San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I went to Terramar. I got 1 BSP. An SFC swam up a few feet from me. It was at least a foot and a half long.

That would warm up my old blood...
Butch

Had the same experience with a good size one pass right in front of my feet a couple years back at Mission Beach. That same morning I was watching a guy walking the surf break while spear fishing. Made a couple of passes then saw him get one followed by another, 2 large sfc's. Tells me where they were schooling and bingo I pulled in 2. Never forget that session.

Perch killer wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 10:27 am Had the same experience with a good size one pass right in front of my feet a couple years back at Mission Beach. That same morning I was watching a guy walking the surf break while spear fishing. Made a couple of passes then saw him get one followed by another, 2 large sfc's. Tells me where they were schooling and bingo I pulled in 2. Never forget that session.

I wonder if that is legal… I thought you had to be”in the water” ( skin or scuba diving) to spear fish….
Butch.

Up to his waist+ with hand held spear treble tipped. Don't know if it's not legal. He 's there off & on every year summer time; life guards seem to be Ok with it. Off the beach by 10 or so to avoid the beach goers.

I’m curious about rules… quick-ish internet search seems to indicate that in California, same general rules as any saltwater fishing apply. I found one site that indicated you have to be 100 yards from swimming areas but that in itself is vague and hard to measure, I would think.

I don’t think wading would qualify as “floating or swimming”, but would probably be legal for sharks, rays or skates… Now, if he was bow fishing, that might be legal, if the life guards or police let you…. This would be an interesting conversation with the DFW… I know we discussed this years ago on the old SCSF site…
Butch

One more..
Butch

Swimming or Floating is the catch . Have seen multiple citations given for standing and spearing Corbina at TP State Beach . The guys had said " we do it all the time " and the officer said they were lucky , he wouldn't confiscate gear. He did however confiscate the fish the people had . I have done a lot of spearfishing in the past but always used mask and snorkel . BTW the spears that I saw at TP were very well built with gig type tips made from pitchfork tines I was told . Was going to try it myself until the law arrived and set that straight . Cheers

When is the best time to fish on Sunday, Surf? Mixed reef and sand? For instance, Del Mar, or mostly-sand Torrey Pines? Or anywhere local given tides?

I went yesterday for the 1st outing this year. Hit the beach at 1:30, right a low tide. Nothing until about 2:15, not even a hit. Used Battlestar , then LC until about 2:30. Took 20 min refreshment break. Switched to gulp bloodworm, a couple of hits, nothing big. Switched to camo gulps about 3:10. From then until 4:15 I caught 6 perch, the biggest just over 6”. Had a lot more bites, thinking since I was using a size 2 hook, I missed a lot of the smaller guys. Caught that little guy though somehow.
Beach was just sand. I haven’t fished Torrey or DelMar. I see guys fishing the Del Mar side near dog beach at the river mouth.

Everydog wrote: Thu Jan 29, 2026 10:34 pm When is the best time to fish on Sunday, Surf? Mixed reef and sand? For instance, Del Mar, or mostly-sand Torrey Pines? Or anywhere local given tides? Sunday surf.png

Just my own 2 cents. If I were fishing tomorrow am, I'd get there at gray light so you might have a couple decent hours before the 7' hi at 8:30. A few hours before the deep minus tide in the afternoon might be more productive but with this summer like weather, might have to contend with a lot of beach goers, on the sand & finding parking.

Mike A wrote: Fri Jan 30, 2026 6:49 am I went yesterday for the 1st outing this year. Hit the beach at 1:30, right a low tide. Nothing until about 2:15, not even a hit. Used Battlestar , then LC until about 2:30. Took 20 min refreshment break. Switched to gulp bloodworm, a couple of hits, nothing big. Switched to camo gulps about 3:10. From then until 4:15 I caught 6 perch, the biggest just over 6”. Had a lot more bites, thinking since I was using a size 2 hook, I missed a lot of the smaller guys. Caught that little guy though somehow.
Beach was just sand. I haven’t fished Torrey or DelMar. I see guys fishing the Del Mar side near dog beach at the river mouth.

You did well Mike… Way to get ‘em…
Butch

Fish Report: Hey all, I have been sick since before Christmas and finally guessed, correctly, that I had enough reserve energy to go fishing yesterday.

Free gift offer at the end of this fish report, first-come, first-served. If the meetup is convenient, I hit South Del Mar before sunrise with the white glow Lucky Craft, which landed two palm-sized perch. I worked it about 1.5 hours up and down about 300 yards of beach before switching to 2" grubs on a C-rig and quickly got a few more using a #2 owner rigging hook. I switched to the same bait and rig with an open bait hook and got tons of bites, but none stuck. Switched to shrimp using magic thread and got several more perch and two baby leos. I could see lots of leos up to 3-4 foot but somehow these tiny ones got on. Lastly, I used gulp sand worms, and by this time it was nearing mid-day, those caught perch almost every cast, little ones, and it got boring, a guilty feeling for harming them, and I was tired too. Good trip, beautiful weather, no seaweed problems, and I am super grateful for the rust buster. I wade, so I was wearing 3mm dive pants and a neoprene long-sleeve shirt, too. Free Farmer John-style wetsuit, NRS brand. probably for someone, around 160-175 pounds, plus or minus, good for cold-weather kayak and surf fishing, if you ask me. I wear light fishing clothes over this stuff. https://www.wetsuitwearhouse.com/produc ... et+Group+1

Hope you are actually feeling better , I have PTSD from my troubles the last 6 to 8 months . All is good , NOT dead yet . Looking to get out there . Hope we can meet up somewhere . Grunion runs basically start in March if not a little earlier in some locations , things should start picking up soon . See if you can find some of those little green roller crabs if you want some top shelf perch this time of year . Halibut should be moving up into some of the shallows soon . Cheers All !

Very nice outing. I was up the coast a little farther. LC from 7am to 7:40 am, nothing. Switched to C rig with camo gulps, size 4 hook. Nothing until 8:15, 3 perch 4” to 5”. Switched to size 2 hook with blood worm gulp. Gut hooked a 9 1/4” perch, biggest I’ve caught. Next cast a 9”. Kept both of them. Caught 3 more perch 5” to 6”. Went home had fish tacos for lunch.
Funny last week camo was the color, this week red.

Nice session, Everydog... You to Mike... Everydog and Bill I hope you guys are feeling better... Get well for the upcoming season...
Butch

Thanks, William, Mike, and Butch.

I am glad to hear you are on the mend, William. I am ready when you are. Thanks for throwing the Luckycraft, Mike, and reporting. I hope you keep reporting back on that and catch a lot of Halibut this spring.

I just have a lingering cough that's getting ever so slowly better, which has happened before at a much younger age, so I am not too worried. I hadn't been sick since the early days of COVID.

Everybody have a good week. Go fishing if you can,

Surprised you guys had some action with conditions this weekend. I tried saturday at 6am and the waves/current were huge at north del mar. I couldn't keep a consistent swim on LC. I only brought LC so called it after an hour of searching for better conditions. probably should've checked forecast before I decided not to bring bait.