Fishing Forum

A few weeks ago I posted about ocean fishing and several people answered and provided some good information so I thought I would report. Because of time constraints I wasn't able to book a trip so I just did surf fishing within walking distance from the beach house we rented.

The first day there I went to His and Her Fly Shop in Newport. The gentleman there was very helpful in setting me up with flies, leader, and tippet for the salt water. He also offered tips on where and how to find them. The week we were in Newport the tide and the surf were unusually high which caused me to take a pounding every time I went out. I ended up fishing 4 separate times. The first time was early in the morning and I fished around a jetty. Nothing. The second and third times I went where a river runs in and fished the surf there. The first time I went there I caught one surf perch. On a sand crab imitation. The third time I think I caught about 4 surf perch. The fourth time I fished I didn't catch anything. It was about 1:00 a.m. under a full moon.

The bottom line on the trip, it wasn't the best area to fish. A guy I met at the river mouth said his club fishes mostly a good deal further down the coast, and a little up the coast. The surf beat the heck out of me. The waves and swells were pretty tall. My equipment wasn't good enough for the circumstances. The 6 weight did okay but maybe if I had something more stout I could have put the line out there farther. Still I was definitely getting it out far enough to catch fish. My line wasn't heavy enough to battle the surf. I know I wasn't getting down to the bottom often enough to give my flies more of a chance. I don't think I would ever take a trip specifically to surf fish, but whenever I'm near the ocean I will have a fly rod handy because it's at least a good way to kill down time and I'd like to try again with a heavier line and a less intense ocean.
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thanks for the post. I grew up along the beach in California and fished off the beach almost every day when I was a kid. We would soak live sand crabs we dug up. Never tried fly fishing it though. It is some of the best memories growing up. I am glad you had the experience and better luck next time.
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Good report, at least you gave it a shot and caught a few fish, I would recommend getting a 4 or 5 piece 8-9 travel rod to keep handy for when your near the ocean, you can find fairly cheap nice rods that you can just keep on hand and they stow in your luggage or just carry on the plane.

Get a good selection of saltwater flies to keep with the rod and reel and you'll be set whenever you go. I fish the ocean a few times a year and the more I do the more I am ready to move away from the trout streams and focus on the salt.

When you get the chance get to the Atlantic or Carribean and get out on the flats for some Bones' Tarpon or Permit and you may never come back to Utah. Sight fishing to those fish is the funnest thing I have ever done with a fly rod.
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You might want to buy a pack or two of these. You just attach them directly to your leader butt. Then tie on a standard tappered leader or what ever you would usually do. This will help in two ways, 1) the added weight does help to buck the wind some, and 2) it is a sinking line so it helps drag you flies down to the bottom much faster as well.

AND 3) it saves you the additional cost of sinking line on a seperate spool for your reel.

Awesome that you caught some fish though. I have not fly fished for surf perch, but would fish for salmon from a skiff in AK, and that is where I was introduced to these sink tips.
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Thanks for the good feedback. The travel rod and the sinking tip are great ideas.
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Here's the deal with flyfishing the surf in Orange County. Do it in the winter. The big surf perch move in around the first part of November and stay there until March. They are really close to the beach then so a long cast isn't really necessary. Also, you need to fish a rising tide. This is the single most important thing to know. And the fact that they are absolute suckers for a #6 or #8 bead head wooly bugger in brown or chartruse with a sinking line. They'll hit it harder than you could imagine so hang on.

Summertime is a lot tougher because of the traffic the beach gets. Down south or up north is always better. Just don't try to fish in Laguna Beach unless you want to pay a huge fine.
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