After watching the surf reports for the past 9 weeks, I finally saw a break in the big wave pounding along the Sonoma Coast. Magic Seaweed is the site I use to get highly accurate surf forecasts (7 days at a time, no less) and It showed calming/dropping surf activity getting progressively smaller to a low of 2 foot waves forecast for Wednesday, February 10th. I dragged my fishing buddy Harold out to try some of the beaches in the Sonoma Coast State Park, and we hit pay dirt.
Picture perfect weather, very good “fishing” surf, and a bunch of Red Tails/Wall Eyes aggressively feeding. We caught 32 fish between us. I even had two double hook-ups on the Hi/Lo rigs that we were fishing. As usual, Harold out fished me 18 to 14 including a brute of a red tail (14 ½”) that hit his lower bait, then dragged the 2 oz. weight quickly enough to bite the upper bait – actually hooking himself in the lip with both hooks!
We brought 4 fish home for fish tacos ( thanks Evanluck, for the instruction in Ike Jime technique for processing fish that are to be eaten. It really makes a big difference in the quality of the fish, come cooking time) and released the rest. It was really great to get out to the coast and catch some fish again after waiting and watching for so long.
Specs: we were both using 9 ft. rods fishing HI/Lo rigs with No.2 bait holder hooks using Berkley Gulp 2” Sand Worms (both Blood and Camo colors worked well all day.) We were able to get away with the 2 oz. weights at the terminus because of the easy surf conditions.
Picture perfect weather, very good “fishing” surf, and a bunch of Red Tails/Wall Eyes aggressively feeding. We caught 32 fish between us. I even had two double hook-ups on the Hi/Lo rigs that we were fishing. As usual, Harold out fished me 18 to 14 including a brute of a red tail (14 ½”) that hit his lower bait, then dragged the 2 oz. weight quickly enough to bite the upper bait – actually hooking himself in the lip with both hooks!
We brought 4 fish home for fish tacos ( thanks Evanluck, for the instruction in Ike Jime technique for processing fish that are to be eaten. It really makes a big difference in the quality of the fish, come cooking time) and released the rest. It was really great to get out to the coast and catch some fish again after waiting and watching for so long.
Specs: we were both using 9 ft. rods fishing HI/Lo rigs with No.2 bait holder hooks using Berkley Gulp 2” Sand Worms (both Blood and Camo colors worked well all day.) We were able to get away with the 2 oz. weights at the terminus because of the easy surf conditions.
