| I'm sure you've seen them there, when you went to | | | | with their feet, and do their best to leave no stone |
| the beach: sunglass, hat, and shorts wearing barefoot | | | | unturned. |
| guys with long slender fishing rods staring off to the | | | | As the tide starts to come in, each wave goes a |
| horizon. I also bet you wondered about what, if | | | | little father up onto the beach, chasing the birds |
| anything they ever caught and how they know | | | | away and dragging the newly loosened sand hither |
| where and when to fish. | | | | and yon. While the sea birds found lots to eat, they |
| I know I did until I tried my hand at surf fishing, and | | | | certainly didn't get everything. Many creatures |
| after a many hours of getting nothing but pruney | | | | successfully evaded the birds, but their semi secure |
| toes, I finally figured out what surf fishing is all about, | | | | burrows, nooks and crannies where they hid are now |
| and since then, it has become an almost spiritual | | | | in disarray and the incoming tide breaks them down |
| hobby, being alone on the beach, at first off hours of | | | | even further. Many of these creatures now find |
| the day staring off into the sunset, truing to | | | | themselves being washed away by the swirling |
| outsmart wily surf fish. | | | | whitewater of the surf. |
| The truth is that when the surf fish are running, | | | | The now free creatures are now fair game for the |
| they're almost ridiculously east to catch so long as | | | | sea-bound predators, the surf fish. The surf fish |
| you understand the basics of surf fishing. Every year, | | | | follow the tide in feasting on the buffet the birds |
| between Christmas and New Years, I head down to | | | | uncovered and the incoming surf is now washing |
| the beach with a bucket and a fishing rod, and half fill | | | | free. This is how the surf fish make their living. |
| the bucket with barred surfperch, a staple of | | | | OK, you should have learned two very important |
| Southern California and the coast of Baja California | | | | principles so far. First, is that surf fish are looking for |
| down Mexico way. Barred perch spawn in this time | | | | natural food as they hunt the surf. A piece of cut |
| so there are plenty to catch in a couple hours to | | | | squid, a deep water denizen, is out of place in the |
| make up a nice meal for a crew of six or eight. | | | | surf line, and while a particularly dumb fish night snap |
| After mastering the barred perch, I've turned my | | | | at it because it looks interesting, or a fish frenzied by |
| attention to other denizens of the beach, including | | | | the spawn might eat it in his spawning stupor, the |
| Corbina, the king of California and Mexico surf fishes, | | | | average, intelligent (since it's lived this long) surf |
| and Spotfin Croaker, one of the finest eating fishes | | | | predator will view it with some suspicion. |
| of the surf. I have friends who even target Halibut | | | | When you go to a surf beach, look for local, natural |
| form the surf and have seen them land 36 inch | | | | bait. Dig around in the sand at the surf line looking for |
| California Halibut fishing with a fly from the surf. In | | | | small shellfish, clams, sand crabs or worms. The best |
| fact, the Halibut world record holder fly fisherman in | | | | time to do this is at low tide because you'll have the |
| two separate line classes fishes regularly form the | | | | most amount of undersea surface exposed. You'll |
| surf not 5 miles from my home, and it is there that | | | | probably chase the birds away as you poke and prod |
| he hooked his record holders. | | | | in the sand. In Southern California, the most common |
| I have exported my surf fishing knowledge | | | | beach critter is the sand crab. |
| successfully deep down the Mexican Pacific Coast, | | | | These pea-sized shellfish are rather easy to catch |
| the Gulf Coast of the US, the Northeast, the Mid | | | | with a special rake that allows you to sieve them |
| Atlantic States, and even in the Far East. I fished | | | | through a screen that passes the sand but not the |
| along side and Old Japanese man sitting on a beach | | | | crabs. You can also catch them with a bucket and |
| on the inland sea in Yamaguchi Prefecture on the | | | | some water, just like you would be panning for gold. |
| southern tip of Honshu Island, as he explained to me | | | | You'll do so much better using local natural bait than |
| in excruciating detail exactly how to catch, handle, | | | | anything else. I know a well off retired man who surf |
| and hook the appropriate bait. | | | | fishes and still hasn't figured out this fact. He sends |
| H was speaking in Japanese of course, as I smiled, | | | | off to Maine to buy special worms that cost $7.50 |
| nodded and interjected an occasional "ah so." Actually | | | | each and has them Fed Ex'ed in to surf fish with and |
| I do speak some Japanese but it's limited to ordering | | | | can't understand why the kids with their home made |
| food, finding the bathroom, and teasing young girls, | | | | sand crab rake out fish him. If you'd rather buy bait, |
| so the vast majority of what he was saying was | | | | find a local bait shop and ask them what works best |
| going totally over my head, but I would never have | | | | and what they have for sale. They often do have |
| let on that I was only catching about every fourth | | | | local baits, usually live to sell to serious surf fishermen. |
| word. | | | | The second principle is to fish the incoming tide. The |
| Ok, so much for my surf fishing exploits, I'm sure | | | | surf fish wait for the tide to come in. They know |
| you're wondering, "How DO I catch fish in the surf | | | | when it comes in and are lined up waiting for it to |
| anywhere in the world?" Well, I'm glad you asked. | | | | come in. Experience and a keen nose have taught |
| The first thing you have to understand is that the | | | | them that the time to eat is the incoming tide. The |
| fish you are going to catch in the surf know what | | | | absolute best time to surf fish is from halfway |
| they're doing. This is their habitat. These aren't fish | | | | between two hours before high tide until the high |
| that normally inhabit deeper water but just happened | | | | tide. |
| to wander to the water's edge, these fish are there | | | | This is the only time I fish - those two hours. It |
| intentionally. It's what they do. They're good at it. | | | | comes around twice a day so you should be able to |
| The only reason they're here is that they're hunting | | | | work that into your schedule. While you're at the bait |
| for food. They've leaned how to carve out an | | | | and tackle store ask them for a tide table. They're |
| existence by eating what is on the very beach you | | | | usually free, and if not there are tide calculators on |
| are standing on. | | | | the Internet that will allow you to calculate the tides |
| I have to laugh when I talk to surf fisherman that I | | | | on any day anywhere in the world. |
| happen across. I was talking to one particularly | | | | Here's a surf fishing secret that I'll bet you never |
| frustrated guy who was fishing in Malibu and was | | | | thought of, but given my stories and explanations |
| complaining that the guy who had this spot just | | | | above, I'll bet sounds logical to you. How far out do |
| before he came was catching lots of perch but he | | | | you think you have to cast to catch fish in the surf? |
| wasn't having such good luck. I asked him what he | | | | Well, I'm sure you've seen guys with 14 foot long |
| was using for bait and he showed me this package | | | | rods that they wade into the water waist deep and |
| of fresh shrimp he'd just bought at the supermarket. | | | | hurl several hundred yards away from the beach - |
| Well, trust me, this wasn't fresh shrimp, it was | | | | and I'm sure that there are some kinds of fish that |
| defrosted, and it sure looked to me like the farmed | | | | are caught that way, like striped bass along the East |
| shrimp from Thailand. | | | | Coast. |
| He's have been far better off taking those shrimp | | | | If you're targeting surf fish, not deep water species, |
| home, sautéing them in some butter, garlic and | | | | though, the correct answer is, not very far. I catch |
| lemon, and pouring them over some pasta, than | | | | the vast majority of my surf fish in ankle deep |
| wasting his time fishing with them on a California | | | | water - certainly shallower than knee deep. |
| Beach. This was mistake number one. | | | | Sometimes along the Pacific coast beaches, I see fish |
| As I stood there watching and talking with this | | | | feeding literally with their backs out of the water! |
| fisherman, I also noticed another serious gap in his | | | | I like to cast just in front of the braking wave - into |
| surf fishing knowledge. The tide was receding. A | | | | the white water. This is the home of the surf fish. |
| receding tide is the worst time to fish in the surf. | | | | They're in close. I retrieve slowly dragging my bait up |
| Take a moment to think like a fish that lives and | | | | the beach slope, and if I get a hit, more often than |
| hunts in the surf. The tide recedes exposing the | | | | not, it's in very shallow water, like between ankle and |
| beach to the other great predators of the surf line, | | | | knee deep. Surprised? I was when I first started |
| the birds. The birds scatter about prodding and | | | | leaning about surf fish. It's now my "market' where I |
| poking in the sand looking for small creatures to eat. | | | | stop by to pick up some fresh fish any time I'm in |
| They unearth clams, sand crabs, worms, and ghost | | | | the mood. |
| shrimp, whatever they can find to munch on, now | | | | So there's my secrets: 1) fish with local bait you can |
| that the newly uncovered seabed is exposed, they | | | | collect from the beach yourself at low tide, 2) fish |
| find a kill all sorts of critters and leave a mess. They | | | | the last two hours of the incoming tide, and 3) fish |
| dig small holes with their beaks, scratch up the sand | | | | shallow. |