We went out near pismo beach for a couple hours and landed 3 pretty nice surf perch was getting dark and my son insisted on one last cast and landed this 14 inch fatty

After a month of constantly grinding, I was able to get my 1st and 2nd one to complete my first surf striped bass limit! Journey was tough but the reward is super satisfying.

Attempted to catch my first striped bass but missed the spring run, decided to wait until fall run comes, in meantime what fish can I target from shore?

Hey Gents,

I had a surprise trip to Cali pop up last night. Today I decided to make the best of the situation and I'm going to take some gear down to fish for Halibut and Corbina on the weekend before flying home. I have an Okuma SST-S-1064Ma Travel rod and a Goture Xceed 1104MH-S. Which would you recommend I bring? I'm going to pair it with a Saltist Back Bay 4000. I'll be fishing small jerk baits, some 4" gulp paddleshads on 1/2 oz jig heads. This will be a first for me. I usually chase bigger stuff in Cabo and Costa Rica. Both rods are too long to fit in my checked bag, so I'll be strapping them to my backpack. I figure brining both would be pushing it. I'll have a 12' 7 piece in my checked bag in case I feel I need more reach or want to throw something on the heavier side.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,
I’m staying near Point Arena for a couple of weeks (Schooner Gulch/Bowling Ball Beach area) and have decided to finally learn to fish. I’m starting from absolute zero.
I’m interested in learning rocky shore fishing for rockfish, greenling, and cabezon.

A few questions:
Is Schooner Gulch a good place to learn?
Any local tackle shops you’d recommend?
Does anyone know of a local shore angler or guide who offers a few hours of instruction (not a boat charter)?
If anyone is fishing the area and doesn’t mind a beginner tagging along, I’d happily buy the coffee.

Thanks!

Blessed to have a nice ocean front house in North Dirty Myrtle with 20 people. My two kids (and a 3rd on the way) and their 7 cousins, extended family, etc. It’s been 15-25mph SW winds and aggressive current that is ripping my 8oz pyramids immediately up the beach. Forecast for the whole week doesn’t look any better.
Can somebody tell the ocean and weather to calm down….? 😭

UPDATE: I was hoping for a big bull red but ended up landing a juvenile sandbar 🦈. A bit of a crowd and some kids around so just kept it in the water and released asap. Dead after that.

If you have been to Westport, you know the magic it holds. There is a proposal for a 18 hole course to be built directly on the wetlands and dunes.

The runoff created and the fact that over 90% of it is delicate interdunal wetlands should be enough but no. Making a private golf course here would demolish protected areas and would push locals and visitors out who come here for fishing, crabbing, beach combing, surfing and the wildness of the Washington coast.

Please sign the change.org petition and comment on the WA State parks planning page.

https://www.change.org/p/save-westport-light-state-park-stop-commercialization-destruction-of-wetlands?hl=en-US

https://parks.wa.gov/commission-public-comment-form?hl=en-US

Hey all, I’m heading to Assateague Island the second week of August for a camping trip and want to get in to some surf fishing.
I’ve done a charter, and do a lot of lake/pond fishing but never from the beach.
Looking to get a fairly cheap setup because I’ll probably only use it once or twice a year.
Any recommendations for rod length, reel size, and what lures and rigging I should bring would be greatly appreciated

Hey folks, not new to fishing but never spent much time surf fishing. I'm spending a week in OBX early August (Rodanthe area) and bringing a few rods along, just trying to catch what we can while we chill on the beach. Looking for any good resources: blogs, how tos, YouTube videos, or local bait or gear shops we can get the scoop from so we're not heading in completely blind. I've done a lot of research already and asked Claude but triaging the good from the bad has been tough. Not trying to land any monster sharks or anything, just looking to put some tasty fish (pompano? Whiting? Blues or mackerel?) in the cooler!

Rods: Penn Fierce IV medium heavy 8' 5000 series

Ugly stik 7' medium heavy 50 size reel

Ugly stik 6'6" medium heavy 35 size reel

And my brother is bringing a couple rods, not sure what size but something similar to my Penn

Thanks y'all!

Thick boy wouldn’t move an inch for the first 5 minutes of battle. Had to time my pulls with the waves but finally brought him in.

This bad boy smacked my cut mullet this AM. Was a hell of a fight. 4oz. pyramid Fishfinder rig.

Family is planning a trip to destin for a few days and I need some advice as it'll be my first time fishing there. I'm used to murky waters on the forgotten coast of FL and was wondering if clearer waters change anything? I'm planning to use cut shrimp and fishbites for bait and a hi-lo rig with either a pyramid or sputnik sinker. Any other bait recommendations? Should I get live shrimp or cut mullet?

Looking to get a conventional rod to target striped bass, bluefish, big dogfish, and whatever other sea monsters I can get from the shore. I go surf fishing up near and on cape cod, and occasionally down in Florida. I’ve been this far using an old 9 foot cheap-o spinning rod that I fish “upside down” with a penn squidder on with 40lb braid. It gets the job done, but I am looking to get a true conventional rod to pair with my squidder. Was thinking of getting a 12 foot Penn battalion but was wondering if anyone had any other recommendations. Budget would be around $150, but would be very happy if I could find something around 100.

For techniques, I’d be throwing out chunks of mackerel on a high low or fish finder rig, but have also seen videos of people “squidding” for striper (using a pyramid sinker and fly on a conventional reel) and was interested in trying that as well. Anyone have experience with that style of fishing? Would 12ft rod be too long to lure fish with?

Thanks folks!

So I did a 2h guided session in SD with Kaspar of California Surf Fishing targeting Sheephead.

Logistics:
- 2h session for up to 2 people; included gear, bait, and water and snacks (if desired)
- CA Fishing Surf License (+ Saltwater) required and documented prior to the session
- met at a local beach at 5:30PM

Why I did it:
- I feel comfortable targeting the near-shore species (halibut, corbina, croaker), but was really intimidated targeting sheephead (finding the right spot, needing a heavier duty setup, technique, etc) -- a guided tour seemed like a great way to "teach a man to fish (sheephead)"

How the day went:
- after meeting at the parking lot + signing waivers and checking licenses, Kaspar, a buddy, and I walked to our first spot; he helped set up our rods and answered my hundreds of questions about the setup, spot, etc. After about 75 minutes into our 120 minute session, we weren't getting a ton of bites and Kaspar was like "nah, not fishy, let's go like -- like right now". We hustled to our cars and reconvened at a new spot. At the new spot, we felt a lot more bites and brought in some smaller calico and barred sand bass. Unfortunately for me, I missed a hook set on something big, which was tapping just before like a big sheephead. So while we didn't catch the target species, we were likely in the right spot at the right time. Overall, we fished until it was dark, so Kaspar was super gracious with his time extending beyond the 120m (which is not guaranteed, but he wanted to catch a sheephead as much as I did).

Kaspar:
- could not be a nicer or more knowledgable guide; super funny, kept the vibes up, and answered all of my questions. I would definitely consider doing another guided trip for a different species (or maybe same species but a different location). I believe he does guides from SD <> SB but is based out of LA. Link to his page above with some cool products, his book, and more info about a guided tour. Also, link to the youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@californiasurffishing/featured

PS. I am 100% not a review-person, but this was such a fun experience and Kaspar was so rad that I wanted to make sure everyone knows about this resource. A guided tour is a great gift for a birthday (this was mine), Christmas, etc.

Happy to answer more questions.

Creating a wish list for surf gear. I know nothing. Please help!

Took my brother out to the beach on the Oregon coast during our vacation and we both got onto our first redtail surfperch, white surfperch?, some baby flounder, and baby scuplin. Fun times. We caught about 20 surfperch between us walking the beach and casting high low rigs with 2-inch Gulp! sandworms.

One of the best weeks we’ve had. Caught my first few “larger” sharks and hooked into that monster tarpon I posted about earlier this week. Also got this nice pompano and a bluefish I didn’t photograph.

Can’t wait for Long Island this fall!