LA Scene: Surf fishing

One of my hobbies is fishing. In an earlier blog post, I showed some trout I caught in Yosemite.

Closer to home, I like to do surf fishing. I use light to medium equipment as the fish are usually not that large. My typical rig is a size 8 hook at the end of a 2-3 foot leader of 4 lb. line attached to a swivel. Above the swivel, I thread through a pink bead and above that I slip the line through the eye of a bass casting sinker. I use 3/4 oz. or 1 oz. depending on how vigorous the waves are and which rod I have with me. My 7 foot rod can handle the 1 oz sinker easily. When I use the lighter 6 1/2 footer, I only go as high as 3/4 oz.

I use a 1 1/2 to 3 inch piece of Berkeley's Gulp! Sandworms as bait.

Here are some fish I caught in a recent trip to Venice beach.



My feet are size 7 so this Barred Surf Perch is on the small side.



Here is a mid-sized Barred Surf Perch. They can grow larger! BSPs are known to attack the bait pretty vigorously and put up a decent fight. I'm told they are pretty tasty fish too. However, I generally do catch and release fishing. I suppose if I caught a larger one, I might keep it for dinner!



This is a Walleye Surf Perch. These critters don't get very large and so this one is small even for this species.

For more information about surf fishing in Southern California, check out SCSurffishing.com.