Monterey Bay California

[BSF]

Has anyone ever surf fished the Monterey Bay area for Striped Bass? If I were to spincast in the surf, what would you recommend for rod, reel, line, and lures? Any suggested areas to fish? I may be in the Marina area next month.
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[Fishrmn]

I've never heard of Stripers in Monterrey. Sea Bass, but not Stripers. Check out Bayside Marine. King Salmon are a lot more common now. Not from shore though.http://www.baysidemarinesc.com
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[BSF]

Fishrmn thanks for the reply. About five years ago while in Monterey I talked to a guy that was dragging two stripers down the beach that he had caught, they were as long as his legs. I have a picture somewhere. I will check out the link you sent. Thanks
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000FF]Like stripers everywhere, they follow the bait. If there are schools of anchovies or sardines running near the beach the stripers will be there too. But this time of year they are more likely to be running up the rivers to spawn.

Lots of half day boats and charters for fishing the salmon and rockfish out of Monterrey. And don't forget to visit the aquarium...but leave your fishing rod in the car.
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[Ktrout]

Lots of different choices for rods/reels/line. A basic good size spinning reel that can hold 15-20 pound line (I prefer to use braid as it casts much farther), long rod (surf rod is not necessary with spinning reels but will improve distance), and one of the most standard striper lures is a white hair jig with a curly tail on it. You can also get sand crabs at the beach, but not sure how easy those are to get. Or try sardines. But I would cast hair jigs or try to get sand crabs.

I have not fished for stripers in Monterey but I do believe they are there, not sure what time of year though.
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[BSF]

TubeDude, if we end up going we will definitely visit the aquarium. Any suggestions on what rivers have the best runs?
Thanks
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[BSF]

Thanks Ktrout, it sounds like you have done this before. West coast or east coast? You suggest a reel that can hold 15-20 pound braided line. Would 200 yards be about right? And would you recommend additional backing on the reel? How long and what weight leader would be good? Thanks again.
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[BSF]

Update, I found the picture of the guy with the Stripers he caught spincasting the surf at Marina Dunes Monterey Bay. The picture was dated May 23rd 2006.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Virtually all of the west coast stripers within a couple hundred miles of San Francisco run up the Sacramento River to spawn. I am not aware of any runs in any of the smaller rivers nearby.

I used to live in Sacramento and fished them in the river during and after the spawn. Then I also chased them in San Francisco Bay, from the rocks along the coast with some sand beach surf casting in various areas.

The best you can do is find a couple of websites for fishing reports in the area and watch them for current conditions. The fish do move around a lot and fishing in different areas can be great... or it can be nonexistent at many times of the year.

Good luck if you go. There are lots of neat places to see and visit in the area. My wife and I spent several days there last summer. One of my fave places in the whole world.
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[Lonnie]

I lived in the bay area for 6 years. Their are a couple of boats that fish for the stripers in the shallows. They put you on the fish and know what they are doing. It can be a lot of fun , and as I recall , fairly reasonably priced. It has been 20 years ago for me.
Just google Monterey , and/or half moon bay ( north of monterey) sport fishing for stripers and see what pops up. They will also rent you the gear.
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[Fishrmn]

Do a little homework on google. Pajaro river.
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[Ktrout]

[quote BSF]Thanks Ktrout, it sounds like you have done this before. West coast or east coast? You suggest a reel that can hold 15-20 pound braided line. Would 200 yards be about right? And would you recommend additional backing on the reel? How long and what weight leader would be good? Thanks again.[/quote]


There are lots of different situations that might require different tackle for striper fishing. I think a good general system is 15 pound braid with a mono leader about the same strength. Weight depends on where you are fishing and how much it might take to keep your bait on the bottom. the Delta requires a couple of ounces to stay on the bottom, where as the bays may require more. The beaches are going to be dependent on tide and on where you are at compared to the breaks.

The jig I mentioned previously is usually one ounce. If you are fishing braid, no "backing" per see is needed, but you should put some mono on before putting the braid on or the braid may spin in place. Really if you can find small crabs around the beach, a small 1/0 to 1 size hook should work.

The area I have fished is what Tubedube describes, the delta/Sacramento river. Also fished the bays a bunch but those were on boats. There are stripers in Monterey but I have no idea when they pass through there. It has been over 10 years since I have fished the delta specifically for stripers, though I have caught stripers within that time frame fishing for other fish.
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[RonPaulFan]

I haven't surf fished yet, but I bought several surf casting rods and reels to have them for preparedness and for when I buy or build my future sailboat and move to a coast, so I might as well learn how to use them to cast far plus I want to reach out to the boils of minnows on reservoirs to intrude with a large swimbait upon the big silver fish of previous posts linked below.

If you would like to try them out, then you are invited to fish with me and we'll make some practice casts. Maybe you can figure it out. I tried to learn with some books and youtube videos, but I'm still not doing it right and wait for the day that I find someone who has done it and can coach me to cast two hundred yards.

Perhaps we'll both get lucky and get a reply from someone in our Utah group here who lived on a coast and has this experience and will show us how to surf cast.

More on the subject and my standing invitation at these older posts (replies to the older posts are invited):

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...18;#759118

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...22;#765522
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