Manresa surf Perch grubbin' Mon 2/12

Went out to Manresa to try out surf Perchin' and had a good time. Dunno if it's the way most do but I put on my farmer john's and paddle jacket and waded out in the surf and casted a few. I tried a few different techniques and tried to get something to bite but the surf was pretty big and spent half the time dodging waves. It was fun bieng out in it and finally hooked up with what I guess was a good sized Perch. It slammed the grub with a madness, was on for a minute, fought, and finally unbuttoned. It was fun all in all and I really look forward to Perchin' with the others and learning. Surf and fishing, what a cool combo!

Z

Thats nuts Z! in the water and tossing lures! 
I've seen them big ones getting hooked by the pros and all i could get was dinks and missed hits.As soon as some one posts a "it's on at the beach I'll be wanting to try it with a better concept of what needs to be done to get them BIG ONES!!     ......  BIG MORF's?   
I cant wait!! 

If you are around SCruz with time during the day I'd like to try to hook up.  I'm just survived a January of pneumonia, food poisioning, and a rather nasty bout of influenza...   so I'm aching to get out and toss some grubs. 

But I'm local to SCruz and only available when kids are at school (between 9 and 2 during the day).  So let me know if you're interested one day soon.  I've had some significant luck with perchies in the area, including Manresa.  Perching is a hoot!

But I'm local to SCruz and only available when kids are at school (between 9 and 2 during the day).  So let me know if you're interested one day soon.  I've had some significant luck with perchies in the area, including Manresa.  Perching is a hoot!

Man, bummer about the bad health luck, hope you're over all that. The schedule sounds good to me, I have random time off when I have a break in my work schedule. Would love to get out there again and learn some more. I'll PM you when I'm thinking about going out there again. Maybe Thurs or Fri?

And FH it's a total blast. With your surf experience it makes it that much funner and less frustrating. Just imagine if you hook into a Striper or Hali and battle it in waist deep shorebreak.. good stuff. 

Z

hook into a Striper or Hali and battle it in waist deep shorebreak.. good stuff. 

INDEED  This will be one of my goals this year

Good luck fellas!

Big Red - good to see you posting again  Did you switch from mono to braid yet?

Z, I like the ninja style wade out and get them approach too.

one thing that is nice is to cast parallel to the beach whichever direction is
downwind.

you can pull through a few holes and get a lot of fish that way, but many of
them are dinks since you aren't picking the deepest holes.

they say the perch are often near shore and that is true, but I have also seen
them right at the end of a long rip and it is best to wade out and cast
parallel to shore across the top of the rip.

J

Z, I like the ninja style wade out and get them approach too.

one thing that is nice is to cast parallel to the beach whichever direction is
downwind.

you can pull through a few holes and get a lot of fish that way, but many of
them are dinks since you aren't picking the deepest holes.

they say the perch are often near shore and that is true, but I have also seen
them right at the end of a long rip and it is best to wade out and cast
parallel to shore across the top of the rip.

J

Thaks J, will try that. Yeah, I like hookin' up a lot but would rather work harder and nail a bigger one. You're right about the deeper holes, I'll keep shootin' for 'em.

A question to all the surf Perch OG's, do you use a really slow retrieve? Let it sit @ bottom for a while? Just wondering what kind of retrieve works for who.

Z

Z, I like to let the grub sink to the bottom and then use a slow retrieve.Sometimes a slight jigging motion will get their attention,but slow and steady (not jerky or too fast) gets more bites.

J's right about working the ends and edges of rips. Those can hold a lot of fish,especially when they're in feeding mode and/or there is not a great deal of tidal movement such as during an incoming high tide that allows them to feed close to shore.

I'm a deep wader too and I usually get splashed over my neoprene chest waders.However, during incoming high tides I've caught jumbos in very shallow water.During these times it isn't that much of an advantage to be fishing deep.

Not sure if you ninjas have tried this... but at low tide sometimes you can wade/swim out to sand bars where you can stand and cast to deeper water on the back side of the bar.These areas can be very productive and as Alien and I have both discovered can sometimes hold stripers and leopard shark.

I am a perch noob, but try reading the interview with Ron Martin here:

http://www.zenflyfishing.com/

http://www.zenflyfishing.com/interview2.html

you will see he likes a slow but steady retrieve.

myself, I do stop and start, but the longer you leave it stopped, the more the waves will tangle
your leader.  a steady retrieve seems to keep the rig from tangling.

in general, if I get a hit, but I'm not hooked up, I pause then restart.

J

Sounds awesome guys, thanks for the tips and great links J. I'm geared up to get back in a few days and try again!
Z 

Way to go on getting out there and not getting skunked. I agree with John  that casting parallel to the shore works well paricularly on the incoming tide which is when perch are more active. Most people cast too far out.

scott