Dec 17th -- Manresa Perch with Bill (lots of pictures)

Bill and I spent 2+ hours both south and north of Manresa state beach today grubbing for the elusive Barred Surf Perch.

Day was overcast but pretty warm.  Bill had timed it so the bulk of the time we were there the tide was going out.  There were 4 or 5 other guys out trying their luck, too.  Waves weren't light, but weren't too bad.  Two major wave breaks happening, one pretty close and one further out.  Basically all the perch we found were between the two breaks.
Final score:  Lots of little perch (under 10-inches, see below).  I stopped counting our catch at 10.

Bill started off the day with a quick catch making me quite jealous!


Here's my first


Then I hit into a bunch in a row



Bill grabbed another (this one is small, but flapping fiercely)


All said, a good few hours at the beach
Looking south

Looking north

Nice pics Joel, thanks for posting them.

It was pretty fun out there today even though I only caught 3 little guys. I think they where hanging just out of my reach most of the day. I need some more pratice before the perch derby! I also need to find the trick to catching the big ones.

Hey Bill and Joel,

I was out there also today around 11:45 hopping to run into you guys. You two was already gone.  There were two other fishermen there and only  spoke with one. He had 3 nice fish in his sack, looked like they were about 10 inches or SO. I started walking north and found a decent hole and started to fish. All small 9 inchers. then i hooked a 10, 11, and 13 incher and left with a limit about 2:30pm. Using the gold flake grubs.

Sorry no pic's to post at this time.

I surfed and then fished just south of moss landing.

I caught a bunch of dinky waves and 4 dinky BSPs, on a kalin 'perch power' 1.5" grub, nosehooked on octopus hook.
8lb solar hi vis triline xt, 10lb clear mono as leader, 1.5oz carolina rigged egg sinker. It was all new perch fishing
gear I got this summer so it was nice to break it in and catch fish on the first use of it.

no pictures.

I was fishing way after the high tide, it was way too low. There were sea lions jumping out there,
and a gang of harbour seals following me around. plus surf scoters, all the signs of perch according to that
zen article.

I'd love to fish with a guy like alex and see how he finds the big ones.

so far, my best luck happens if I'm wearing a wetsuit, I wade out to just below
waist level, and cast parallel to the beach in what I might call 'no current' water. swing on any bump.

I have cast in a little channel before and caught bigger fish, I guess that's the ticket,
the little guys are all over, the big ones get the choice holes.

Yeah I really need to get some waders, my ghetto rain pants are just not cutting it.

Allen sorry we missed you man, let me know you are coming next time and I will hang out for you. Must fish with you before the perch derby to get some tips.

I was in L.A. all last week and didn't get in till late Friday night. It was a spare of the moment decision to try and hook up. It was my first time fishing Manresa. I found the  beach structure is similar on the south side of the Monterey Canyon. I'm going to  have to explore Manresa in February to see if the big ones congergate in that area as well, like in the Monterey side. Till then I'll just have to keep trying :

Alex

Alex, you probably know this, but when the south winds blow and the swell is bigger than you'd like,
it's often surprisingly calm on the south side of the moss harbour entrance. there's a dirt parking lot
back there, go over the one lane bridge (where they are building the new one), go left and park.
no charge for parking. The waves are tiny near the jetty and get progressively larger as you go
south. As a surfer, I go there when it's stormy.

This link http://www.weather.nps.navy.mil/wx/latest_mbay.gif shows you how the wind
comes out of the salinas canyon and is offshore there while it's onshore and less pleasant in santa cruz.
at the time I post this it's real clear. They update the image hourly with wind info so it may be
different when you look.

I caught a lot of small fish north of the harbour at zmudowski and at least I caught some south of there
yesterday. Two guys on shore using standard non-grub gear caught nothing, so I felt like I did okay.

I'm dying to know what it feels like to have a 3lber on your 8 lb line in the surf. must be a decent fight!

bill, forget the waders, just wear your 3 mil and a windbreaker! works great. safer too.

Well, I'm glad we got out on Saturday morning.  The rain has been bucketing down since Saturday afternoon, pretty much putting a hold on my desire to get out to the beach since I left.

As far as waders go, I don't own a pair.  The clothes I was wearing include:
1) a 3mil farmer-john-type paddle wetsuit (from REI).
2) a windproof fleece jacket
3) some nylon pants to make me look normal instead of wetsuity
4) surf booties (tabi-style)

I'm jealous again to see that shortly after Bill and I left someone was down there catching pretty big fish -- I wonder if those big guys only come in close later in the tide cycle...

Jmairey,

I'm familiar with that area and is one of my favorite spots to hit when I can't get to my regular favorite spot. I've done well the last time I was there(last year). I often check-out the jetty when I'm in the area, the one with the horn blasting every so often, could drive you cuckoo .

One day A friend and I was fishing that spot for BSF and my friend had hooked into a fish that we thought was a striper, because it was taking a long time to land it. It turned out to be a nice 3lbs bardperch snagged dead center of its dorsal fin. We were kind of wondering how that could of happend But it was a good catch and fed the both of us that night. Using the old mighty MORF.

BigRed (Joel),

I usually fish the out going tide just because it's easier to find the hole next to the sand bar. when I first started going down the steps to get on the beach i paused for a few moments just to see where the deep holes started and where it ended. I noticed the first hole was just rite there in front of the stares and just north of that a flat spot (sand bar) and a few hundred yards more was another deep hole then a sand bar. Those  are the areas i target and usually have most of my hook-ups. When i say i need to explore i really mean to scout it out during a minus tide so i know exactly how the surf is laying out its sand bars and I'll dig here and there to find the colony of sand crabs. Some sand bars have colonies and some don't and that's how i determine what part of the beach I'll fish!

The hole out front is where we caught the most fish, it sure looked fishy. 

nice catch fellas - I should have joined you guys...but the rain in HMB kept me home all weekend.  Let me know if you guys plan another perching trip = I'll be there 

well, if you wear a wetsuit and are wading pretty deep anyway, what's a little rain?

it's easier when the wind is offshore, not blowing in your face. that little stretch
south of moss is one of the very few places you can find like that when it's stormy.
actually mooch, rockaway can have that property, but the waves are too big
typically.

check this famous photo of rockaway. brian zelles. can you see him? look hard.


It rained on me while I was fishing, I had the whole beach to myself.

Just me and the harbour seals, birds, and perch.

great feeling.

NO WAY!  That picture was taken at Rockaway!? I've never seen it that big - when was this taken?

What's the sized and quantity limit on those kind of fish ?

My understanding is that the limit on surf perch is 5 -- except for shiner surf perch where the limit is 20.

Can anyone confirm?