Spent the day on the San Mateo county coast. There was a big minus tide early so I went to my rocky spot. Tried to poke pole for a bit but eventually switched to the spinning setup and nabbed a nice 11" grass rockfish with a chunk of squid on a dropper loop. I used my "eco-friendly" sinkers: tired of losing lead in the ocean (as rock fishermen tend to do) I have started collecting rocks with holes in them to use as weights. These work well as long as the swell isn't too high and I don't feel as bad when I have to break off a rig. I know some folks catch their grassies by casting far out but every one I've ever caught has been literally swimming around the base of the rock I'm standing on. No photo of this guy cause I forgot my phone in the car.
The tide started coming up and I grabbed a sandwich in Pescadero and switched to the surf. I'm a terrible surf perch angler, but I really enjoy fishing the beach. I had scouted out the spot in the morning when the tide was low: the beach was really flat without much structure but I IDed some small troughs and holes worth trying out. I usually use a slider rig in the surf, but I lost my last slider early on so had to switch to a Carolina rig out of necessity. Was surprised to hook up with an 8" barred surf perch, which I released (see pic). Maybe the Carolina is better than the slider setup? Caught on a small Gulp sand worm. No luck the rest of the afternoon...interchanged sand crabs and Gulp worms to no avail.
It was a beautiful day on the coast and I was glad to be out there.
The tide started coming up and I grabbed a sandwich in Pescadero and switched to the surf. I'm a terrible surf perch angler, but I really enjoy fishing the beach. I had scouted out the spot in the morning when the tide was low: the beach was really flat without much structure but I IDed some small troughs and holes worth trying out. I usually use a slider rig in the surf, but I lost my last slider early on so had to switch to a Carolina rig out of necessity. Was surprised to hook up with an 8" barred surf perch, which I released (see pic). Maybe the Carolina is better than the slider setup? Caught on a small Gulp sand worm. No luck the rest of the afternoon...interchanged sand crabs and Gulp worms to no avail.
It was a beautiful day on the coast and I was glad to be out there.
