San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

The corbina and croaker were biting in close today. This 18” corbina ate a thumb sized soft shell and the not so common spotfin ate 2 small soft shells.

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 ...

I got started at TP this morning from the PCH free parking area, a little after the sun came up. The first thing I saw was 3 or 4 guys standing waist deep, and I think they were fishing with lures in hopes of striper. The structure opportunities looked good. But I didn't find good crab beds! So I ...

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 ...

You can blend the mussels with pulled apart cotton balls, then wrap the soaked cotton balls onto your hook, it works great. Outside of left field bait - Snails. Regular Garden Snails work great both in the Surf and Bay Fishing. Who would of thunk it? It was the Japanese Trout Fishermen at Anaheim ...

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.

Midnightpass wrote: Fri Aug 08, 2025 10:27 am Nice spot fin... It's been a while since I've managed one...
Butch

You would get them if you were fishing where they are, Butch.

I am starting to feel too lucky....It's gonna end. However, if you were there, Butch, you would have caught this fish today, at Torrey Pines Lifeguard Station 4 in the middle of the day amidst a sea of swimmers. Nuts. I hooked another, but a family member lost it at the beach....I could have lost it ...

I had a small window to get some fishing in this morning so I headed to beach, even knowing the tide was going to be pretty far out early in the morning. Regardless, I outdid my tiny croaker from last weekend with the smallest perch I’ve caught to date, just minutes after my first cast :lol ...

Got back out this morning after grouting/caulking the shower last week.
Fished with LC from 6:30 to 7:15, got nothing
7:30 to 8:20 switched to crabs, only caught 4 small perch. Oh well, better than grouting a shower
Planning on another go at it on Friday

There is a big pop in the ratio of YFC to other species today between South Torrey Pines and mid Del Mar. Does someone know that this is typical for August? With a leopard and two guitars, a smattering of perch, a corbina, and lots of YFC, I had my best numbers day today with over 20 fish. No ...

The tide was out, the crabs were big and the perch were small. New personal best (worst?) for smallest perch

Caught one other little guy, though I was getting what felt like some decent bites. Just felt like getting out to the beach on a Thursday evening for some fresh ocean air.

Went to Carlsbad area 8/13 for my second try at the surf. It was slower this time with a ton of wave action. Got one decent perch. Wasn’t going great, so I hit the little Batiquitos lagoon jetty and caught several baby sand bass, a baby calico, and a rock wrasse. Went a little farther south for the ...

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 ...

Hit it today from 9:30 to 11. Only caught 3 perch, largest maybe 6”. Plenty of bait thief’s today. Swell was way down from Wednesday. Wind was from southernly direction at about 12 or so, kinda choppy. Saw 1 guy to the north of me, didn’t seem to be having luck.

Spent a few hours at Mission Beach again today, and showed up to calm waters and a late arriving “high” tide. Sand crabs were plentiful but the bite was pretty slow. Reeled in a few times to see my crabs picked over without even feeling bites some of the time!

Regardless, skunk avoided. Caught a ...

New to surf fishing. I've been out a few times now and have managed to avoid the skunk. Went out to Torrey Pines for the first time this morning targeting corbina and spotfin. Fished from 5:30-9:30 and managed two. My first ever corbina and a new pb halibut. Still hunting for that legal. Both we ...

I went back to North TP yesterday, fishing from about 11:00 to 3:00 PM.
Lots of sand crabs, but mostly hard-shelled, whereas there were tons of soft ones a few weeks ago. Weeds were medium to a PITA.
Caught a mix, around 7-8 fish all in a near-shore trough. Only one perch, but they are chomping ...

It was easy to park at the pay lot off McGonigle.$10. I have been driving by Carmel Mountain Road for about a month now, and while it would be a little farther to walk, there has been parking open every time. I had my wife with me, so paying for parking was easier to accept.

A man posted a picture ...