Bodega bay perch

Never fished for perch in the ocean. Next week I am heading to Bodega (Doran) for some kayak crabbing and was going to drift for some perch. What type of perch are in the Doran Beach area and is there a size limit? I was told to use gulp sand worms or pieces of shrimp. Any other suggestions?

I'm also interested in any info more experienced folks are willing to share!

I plan to kayak perch fish one of these days, when I can align my day off with the weather, if that ever happens again, haha.

The only surfperch with a size reg is redtail at >10.5". They are accurately named so they're easy to ID.

I've never targeted perch from a kayak, but I've caught them from shore. I usually toss a Carolina rig with a 2oz sinker and a sand crab (or a couple if they're on the small side). They also like mussel. I've found from shore it's important to read the beach and find structure, they'll hang out at cuts between sandbars and let the wave action / rip tide sweep food to them. There may be one spot where you get bites and 50 feet down the same beach it's totally quiet. If you do get bites, there are probably more in that area.

Keep in mind perch have very small mouths, a size 2 hook is plenty.

The only surfperch with a size reg is redtail at >10.5". They are accurately named so they're easy to ID.

I've never targeted perch from a kayak, but I've caught them from shore. I usually toss a Carolina rig with a 2oz sinker and a sand crab (or a couple if they're on the small side). They also like mussel. I've found from shore it's important to read the beach and find structure, they'll hang out at cuts between sandbars and let the wave action / rip tide sweep food to them. There may be one spot where you get bites and 50 feet down the same beach it's totally quiet. If you do get bites, there are probably more in that area.

Keep in mind perch have very small mouths, a size 2 hook is plenty.

This is generally the extent of my knowledge of surf perch, even though most of that is more theory than practice for me.

I've only ever caught them with gulp sandworms from the beach, on a dropper rig.

In another thread, someone mentioned trolling slowly parallel to the beach, just beyond the surf. I think a double dropper with #2 hooks, 1 or 2 oz weight, and some sort of fleshy bait or gulp sandworms would do the trick from a kayak.  Next time I have a saltwater day, this is what I'm gonna try anyway.

Awesome and thanks. I’ll see what happens while waiting on the crabs.

You might also catch Calico perch and mistaken it for redtail. Their body is rounder, like a football and there is no size limit.

You might also catch Calico perch and mistaken it for redtail. Their body is rounder, like a football and there is no size limit.

+1

There are schools of small perch like walleye and silvers which look like clouds of bait on your FF screen and will easily take a sabiki tipped with shrimp.  They are the only ones i've caught at Bodega, not much size to them and I wouldn't eat them. 

Thanks for the info, we are heading over in the morning.

What size hooks do y'all use for surf perch? I've got a bunch of size 1 and 1/0 octopus, but feel like those might be a little big.  Next step down for me is like #6 bait holders, which feels small and likely to gut hook...

Personally I use size 2 baitholders or (Japanese) size 10/12 sabikis. You can get a 6-pack of snelled size 2 hooks from Eagle Claw for a couple bucks. I think #6 or size 1 could work, I'd size it based on the bait. size 1 for whole sand crabs or chunks of mussel, size 6 with pile worms or bits of shrimp.

It'll depend what you're looking for though - if you want keepers / AOTY points I'd say go with size 2 or 1, if you want live bait or just some action, go for size 6.

I'm in luck! Found a pack of the snelled Eagle Claw hooks in size #4.  I gotta organize my stuff better, haha.

Surf Perch ID

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=36617

Lots of striped and white perch in the jetty area. Redtails and barred along the sand.