On Saturday my buddy and I headed down to a local beach in Santa Barbara at the peak high tide, and fished for a couple hours from the peak tide and into the outgoing tide.

I've heard mixed feedback on tides and fishing for perch, and I knew that the beaches had been hit kinda hard by a local surfperch tournament that morning. But I said what the heck we'll fish the outgoing tide. Thats what I like about surf fishing....the worst that you can do is have a great day at the beach, enjoying the scenery!

On to the report....my buddy got skunked, but I think he was using some 10lb line (I was using 6lb). When we finally found where the fish were holding, I got three beautiful perch, including one that measured somewhere between 14-15 inches, and easily 2+lbs. Alas....all this talk about my digital camera (previous post) and I didn't have it when I needed it! It had to be at least 2lbs, because it had the same girth as the big one somebody posted on here last month, and I think they said that one was around 3lbs.

I actually thought it was a corbina or small halibut because it took line four times and cruised around shaking his head a lot. It was a real pig perch, I've never seen one that big in person, let alone have I ever caught one like that! I hate to ramble on but I have to put in a selfless plug for Big Hammer....the new Big Hammer grubs for perch are incredible, and I credit them with this amazing fish! So thanks to Pete and Fongster, I appreciate your tips and help!

** tight lines make all my troubles go away **