San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I dont mean to whin but i was wondering if you other anglers a having the same problems of finding fish in the surf as i am. I have been lightline fishing the surf for many years all along our coast. For the last couple of years I have had much less success than I once did. I think I must not be the only avid angler to experience this happening. All the species that seemed so productive from halibut down to peach have all but disappeared. Im not sure if its pollution or overfishing but it does concern me. Does anyone else been feeling this way?

1Fishdude wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2026 10:05 am I dont mean to whin but i was wondering if you other anglers a having the same problems of finding fish in the surf as i am. I have been lightline fishing the surf for many years all along our coast. For the last couple of years I have had much less success than I once did. I think I must not be the only avid angler to experience this happening. All the species that seemed so productive from halibut down to peach have all but disappeared. Im not sure if its pollution or overfishing but it does concern me. Does anyone else been feeling this way?

It’s kind of along the lines of what I’ve heard as far as this year goes. I had a decent summer last year, but I was out of the game a while, so I can’t speak on any trend over several years…

I’m sure some of the legends or guys that have spots super dialed in are still finding a good bite here and there this summer, but I think the warmer water this year is affecting things negatively in the surf. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear if Santa Barbara, Ventura and the like are getting more of the bite that we’re used to this time of year.

I haven’t made it out in the surf much this summer, got lucky with a nice Corbina a few weeks ago on a camping trip, but I’m hearing that sentiment from a decent amount of guys in the area.

Of course, I forgot to mention the crazy runs of swell we’ve had too. That doesn’t make it any easier in the surf!

Finding fish? No, I've seen just as many if not more corbina and spotfin this year. Finding sand crabs bigger than a pea, on the other hand, has been difficult. The water has been too warm for them to reach decent size.

Neuroshima wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2026 2:34 pm Finding fish? No, I've seen just as many if not more corbina and spotfin this year. Finding sand crabs bigger than a pea, on the other hand, has been difficult. The water has been too warm for them to reach decent size.

fished (sort of) Oceanside harbor beach a couple days ago, and there were plenty of large sandcrabs with roe and just not a whole lot of bites...lots of and I did see a pretty big bean at my feet...