San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Now, go get some Fish!

My Surf fishing buddy of 60+ years is on his way out, Lou Gehrigs disease. They have treatments but no cure, 1 or 2 seasons left. We going to hit the Surf hard this year and hope for a miracle cure. It could happen….

Perch killer wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 1:08 pm Sorry to hear this. Get him out on the sand as often as you can while he's able to.

That is the plan! Some serious Surf Fishing carnage….Some pictures from our early exploits..Rob is the tall guy.

My compadre Kei got on the Crappie, trolling Flicker Shads and hitting the schools with jigs. All quality, not huge numbers. Got blown off the water early. Didn’t matter, the heat came in and got everybody else.

Nightcrawlers! Ha ha ha, I brought some with me last month and learned Vinny don’t do no bait. Heresy! By the way I finally got Skunked at Canyon Lake. No Crawlers….6 am-2:30 pm. Notabite, touch, nip, breath on my stuff. Even my buddy, Rick whiffed. Humbling! Pepe says fishing was “ le Pew”.

So there I was, sitting in my Truck, with nobody anywhere. I had arrived at 5:30 am to meet several Kayakers on a quest for the elusive Lake Elsinore Wipers. I asked Siri to navigate me to Launch Pointe. My Nav System led me to a large launch ramp in the pitch black night. A sign said they open at ...

Midnightpass wrote: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:52 am Seahawks are going to Disneyland...
Butch

Called it!

OK, just throwing that out there. I have used the Albright knot for over 20 years from Crappie to Bluefin. Easy, quick and secure. As far as leader, Fluorocarbon for the rough work and Maxima mono for Topwater. Mostly 20 Braid to 15 leader, you can really put the wood to them.

I have a small private Lake down the Street. It is the water Supply for a big Golf Course. They buy recycled water and it is full and they draw it down very low before they buy more, constantly leaving Beds high and dry. Somehow Bass, Catfish, and Crappie survive. They are huge. Not a lot of them ...

What about all the Dams back East? Many are older than our Dams. They are all full every year from the massive rains they receive. No lowering of the water. I think it’s about creating a shortage so the Water Districts can charge more for the water. “Let’s be extra careful, we are doing it for your ...

Full disclosure, about a week ago, I had a dream of finding the motherlode of sand crabs!
Those Sand Crabs show up in numbers on the surface, when the Sea Temperature hits 64 degrees here in Newport Beach. It was the official opening of Surf Fishing season here, for Spotfin and Corbina. We all ...

Glad you got what you needed. Just a warning about Elsinore, make one mistake of any kind on the water and the Lake Sheriff will write you a ticket. No education, no mercy. There is a certain flow of traffic, speed limits, area with No Wake. Observe these rules. Look them up, study them and follow ...

Launched my Brand new 40 year old Skiff “Longshot”into the Harbor for a shakedown fishing trip with my Buddy Robbie. He has been ill for the past year and it’s not getting any better. He has lost the ability to speak, buy still loves to whack fish. We had a nice 7 foot out going Tide to start the ...

My Elsinore experience was similar except for the hookups. 6 1/2 hours of trolling Flicker Shads. Was it my squeaky seat, bad peddling technique, 8 pound Fluorocarbon leader too distracting? Beautiful Day in February.

Try Garden Snails. Trust me….


I was gonna suggest he try one of your snails... I've yet to try this, but am looking forward to giving it a try...

Nelson 1... Nice fishing.. June bug larva.. Who knew???
Butch


No snails for me. Ever try to get that slime off your fingers ,takes forever ...

I had my first epic session at Puddingstone in several years. Last year was lost to a persistent Algae Bloom that just seemed to kill the bite and I’m not into 2 fish days. Thursday started slow I was throwing Jigs at a Rocky Wall that leads into a nice Spawning Area, for not a touch. Generally ...

I got stuck on a trip with just a Ten Pound rig, which it quickly became evident, was just too light. The Bass there had a habit of digging into the bottom and fraying the line. I would have to retie every fish and if I didn’t, the line would break on the hook set. The cure was 5 feet of 15 pound ...

I believe Pyramid Lake, not far up the hill, is a much more prolific Striper Lake. Now with a population of American Shad, they can put on even more weight with a larger Food Source and well as the planted Rainbow Trout.

Truth is, Spotties are probably the easiest of all Bass to catch. The challenge is getting the “Giants”, a relative term. While a giant Spottie is over 4 pounds, anybody who has caught one knows they can out battle most Fish twice their size. They max out in length pretty quickly, but then begin to ...