Mission 10/28

[Perch killer]

No visible crab beds and spent way too much time blind digging, about 20 min, looking for a few. Found a total of 6, 5 thumb size with eggs & 1 dime size without. Usual critters just nibbling off the roe, no solid hits. Managed to get one on the crab without roe plus a couple more on dried lugs, 5-6" models. Tom (Jusbigguns) got a half dozen or more of the same. At first, moderate amount of salad & fishable but conditions worsened as got closer to the high tide so we packed it in at 8 am. No skunk but have been wondering past few sessions, where are the big boys ?

[jwacky]

Not liking these reports of grass at all! My weekend window coincides with incoming morning tides so I may just skip it all together just to (hopefully) let it pass.

[Midnightpass]

Same here at PB… You did no worse fishing there than you would have here… Better luck next time Bill…
Butch

[Perch killer]

Same here at PB… You did no worse fishing there than you would have here… Better luck next time Bill…
Butch

Enjoyed our brief on the sand Butch. Great to meet up with you. Yeah, this past week's fishing kinda sucked but guess that's why they call it fishing, not catching.

Have a safe trip back and hope you this summer's fishing is good to you.

[Midnightpass]

Thanks Bill… Only about 100 miles, so even an old codger like me aught to be able to do it..
Take care buddy, and wack those Corbina and SFC for me.. I saw some some off the pier today….
And the weather cleared up nicely…
Butch

[hrierdan]

What are everyone's thoughts on why it has been slow? Where are the perch? Usually I can at least target small perch if all else fails. Lately, even those are missing.

For a few day I was seeing SFC and Corbina in the shallows, but even those are missing. It it just the vagaries of fishing? Or El Nino? Last summer (mid June) was great for me, so I am hoping for a repeat

Thoughts?

[Nelson 1]

What are everyone's thoughts on why it has been slow? Where are the perch? Usually I can at least target small perch if all else fails. Lately, even those are missing.

For a few day I was seeing SFC and Corbina in the shallows, but even those are missing. It it just the vagaries of fishing? Or El Nino? Last summer (mid June) was great for me, so I am hoping for a repeat

Thoughts?

November was the best Perch month for me. Some large Perch in that month. Someone told me that was because they were making babies. Have not had any large Perch like that for a while.

[jwacky]

I'm only just now rounding into my second year of surf fishing. I remember last Memorial Day weekend being the first time my son and I attempted it after a relatively successful attempt at it while camping in Carlsbad the week prior. I snapped my cheap pole in half trying to bring in seaweed in Coronado, got my car towed because of confusion over expired tags (which were not technically expired, it was that a smog check hadn't cleared in the system). Two days later, fees, fighting to wave the fees... looking back, not sure why I didn't just quit right then and there, ha!

Anyhow, my theory is that we're just kinda in a lull period right now. I feel like fishing didn't truly pick up for me until later in the summer, maybe July-August. Of course, that also was probably a result of me figuring out what the heck I was doing. Then as the crabs disappeared in November, the perch bite REALLY picked up for me. Less quality, for sure, but definitely more quantity. Then the big ol' perch were biting December - February. I was routinely having 10+ fish sessions.

I suspect that if you could fish at any point in the day based on ideal conditions, you would have pretty sustained success. But just judging by morning conditions, they've not been great for the past month or so. Big swells, or no swells. Incredibly high tides, or incredibly low. Feels like it's been forever since we've had those nice 4-5 foot tides after a large swing from a lower tide, with just moderate swells. We've had wind, or powerful surges, or neap tides. All extremes, none of them good. So that, and perhaps a bit of a transition as the fish change their tastes from winter baits to the crabs that are surfacing but still only far out in the surf has made for a slow month or so. It's been a grind to bring in 5-6 fish, and they've been small. I've pulled in some SNGF and rays in each of the past two weekends I've gone out, so better days ahead, I'm sure!

I could be way off base. This is only off one seasonal-change observation so almost no sample size at all, and perhaps next year will be entirely different. Just some observations.

[Mike A]

Brutal start…towed rig and snapped rod. I’d probably taken that as sign to fish a lake. I’m onboard with the lull period. Crabs are coming, storm surge should be behind us. Need the salad to lighten up a bit. Then we should be good to go.

[Andrew_WOT]

Things were slow on TP today as well, not much salad, but not much fish either.
Started with swimbait, switched to C-Rig later, one lousy perch on a dry lugworm. Plenty of sand crabs beds, saw few decent ones.
Beautiful morning though, but that's it.

[Andrew_WOT]

Gemini response, if that can make you feel any better about the situation.
-------------------------

If you've been grinding the Southern California sand lately and coming up empty, you are not alone. A slow surf bite around late May is a classic, frustrating phenomenon that local anglers face **every single year**.

The lull you are experiencing is the result of a "perfect storm" of environmental factors—primarily a lagging water temperature shift and a massive transition in forage.

Here is exactly what is happening in the surf right now:

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## 1. The Forage Flip (The Ghost Town Effect)

The single biggest reason for a slow bite right now is a massive shift in what the fish are eating, and where that food is.

* **The Winter Diet is Gone:** The winter/early spring surfperch bite is heavily reliant on a diet of sand worms, tube worms, clams, and small micro-crustaceans. By late May, the big spawning schools of Barred Surfperch have mostly dispersed.
* **The Summer Diet is Lagging:** The absolute staple of summer surf fishing—**Sand Crabs**—are currently in a major transition phase. While soft-shell sand crab beds are starting to show up on some beaches, many areas are still waiting for the massive, thick crab beds to fully establish.
* **The Result:** Until those sand crab beds lock in across all beaches, target species like **Corbina** and **Spotfin Croaker** won't consistently pack into the shallow knee-deep water. They are waiting for the buffet to open.

## 2. Water Temperature Stabilization

Fish are cold-blooded, and dramatic temperature swings throw off their metabolism. Southern California has been oscillating through a very typical late-spring weather pattern.

* Water temperatures have been hovering or dipping slightly [just below 65°F](https://surffishingsocalsd.com/may-surf ... iting-now/).
* When the water climbs to a steady 64°F to 66°F and stays there, the metabolism of summer species skyrockets, forcing them to feed aggressively. Right now, the water is just cool enough to keep them a bit lethargic and holding in deeper troughs rather than aggressive shore-break feeding.

## 3. The "May Gray" Upwelling Effect

Late spring in SoCal brings strong, consistent afternoon winds. These winds push the warm top layer of ocean water away from the coast, causing **upwelling**—where deep, freezing, nutrient-rich (but murky) water rises to the beach. This sudden drop in localized shore temps and a spike in loose seaweed can shut down a bite in a matter of hours.

---

## Does This Happen Every Year?

**Yes, absolutely.** Experienced SoCal surf anglers refer to this stretch between late April and early June as the **"Spring Transition Lull."** It is the awkward bridge between the dying winter perch/halibut bite and the roaring summer croaker/shark bite. One week it feels like summer is here; the next week a fresh swell or a cold temperature drop resets the beach.

---

## How to Adapt Right Now

If you want to pull fish right now instead of waiting for mid-June, adjust your strategy:

* **Ditch the Gulp Sandworms (Mostly):** If you are using a Carolina rig, it’s time to start actively hunting for live sand crabs on the beach. If you can find a bed with small, soft-shelled "softies," you will instantly bypass the slow bite. If you can't find crabs, switch to fresh mussel meat or ghost shrimp.
* **Target the Late Morning/Afternoon:** Because the water is still on the cooler side, early morning sessions can be brutal. The sun needs time to warm up the shallow water. Many anglers are finding success by waiting for the sun to hit the water, which wakes up the fish's metabolism.
* **Pivot to Sharks:** If the light-tackle bite is dead, the [Leopard Shark and Shovelnose Guitarfish](https://surffishingsocalsd.com/may-surf ... iting-now/) bites are currently firing. Throwing a chunk of squid or mackerel on a heavier setup into the deeper surf is your best bet for heavy action right now.
* **Watch the Grunion:** We are in the thick of the grunion runs. Fishing the morning immediately *after* a heavy grunion run with a [Lucky Craft flash minnow jerkbait](https://surffishingsocalsd.com/may-surf ... iting-now/) or a swimbait can land you a resident Halibut or White Seabass looking for leftover baitfish.

Hang in there—historically, the switch flips aggressively by mid-June, and the surf will come alive.