Shell Beach 9/30/2023

[fish-ninja]

Sea Ranch is pretty fancy with private coves and beaches but there are a few that are open to public. Shell beach is one of them. I took my friend again out for a short morning surf session there.

It was a full moon day and we fished up tide till noon. I made Carolina rig for him to test nearshore surf. There were too much broken kelps washed up by the tide so all he caught was the heavy seaweeds loosing many terminals. A little girl entertained us with many questions and grins.


I hopped on a nearby rock to target a little deeper spots. Surf was a bit rougher that day and a few large splash made me wet. But I had a nice calico surfperch on shrimp hi-lo. And a baby cabezon came on a small metal jig to entertain me.



That was it for my friend. After lunch, he hit a hot tub but I hit another rock nearby where we were staying. I tried a variety of artificials as well as shrimp and frozen squid baits for about 2.5 hours in the afternoon. I continued to catch perches. I found two striped perch as well as another calico surfperch.



I kept these nice slabs and made a nice fish and chips for us three. I say not a bad weekend. Thanks for reading.

 

[Ken Jones]

ALways love that stretch of coast.

 

[Ray619]

Nice slabs...love fish and chips 🍟 😋

 

[fish-ninja]

ALways love that stretch of coast.

So beautiful up there...

 

[fish-ninja]

Nice slabs...love fish and chips 🍟 😋

Thanks! We share the same taste for fish foods!

 

[TheFrood]

I really really miss the fishing from when I lived in a more northern area. Rockfish were (for me it felt so at least) abundant, easy to catch, and very very tasty. My catches down here just don't compare to the ease and quality from when I was up there. May be trying for lobster this weekend which I guess is a decent trade off for Dungeness Crab, but overall the species I enjoy eating seem less prevalent here. The water quality seems to be something that you need to pay a LOT more attention to as well (at least regarding biological contamination... doesn't seem to be as many oil spills in So Cal).

 

[fish-ninja]

I really really miss the fishing from when I lived in a more northern area. Rockfish were (for me it felt so at least) abundant, easy to catch, and very very tasty. My catches down here just don't compare to the ease and quality from when I was up there. May be trying for lobster this weekend which I guess is a decent trade off for Dungeness Crab, but overall the species I enjoy eating seem less prevalent here. The water quality seems to be something that you need to pay a LOT more attention to as well (at least regarding biological contamination... doesn't seem to be as many oil spills in So Cal).

Yeah, I hear you @TheFrood. Rockfish tastes fantastic and much easier to find from shore up north. But there are some that are available in SoCal but not in NorCal, like macks, bonitos, barracudas, kelp/sand/spot basses, sheepheads, etc. To me, they offer different fisheries. The water contamination is what I am concerned more to be honest. If you like to catch some that taste good in SoCal, cabrillo mole at avalon offers one of the best chance though costs to trek down there is ever going up and it would be at least a full day trip. I wish the best for your lobster outing!

 

[TheFrood]

The water contamination is what I am concerned more to be honest.

I've noticed that there seem to be significantly more warnings from Ventura and further south. LA county beaches seem to be under a constant warning from April through November...

I am hoping to get to Catalina some time. Maybe for the gathering but not looking like it Bought bait but wound up metal detecting on the beach instead of hitting the pier to hoop lobster last weekend. Maybe next time.