Did anyone have any luck Saturday or Sunday off the beaches in the North County Area? I fished the incoming with fresh mussel and only caught a few medium sized Bardies. No Corbina or Spotfins. There were sand crabs but one really had to work for them, I mean like with a shovel! Better times ahead when the water warms.

One other thing I wanted to ask was this. When using plastic grubs for barred perch in the surf, does it matter greatly if the water is clear or murky? May sound like a dumb question but I have always used natural baits for surf species. Thanks.

I have done better fishing in off-color water with the grubs. Plastics fishing overall is better in off-color water (swimbaits for bass, etc.). If water is clean, try to fish the edges of the sand clouds caused by rips or waves. I like darker colors of grubs in stained or murky water and lighter sparkle colors in cleaner water: dark smoke pepper for darker conditions, motoroil w/ and w/o flake for med. (pumpkinseed too), and clear/red flake or firecraker for clean, bright days.

>I have done better fishing in off-color water with the
>grubs. Plastics fishing overall is better in off-color water
>(swimbaits for bass, etc.). If water is clean, try to fish
>the edges of the sand clouds caused by rips or waves. I like
>darker colors of grubs in stained or murky water and lighter
>sparkle colors in cleaner water: dark smoke pepper for
>darker conditions, motoroil w/ and w/o flake for med.
>(pumpkinseed too), and clear/red flake or firecraker for
>clean, bright days.


Fongster, your the man! Thankyou. Oceanside surf is rarely clear so I will take those tips to heart. If I may, do the grubs work for night fishing too? I have had a great deal of success catching Corbina and Spotfins at night out of the surf but not Perch. When I say success, I'm talking about using mussel, sand crabs, ghost shrimp,ect. I'm looking forward to trying the Carolina Rig on some Bardies!

Thanks!

Yo Aztec
I've never surf fished at night. I didn't think there would be any action. Are you talkin' about evening like at sunset or you talkin' full on night time?
Anyways, I usually have better luck with grubs in the 'cloudy' water. After the whitewash rolls through and the sand is stirred a bit. I guess when the water is clear the fish can tell that the 'food' is fake.

Kman

>Yo Aztec
>I've never surf fished at night. I didn't think there would
>be any action. Are you talkin' about evening like at sunset
>or you talkin' full on night time?
>Anyways, I usually have better luck with grubs in the
>'cloudy' water. After the whitewash rolls through and the
>sand is stirred a bit. I guess when the water is clear the
>fish can tell that the 'food' is fake.
>
>Kman


KMAN,

Actually I fish both at twilight and through the evening but in the late spring and summer months primarily. When the water warms to about 65 the action really starts to take off. The crabs arrive and the Corbina and Spotfin action gets electric.

In the evenings, you won't find many Bardies but on an incoming tide you can count on almost anything. Big Corbina,Spotfins, Shovelnose,Smoothound,and Leopard Sharks,not to mention Rays. I take my Coleman Propane lantern with me and build a nice fire in one of the many fire rings provided by the City. Alcohol is prohibited but probably just as well because you really need all your wits when your dealing with the elements at night.

One nice feature about surf fishing at night is that you don't have to concern yourself with swimmers,body boarders,surfers ect that in the daytime give you competition for beach real estate.

Try it some warm summer evening on an incoming tide when the water is clean that is when there isn't alot of grass and kelp in the water. A strong drift be it north or south can be a real drag as , if you decide to stay, you will most likely find yourself going to the heavier set ups like 4 to 5 oz Pyrimids and 20lb test. The only other condition that keeps me away is a full moon with a grunion run. I have NEVER done squat under these conditions.

Good Luck!

Hey Aztec,

you seem to be one of the few that fishes in the SD area on a regular basis, I was wondering how often you use ghost shrimp in the surf and what kind of luck you have... We kind of have different profiles, as I have fished the grubs almost exclusively and used the natural baits only occasionally (read virtually never). I have a pretty good spot for finding the ghosts of any size (from the tiny ones to mammoth size of your middle finger types). Kind of tired of looking soooo hard for the sand crabs. and was thinking of using some natural baits when surf fishin (for a little while anyway)


Any dope you can pass on would be greatly appreciated....

>Hey Aztec,
>
>you seem to be one of the few that fishes in the SD area on
>a regular basis, I was wondering how often you use ghost
>shrimp in the surf and what kind of luck you have... We kind
>of have different profiles, as I have fished the grubs
>almost exclusively and used the natural baits only
>occasionally (read virtually never). I have a pretty good
>spot for finding the ghosts of any size (from the tiny ones
>to mammoth size of your middle finger types). Kind of tired
>of looking soooo hard for the sand crabs. and was thinking
>of using some natural baits when surf fishin (for a little
>while anyway)
>
>
>Any dope you can pass on would be greatly appreciated....


Calico Pro,

Let me start off by saying that Ghost Shrimp are IMHO one of the best all aroung baits for all inshore species found here in San Diego County. I used to pump them up in the Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad until the City put the brakes on my little hotspot and closed it down. So now because I don't know of another place close by I don't use them.

But I'll tell ya what. I have found nothing that is as dependable as fresh and I mean fresh rock sea mussels. I prefer those over the Bay Mussels because they stay on the hook much better. I get mine on a good minus tide. There are several great natural baits out there sand crabs, blood worms, razor clams, to mention a few but in my book fresh mussel is the best. Don't ever buy the frozen crap its worthless. One nice thing about Mussel is that they are available the year around so when you can't find sand crabs or your local ghost shrimp spot has been policed you are still in business. Hope this has been helpful.

Tan your hide in Oceanside!

Yeah that definitely helps out alot....The only thing is I didn't know that there was a difference between the bay and "rock mussels" goes to show you what I know about the natural stuff... I was aware however that the store mussels totally suck... By the way this whole thread has been extremely helpful as far as planning some of my evening lunch breaks (I work 1pm to 1am) when the water warms up....



Maybe in 4 years I will tan my hide in oceanside (the biotech I work for is moving up thataway in a few years).

Well anyhow thanks a ton for the lesson


Tight Lines............

>Yeah that definitely helps out alot....The only thing is I
>didn't know that there was a difference between the bay and
>"rock mussels" goes to show you what I know about the
>natural stuff... I was aware however that the store mussels
>totally suck... By the way this whole thread has been
>extremely helpful as far as planning some of my evening
>lunch breaks (I work 1pm to 1am) when the water warms up....
>
>
>
>Maybe in 4 years I will tan my hide in oceanside (the
>biotech I work for is moving up thataway in a few years).
>
>Well anyhow thanks a ton for the lesson
>
>
>Tight Lines............
Calico Pro,

E-mail me and I will tell you of a real reliable place to get rock mussels in the North County Area if you would like.

If your not going to eat it release it!

Wade,

To me the two most obvious differences are:

(1)
Bay Mussels have a real smooth shell on the outside.
(2)
The meat inside is a pale flesh color.


With Sea or Rock Mussels you have:

(1)
A very coarse,rough shell on the outside.

(2)
The meat is a very pronounced bright orange.

Tan your hide in Oceanside! :)

I don't know if they're different species, they look the same but, the ones I get in the surf zone are way tougher and smell way better than the ones in the estuaries up here in the Monterey bay area. Surfies (as I call 'em) catch much bigger perch for me.

Tight lines,
Wade

Yes. I had some good success that weekend. Went to Cardiff Beach, and fished from 4pm till 8pm. Used a 15' foot terminator rod with 15 pound line for distance casting. Bait was frozen squid and sardine. Used a 6 oz weight, and waders to get about 50 feet beyond wave breaks.

Brought in 4 Shovelnose, 3 Sting Rays and one nice 25in Halibut. That suprised me because my weight stuck on a batch of seaweed, and I was weighting for the tides to help roll in the weed. When I finally was able to grab the weed, and pull it to shore, I noticed something was kicking in it on my hook. That was the Halibut.

Once mid-May hits, will try for Corbina in the shallow surf, but for now I'm casting in deep surf, and hoping for Halibut. Usually get Sand Shark, Shovelnose and StingRays, but they're fun for the catch.