San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I had to check out the almost non-existent surf this morning at Mission Beach!! Truly a spectacle to see the ocean so calm, even at the highest tide of almost 7 feet. It was eerily silent at 6:30 this morning with only the occasional mini-breaker at the shore. Even the pelicans were in close, and a seal was swimming no more than a hundred or so feet away.

The fishing was predictably slow. After getting almost no action whatsoever on mussels I switched to the dried lugworms and almost immediately hooked a 14” jacksmelt. Not exactly the most prized catch in the ocean but it was a first for me from the surf, and a “new” species is always fun to check off the list. It put up a nice little fight, as well.

Caught a medium size perch not long after, also on a lugworm, and then nothing from then on. I was out of there by 8:30, getting home just in time for the rain to start falling.

Weird weather, but an interesting way to wrap up 2025. Next up will be fishing the afternoon negative tides over the weekend.

Happy New Year, all!

Nice catch. I have not seen a jacksmelt in a long time.

That was usually my sign to try shark fishing! Good stuff though I'm sure you had all sorts of thoughts fighting it

Jteo wrote: Wed Dec 31, 2025 12:24 pm That was usually my sign to try shark fishing! Good stuff though I'm sure you had all sorts of thoughts fighting it

It’s cool how the more you do this, the more you have an idea of what’s on the other end of your line before you can see it. It wasn’t fighting like a perch, even the larger ones. The pulls and head tosses felt quicker and “bigger” than a small corbina although it tried to run like one when it hit the sand. I figured that’s what it was until I got closer to it and it was flopping around like crazy.

So I could sense something different than the usual catch. Was fun to see something different and entirely unexpected, for sure!

Way to go on getting your 1st… For a while my fishing buddies were calling me the Smelt King… Everywhere I fished I would catch them.. Got so I hated those things.. They can beat the skunk, and fight pretty good, but are stinky, slimy and seemed to swallow the hook thru that dinky mouth they have.. The weather the last couple of days looked very interesting for fishing… Kinda sorry I didn’t go out yesterday… Nice you got out.. And a Happy New Years to you as well…
Butch