What weight rod for surf perch?

[BJ Susich]

[*deleted]

[Nip Hadlock]

Welcome aboard!
I'm glad you asked...the recent posts have got me day dreaming about hitting the surf for the first time! :eek:
I'm wondering about gear too. :?:
There's lots of gurus that will chime in I'm sure. 8)

[k.hanley]

Welcome to the suds BJ part of your post mentioned...
"i want something that will work in a variety of conditions, but keep things sporting. maybe a 7 weight would be ideal for a variety of conditions?"

My go-to outfit is a 7-weight. Keeps me in the game 95% of the time. Handles the environmental needs of wind and hydraulics, fly selection is not hindered by size or weight, no restriction on line designs, can handle beefy tippets without fatiguing the rod, water-hauls excellent, line mends excellent, roll cast pick up technique is a breeze...etc, etc.

BUT....b-u-t....you can use whatever you are comfortable with. Just be realistic that rod designs do have limitations. Mark and others prefer to go lighter.

Stay safe out there.
Cheers, Ken

[Anne Vitale]

Welcome to the board BJ.

Ken's advice on using a 7 wt rod makes a lot of sense. That is... if you are an aggressive fisherman like he is :D . I have seen Ken wade into the suds up to his chest to get to that "troubled" water, that us average folk only look at and decide to fish elsewhere :cry: .

If you are less aggressive like me and like to fish flatter beaches in water 2-3 feet deep, a lighter rod...say a 3, 4 or 5 wt rigged with a 20 ft shooting head of T-8 followed by a mono running line can get you out 50 to 60 feet with one or two role casts plus a double haul. Unless the surf is especially rough, I found that the T-8 cuts quickly through the more turbulent top of the wave and sinks to the bottom where it is quieter. Casting 90 degrees to the wave also helps keep the line from washing in.

Welcome again to the board and good luck no matter what size rod you end up using. Let us know how you do..........Anne

[DonCooksey]

I'm close to Ken's go-to, but I use a 6-wt Sage XP for surf fishing, following a southern California guide's recommendation from a great guided surf fishing trip I had a couple of years ago on Coronado Island. I love the way it casts the 250-g fast-sinking line that I use in surf, especially against windy conditions that I usually encounter down here on the southern beaches. Of course, I'm always hoping for something larger than a perch as well, including halibut, corbina, and croakers down here, and the 6-wt has worked well for medium corbina and up to a 22-inch halibut. I ran into a guy last year who managed to haul in a 4-ft shark of some kind on his 6-wt pretty quickly, so that may be enough muscle for most surf fishing in California. I would like to get a 7-wt rod and try that for surf fishing, as well as for shad fishing on the American. I tried my 8-wt steelhead rod in the surf once, but it seemed a bit heavy and stiff for the conditions and fish at the time.

Hey BJ,

Welcome to the wacky world of fly fishing in the surf! To give you another perspective & a data point for tackle selection, I started off fly fishing the suds about 15 years ago with a 10-ft Redington 8-wt - it's a pretty stiff flagpole, but it helped get things started for me. I later ratcheted down in rod weight & size, while still adhering to the basic principle of selecting the longest fast-tapered rods available for casting shooting heads & sink tip lines.

Over the last 3-4 years, I've been fishing with successively lighter weight rods (from 7- to 00-wt) while evaluating their ability to handle the surf environment. With each decrement in rod size/weight, I was able to match lines (generally shooting heads & sink tips, a few floating lines), tippets & flies to deal with the surf extremes & varying marine conditions throughout the year. Each rod set up did a reasonably good job of placing my casts where I wanted the flies to land in the surf zone, as well as getting the flies to the desired depths in the water column. The rods performed well in handling a variety of saltwater gamefish besides surfperch, including stripers, leopard sharks, rockfish & other species that frequent the beaches around the SF Bay area. I'm now fishing with the 0- & 00-wt Sage TXL's these days - the rods have their pluses & minuses, but provide me with the kind of action I'm interested in experiencing when chasing after surfperch.

As others have recommended, go with what feels comfortable to you for working the surf. You may be casting for many hours on end while covering a lot of shoreline, so choose a rod that won't wear you down too quickly. Most fly fishing folks I've met on the beach use fast 9-1/2 ft 6- or 7-wts with an appropriately sized shooting head, leadcore or sink tip line. If I were learning the sport all over again, I'd probably start off with similar rod weights/sizes for fishing a wide range of coastal habitats up & down the Pacific coastline. Of course, there are also the other features to consider when selecting a rod, such as fighting butts, over-sized guides, number of rod sections (2-, 3-, 4-piece, etc) & rod color (for those who prefer fishing with hot-pink colored rods). :wink:


- Mark