San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Hey All, Just wanted to post a friendly reminder about covering up and using sunscreen, especially you younger guys.

This past Friday I had to have, what was thought to be, a dime sized spot of skin cancer removed from the left side of my forehead. Well once they started to remove it they found ...

Welp, summer has come to a close up on the high prairie and soon all the trout will start getting active for the winter. It definitely has been a slow summer, as we had a dry-ish winter up here, and a lot of the reservoirs had more water drained out of them than water flowing in. I caught a few ...

....and Tight Lines of course!

Some opinions/observations about lures:
1. I see statements made all over the Internet that a certain lure works because it resembles such and such a bait that fish feed on. This is usually nonsense. Plastic worms work but bass do not normally feed on earth worms and they do not look like minnows. A ...

It's a shame we don't have drive ins anymore. There's a few left in MA but I don't know if there's any out here.

With hardly any new posts lately, I decided to try to stir up things up a little.
I normally would not do this, but just felt that hopefully this post may inspire some
of you to PLEASE share some of your fun catches in 2025.

While none of my bass broke the 10lb range(what's new?),
I did catch 3 ...

A few pics

Here is a few of mine...

My first corbina, in my first year of surf fishing.

I went through and picked out some of my favorites from the year. This was my second year back in the game after years out, and at times it felt a little foolish trying to do a bit of everything. It felt a bit like whack-a-mole trying to keep up with the surf, the lagoons, and freshwater but the ...

Only 5 I got this year was an early season mama out of shallow water in a mountain lake. She ate an 8 inch senko though!

Even the Birds are on them.

It's hard to compete with the famed Mr.Vinnybass...but here are a few of my favorites from 2025! My big fish for the year was an 8.2, I'll see if I can improve on that this year! Vinny says that's impossible with all the finesse stuff I throw!

Perch tacos.

Flour, egg wash, Japanese panko.

Fresh cabbage, red onion, tomato, lime juice, salt and pepper pepper.

Sour cream/crema, mayo, chipotle in adobo.

Favorites from 2025

Was hoping for a 20 pound+ lake trout last year, but never got one that topped my present PB of 18.05 But I did end the year with a bang, catching this 34 inch, 14.40 pound laker on Dec. 31st.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/9f7514ee-5d51-4565-99af-ffc693d7802c/cd0c87bd-d7dc-4628-9928-e3dacf8ce1d3 ...

Nothing spectacular this year...
This one was notable because it was the first trip after a big medical issue....and was just happy to get back out there. A fat stocker from Tuff Campground, near Tom's Place, caught using a homemade spinner and some Oxford commas.

Been making fish cakes recently as I try to eat my way through the whitefish in my freezer from an inshore fishing trip a month or so ago.

Pretty simple recipe. Steam the filets for 5-6 minutes until opaque and the fish flakes easily. Add to bowl with a couple tablespoons of breadcrumbs (I prefer ...

Been making fish cakes recently as I try to eat my way through the whitefish in my freezer from an inshore fishing trip a month or so ago.

Pretty simple recipe. Steam the filets for 5-6 minutes until opaque and the fish flakes easily. Add to bowl with a couple tablespoons of breadcrumbs (I ...

This miso marinade is easy and delicious. I bake whole fish (rock, sheep, perch) in the over for about 45 min then the family devours.

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-nobu-miso-marinated-black-cod-117238#post-recipe-11824

Ingredients
1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup white miso paste
3 ...