San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Glad to see something posted from Black's . . . a great beach to fish, but IMO for the younger anglers who have the stamina to get there & back. My knees would not hold up for the long walk or up & down the cliff trail. Hat's off to you for doing it and getting into some nice fish.

The cliffside trail/stairs would be the way I would go. It's still a huff & puff going back up but beats the long mile + walk from TP. The walk from TP state beach to flat rock is 1.1 miles. Know guy who lives in LJ shores area and walks in regularly from that end. Does real well there, lot of ...

Been there, done that Joe. First you have to get lucky to find parking & the SMB lot gives you the best chance. I've had fairly good luck with swimmers, boarders & day trippers being respectful when I find an open area. What I've noticed is a lot of these folks/tourists leave about 4-5 pm. Then the ...

Nice family report & really well done on those beautiful spot fins.

Heard from a few other folks also having difficulty finding crabs at other beaches the past few days. That's a bumm. Water temps drop or what ? I wouldn't know as been out of commission with a bad back since last weekend. Hoping I can get back at it soon. Bill Varney always says to take a backup ...

After over a week on the sidelines with back spasms decided to give it a go this AM. Photo tells it all of conditions. The junk was washing back into the cast zone all up & down the beach, some spots would clear momentarily then fill in again. Lot of false kelp hits. That said managed a half dozen ...

New beach for me; fished other N. County areas in the past but not this one. A very nice beach, easy close in parking, just a short walk down a ramp to the beach and great water conditions. Was hoping for some croaker & corbina action but turned out to be exclusively perch, 6 total over 2 hours ...

Nice spotty, with that hit I would have stayed awhile. But, if you have to end up at 11th for a ride, understand. Did you have a vehicle at TP and go back or dropped off and picked up ? Saves a long walk back. Just my curiosity.

I think you're spot on about the tides & location differences. Previous week at PB, tide was a bit lower and I'd guess 9 out of 10 crabs had roe or were softies. Go figure.

I got on to mussel meat from one of Nick Heid's surf fishing tutorials. You can find them fresh or frozen (off the shell) at most Asian seafood markets. With fresh ones I'll salt them night before, toughens them up for better hold. Freezing any leftovers I find doesn't work well. My preference is to ...

A new beach can be a lot of fun and you caught fish.. Bill, I might try your mussel trick...You mentioned fresh or frozen, while Heid said cooked... Maybe one was a typo, or do you use cooked as well?... Have you tried clams?... I love blood worms, but can't find them local any more, since Big ...

That's interesting about the cotton balls, worth a try, especially if easier to get off the hook than the thread after the perch ravage th emeat off your hook ! LOL Never heard about gardens snails, worth trying. Thanks for the info.

A short late AM session just south of pier. Clean water, better than expected conditions, tide incoming at about 4' at 10 am. Lug worms & mussel the bait of choice today. Good perch bite, best 2 hits turned out to be 2 guitar fish, both around 2'. 6 perch in the mix, all 6-8". Called it at 11:30 as ...

A hali on a sand crab is indeed surprising. Heard of them being caught on Gulp worms, frozen anchovies & a few other baits but a sand crab is a real rarity. Big crab ? Re catching spotfins, just keep doing what you're doing. They will hit a lot of different baits, mussel, blood worms & ghost shrimp ...

Got 2 of those sngf's myself a few days ago. Sometimes feels like you got into a ball of kelp, reeling in dead weight. The big ones can give you a workout on light gear.

You're killing it on those croakers ! Nice going to rack up that many. TP seems to be the honey hole for them this year. You must have a parking pass otherwise I don't know how you would find any parking there mid day ??

Gotcha on the parking. I may consider getting an annual parking pass for next year but $200 is pricey. Would have to do a lot of fishing in the N. county to make that worthwhile. I can make it to Mission, Pacific or OB in 15 minutes, takes twice as long to TP plus lot of free parking, at least for ...

Really good perch bite yesterday for about an hour, 7 - 8 am on the incoming tide. All on small sand crabs that had roe on a #6. Could not find any softies. Got 10 in all, more than half were 10-11" plus. Was alternating baits with another rod setup with a larger #2 hook using lugworms and ghost ...

Gotcha on the parking. I may consider getting an annual parking pass for next year but $200 is pricey. Would have to do a lot of fishing in the N. county to make that worthwhile. I can make it to Mission, Pacific or OB in 15 minutes, takes twice as long to TP plus lot of free parking, at least ...

Good job, Perch Killer, it's funny because parking and general surface street traffic are why I wouldn't try PB! (I know it's closer for you too). I bet I am overestimating morning crowds.


I got there at 6:20 and there were a good half dozen parking spots open in the small public lot at PB ...