barred surfperch while the shark rod yielded nothing.

Wednesday (6/23)

Tuesday, I gave the surf a breather in hopes that the conditions would mellow out. Wednesday (6/23), we headed out for an early-evening session from 2:30 pm-6:30 pm. Given the ensuing extreme high tide of 7-feet that would take place just after sunset, we would miss any chance of a sunset bite (many beaches here in San Diego can’t support a tide that high), but that was alright. The surf was lower, but not ideal. I’d say we were looking at 3-4’s with 4’s being more abundant than 3’s. Again, current was a factor, but again, not nearly as rough as Monday.

We’d be targeting sharks but conditions were manageable enough to work light tackle competently as well. Although the bite was decent throughout the day, there were no real upticks nor downticks at any point during the session. In the end, we managed a few yellowfin croaker, a nice corbina around 20-inches, a couple stingray, and a big bat ray (on cut bait) about 50-inches across.

Thursday (6/24): Summing Up the Start of the Season

Thursday was interesting. There are always certain times of day that produce better than others for surf fishing, but in the summertime, I’ve come to expect decent fishing at any time of day. We arrived at 2:30 pm and started rigging everything up as today would just be light tackle. The conditions were a little better than the prior day, but still, many 4-footers present. With a rising tide and a beach that could support an extreme high, we planned to stick around through sunset and it’s a good thing we did. Upon arrival, I scouted the beach for spots that I thought might hold fish. Reading the surf was an easy task as the tide was low to start. So after a few minutes of looking at our options, I singled out the spot we’d hit first.

This first spot was what I’d describe as a deep hole or a deep pocket about 80 feet wide. Every time a breaking wave would approach it, the wave would lose its crest and lay down nicely, keeping the water clean and blue. To me, that’s an ideal spot for corbina croaker, perch, and maybe even halibut.

We fished that hole for maybe an hour or a little more with nothing to show for it. Not a single bite. Bait for the day was sand crabs and we used the classic Carolina rig on the gear outlined below. We tried soft-shells, we tried casting short, far, and everything in between. Nothing.

• Rod: Okuma Celilo (8’6″ MA) or the Okuma SST (8’6″ MA)
• Reel: Penn Battle II or III 4000 series
• Mainline: 15-pound monofilament
• For Bait: Carolina Rig:
  • Leader Line: 15-pound fluorocarbon
  • Swivels: 15-19mm barrel swivels
  • Hooks: size #2 or #4 owner mosquito hooks
  • Weights: 1-oz egg weight
  • Beads: 8mm fishing beads
• For Lures: Lucky Craft FM 110 and Shimano WM 115 SP
• Other best surf fishing rods and best surf fishing reels

On the Move

Given that I’d seen a few more decent spots down the beach, I decided we’d pack up and move along. Same thing for the next two areas. These spots looked solid, but the bite was just dead. Given the conditions and the structure that was present, we should have been catching fish by now. What was it? The surf was a little high, but nothing crazy. The water temp was a nice 66-67F. Seaweed was super manageable and current was hardly a factor. Sometimes I wonder about atmospheric pressure, but in my experience, that takes me down the rabbit hole. If you’ve happened to have figured this one out, let me know. In the end, the good-old sunset bite would come around to save the day.

Although we hadn’t caught anything at this spot just yet, there was one factor that made it different. All l the previous spots looked awesome, but I couldn’t have forced myself to move from this one. No more than five minutes would go by between seeing one or multiple fish cruising through the shallows. Big spotfin croaker (20+ inches) and midrange-to-big corbina (18-20 inches) would make appearances sometimes just feet from us.

Shallow Feeding Spotfin

This summer, I’ve recognized one habit that (at least from what I’ve seen) is specific to spotfin croaker. Upon watching the shallow water, I’ll wait for a bigger wave to be washed ashore and fizzle out. The moment the wave reaches its end and begins to recede back into the deeper water, spotfin hold against the receding water, flip their tails into the air and stick their mouths downward as they feed on sand crabs that are being ripped back with the current. This exact feeding activity can be seen in this video (3:40-4:50).

Spotfin were doing their tail lift/mouth down feeding while corbina would cruise through as their dorsal fins created ‘V’s in the water behind them, picking up sand crabs on the go. To some degree, it’s cool enough just watching them, but it’s always better to catch. We witnessed this behavior for another hour or so but still no bites. I wandered a little further down the beach looking for a similar spot to try but found nothing convincing enough.

Just as I made my way back, we put our first fish of the day on the sand. Well, a stingray anyways. Either way, that was the beginning of a bite that would slowly pick up and keep getting better. We took a little snack break before getting back to it. Then, from about 6:30 pm through sunset, the bight was solid. Between the three of us, we landed some seventeen fish made up of mostly yellowfin croaker, a few barred surfperch, some corbina, a baby leopard shark, and another sting ray.

Over All Take

On days like those, it doesn’t take much for me to have a good idea about what sparked the bite. It was the classic sunset bite. Sunset always has the potential to turn any day around, but what was it that held the bite back to nothing prior to that? Surf height, current, pressure, who knows. We finished the week off with two more sessions that resulted in nice corbina (a couple above the 20-inch mark) and a huge leopard shark at 61.5-inches!

• Rod: Fiblink Moonsniper (12 or 13 feet)
• Reel: Penn Battle 6000 or 8000 (II or III)
• Mainline: 50-pound braid
• Top shot: 100-pound nylon coated mono
• Shark Rig: (Buy Here)
  • Wire: AFW 90 lb Nylon Coated Wire Leader Line
  • Hooks: 7/0 Circles
  • Swivel: 3-Way Barrel Swivel
  • Crimps: AFW #6 Crimps
  • Weight: 8-ounce pyramid or 6-ounce sputnik

All the regular summertime species are here, but the bite has been relatively slow. With a few glimmers of the summertime bite we all know and love, I still think we’re due for a spark in the next two weeks here. Corbina have just started showing up and in really good numbers. More than the bite picking up for corbina, the number of visible beans in the shallows has increased dramatically over the last two weeks. At two of the three San Diego beaches I fished this week, I saw corbina cruising the shallows in good numbers. With the current heatwave, I’m expecting the water temps to rise hopefully above the 70-degree mark and I’m betting that’ll do the trick.

All other conditions look to be normal with the exception of possibly above average surf height. I encourage anyone who’s been thinking the same thing to reach out in the comments below as I think the surf has been rougher this year than last at this time in the summer. Maybe that has been holding the bite back just a little as they wait for nicer conditions to begin their “mass-feeding” in the surf zone. Whether it’s a factor or not, one can only guess, but nonetheless, it’s not stopping me from getting out there. Thankful for every bite.

For more reports and articles. Subscribe to our surf fishing report below.