San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Hi all!

2025 was the my first year of surf fishing after many, many years of fishing freshwater around San Diego. It all started on a camping trip at South Carlsbad State Beach before Memorial Day Weekend. I'd joked that I was just going to eat what I caught, and brought a couple small poles and ...

Perch killer wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 8:43 am Good for halibut bait !

Or leopard shark...
Butch

Hi all,
I’ve been a steady lurker for quite some time since peak beach season ended last year, so it’s great to see this surf fishing content here and in other threads. Not much fishing is going on for me. My only report would be the several-day trip near San Quentin Baja in November, and I caught ...

I started the holiday weekend with a sunrise session at Mission Beach with the incoming tide, from about 6:30-9:30.

I caught one perch early on but spent the first hour or or so fighting large clumps of grass/kelp. I was worried for a bit that the morning was going to get cut short because of this ...

Another beautiful, calm morning at Mission Beach. High tide, low surf, relatively calm currents. Other than a couple early clumps of grass, similar to yesterday, the water was clean.

Little to no easily observable structure makes things a little tricky but patience pays off. Took a while for the ...

I never fished a Lucky Craft lure before, so I decided to dedicate this morning to it. Got six Perch all a good size. 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.. was a bit chilly down there. No grass or seaweed. The waves were getting bigger. It's hard to believe a Perch can eat a bait that size.

A couple of nice ones Mike for off season. You've had good success with that sand crab rake. Still finding them close to the surface or digging deep ?


I use a right-handed baitcaster so I hold the rod in my left hand and rake in my right. Each time a wave recedes, I kick sand into the rake with ...

Nice morning at Mission Beach, fished the low tide from 6:30 until about 9:00. Not much current, clean water with almost no seaweed whatsoever. Waves just high enough to keep things moving in the sand.

Nothing of note (quality-wise) aside from 9-10 perch, but I was catching them at a pretty steady ...

I wasn't gonna post this, because of the louse fishing, but I do enjoy reading your reports, so, fair is fair... Met up with my buddy of 65 years at Bolsa Chica for some much needed beach time at about 6AM... Tide was falling like a rock, but the weather and conditions were great..I used freeze ...

Fished the incoming and then outgoing high tide for a bit this morning, from 6:30 until around 9:00. Seemed like the tide was coming in even farther than predicted and the surf was strong, even if not particularly large. Swirling currents were moving my line everywhere including a few gnarly tangles ...

Made it out to Mission Beach this morning to get some fishing in before peak high tide. It was messy. Couple line snags in the grass, including a full on snap, strong currents, and very powerful waves. Surf report says 7’ but I’m sitting at Woody’s drinking a coffee and the water is coming up to ...

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.

Much better conditions at Mission Beach with the later low tide. 6:15 until about 8:00, six perch total. Most mid size, a couple finger sized. Lug worms were the easy preference for the fish. Mussels got some nibbles but only one actually caught on them. Interestingly (or not, I’m not sure if it ...

Fished peak to outgoing high tide at Mission Beach, from about 6:15-9:00. Would’ve finished earlier but was waiting on the wifey to wake up and make her way out for Valentines coffee and brunch.

Really messy start to the day at the peak tide. Lots and lots of seaweed, strong currents, and a ...

Nice perch bite this morning at Mission Beach!

I had my line in the water by 6:30am and fished the incoming tide from low to about its halfway point, and wrapped things up by 9:30ish.

It took a little longer than usual to see any action but once I did, I caught 12 perch throughout the course of ...

2 hr session from 0700 - 0900. Throwing a 1/2 oz chrome and blue kastmaster (see username) into light to moderate, but manageable salad. Five fish before 0800, then a 6th straggler at 0820. Only one dink. Numerous holes in the spots I fished. Nice morning.

Fished 0630 - 0830 with the 1/2 oz kastmaster near Tower 15. Hooked and lost a couple of fish. Wave energy was constant and salad was moderate. Skunk city. Saw at least 8 others trying, hope they had better luck. May try a revenge session later in the day.

Joe, we have not met but im in mission quite often. Perch killer Bill told me about you. We caught 10 yesterday using Gulp sand worms(long ones). A few of them were approaching 11". I was at T-12 or where it used to be. I'm hoping we have wide open conditions here shortly.

Joe, we have not met but im in mission quite often. Perch killer Bill told me about you. We caught 10 yesterday using Gulp sand worms(long ones). A few of them were approaching 11". I was at T-12 or where it used to be. I'm hoping we have wide open conditions here shortly.


Nice!! I was not able ...

Arrived just before sunrise. Low tide, gentle waves, throwing the gold kastmaster. Saw several others out to my south. Managed one dink in 90 minutes, eye-hooked. Sorry bud. Hope everyone caught something. Sharp hooks and tight lines.