General Surf Fishing tactics

[joetucker803]

Hey guys,

For the first time in seven years (since I acquired a mortgage), I am finally able to take a vacation to the beach My wife, two dogs and I will be staying at a beachfront hotel in Lincoln City. As I know most of you can relate, going somewhere with water is torture if one does not have their rod and reel to get wet.

I simply plan on doing some surf fishing for surf perch. I've got a very flexible steelhead rod with an adequate reel attached (Shimano Sahara) that I plan on using. However, what recommendations do you guys have or tactics for doing this? Weight size, hook size, most importantly, what type of bait is going to maximize my chances of catching something. Any and all suggestions would be highly appreciated

Thanks in advance!

Joe

[The Quadfather]

Hey guys,

For the first time in seven years (since I acquired a mortgage), I am finally able to take a vacation to the beach My wife, two dogs and I will be staying at a beachfront hotel in Lincoln City. As I know most of you can relate, going somewhere with water is torture if one does not have their rod and reel to get wet.

I simply plan on doing some surf fishing for surf perch. I've got a very flexible steelhead rod with an adequate reel attached (Shimano Sahara) that I plan on using. However, what recommendations do you guys have or tactics for doing this? Weight size, hook size, most importantly, what type of bait is going to maximize my chances of catching something. Any and all suggestions would be highly appreciated

Thanks in advance!

Joe

Joe/Beerman1981,

Yeah man.. surf fishing with a family beach trip is great! The family can sleep in, and I always wander off to the beach.
It is easy. Go with a drop shot style rig, like for bassing. You have one main line.. At the end of your main line is your weight. I am terrible with knowing what is what on amounts of weight, but I prefer to chuck the pyramid style sinkers. I use what I think is 1 to 1.5 oz. Basically a good hunk of lead that will allow you to huck it out there.

From your weight go up the mainline about 18-24" and place a small bait hook. (again I am terrible with hook size #'s) but realize that the surf perch have pretty small mouths. I use a hook about the size of my finger nail on the ring finger.
Place another hook about 8-10" above that. I like the palimar knot to put those on that main line.
I use to be a firm believer in razor clam meat, but honestly it is hard to keep on the hook.
Berkley makes some baits that work really well. Look for a salt water Berkely worm, or little salt water shrimp by Berkley.

I will attach a video here in a moment that will totally show you.

My approach is to look for beaches that are not totally flat, that have little valley etc. Then I approach the surf.. when the wave pulls WAY back.. run out there as far as you can and cast FAR. leave the bail OPEN, and haul *** back to safety.

The surf is very dangerous. There are undercurrents that people get sucked out in. Always remember that.
If you fall, you are supposed to swim parallel to the shore, and not straight back in.

video coming..

worms like this.. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Berkley- ... lsrc=aw.ds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC7VzbkABV8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co4z5P7vp5U" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just google more of these vids, some are better than others. It's all pretty easy though.
As rough as the water is. you will be shocked with that you can feel the fish hit it.

[joetucker803]

Hey Quadfather!

Great stuff!!!! You answered all my questions, and the video was incredibly informative. Doing a google earth view of where I'm at, there is a series of rocks in addition to normal sandy beach. I'm going to post a picture of that. Based on the picture, should I attempt these rocky areas, or, like the video, just look for structure along the sand?

I had planned on the berkley sandshrimp, but until your post, I had no clue how to present it -- let it sit, move it, etc. It looks like slow reeling is the key there. I've got a steelhead rod I'll be using with a reel that has 20 pound test, and have all sorts of weights, so I think I'm heading in the right direction. I'm curious to see your take on the earth view of where I'm fishing. Once again, thanks for all the information you sent me!!! I learned more about surf fishing in the last twenty minutes than an hour of research yesterday! Thanks my friend!

Beerman!

[joetucker803]

Also, how does high and low tide effect the fishing?

[The Quadfather]

As far as the rocks go, I don't claim to have the facts, but at least from some experience, i know that usually you are only seeing the rocks that are above the water line.
And this means that you gear is likely to get hung up below.

I feel like red tail surf perch are pretty well known to hang in the surf, and the rocks are not that important. Sure, things like ling cod, and maybe rockfish, etc. are in rock piles, but that is a whole other setup, and you lose a lot of gear. (Jetty fishing is a lot of fun)

I never even work the bait w/surf perch. I mean, it is in a froth of current, it isn't staying on the bottom. Your weight is just allowijg you to pitxh it out there.

Glad to hear it was helpful. When is your trip?
I believe you are in Yakima? I am fishing near Ellensburg today. (Cle Elum)

[fishnislife]

What up Joe!

I just got done surf perch fishing in Pacific Beach and figured out how to dial them in. I ended the trip with 28 caught, 7 of the biggest kept and the time of my life. Surf fishing is amazing. This was my first go at it and i found that I really enjoyed the constant activity.

These guys can be caught at any condition and tide but I found the most activity is on the incoming. I looked for transition areas where on a low tide i could see mounds, and depressions. When it came back up I worked those areas and to my surprise I landed on a spawning ground. 3 of the biggest where females and fought like bulls. One, (if only I had a scale) was close to 4#'s. (Pic below) she lost 16 live babies by the time I cleaned her. All of them I put back into the salt.

I bought a combo at Walmart, as a kind of throw away after use for the trip for $35 and it has been great.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Shakespeare- ... o/16794777" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I used your basic surf perch setup with a sliding pyramid weight and about an 18" leader. I stuck to Berkley Gulp shrimp in new penny and did very well. I was told to use the Gulp worms if around any pilings and if I wanted to use clam necks or squid. I did find both in the local store, frozen, but chose to stick with what I was doing. Over time I realized my bite to hook up ration was terrible so i messed around with hooks and hook placement into the bait. I found a very successful rig and ended up hooking into about 90% of my bites. (Pic below)











Have fun and be safe. Let us know how ya do.


fishnislife

[joetucker803]

That's awesome! You did very well! And thanks for the information as well. It is something to put in the memory banks for next time. I only chose to fish one day, but that happened to be the day of the windstorm. It was some insane wind, and the blowing sand actually hurt. Needless to say, trying to stay on the bottom in that mess was very hard. I reeled in a few times to see my bait gone, but it just wasn't working. I talked to a local, who fishes Lincoln City quite often, and even he had attempted and told me the conditions were "about as bad as they could be." But, that's fishing. This was a getaway with the wife anyways, so a little fishing (whether or not I caught something) was just a bonus.

Thanks again for the pictures and information. I can't wait to do it again next year!