San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Snuck in a few outings this past weekend but much like @Perch killer Bill's experiences lately, it was "just perch" for me.

I made it out Friday evening for a very short session, but it was more of an excuse for the wife and I to try a new pizza place while both kiddos had plans of their own. Regardless, got about an hour in and caught two perch; one on a roe-less crab, and another on some squid. The latter was sizeable.

No beach or fishing Saturday.

As for Sunday, I made a pre-sunrise stop at Crystal Pier for some crabs, but they weren't quite as plentiful as the weekend prior. Could be because the tide was still pretty far out, could be because the summer months are slipping away. It's only the second weekend I've searched for crabs here so I can't speak to patterns. That said, I gathered more than enough to supply me for my morning session (just took 10 minutes longer to fill up my little container), and I headed a ways south, somewhere north of Belmont Park, but out of the way of most of the surfers. I'm debating trying a bit north of the pier next weekend just to avoid the majority of the surf crowds all together.

Conditions were a bit messy, but they've certainly been worse. I was frequently pulling in grass, and my line tangled a couple times. Chalking most of my messes up to not being used to the thinner braid line just yet and needing to be a little more careful with it as I reel it in. However, fish were caught. Started with very large perch that I thought had chance of being a corbina, and a steady (but relatively slow) pace from about 7am - 10am. I wasn't counting but it was 5-6 or so. I pulled in another baby leopard shark halfway through the session, and the picture below captures some of the grass that was coming in all morning. Once the gray skies turned to actual rain, I took it as my sign to pack things up for the day.

One thing I'm curious about as a "sign" for whether there are fish (or not) that I forgot to mention last weekend - the presence of dolphins. Both this weekend and last there have been quite a few roaming Mission Beach, at about the distance offshore where the surfers queue up for waves. On one hand I figure that means lots of fish are in the area to feed on, but on the other it may also scare them all away? Either way, I'm sticking around to watch the dolphins but I'm curious what y'alls experiences tell you about their presence.

Looking ahead to next weekend, the kiddos' schedules are starting to fill things up a bit (a good thing!) but I'm going to salt some clams this week to give those a try! I've had success with clam so far, but they're messy and a little bit of a pain to lug around. I figure salting them will make them more user friendly. Also, with the crabs seemingly thinning out just a bit, I'd like to start testing things ahead of the winter months as I look to continue fishing our ocean year-round.

Thanks for the report Joe. All too familiar. Not sure you're aware of the MLPA boundary If you decide to go north of the pier. The south end of the no fish/take zone is at Diamond St. the big staircase down to the beach. Stay south of it. Seen LG's & DFW folks escort unaware anglers out of there from time to time.

Perch killer wrote: Mon Sep 22, 2025 10:16 am Thanks for the report Joe. All too familiar. Not sure you're aware of the MLPA boundary If you decide to go north of the pier. The south end of the no fish/take zone is at Diamond St. the big staircase down to the beach. Stay south of it. Seen LG's & DFW folks escort unaware anglers out of there from time to time.

Thanks for the heads up! I figured the south La Jolla portion of the reserve was probably near that area and was going to look it up but didn't realize it stretched that far south... which really isn't a ton of room. Not that I move much while fishing but it's always good to know as I'm certainly not trying to break any laws out there or give bad impressions to others who may not make the effort to look up what regulations are in place. I was actually having a discussion yesterday with a passerby from Arizona who was surprised we're allowed to fish the ocean at all, and we got to discussing some of the reserves/protected areas of the shore. We were even chatting about La Jolla, to which I pointed to as being "north of that pier you can see."

Perch-only sessions don't seem to be anyone's favorite on most days, but being out there, yep, that's it. We can't catch them from home or enjoy the rest of it. Thanks for the report. Joe. One day, I'd like to try an all surf perch ceviche. I hear it's good, but I mostly let them go, just like other people seem to do.

I'd like to hear about how it goes with the salted clams for bait if you feel like getting back to that. I have salted shrimp; they definitely make a more stable bait, but I haven't been willing to change over from fresh.

Everydog wrote: Mon Sep 22, 2025 1:42 pm Perch-only sessions don't seem to be anyone's favorite on most days, but being out there, yep, that's it. We can't catch them from home or enjoy the rest of it. Thanks for the report. Joe. One day, I'd like to try an all surf perch ceviche. I hear it's good, but I mostly let them go, just like other people seem to do.

I'd like to hear about how it goes with the salted clams for bait if you feel like getting back to that. I have salted shrimp; they definitely make a more stable bait, but I haven't been willing to change over from fresh.

Keeping fish (or not) seems to be a bit of a hot-button issue. I almost always bring a small cooler with me in case I catch something I want to turn into lunch, but I do not keep most of what I catch. This is mostly because I catch mostly perch... but that's because that's what is mostly off our shores, haha. But if catch one with decent size worth eating that day or the next, I'll bring it home. I won't bring a bunch of them home because the quantity can almost always be had, and they're so small and bony that to me, it's usually not worth the mess and effort. But I do think they're rather tasty!

Only once have I caught multiple corbina/croaker so its not a 'problem' I've had to deal with yet.

Anyhow, Sunday was cold and rainy and I worked up an appetite, pictured below was what I had for lunch - a fried perch sandwich

Everydog wrote: Mon Sep 22, 2025 1:42 pm I'd like to hear about how it goes with the salted clams for bait if you feel like getting back to that. I have salted shrimp; they definitely make a more stable bait, but I haven't been willing to change over from fresh.

I will definitely report back on this! I'm a little leery but if it reduces the mess and makes it just a little easier to work with (and keep on the hook), I'll take any tradeoffs in quantity of fish caught. My way-too-small sample size observation of "fresh" clam over crabs is that I catch fish a bit less often, but the ones I do are larger. Could be coincidence, more time on the water will tell.

Salted fresh mussel meat & left over blood worms. Firms them up real good. Likely would do the same for clams

Sounds like a profitable day, discounting the salad… I’m not sure if the dolphins affect the fishing but the seals/sea lions swimming in the surf sure do… They’ll shut down the bite faster than a changing tide… I’m curious about the salted clams as well, and will be interested in your findings…
Butch

Midnightpass wrote: Tue Sep 23, 2025 12:41 pm Sounds like a profitable day, discounting the salad… I’m not sure if the dolphins affect the fishing but the seals/sea lions swimming in the surf sure do… They’ll shut down the bite faster than a changing tide… I’m curious about the salted clams as well, and will be interested in your findings…
Butch

I saw one of those early on, too, now that you mention it. Logically I would think it's not a great sign; there were fish in the area until it came along!

jwacky wrote: Tue Sep 23, 2025 2:09 pm

Midnightpass wrote: Tue Sep 23, 2025 12:41 pm Sounds like a profitable day, discounting the salad… I’m not sure if the dolphins affect the fishing but the seals/sea lions swimming in the surf sure do… They’ll shut down the bite faster than a changing tide… I’m curious about the salted clams as well, and will be interested in your findings…
Butch

I saw one of those early on, too, now that you mention it. Logically I would think it's not a great sign; there were fish in the area until it came along!

Good point Butch on the seals. More than once I've had a seal drift into a good hole I was fishing and blow things up. No further bites so moved on

I have often found that when I see dolphin they are associated with yellowfin croaker. The croaker tend to run in schools, rather than the lonely corbina, and ball-up bait in the surf. Dolphin/porpoise follow the commotion and feed also on the fin bait yellowfin are finding. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a dolphin in the surf and then got a bite!